Happy Friday and welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon roundup of Puck’s best new reporting.

First up today, John Ourand digs into the NBA’s explosive “insider trading scandal” following the arrests of Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Damon Jones, and Portland Trailblazers head coach Chauncey Billups. Despite the screaming headlines yesterday, most sports media executives remain unfazed. Are incidents like this simply an unfortunate inevitability as sports betting becomes ingrained in the culture?

Plus, below the fold: Leigh Ann Caldwell chats with South Dakota Republican Sen. Mike Rounds about Congress’s A.I. misadventures, the latest shutdown chatter, and his waning confidence in Pete Hegseth. And exclusively for Inner Circle members, Lauren Sherman reveals the likely buyer for Marc Jacobs as LVMH prepares to offload the storied brand.

Meanwhile, on the pods: Dylan Byers and Julia Alexander reunite on The Grill Room to chew over The New York Times’s foray into shortform video content. On Impolitic, John Heilemann is joined by Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna to scrutinize Trump’s $230 million demand from the Justice Department. On Fashion People, Lauren sits down with the Times’s Jacob Gallagher to discuss Grace Wales Bonner’s historic Hermès appointment, and chats with multihyphenate Molly Sims about building a career in Hollywood. And on The Powers That Be, Peter Hamby rings up Bill Cohan to assess how David Zaslav is navigating the deal heat surrounding WBD.

SPORTS

Despite the screaming headlines about the Rozier–Billups nightmare, grizzled sports media executives are more sanguine in private—recognizing that sports betting isn’t only an irreversible trend but also an increasingly central part of the economic future of the industry.

WASHINGTON

The South Dakota senator dishes on A.I. policy, as well as the latest on the government shutdown, and whether Pete Hegseth should go.

FASHION

After not knowing what to do with Marc Jacobs, LVMH is finally unloading the brand. The likely winner? Jamie Salter’s ABG, a license-first asset flipper that recently took to acquiring real businesses.

MEDIA

Julia and Dylan debrief this week’s most pressing headlines and trends in the media business: the chatter swirling around David Zaslav’s potential sale of WBD, the New York Times’ plunge into short-form video as it takes aim at TikTok and Instagram, YouTube’s next big pivot, and much more.

WASHINGTON

John welcomes California Democratic congressman Ro Khanna to discuss a raft of headlines this week—from Donald Trump seeking $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for its past investigations of him to his demolition of the East Wing of the White House to make space for a 90,000-square-foot ballroom—that bolster Khanna’s argument that Trump and the G.O.P. majority are running a government “of, by, and for the billionaires.”

FASHION

Lauren’s guest is supermodel, actress, podcaster, and YSE Beauty founder Molly Sims. They chat about everything from Molly’s early experiences modeling to building a career in Hollywood, and plenty more. It’s fun. Up top, the Times’s Jacob Gallagher also joins Lauren to discuss Grace Wales Bonner’s appointment as creative director of menswear at Hermès.

WALL STREET

Bill Cohan joins Peter to break down how David Zaslav is navigating the deal heat surrounding Warner Bros. Discovery, as suitors line up and Paramount’s David Ellison continues jacking up the price of his offer. Bill also weighs in on the mounting recession jitters, and why we might finally be due for a market crash.

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