SCORE ONE FOR NCAA BASKETBALL COACHING CARTEL: The LOS ANGELES TIMES reports that Kevin Durant will soon have a $30M endorsement offer from Nike (which happens to 19-year-olds all the time!). With that news, Texas basketball coach Rick Barnes told the LAT that the NCAA “is changing its rule so players can be insured for $20[M] instead of the current $10[M].”

Barnes: “That’s the kind of step it’s going to take to protect our players and our game.”

Uh, “protecting our players” has nothing to do with it. It’s all about ensuring that Barnes and his fellow coaching cabal will maintain their own financial standing and leverage over baby ballers.