SPORTS USA TODAY z WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2019 z 3C
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – A recent tour of
SoFi Stadium, which next season will be
home of the Los Angeles Rams and the
Los Angeles Chargers, offers more than
a glimpse of what’s to come.
The sleek, sloping roof is in full view.
Man-made canyons are coming to life.
The one-of-a-kind scoreboard is taking
shape.
Numbers help tell the story.
8 million
The first touchdown will be scored
100 feet below the surface. That’s be-
cause approximately 8 million cubic
yards of dirt were excavated from the
stadium bowl alone.
The dirt digging was required by the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
because the stadium sits in the flight
path of Los Angeles International Air-
port. To adhere to FAA height restric-
tions for buildings, the digging com-
menced and the playing field was low-
ered to 100 feet beneath ground level.
The previous record is thought to be
50 feet deep at AT&T Stadium, home of
the Dallas Cowboys.
“Construction wise, it’s been going
incredibly smooth for as complicated as
it is,” said Mark Williams of HKS Archi-
tects, which designed the building for
Rams owner Stan Kroenke. “And we’re
getting to where we’re almost on the
fourth turn heading for home.”200The approximate number of 18-
wheeler flatbeds that were used to bring
in pieces of one of the world’s largest
cranes.
At 3.1 million square feet, the stadium
will be the largest in the NFL. That
posed construction challenges, includ-
ing the use of the behemoth of a crane to
put the canopy-style roof in place.
The roof won’t be retractable. But
more than 40 square panels measuring
60 feet-by-60 feet and made of industri-
al-strength plastic will open and close
like vents.3,The approximate number of workersare on the site every day, six days a
week, with the construction deadline
eight months away.
More than 12,000 workers have been
on the site since the groundbreaking
Nov. 17, 2016. There have been no signifi-
cant injuries, said Jason Gannon, man-
aging director of the stadium.5 billionThe estimated number of dollars that
will be spent on the 298-acre sports-
and-entertainment complex that, ac-
cording to the Los Angeles Times, is
about 3^1 ⁄ 2 times larger than Disneyland.
The centerpiece is a 70,000-seat sta-
dium that can be expanded to accom-
modate 100,000. But there’s far more.
The privately funded project will in-
clude new headquarters for NFL Media,
a 6,000-seat performing arts theater,
an artificial lake, a hotel, more than
20 acres of park space, 2,500 residences
and 1.5 million square feet of retail and
office space.
Social Finance – SoFi – is a personal
finance company that is headquartered
in San Francisco, and it purchased the
naming rights for $400 million over20 years, according to Forbes.1A 360-degree, two-sided, wrap-
around video board with 4K technology.
It will rise as high as 3^1 ⁄ 2 stories and is “a
direct response to having a better expe-
rience than sitting at home with your
very large TV and in your favorite chair,”
Williams said. “Here, we sort of took it
to the next level.”7/The stadium, built atop the old Holly-
wood Park Racetrack, will officially
open July 25 when Taylor Swift, the
Grammy Award-winning singer and
songwriter, is scheduled to hold her
“Lover Fest West” concert.
In addition to Rams and Chargers
games, the stadium calendar already in-
cludes marquee events such as Super
Bowl LVI in 2022, the College Football
Playoff championship game in 2023 and
the opening and closing ceremonies for
the 2028 Olympic Games.
Said Williams, the lead designer,
“The best is yet to come.”$5B stadium taking shape in LA
Josh Peter
USA TODAY
There’s no other way around it: Gor-
don Hayward’s broken hand is awful.
For Hayward. For the Celtics. For the
NBA.
Through the first eight games this
season, Hayward was the player the
Celtics hoped they would have and had
never really had since his season-end-
ing leg and ankle injury in his debut in
the first game of 2017-18. He slogged
through last season, making one won-
der if he would ever return to the player
he was.
Finally, Hayward looked like the play-
er he was in 2016-17 when he made the
All-Star team for the first time.
He was back, averaging 18.9 points,
7.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists and shoot-
ing 55.5% from the field and 43.3% on
3-pointers this season – numbers that
taken in their totality equal a career
year, the kind of stats that earn a player
an All-Star appearance.
His bounce was back, his strength
was back, his shot was back – all the
way back from the devastating injury.
He was one of the NBA’s feel-good sto-
ries, until Saturday when Hayward suf-
fered a broken left hand after running
into San Antonio’s LaMarcus Aldridge.
Hayward had surgery Monday to re-
pair a fourth metacarpal fracture in his
left hand and is expected to miss ap-
proximately six weeks.
Hayward should come back as the
player he was before the injury.
Still, the injury robbed Hayward of a
joyous season. After all of the arduous
rehab and the frustration of not return-
ing to who he was on the court faster
than he wanted, Hayward was off to a
great start. Not just All-Star level, but
high-end All-Star. And this injury could
cost him an All-Star spot.
“I just told him to keep his head up,”
Stevens told reporters after Boston’s
victory against San Antonio. “At the end
of the day, that’s all you can do. He’sworked hard. He’ll be in good shape.
He’ll keep himself in good shape, and
he’ll be ready to go when he gets back.”
Yes, it could’ve been worse. It’s not
his knee, ankle or leg. It’s not his shoot-
ing hand, and it’s not a Steph Curry-
type injury that will keep him out for
three months.“This one doesn’t feel nearly as bad
as it did two years ago,” Stevens told re-
porters. “He’ll be back. He’ll be off for a
few weeks or a month or whatever he is.”
Still, the Celtics will miss him. Going
into Tuesday, they were second offen-
sively and eighth defensively, 8-1 and in
first place in Eastern Conference.
On a team with scorers, Hayward had
four 20-point games, including a 39-
point, eight-assist, seven-rebound
game last Tuesday at Cleveland – where
the disastrous injury happened two
years ago.
In the short term, it means more re-
sponsibility for Jayson Tatum and Jay-
len Brown, who are both having strong
seasons, and increased opportunities
for players such as Carsen Edwards,
Semi Ojeleye, Javonte Green, Brad Wan-
amaker and Grant Williams.
The Celtics can manage without Hay-
ward until he returns, at least enough to
stay among the top four in the East.
And it would be wonderful if the All-
Star performances and joy returned
with him.Gordon Hayward was averaging 18.
points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists.
VINCENT CARCHIETTA/USA TODAY SPORTSJeff Zillgitt
Columnist
USA TODAYInjury robs Celtics’ Hayward of joyous start
Bizarre.
That the one word that keeps pop-
ping up when thinking about Dion Wait-
ers and his situation in Miami.
He’s been suspended for a second
time in less than 10 games as he received
a 10-game suspension for “conduct det-
rimental to the team.”
This could easily read that Waiters
has done some major harm to himself.
He had a seizure on a plane flight
from Phoenix to Los Angeles that
stemmed from reportedly ingesting
“THC-infused edibles” or “gummies.”
He’s going to miss out on a $1.2 mil-
lion bonus for not playing at least 70
games.
There are questions only Waiters can
answer. The Heat can put out state-
ments expressing concern – and disap-
pointment – but where does Waiters go
from here?
How will he fit in when returning?
The Heat are having a strong start and
getting solid play out of rookies Ken-
drick Nunn and Tyler Herro at his posi-
tion.
Should Miami look to trade him? If
so, who would take him under these cir-
cumstances?
Bizarre. Just bizarre.
Big 3 battle of 30-point scorers
The top three scorers in today’s NBA
or top three back in 2005-06?
Why ’05-06?
That was the last time three players
averaged 30-plus points in a season as
James Harden, Damian Lillard and Ky-
rie Irving were going into Tuesday.
zHarden – 37.3 ppg (31.1 efficiency).
zLillard – 33.0 ppg (32.1 efficiency).
zIrving – 30.0 ppg (29.6 efficiency).
Who did it in ’05-06?
Kobe Bryant. Allen Iverson. LeBron
James.
zBryant – 35.4 ppg (27.8 efficiency).
zIverson – 33.0 ppg. (26.1 efficiency).
zJames – 31.4 ppg. (29.4 efficiency).
They just did it in a different way in a
different era.
Can’t take anything away from how
skilled today’s players are, but teams
shoot more 3s, have more possessions,
freedom of movement is a point of em-
phasis and hand checking is forbidden.
Bryant, Iverson and James combined
to average 14.4 shots from 3. Harden
alone is averaging 14.4 3-point attempts.
Harden, Lillard and Irving are scoring
at more efficient rate, but who would
you take in a 3-on-3 game?
Seems like a no brainer – Kobe, A.I.
and James – but with the way Harden,
Lillard and Irving can not only shoot
from way out, but get anywhere on the
floor with their handles, this would be
an epic 3-on-3 battle.
Can see it now.
Bryant not wanting to switch off Lil-
lard. Irving and Iverson trading cross-
overs. Who’s checking James? Harden
is the biggest of his three.
Who you got?Next NBA king?Russell Westbrook could very well
average a triple double for a ridiculous
fourth straight season.
He’s delivering 21.9 points, 8.7 re-
bounds and 7.4 assists.
His assists will naturally rise playing
with Harden, but there are three players
who could very well take the triple-dou-
ble crown this season.
Luka Doncic
Numbers:28.3 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 9.1 apg.
Why him?He has the ball in his
hands most of the time, but the guy is
averaging more rebounds than the
much taller Anthony Davis. That’s the
stat to track for him.
LeBron James
Numbers:24.6 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 11 apg.Why him?He’s with much better of-
fensive players in his second season in
Los Angeles, but Davis is going to take
away rebounding opportunities.
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Numbers:29.7 ppg, 14.3 rpg, 6.8 apg.
Why him?Antetokounmpo is han-
dling the ball more and more, which
leads to assist opportunities, but is
more offensive minded than ever.
Looking at these three leads to an-
other question. Who’s the next NBA
king after King James?
Kevin Durant could claim the throne
if he returns close to his elite form from
the Achilles injury.
Kawhi Leonard is the game’s bestright now. Harden is the league’s ulti-
mate scorer.
Antetokounmpo is the reigning MVP,
but Doncic has a seat at this table con-
versation.
Doncic can do it all at a size that
makes him very difficult to stop and
seems to play at the right pace all the
time while Antetokounmpo is perhaps
the league’s most unguardable player
who also competes with unrivaled pas-
sion and fire.
I’m going with Antetokounmpo, but
Doncic is right there.Rankin writes the “Phoenix Suns In-
sider” column for AZCentral.comDuane Rankin
Columnist
AZCentral.com
USA TODAY NETWORKWaiters’ situation just gets more bizarre in Miami
Heat guard Dion Waiters is in the midst of serving a second suspension related
to off the court matters. KIM KLEMENT/USA TODAY SPORTS