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In this week’s episode of Slate’s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, Gene Demby and Stefan Fatsis are joined by Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star to discuss the upcoming NBA finals between the Toronto Raptors and the Golden State Warriors. Lindsay Gibbs of ThinkProgress and the Athletic breaks down the start of a WNBA season featuring new stars, missing stars, and a looming labor fight. Finally, sportswriter Howard Bryant discusses Marcus Stroman, Tim Anderson, and the history of policing black players in Major League Baseball.

Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned on the show:

• Follow Gene Demby on Twitter.

• Follow Bruce Arthur on Twitter and read his column after the Raptors defeated the Milwaukee Bucks to win the Eastern Conference championship.

• FiveThirtyEighty says the Raptors are a 55 percent favorite to beat the Warriors.

• Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry say the Warriors are not better without Durant.

• Follow Lindsay Gibbs on Twitter and subscribe to her podcast about women’s sports, Burn It All Down.

• Read Lindsay in ThinkProgress on female athletes exerting leverage and in the Athletic on Liz Cambage engineering a trade to Las Vegas.

• The WNBA is paying injured star Breanna Stewart to be a league “ambassador.”

• In the Ringer, Michael Baumann wrote that the WNBA is at a crossroads.

• Follow Howard Bryant on Twitter; buy his latest book, The Heritage; and read his Twitter thread on policing black players in baseball.

• Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora criticized Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman for “competing a certain way.”

• Stroman defended Chicago White Sox outfielder Tim Anderson after Anderson was suspended for calling a white pitcher who threw at a him a “weak-ass f—— n—–.”

• Read Stephanie Apstein’s profile of Anderson in Sports Illustrated.

• In the New York Daily News, Louis Moore wrote that Anderson is “fighting for black autonomy.”

Hang Up and Listen’s weekly Uncle Dennises:

Stefan’s Uncle Dennis: On Bill Buckner, who died Monday at age 69.

On this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Gene and Stefan talk to Lindsay Gibbs about hiring only women to cover women’s sports.

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Danielle Hewitt.

You can email us at hangup@slate.com.