Greg Cote: NFL Draft Week, Heat/Cats playoffs, Ronaldo offends Saudis & more in new Hot Button Top 10

GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (APRIL 23): WHAT IN SPORTS HAS GRABBED US LATELY: Our Sunday Hot Button Top 10 feature had been blog-only but with our blog now retired it moved, re-imagined, to online-only. HB10 means what’s on our minds, locally and nationally, but from a Miami perspective and accentuating stuff that’s major, offbeat, damnable, funny or worth needling as the sports week just past pivots to the week ahead. Welcome to the lucky 13th edition of the new HB10:

1. NBA: Giannis? Jimmy? Heat up 2-1 on Bucks, but injuries will tell from here: An 8-beats-1 shocker is in the offing with Miami’s 121-99 home win and 2-1 series lead Saturday night. But still early for such talk. Too many injuries muddying the outlook. Will Giannis Antetokounmpo return for Game 4 Monday? (Is Milwaukee desperate enough to force the issue?) Will Jimmy Butler’s tweaked ankle leave him less than 100 percent? How does Victor Oladipo’s injury lessen Miami’s ability to compensate for Tyler Herro’s Lots of moving parts but this bottom line: Heat has given itself a chance.

2. NHL: Barkov? Goalie? Panthers face virtual must-win needing answers: The 4-2 home loss for a 2-1 series hole finds Florida needing a breakthrough by star Aleksander Barkov, who has only four shots and no goals in three games. And the Panthers subbed out hot-hand goaltender Alex Lyon for veteran Sergei Bobrovsky Friday night. Cats need more Barkov and great net-minding from somebody in Game 4 at home Sunday afternoon or its all but done against mighty Boston. Because three wins in a row -- two in Beantown -- ain’t a-gonna happen.

3. NFL: Draft Week means yawns (and distraction) in Miami: Kansas City is ready for a party and NFL fans are swooning over a QB-heavy draft fronted by Alabama’s Bryce Young in Thursday’s first round. In Miami we’re stifling yawns. And distracted. This will be the Fins’ 58th draft and only the second with as few as four total picks. The other was last year. This will be the 11th time and second straight year Miami has had no first-round pick, which previously hadn’t happened since 2003. Anybody excited who the Dolphins might get with the 51st pick in the second round? Too busy with Heat and Panthers playoff runs to much care.

4. SOCCER: Could Saudis deport Ronaldo over offensive gesture?: A female Saudi lawyer has called for Cristiano Ronaldo to be expelled from the country for an insulting, vulgar gesture directed to fans after Al Nassr’s 2-0 loss to Al-Hilal this week. A video on social media Ronaldo, 38, grabbing and holding his crotch in response to fans chanting the name of bitter rival Lionel Messi. “Public dishonor or indecency” is a crime in Saudi Arabia punishable by arrest and deportation if committed by a foreigner, and the lawyer sees it as applicable.

5. DUMBASS ATHLETES: Lions lead NFL gambling suspensions: Four Detroit Lions including last year’s No. 1 draft pick Jameson Williams were among five players suspended for gambling by the NFL. Williams and Stanley Berryhill got six-game bans. Quintez Cephus and C.J. Moore received indefinite suspensions and quickly were waived. Washington’s Shaka Toney also is banned for at least the ‘23 season. Warnings against gambling on NFL games are noticeable in every lockerroom.

6. NFL: Hurts so good: Pressure mounts on Jackson, Ravens to make deal: Jalen Hurts’ record QB deal with Philly should have moved the Lamar Jackson/Baltimore situation off its stalemate. The Eagles extended Hurts on a five-year contract worth $255 million with $179.3 million guaranteed, making him the highest-paid player in NFL history. NFL Network’s Ian Rappaport has reported the Ravens previously offered L-Jack $250 million total with $200 million guaranteed. If Rappaport is right and Jackson -- serving as his own agent -- turned that down, well, he has a bad agent. The Hurts deal should be a template for Baltimore and its reluctant QB to get this done already.

7. HURRICANES: UM QB hints move over NIL $$$, changes mind: Canes quarterback Tyler Van Dyke reportedly was frustrated he wasn’t getting enough NIL money, with Alabama said to be interested in swooping in. Then stuff happened behind the scenes, evidently. Then suddenly UM football tweets out a photo of the QB captioned “100% Cane,” and TVD retweets it. So all is well? Kumbaya? This is what it’s come to in college sports in the era of Name, Image, Likeness money and the threat of the transfer portal. It’s unseemly, but oh well. P.s., the media (most notably my own newspaper) should please quit sating with publicity the attention-seeking UM booster who is the Canes’ out-front NIL sugar daddy. Thank you.

8. DOLPHINS: Tua says he briefly pondered retirement: Wait, was this news? If you have two or three concussions in one season and you don’t consider retiring it means you aren’t thinking clearly perhaps due to those concussions. “Yeah, I considered it for a time,” Tua Tagovailoa said. “It would be hard for me to walk away from this game with how old I am (25), with my son. I always dreamed of playing as long as I could to where my son knew exactly what he was watching his dad do. I love the game of football.” Tua has been working on safer landings. “I’ve been falling a lot this offseason,” he said.

9. MLB: Tatis Jr. back from purgatory of his own making: Fernando Tatis Jr. returned from an 18-month exile of his own doing with an 0-for-5, two-strikeout performance for the San Diego Padres. Tatis last played in 2021, the season that began with a 14-year, $340 million extension. What followed: A motorcycle accident, then a wrist injury that sidelined him five months, then a test-positive for steroids and an 80-game MLB suspension. Tainted, the booing he’ll hear earned, he’s back. As for the idea his early career maybe suggested a Hall of Fame possibility ... that’s moot now.

10. NFL: Damar Hamlin comeback from near-death is now official: The Bills safety suffered cardiac arrest and nearly died on the football field 3 1./2 months ago. This week NFL medics fully cleared his return for the coming season. The news is another shocking defeat for conspiracy theorists who believed Hamlin had died and was being portrayed publicly by a body-double or perhaps a hologram. Beleaguered crackpots have now turned attention to Internet reports that John Lennon has returned to life and is now managing an In-N-Out Burger in La Jolla.

Other most recent stuff from me: Heat beat Bucks with Butler --and without him -- for 2-1 series lead / Where’s Barkov? Panthers looking for answers after 4-2 loss, 2-1 series hole / Heat, Panthers both head home 1-1, but one is soaring, one is reeling / Panthers take 3-1 Game 1 hit at mighty Boston; panic-time already? / Giannis out or not, Heat Game 1 win was Butler-led tour de force by Miami / Previous Hot Button Top 10 from last Sunday / And my latest podcast: