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⚽️ U.S. heads for the knockouts

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images The pressure ratchets up significantly for the U.S. men's soccer team tonight in its quest to make a historic World Cup run on American soil, Axios' Bob Gee writes. The U.S. faces Bosnia-Herzegovina in Santa Clara, Calif., in the round of 32 (8 p.m. ET, Fox). 🇧🇦 Bosnia is the lowest-ranked European team in the tournament. It's on par with Australia, a team the U.S. beat 2-0 during the group stage. 😱 Yes, but: The Americans have lost to the last 10 European opponents they've faced — a streak dating back to a 3-1 defeat to the Netherlands in the first knockout round of the last World Cup. One big plus: USMNT's star attacker Christian Pulisic, hobbled earlier with a calf injury, says he's good to go tonight. Go deeper.

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👋 Good morning! How is it already July? Wheeling and dealing: There was a flurry of moves on Tuesday as NBA free agency officially got underway. Follow along with all the action on our live tracker. In today's edition: LeBron's leaving L.A., Kawhi's returning to Toronto, the USMNT's knockout round journey begins, Mbappé and Haaland strike again, Serena's comeback falls short, the Liberty win the Cup, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports...

🚨 ICYMI HEADLINES 🏀 Kawhi returns to Canada: The Raptors are bringing Kawhi Leonard back for a second stint in Toronto, sending Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, four draft picks and a pick-swap to the Clippers for the player who led them to their first and only title back in 2019. 🎾 Shelton stunned: No. 4 Ben Shelton, the top-ranked American man at Wimbledon, is out after his first match, losing Tuesday's five-set marathon to Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen. ⚾️ Caminero joins Derby: Rays 3B Junior Caminero is the first player to confirm his participation in the eight-player Home Run Derby, coming July 13 in Philadelphia. The young star is historically hot right now, hitting eight homers in his last seven games. ⚖️ Trans ban upheld: The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld state laws in West Virginia and Idaho that ban transgender individuals from competing in women's sports. SCOTUS also unanimously ruled that transgender bans in sports are not a violation of Title IX. ⚾️ Benches clear in Boston: The Red Sox and Nationals brawled on Tuesday at Fenway Park after some post-strikeout chirping in the fourth inning between Sox 1B Willson Contreras and Nats pitcher Cade Cavalli led to the benches clearing. Contreras was ejected, while Cavalli remained in the game and had the last laugh with a career-high 13 Ks in an 8-1 win.

🏀 KING JAMES THE END OF AN ERA (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) LeBron James will indeed return for a 24th NBA season. But for the first time since 2018 he won't be playing for the Lakers, informing the team on Tuesday that his next — and, let's be honest, final — chapter will not be with the Purple and Gold. Thanks, but no thanks: The Lakers, who already have Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves signed to max deals, reportedly told James they wanted him back. Instead, the 41-year-old has opted for unrestricted free agency, where he'll be making a "happiness-led decision," according to ESPN's Shams Charania. "Wherever he lands … it will not be driven by money." Closing the book on Hollywood: The King had already cemented his legacy as one of the greatest to ever play the game even before joining the Lakers in 2018. Then he put together an eight-year run in L.A. — from his age-34 to age-41 seasons — that would have been Hall of Fame worthy on its own merits. He averaged 25.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.9 assists before closing out his time in Los Angeles with a 23-7-7 across 10 postseason games as the best player and first option on a team that won a playoff series. And again, he did that at 41. He won the 2020 NBA Championship and Finals MVP, broke the league's all-time scoring record, made seven All-NBA teams and had three top-10 MVP finishes. He had more triple-doubles as a Laker (52) than all but 11 other players in NBA history have had, period. Oh yea, and he stuck around long enough to play alongside his son Bronny, making them the first father-son duo ever to play in the NBA together. What a treat it's been watching him these last eight years; what a treat it will be to keep watching him at least one more. Where will he land? Not since 2010's "Decision" has LeBron's future been so uncertain. We had an inkling in 2014 that he'd return to Cleveland, and all signs pointed to the Lakers in 2018. How about now? The Warriors appear to be the favorites to land his services (-500 at DraftKings), and though their combined age might limit their success, I can think of worse things than watching a reunion of Steph and LeBron's romp through the 2024 Olympics. The Cavaliers, of course, would make a ton of sense, and trail only Golden State among his most likely landing spots (+300). A retirement tour back where it all began on a team that's already a serious title contender? Why not. A return to Miami (+1000) alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo? A trip to San Antonio (+2000) alongside Victor Wembanyama? A box-office-breaking journey to join the defending champions (+3000) in the Big Apple? All plausible enough. We'll just have to wait and see. Go deeper: The LeBron James era is over for the Lakers — and it'll be a tough act to follow (Ben Rohrbach, Yahoo Sports)

⚽️ ROUND OF 32 CHARTING THE USMNT'S WORLD CUP PATH (Henry Russell/Yahoo Sports) The USMNT's knockout round journey begins tonight against Bosnia and Herzegovina (8pm ET, Fox). And though the Stars and Stripes have rarely succeeded in World Cup elimination games, American soccer has evolved beyond treating a group stage escape as a moral victory. So how far could they go? And what, exactly, might their path to the promised land look like? Jay Busbee, Yahoo Sports: The United States has won exactly one (1) knockout match in all of World Cup history. Think about that for a second. While Brazil and Argentina and Germany and France are stacking up titles, America spends every fourth year getting spanked the moment it ventures out of the warm confines of the group stage. Every World Cup, we tell ourselves it's going to be different, and every World Cup, we're sent off to bed hours before the big kids. This year, though, it's really going to be different. The USMNT is coming into the knockout stage riding two victories and a loss with a built-in excuse (we were resting our best, of course). With the apparently elusive combination of talented players and a manager who knows how to get the best out of them , the United States is as well-positioned as any in World Cup history to make a deep run. How deep? Well, now that's the real question, isn't it? Mbappé is unstoppable right now. (Al Bello/Getty Images) Tuesday scoreboard: France, Norway and Mexico advanced on Tuesday, joining Canada, Brazil, Paraguay, and Morocco in the Round of 16. France 3, Sweden 0: Kylian Mbappé lengthened his prolific goalscoring résumé, adding a brace in a decisive win over Sweden. He now owns the record for most knockout-round goals in World Cup history (nine), and though his six goals this tournament are level with Lionel Messi, Mbappé's two assists give him the Golden Boot advantage... for now. Norway 2, Ivory Coast 1: Erling Haaland (who else?) scored an 86th-minute winner — his fifth goal of the tournament — to send Norway through, while team captain Martin Ødegaard became the first player since 2010 to record an assist in three straight World Cup matches. Mexico 2, Ecuador 0: El Tri remained perfect, rattling off their fourth consecutive shutout win — and first knockout stage victory in 40 years — thanks to first-half goals from Julián Quiñones and Raul Jiménez. Next up is a date with the winner of today's England-DR Congo match at Estadio Azteca, which carries one of the best home-field advantages in the sport.

🎾 WIMBLEDON SERENA'S COMEBACK WAS BEAUTIFUL, AND PROBABLY IMPOSSIBLE (Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images) It isn't terribly surprising that Serena Williams' first singles match in four years ended in defeat, falling in three sets on Tuesday to 20-year-old Maya Joint. But it was thrilling to watch as she tried to beat the impossible; and because she's Serena, she nearly pulled it off. Dan Wolken, Yahoo Sports: After 2 hours, 22 minutes of tennis that both breathed life into Williams' comeback and exposed how much more limited she is four years after we last saw her on a singles court, it was hard to tell whether this was the beginning of a new chapter or an attempt to author a different end. Maya Joint, who is so young at age 20 that she wasn't even born for Williams' first two Wimbledon titles, seemed slightly shocked and significantly relieved when Williams' final groundstroke landed long of the baseline to finally give her a 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 victory. But the reality of what unfolded Tuesday wasn't surprising at all. Williams, as expected, can still hit aces and can still trade shots from the middle of the court. What she can't do, at least not with the effectiveness necessary to compete consistently against the best players in the world, is make multiple direction changes within a point. She can't go for winners to shorten points without making a multitude of errors. She can't hold up physically deep into a third set against an opponent with younger legs. Such is Williams' aura on a tennis court, however, that the mind wonders: Would she have been able to do those things if she had a series of matches under her belt rather than jumping back into singles competition at Wimbledon? Is she really that far away from being able to win matches at the highest level? With a little more fitness, a little more competition, would she round back into the kind of form that carried her to Grand Slam semifinals in 2020 and 2021? It might be best for Serena to let the mystery be.

💯 DOLLARS AND CENTS BIG NUMBERS (Mike Lawrence/NBAE via Getty Images) Today's edition of Big Numbers features exclusively monetary values. What can I say, Yahoo Sports Biz has rubbed off on me.   🏀 $500,000   The Liberty won their second Commissioner's Cup on Tuesday, beating the Aces, 93-85, to claim the lion's share of the $500,000 prize pool awarded for the WNBA's sixth annual in-season tournament. New York is now the first two-time Cup winner, and they also get a small measure of revenge for Vegas' victory over them in the 2023 WNBA Finals.   Payouts: Each member of the Liberty takes home $30,000 and each member of the Aces gets $10,000. New York's Breanna Stewart earned an additional $10,000 for winning MVP after dropping 25 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists, and the remaining $10,000 will be donated to a charity of the Liberty's choosing.   ⚾️ $1.19M   Happy Bobby Bonilla Day! Today, as with every July 1 from 2011 through 2035, former 16-year MLB veteran Bobby Bonilla will receive a check from the Mets for $1,193,248.20. It's part of a deferred payment plan the two sides agreed upon in 1999, transforming the $5.9 million left on his contract into a ~$30 million payout broken into 25 annual installments. And get this: It's not his only such payment! He also receives $500,000 annually (2004-28) from the Orioles.   All jokes aside: It's easy to consider Bonilla as little more than a meme, but he was once a legitimately good player, making six All-Star teams while smacking 287 career home runs with an .829 lifetime OPS. His peak came with the Pirates from 1988-91, when he averaged 4.5 WAR per season, won three Silver Sluggers and twice finished in the top three for NL MVP.   🥍 $100M   The Premier Lacrosse League announced on Tuesday that it has closed a $100 million Series E funding round led by Ares Management and Joe Tsai, owner of the Nets and Liberty. It's the largest capital raise in the history of professional lacrosse, and will help the sport prepare for what should be a major inflection point at the 2028 Summer Games, when it returns as an official Olympic event for the first time since 1908.   What they're saying: "This is a critical window of opportunity for our company, and lacrosse," PLL co-founder and president Paul Rabil told Yahoo Sports. "This capital will help accelerate that run." Specifically, these funds will be used to expand media distribution and original storytelling while also growing sponsorship and commercial partnerships, with the goal of eventually cracking $100 million in annual revenue.

📺 VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: WEDNESDAY, JULY 1 (Yahoo Sports) ⚽️ World Cup, Round of 32   The USMNT begins its knockout-round journey tonight in Santa Clara (8pm ET, Fox), where the Americans face Bosnia and Herzegovina with the daunting task of winning their first match against a European opponent in five years — a streak of 10 consecutive losses.   Elsewhere: England take on DR Congo in Atlanta (12pm, Fox) hoping to avoid another devastating exit. Then it's Belgium vs. Senegal in Seattle (4pm, FS1), whose winner will advance to face the winner of USA-Bosnia.   More to watch: 🎾 Wimbledon: Day 3 (6am, ESPN/ESPN+) … The second round gets underway with matches for No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka (8am), No. 1 Jannik Sinner (8:30am), No. 7 Coco Gauff (9:10am), No. 7 Novak Djokovic (11:20am), and more. ⚾️ MLB: Reds at Brewers (8pm, ESPN) … The first-place Brewers (52-31) host the last-place Reds (39-45). Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city.

🏆 FILL IN THE BLANKS WORLD CUP TRIVIA (Yahoo Sports) Just eight nations have won the World Cup, including two who've one exactly once. Question: Can you name those two one-time winners missing from the graphic above? Hint: One this century, one last. Answer at the bottom.

🏟️ WORLD CUP VENUES HASTA LUEGO, MONTERREY (Hector Vivas/Getty Images) Monterrey Stadium hosted its fourth and final match of the World Cup on Monday, as fans bade farewell to the iconically picturesque venue in northeastern Mexico. The Steel Giant: Nicknamed El Gigante de Acero ("The Steel Giant"), the 11-year-old venue is famous for its stunning views of the Cerro de la Silla, a natural monument that is part of the foothills system of the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range. Looking ahead: With Monterrey's slate now complete, and Guadalajara's ending last week, just three non-U.S. venues have any matches left in this World Cup. Toronto's BMO Field hosts one more (July 2), Vancouver's BC Place hosts two more (July 2, July 7), and Mexico City's Estadio Azteca hosts one more (July 5).

Trivia answer: England (1966) and Spain (2010)