Jaden McDaniels’ iron-man streak came to an end Wednesday. The 25 year old missed Minnesota’s home bout with Washington with a left-wrist injury.

That was the first game the wing sat out since Dec. 8, 2023 — nearly two calendar years. The absence snapped a streak of 157-straight regular season games played, the fifth-longest active mark in the NBA.

McDaniels had also played 31 playoff games in that span, pushing his personal total to 188.

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By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER and JOSH BOAK

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the second time in two days, President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would like to appoint Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to chair the Federal Reserve.

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Yet Bessent keeps saying he doesn’t want the job, Trump added, in comments to the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum.

“We’re thinking about him for the Fed, but he wants no part of it, he likes being secretary of the Treasury,” Trump said. “I think we’ll leave him — so let’s cross your name off right, officially, right?”

Trump has been sharply critical of the current Fed chair, Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May, for not cutting interest rates quickly enough. Trump’s pick as a replacement will almost certainly push for rapid interest rate cuts and likely institute wide-ranging changes in how the Fed operates. Bessent earlier this year published extensive criticisms of the Fed’s groundbreaking efforts to shore up financial markets and the economy after the 2008-2009 Great Recession and during the pandemic.

Bessent is heading up the Trump administration’s search for a new Fed chair. Yet despite his protestations, he is also widely seen as a leading potential replacement for Powell.

“He’s a top-tier candidate right now,” Stephen Moore, a senior economic adviser to Trump in his first term, said. Trump “wants to shake things up, so I think he wants an outsider.”

Two of the five candidates Bessent has named are current Fed officials: Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman. The other three would fit the outsider criteria: Kevin Hassett, currently a top White House economic official; Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor who has been highly critical of the Fed; and Rick Rieder, a senior managing director at asset manager BlackRock.

Late Tuesday, in an interview on Fox News with Bret Baier, Bessent said the administration is continuing to interview potential nominees for Fed chair. By mid-December, “the president will meet the final three candidates and hopefully have an answer before Christmas,” Bessent said.

Associated Press Writer Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.

When donors give money to the International Wolf Center on Thursday, they’ll help the Ely, Minn.-based nonprofit make progress toward a $20,000 matching grant, one of any number of incentives that charitable organizations are rolling out to draw contributions on Minnesota’s annual “Give to the Max” Day.

Housing and social service organizations, schools and even a statewide sheriff’s organization have launched their own promotions, hoping to draw eyeballs and dollars to their causes in a one-day digital fundraising push.

Since the inaugural “Give to the Max” event in 2009, nearly one million donors have given more than $355 million to 14,000 nonprofits and schools as part of what’s billed as “Minnesota’s giving holiday,” a day of digital giving organized by fundraising coaches with GiveMN.

Thursday marks the 17th annual “Give to the Max” event, which has broadened in recent years to launch early giving on Nov. 1. More than $37 million was donated last year to 6,556 organizations.

Jenna Ray, the new chief executive officer of GiveMN, plans to host or participate in multiple promotional events throughout the day. Ray will greet visitors from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. at Wildflyer Coffee at 3262 Minnehaha Ave. in Minneapolis, spotlighting its life skills program, which is dedicated to ending youth homelessness.

Ray and GiveMN staff also will be headquartered throughout the day at 550 Vandalia St. in St. Paul, fielding questions from donors for 24 hours straight. The Bond Between — a pet adoption and foster agency formerly known as Secondhand Hounds — is scheduled to bring kittens for a “kitty party” designed to keep staff spirits lively. The event is not open to the public.

Later in the day, Ray will help distribute turkeys at a Minneapolis nonprofit, in partnership with the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association and Second Harvest Heartland. She’ll end the day at MetroNOME Brewery in downtown St. Paul for “Pour It Forward,” an event where breweries donate a percentage of sales to a nonprofit of their choice. MetroNOME will be pouring forward for Theater Latté Da and ComMUSICation, which provides music classes to youth.

For more information, visit GiveMN.org.

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Going into “Wicked” last year, my main concern was the seemingly bloated running time of the first of two stage-to-screen adaptations of the smash Broadway musical. The first film clocked in at roughly the time it would take to see the live show and it was only half of the story.

Some 160 minutes later, I found myself fully immersed in this reimagined world of Oz. It was full of energy and life and I was ready and waiting for my return trip.

But after sitting through a screening of “Wicked: For Good,” which opens in theaters Friday, I couldn’t wait for it to end. It’s dark, gloomy and utterly lacking in mirth. It’s difficult to believe the same team made both movies, which they filmed concurrently. That, plus it’s actually 23 minutes shorter than the first, yet comes across as a seemingly endless slog.

Based on the 1995 novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” the 2003 musical take wowed audiences from the very beginning. It retells the classic tale through the eyes of schoolmates Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) and Galinda Upland (Ariana Grande), a pair of friends/rivals who ultimately become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good.

“Wicked,” the film, offers a series of terrific songs and eye-popping dance sequences that culminate with the show’s signature tune, “Defying Gravity,” the rare modern Broadway number that found success beyond the stage.

“Wicked: For Good,” meanwhile, comes across like a bad hangover, with depressed and depressing characters and situations and one of the bleakest happy endings around.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum at his Jeff Goldblumiest) has transformed the land into an authoritarian state with the help of sorceress Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) and his army of enslaved winged monkeys. Still, Galinda is poised to marry a prince, Fiyero Tigelaar (People magazine’s current Sexiest Man Alive, Jonathan Bailey), a move she hopes will inspire the people of Oz.

As for Elphaba, she’s become public enemy number one thanks to her efforts to free the aforementioned flying monkeys and all of the other animals the Wizard of Oz has attempted to silence.

The second act of a musical should, in theory, build on the strengths of the first and bring the story together in a satisfying and timely manner. “Wicked: For Good” instead drags things out with lengthy and repetitive scenes. The songs aren’t as strong, either, and the two new ones add little to the proceedings.

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While the source material for all of this is definitely not for kids, the musical and the films in particular are marketed toward a wide audience of all ages. But parents should be warned that “Wicked: For Good” may be too dark and mature for some youngsters. At times, it’s even scary. For unknown reasons, director Jon M. Chu somehow makes two sequences of liberation utterly joyless.

Erivo and Grande make the most of what they’ve got. Erivo is a magnetic persona with a magical voice and she shines through the muck. And just like in the first installment, Grande knows her assignment and imbues Galinda with the perfect combination of charm and a deceiving aura of empty headedness. Also, the film’s witty and cutting portrayal of Dorothy Gale offers some much-needed laughs.

But in the end, “Wicked: For Good” squanders its predecessor’s strengths and overstays its welcome. What a disappointment.

‘Wicked: For Good’

Directed by: Jon M. Chu
Starring: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum
Rated: PG for action, thematic material and brief suggestive material
Should you go? You’re better off rewatching the first one. 2 stars.