This Week in U.S. Sports: Drama in Minnesota, a Judge returns and tragedy in Iowa

This week the United States saw an NBA All-Star ask for a trade, a MLB superstar return from injury and tragedy on a golf course.

All the while, the NFL received a stark reminder that racism still exists and is perpetuated across multiple levels of society, even amongst those who educate children.

Here's a look at the week on the American sports landscape.

1. NBA drama has no offseason

Just because the NBA season ends in June and is technically off until the beginning of October, does not mean it will not steal headlines and that is all it did this week with Jimmy Butler spearheading the theft.

The Minnesota Timberwolves guard was rumoured to be meeting with the team early in the week to discuss the future of the franchise. He did indeed meet with them and what immediately came out of said gathering was a trade request.

Butler does not want to play for the Timberwolves and Tom Thibodeau anymore. He wants to go to a big market where he can be the leader of a team so he tabbed the Los Angeles Clippers, Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks as his preferred destinations. He reportedly prefers the Clippers.

The drama does not stop there. First, it was reported Butler finds the Los Angeles Lakers "less appealing" now that LeBron James is there. Second, with rumours swirling around that Andrew Wiggins is one of the reasons Butler does not like the future in Minnesota, Wiggins' brother responded "hallelujah" to news the former Chicago Bulls star wanted to leave the city.

That snowballed into Fox Sports analyst Stephen Jackson saying Wiggins had no heart on Instagram and then the Timberwolves star himself responding and calling the NBA champion a "Bum a**". You cannot make this stuff up. The NBA season does not start until the middle of October.

2. All rise once again for Aaron Judge

New York Yankees All-Star and phenom Aaron Judge finally returned to action this week and his return promptly paid dividends.

He played a couple of matches before he was able to swing a bat again in game action, but once he took the plate against the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday, the Yankees clearly received a boost.

While Judge did not light the world on fire, the Yankees responded by winning their next two games over their arch rivals at home.

Even better for New York, those two wins prevented the Red Sox from locking up the American League East title.

At this point, it is a foregone conclusion that Boston win said title, but the Yankees are happy to prevent them from clinching on their home field.

3. Grace under fire

Deshaun Watson had a tough moment on Sunday when he ran the clock out on the final play of the game in a loss to the Tennessee Titans, but he did not deserve to take a racist shot for his mistake.

That is exactly what he got though as news broke on Tuesday that Lynn Redden – a superintendent of a school district 100 miles north of Houston – posted a Facebook comment saying "you can't count on a black quarterback."

Redden has since "apologised" for the statement, but his words were condemned by Houston Texans head coach Bill O'Brien.

"In this day and age, it's just amazing that BS exists. But it does. We're moving forward," O'Brien said. "And our fans, they love Deshaun and we're really concentrating on the [New York] Giants, but I feel like I've wasted about a minute and a half responding to that BS."

Watson responded to the comment as well.

"May peace be with him," he said. "I'm not worried about what he had to say."

4. A tragedy in Iowa

The United States sporting world was shocked when they discovered on Monday that Celia Barquin Arozamena – a Spanish golfer playing for the Iowa State Cyclones – had been murdered on a golf course in Ames, Iowa.

Arozamena was playing nine holes at Coldwater Golf Links in Iowa when she was allegedly assaulted and stabbed multiple times in the neck and torso.

Arozamena was a top amateur golfer for the Lady Cyclones and won the 2018 Big 12 Championship. Her suspected killer, Collin Daniel Richards, 22, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

"Losing one of our student-athletes is like losing a child," Jamie Pollard, the athletic director at Iowa State, said on Tuesday. "Celia was the victim of a senseless, random act by a stranger in the middle of broad daylight playing something she loved."

A memorial fund has been set up by Iowa State for Arozamena's family.

5. Pittsburgh reeling

The Pittsburgh Steelers cannot seem to figure it out. While they are just two weeks into the season, nothing has gone right in Pittsburgh as the team have started the year 0-1-1.

Le'Veon Bell continues to hold out, but he was not the most dramatic part of the Steelers this week.

Antonio Brown got into a fight with a coach on the sideline and responded to a critical tweet which claimed he was nothing without quarterback Ben Roethlisberger by saying, "Trade me let's find out."

Brown then missed a team meeting on Monday which resulted in punishment handed out by head coach Mike Tomlin.

But winning fixes everything so all could be right with the world if the Steelers beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday.