The 2025-26 NBA regular season officially came to a close on Sunday night. It means the playoff bracket is set, and it also means a good chunk of June’s draft order is locked in place. So, what do we know now?
The lottery slots and odds for the five worst teams in each conference. While the lottery itself will not come until May, the Bucks, Bulls, Wizards, Nets, Pacers, Grizzlies, Mavericks, Jazz, Kings and Hawks (via Pelicans) all know where they’ll start on lottery night. The Wizards secured the worst record in the league. Washington has a 14% chance at the No. 1 overall pick and will pick no lower than fifth in June.
The top-six playoff seeds in each conference all locked into place as well as none of the top six in either conference have a worse record than a Play-In team in the other conference.
The eight Play-In teams will slot somewhere between No. 11 and No. 18, with the four Play-In losers joining the lottery pool in reverse order of record while the four winners will pick between No. 15 and No. 18 in reverse order of their records.
When two or more lottery teams are tied, they divide the cumulative lottery odds between their two slots and hold a random drawing to determine whose slot, and therefore pick floor, is higher. When two or more non-lottery teams are tied, the drawing determines which of the two will select first
So where does that leave us? Below is the NBA Draft order as of now, with the final order coming after the lottery on May 10.
Note: All tiebreakers are determined via a random drawing that is set to be held later in April.
*The Hawks will receive the higher pick between the Pelicans and Bucks. If the Bucks give their pick to the Hawks, they will receive the Pelicans’ spot in the lottery.
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On a number of levels, 2026 stands to be one of the most significant NBA Drafts in recent memory. The 2026 class is considered one of the strongest in league history, with prospects like AJ Dybantsa, Cameron Boozer and Darryn Peterson pegged as future stars since their high school days and later risers like Darius Acuff and Caleb WIlson making similar cases for themselves throughout their lone collegiate seasons.
Meanwhile, the 2027 and 2028 draft classes aren’t nearly as highly regarded. If you want to get an impact player in the draft, now seems to be the time to do it. Even if those classes were stronger, the NBA is poised to institute significant draft reform this offseason due to the tanking epidemic that has swept through the league this season, with many of those lottery teams seemingly built around intentional losing for the sake of draft position. That may not be an option moving forward, so with the 2026 draft still coming, let’s look at what this draft means for the 10 teams we know to be in the lottery.
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What’s at stake in the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery?
In addition to the circumstantial stakes at play in June’s draft, each individual team in the mix is relying on a lucky lottery night for specific reasons related to their roster-build:
The Pacers took an enormous risk when they traded their top-four protected 2026 first-round pick in a package for Ivica Zubac. With Tyrese Haliburton coming back, the Pacers likely won’t have another shot at a high draft pick for a long time. However, having lost Myles Turner in free agency, the Pacers needed to spend big to get a suitable replacement at center. The Zubac trade was their attempt at splitting the difference. If the pick lands in the top four, they get the best of both worlds: a high-end center and a top rookie. That sort of high-risk, high-reward approach will probably be necessary to keep up with asset-rich contenders like the Thunder and Spurs, but the risk is significant. If they don’t get a major contributor on a cheap rookie deal here and now, it may make maintaining an affordable contender impossible in the years to come.
The Nets don’t control their 2027 first-round pick. They gave Houston the right to swap with them as part of the James Harden trade in 2021. They got control of their 2025 and 2026 picks back in a follow-up deal with Houston, but couldn’t secure all three choices. The Nets surely don’t plan to still be bad in 2028, so an extended tank is out. Their 2025 picks have shown promise, but none look like obvious franchise players yet. That makes 2026 potentially their last chance in the near future to secure a cornerstone in the draft. If they can’t do it, their entire rebuilding plan likely changes, and significantly more pressure falls on general manager Sean Marks for initiating this tank in the first place.
The Wizards just traded for Anthony Davis and Trae Young. They plan to try to win next season, but even though they’ve now spent three seasons in the lottery, they haven’t landed a surefire future star yet. Alex Sarr is probably the best of their youngsters, but at least for now, he seems more like a supporting piece than a franchise player. The Wizards traded Bradley Beal to kickstart a rebuild in part because they were sick of being stuck in the middle. If they don’t get a top pick here and now, that might be where they’re headed again.
The Kings didn’t even plan to rebuild. When they acquired Zach LaVine in the De’Aaron Fox trade, they signaled an intent to remain competitive. They obviously didn’t, so now they’re kicking off this rebuild at a deficit. They could’ve gotten more for Fox and focused more on draft position last season, but didn’t, so at this stage, there isn’t a player on this roster who seems equipped to be even a top-three option on a contender, much less a true cornerstone. With lottery changes coming, it’s going to be significantly harder for them to accumulate high draft picks and young talent as some of their tanking peers have. That makes getting this pick right all the more important.
The Jazz owe a top-eight protected pick to the Thunder from the Derrick Favors cap dump in 2020. The odds are overwhelmingly in their favor. They have a better than 99% chance at keeping the pick thanks to their aggressive tanking. Still, with multiple 2027 picks traded for Jaren Jackson Jr., this is going to be their last shot at adding another key piece through the draft for the foreseeable future. Between Jackson, Lauri Markkanen, Keyonte George and Ace Bailey, Utah has the foundation of a good team. But they had a good team with Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert and chose to break it up. They’re going for great, and a top pick is their best chance at getting there.
The Mavericks saw last spring what an enormous difference a single lottery could make when a jump from No. 11 to No. 1 netted them Cooper Flagg and saved them from years of post-Luka Dončić misery. But getting Flagg alone is not enough to make Dallas a long-term contender. They need a young co-star for him, and this is perhaps their only chance to do so during Flagg’s rookie deal. The Mavericks do not control their own first-round pick again until 2031. Some of those picks have light protections, but with Flagg in place, those protections are unlikely to save them. It may be now or never if they hope to seriously compete with the Thunder and Spurs in the Western Conference.
The Grizzlies kicked off their rebuild by trading Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. within the past year. They did well in those trades, but the timing was less than ideal. Most teams that trade two players like that expect to spend multiple years accumulating young talent in the lottery, but with these lottery reforms coming, the Grizzlies may not get the same chances that prior rebuilders did. That makes getting lucky this year that much more important. The Grizzlies are very good at drafting and developing good players, but the entire premise of their last contender rested on their highest draft pick, Ja Morant, playing at an All-NBA level. It hasn’t panned out, but there’s a level of talent that simply is not accessible outside of the top few slots, and given the difficulties the Grizzlies have had convincing veterans to come to Memphis, drafting that sort of player is their only real avenue to acquiring one.
The Hawks spent most of this year expecting to get a top pick out of last year’s draft night trade with the Pelicans. New Orleans had the worst record in the NBA as late as Jan. 26, but surged up the standings with no incentive to lose over the final months of the season. Atlanta will have two chances to move up, as this pick includes swap rights with the Bucks, but the odds are much lower than they were around the trade deadline, when Atlanta could have shopped this pick for just about anyone on the trade market if they’d wanted to. Now they’ll need a bit of luck to justify their caution.
The Bulls, who recently cleared house in the front office, have spent the past several years in a purgatory of their own making. The whole basketball world told them to tear down the roster years ago and take advantage of the years of strong draft classes to come. Well, they didn’t. They hovered around the Play-In Tournament far too long and finally moved their veterans at this year’s deadline. They can’t recoup the asset value they wasted by delaying those trades, but a lucky lottery could at least justify their perpetual hunt for the No. 10 seed. The last two lottery winners have been Play-In teams, so maybe their delayed tank pays off.
The Bucks, on multiple levels, need more luck than anyone. They’ve dug themselves an enormous hole in trying to convince Giannis Antetokounmpo to stay long-term. They’re now mostly devoid of future draft capital and their cap sheet is a mess. They’ll have a pick in this year’s lottery, but they need two long shots to hit if they’re getting a top choice. Remember, the Hawks, via the Pelicans, get the higher pick between New Orleans and Milwaukee. The Bucks get the lower one. That means Milwaukee can’t pick No. 1 and would need both choices to move into the top four to actually move up. That would be about as miraculous an outcome as the lottery has ever produced, and a miracle is what they’ll need to salvage the Antetokounmpo era.
As we covered, the Hawks and Mavericks won the last two lotteries from the Play-In Tournament. That means we’ll have four more participants when the dust settles, and those teams can’t be ruled out either. We’ll cover those teams when we know who they are. For now, we wait for what might be the most important lottery in NBA history.
Indian cricketer Jemimah Rodrigues spoke about the motivation driving the team as they gear up for the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, following their historic triumph in the 50-over tournament at home last year. Speaking at the IISM Degree Distribution Ceremony 2026, Jemimah, alongside head coach Amol Muzumdar, expressed the team’s desire to build on their recent success. “I think it’s a bit of motivation now. Since we’ve won one, we want to win two,” Jemimah said as quoted by ICC.
The team’s preparation for the next World Cup, according to Jemimah, has been long and steady.
“Our preparation has been strong. It didn’t just begin after the squad announcement. Right after the 2025 World Cup, during our first series against Sri Lanka, coach Amol Muzumdar told us, ‘This is where we start for the next World Cup.’ So we’ve been preparing from day one,” Jemimah shared, highlighting the importance of early and consistent training.
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Jemimah also lauded Nandani, a player who has emerged as a key figure for the team. “Nandani has been fantastic for us,” Jemimah remarked. “She proved herself not just in one game, but consistently across matches. With the experience in this squad, we’re confident she’ll flourish on the big stage.”
As the Indian team continues their preparations, the confidence in their squad’s ability, leadership under Muzumdar, and the presence of rising stars like Nandani suggest they are more focused than ever on achieving even greater success at the global level.
Amanjot has been a key figure in India’s white-ball setup and played a crucial role in their 2025 triumph, making her absence in the UK a big blow, particularly given her value as a seam-bowling all-rounder.
“She is injured, and it is very difficult to replace somebody like Amanjot. She has been doing consistently well for India,” Muzumdar said, a sentiment that was also echoed by India captain Harmanpreet Kaur in the press conference after the squad announcement.
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“We will miss her for sure, but injuries are part of the game, and she has had a bad one, and she will be out of cricket for at least 4-5 months. I hope she recovers well and comes back stronger. She is difficult to replace, but that is the way it goes,” he added.
Placed in Group A alongside Australia, Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against Pakistan on 14 June.
India squad for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026:
Mark Wood of England (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
England fast bowler Mark Wood has shared a remarkable and humorous story from his time in the Indian Premier League, revealing how a franchise owner once offered to fly him on a private jet just to ensure he played a match — despite being seriously unwell.Speaking on BBC’s Strategic Timeout podcast, Wood recalled falling ill midway through a season after featuring in a handful of matches. What followed, he said, was an extraordinary level of attention from the franchise, including constant medical monitoring.“I wasn’t very well after about five games, and the (next) game was in about three days’ time. Every half an hour, the doctor would stay back, come to my room, check on my vitals,” Wood said.The situation soon took an unusual turn when the team owner personally reached out to check on his availability.“I remember one day the owner ringing me, ‘How’re you feeling? Ready to go?’ and I said, ‘Honestly, I’ve eaten and drunk nothing, I still can’t get out of bed’. He went, ‘We’ll get you another doctor, we’ll do this and that’,” he revealed.‘I’ll send a private plane’Despite Wood’s condition, the owner remained determined to have him feature in the game — so much so that he offered an eye-popping solution.“Next day, it’s the owner again, ‘How are you feeling?’ and I said, ‘Honestly, I’m still not good’. He then said, ‘I’ll send a private plane, you get in the plane, play the game. Then I’ll get the plane straight back out and get you back to your bedside’,” Wood said, laughing at the memory.The England pacer admitted he was briefly tempted by the surreal offer and even sought advice from his father.“So I rang my dad and I was like, ‘Dad, they’re going to send a private plane.’ He was like, ‘Yeah, but how do you feel?’ I said, ‘Honestly, if I stand up, I feel not well… I could faint’. He said, ‘You’re not right’. But I was like, ‘Dad, it’s a private plane’ (laughs),” Wood added.Ultimately, he decided against playing, but not before appreciating the sheer novelty of the situation.“For that split second, I was like, ‘This is the coolest thing that’s probably ever happened to me in my life. This is unbelievable’,” he said.Wood has had a brief IPL career, featuring for Chennai Super Kings and Lucknow Super Giants, taking 11 wickets in five games.
Olympique Lyonnais beat Rennes (4-2) to regain third place in the French league, which secures a Champions League spot. With two matches remaining, OL are two points ahead of Lille.
Also in this sports roundup:
In Italy, Inter Milan won the 2026 Serie A title. In rugby, Union Bordeaux-Bègles will defend their European title against Leinster. In tennis, Jannik Sinner won the Madrid Masters 1000. In F1, Kimi Antonelli secured a hat-trick of wins. In the NBA, the Pistons knocked the Magic out of the competition.
Teenage super-talent Paul Seixas will make his Tour de France debut this July, his team confirmed on Monday.
Speculation has swirled for months over whether the 19-year-old Frenchman would line up in Barcelona this summer after a series of hugely impressive results, or whether his Decathlon CMA CGM squad would protect him from the weight of expectation – particularly from the French press as the home favourite – and the gruelling physical challenge of riding the Tour, the most demanding of the three Grand Tours, at such a young age.
Seixas is only in his first full season as a professional rider and has never ridden a Grand Tour. But he has made waves with some remarkable performances, winning the Itzulia Basque Country stage race in April and La Fleche Wallonne, as well as finishing second – only behind Tadej Pogacar – at Strade Bianche and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
His Basque Country triumph, when he claimed all four jerseys and won three stages, made him the first Frenchman to win a WorldTour-level stage race since Christophe Moreau won the 2007 Criterium du Dauphine.
Those results, coupled with the maturity of his performances – particularly his ability and willingness to compete with Pogacar – mean he is already being hyped as the successor to Bernard Hinault, the last Frenchman to win the Tour de France, in 1985.
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Decathlon had previously indicated his summer programme would be re-assessed after the Ardennes Classics, with his excellent run of results there making a Tour start all the more likely.
The team released a video of Seixas sharing the news of his plan to ride the Tour with his grandparents, with the caption, “J’ai quelque chose à vous annoncer… I have something to tell you.”
The teenager from Lyon has previously said his biggest dream is to win the Tour de France. The race starts in Barcelona on 4 July and finishes in Paris on 26 July this year.
Defending champion Pogacar lines up as the undisputed favourite after another stellar spring campaign, with his main rival Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel expected to challenge.
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After Seixas’ fine start to the season Decathlon will have reason to hope for a podium finish and stage wins for the teenager, while from a more commercial perspective his participation will drive publicity for the French-based team.
Italian Andrea Pavan said he is “optimistic” about a return to playing after he fell down an open lift shaft in February.
The incident occurred before the South African Open at Pavan’s private accommodation near Stellenbosch Golf Club when the lift doors opened but there was no lift car in the shaft, causing him to drop three storeys down.
The 36-year-old was taken to a local hospital with severe shoulder damage and fractures to several vertebrae in his back, and had major surgery.
“It’s hard to say a precise goal, there’s more like steps,” said Pavan.
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“Around three months we’ll see how well the bone has healed. Around six months it’s about where complete bone healing happens and we’ll see how the joint is moving by then.
“It depends on if there are other tissues that were damaged if I need a second surgery. And there’s the possibility of necrosis when the blood flow is not sufficient for the bones. There is that risk, but so far it seems like things are positive enough.
“The shoulder is a very demanding joint. Hopefully it’s a little less than a year that I can play with a full swing but it’s just so new and such a big injury there are just a lot of unknowns. But I’m hopeful and the only thing I can do is to try and improve and take it day by day.”
On the day of the incident, Pavan had been preparing to drive to the Stellenbosch course for breakfast and an afternoon pro-am tee, when he returned to his apartment to retrieve a locker key that had been left there.
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Speaking to the Naga Munchetty programme on BBC Radio 5 Live, he said: “I walked back towards the elevator, I opened the door – one of those doors that get into the apartment straight away – and by the time I realised the lift wasn’t there I’d already taken a step.
“The next thing I know I’m just at the bottom of the elevator, luckily not unconscious but in a lot of pain and screaming for help.
“Somebody heard and I was somehow able to get my phone out and call my caddie, who was in the car. From then on it was just trying to survive the pain and waiting for the ambulance and all the firefighters who got me out.”
The two-time DP World Tour winner spent seven days in hospital in South Africa, having surgery on a complete fracture of his shoulder, and has now returned to his home in Texas.
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Pavan paid tribute to the “amazing” support from the golfing world during his time in hospital.
“The amount of people who came to the hospital to visit me when the tournament was happening was truly overwhelming,” he said.
“There were a lot of players – friends of mine – who actually stayed up to 2am and waited for me to get out of surgery and they were playing in the tournament the next day, Matteo Manassero, Manuel Oliveira and others.
“I was just truly surprised and it was comforting and overwhelming to feel you were not alone going through this.”
Beforehand, many felt their encounter was likely to go the distance, especially with Benavidez moving up from 175lbs and Ramirez having never previously been dropped.
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As it happened, though, Ramirez was forced to suffer two knockdowns – and a nasty swelling on his right eye – before being relieved of his WBO and WBA titles.
Benavidez, meanwhile, is now the unified cruiserweight champion and has the option to move back down to light-heavyweight, where he holds the WBC world title.
In that division, he would likely be targeting an undisputed showdown with Dmitry Bivol, but ‘The Mexican Monster’ could alternatively make an audacious move up to heavyweight.
Speaking with Fight Hub TV, Jose named unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk as perhaps the only man who could present his son with some semblance of a challenge.
“Right now, I’m going to be honest with you: I don’t see any danger for David Benavidez at 175[lbs] and at cruiserweight.
“Nobody can beat David, this is ‘The Monster’ era. At the end of the day, he’s beating everybody in every division, so [he] might as well go to f***ing heavyweight.
“I think the biggest challenge would be Usyk. That’s something like out of this world. That’s the only guy that I think could [challenge him], that would be crazy, that would be another big challenge because he [Usyk] is the pound-for-pound best in my opinion.”
French teenage prodigy Paul Seixas announced on Monday that he will ride the Tour de France in July for the first time, raising hopes of a first home winner in more than four decades.
No Frenchman has won the Tour since Bernard Hinault did so for a record-equalling fifth time in 1985.
The 19-year-old Seixas has been in stunning form this season, winning seven races and pushing all-time great Tadej Pogacar close in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege Monument one-day classic a week ago.
He has ridden two week-long stage races and four one-day classics this season, and has not finished below second.
He will be the youngest rider to start a Tour in 89 years when the Grand Boucle begins in Barcelona on July 4.
In a video posted to social media by Seixas’s Decathlon CMA CGM team, he is shown visiting his grandparents in the eastern Haut-Savoie region near his home in Lyon.
“I’ve come here to announce to you something special, I have a race in July,” he tells his grandparents, before they guess that he is talking about the Tour.
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Seixas’s potential participation in the sport’s most prestigious race has been the subject of much speculation, especially since he has demonstrated that he is already one of the best riders in the world.
Many experts believe it is too soon for him to tackle the 3,333 kilometer (2,069 mile) long three-week race, which includes eight mountain stages, including five summit finishes.
It will be his first grand tour and the first time he has tackled a race longer than eight days.
Edidiong Ezekiel during his home bow for Enyimba FC
Enyimba FC striker Edidiong Ezekiel has said reigning champions Remo Stars F.C. should expect a tough battle when both teams meet in their Nigeria Premier Football League matchday 36 game on Sunday.
The forward will face his former club at the Enyimba Stadium in Aba as the People’s Elephant look to claim an important victory in the closing stage of the season.
Ezekiel, who played for Remo Stars during the 2022/23 season, admitted he still has good memories of his time with the club but said his main focus is now helping Enyimba win.
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“I have beautiful memories of my time at Remo Stars, and I am looking forward to playing against them this weekend,” he said.
“I feel a bit emotional regarding the memories I had with them but right now the pride of the People’s Elephant is my priority.”
The striker also called on Enyimba supporters to come out in large numbers and back the team in what is expected to be a difficult contest.
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“I want to call on the esteemed fans of Enyimba to turn up in their numbers and support us as we go for a non-negotiable three points against Remo Stars,” Ezekiel added.
The striker has made 28 league appearances for Enyimba this season, scoring four goals and providing one assist.
Sunday’s match is important for both clubs as Enyimba aim to climb higher from 13th position on the table, while Remo Stars continue their push to finish strongly in the league.
A Minnesota Vikings fan sits in the Metrodome stands with a bag over his head during fourth-quarter action against the New Orleans Saints, with Dec. 18, 2011, in Minneapolis capturing frustration as the game slipped away in a 42-20 loss during a difficult late-season stretch. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
The Minnesota Vikings spent big during the free agency periods of 2024 and 2025, and because they scaled back in 2026, resetting their salary cap, they might be for sale, or so goes the theory from Pioneer Press‘s Charley Walters.
The Wilfs have spent aggressively, which makes the sale speculation tougher to buy.
Walters delivered the spicy take inside his weekly article, and the theory landed big time in front of shocked eyeballs, as nobody anywhere thinks or thought that the franchise is for sale.
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Minnesota’s Spending Habits Tell a Different Story
Do you perceive the Vikings as for sale?
Minnesota Vikings owner Zygi Wilf speaks with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell during second-quarter action of a Wild Card game at U.S. Bank Stadium, with Jan. 15, 2023, in Minneapolis capturing a brief in-game exchange between leadership figures as postseason intensity unfolded on the field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports
Walters: The Vikings Could Be For Sale
Walters wasn’t shy about unloading his theory, writing, “It’s beginning to look as if Vikings ownership now could be mirroring Twins ownership, which has sought to sell its team. Figuring they were championship worthy, the Vikings a year ago spent more money on player payroll in the offseason ($350 million) than any of the NFL’s other 31 teams.”
“This offseason, the Vikings have spent just $226 million, second lowest in the league. It appears Vikings owners Mark and Zygi Wilf have decided on a significant payroll slash this year. The Vikings won’t admit it, but this sure looks like a rebuilding year. This is the 21st year the Wilfs have owned the Vikings. Until this year, they have made a commendable attempt at winning the Lombardi Trophy.”
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Regarding the pursuit of a Lombardi Trophy in 2026, it is unclear why Walters thinks the Vikings have ruled themselves out. They boasted a Top 3 defense last year and signed Kyler Murray in March. Those components should suggest playoff contendership.
Walters continued, “Meanwhile, the Twins’ Pohlad ownership isn’t unlike what Red McCombs did with the Vikings in 2005 before selling to the Wilfs. McCombs, who bought the Vikings for $246 million in 1998, cut player and coaching staff payroll to a bare minimum and waited until he got his price ($600 million) from the Wilfs.”
“If the Wilfs, who curiously still haven’t named a permanent general manager since firing Kwesi Adofo-Mensah last January, were to sell the Vikings today, they could get between $8 billion and $9 billion.”
A Misinterpretation of Free Agency Spending
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Walters equated the Vikings’ small-ish free-agent spending as evidence that ownership is chomping at the bit to sell. The first part is true; the second part is not.
In 2024, Minnesota used $167 million on new contracts. That ranked fourth-most in the NFL. In 2025, Minnesota used $270 million on new contracts. That ranked second-most in the NFL. A franchise cannot continually rank near the top of free agency spending; it’s impossible. It’s why there’s a salary cap.
When a club opts to spend freely for a year or two, it must scale back soon after. The scaleback is happening in real time right now. In fact, if Minnesota wants to spend next year or in 2028 free agency, it can now do so — because it held off on spending future years’ money in 2026.
Vikings’ Free Agency Spending, NFL Ranking, Since 2011:
Teams spend big, then they reset. Then, they do it again. The Vikings do it consistently. In fact, fans are probably looking at another year of quiet spending in 2027.
No Shred of Evidence beyond the Rumor Article
For those who want to see the Vikings led by new owners, you’re going to be waiting for a while.
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Star Tribune‘s Ben Goessling tweeted Sunday, “A source close to the Wilfs said there’s ‘zero truth’ to the notion the Vikings owners are thinking about selling the team. They’ve long talked about the team staying in the family for multiple generations, and both Mark and Zygi Wilf’s kids have taken on larger roles with the team in recent years.”
Tennessee Titans general manager Ran Carthon connects with Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah during joint practices in Eagan, with Aug. 16, 2023, in Minnesota marking a preseason evaluation period where executives exchanged perspectives while observing roster battles and player development up close. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Nelles-USA TODAY NETWORK
The Athletic‘sAlec Lewis added, “You can only spend millions in cash over cap for so long without premium results. That’s the extent of this. And just for the record: The Wilfs aren’t selling the Vikings. Zero truth to that whatsoever. Source close to ownership made that abundantly clear.”
In the end, Walters’s take about the owners’ would-be sale of a team boiled down to one man’s opinion — a hot take.
Mike Florio’s Take
NBC Sports‘ Mike Florio interpreted Walters’s theory as if it were credible, noting, “While the ever-inflating values of NFL franchises could tempt more than a few current owners to take $10 billion or more and run, there’s not enough there to justify a conclusion that this is anything other than a cap correction after the Vikings overplayed their hand in 2025, due primarily to the very bad decision(s) made about the most important position on the team.”
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“While no one will objectively conclude that the Minnesota roster screams out ‘Super Bowl contender’ for 2026, the spending decisions don’t immediately point to a potential sale of the team. Still, perception is reality. With the hypothesis morphing into the beginnings of a theory, it could be time for the Wilfs to make the case publicly that they aren’t getting ready to pound a ‘For Sale’ sign in the front yard.”
Minnesota Vikings fans cheer as the team enters the field through the tunnel at EverBank Stadium, with Nov. 10, 2024, in Jacksonville showing strong road support as a traveling crowd in purple energized the atmosphere ahead of a regular-season matchup. Mandatory Credit: Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images
Walters’s thesis is pretty straightforward: the Vikings could be for sale because they rolled back the spending this offseason. The only problem with that hypothesis? It’s standard operating procedure to reduce spending after Top 4 spending sprees in consecutive offseasons.
If anything, onlookers should have expected and predicted a “boring” free agency.
DENVER — It was a heavyweight clash without heavyweight hockey.
The Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild, Stanley Cup contenders who are rarely easy to play against or break down, opened their titanic Western Conference semifinal playoff series by trading chances and goals like it was an All-Star Game. Except for the intensity, atmosphere and stakes.
The National Hockey League’s best team during the regular season, the Avalanche scored the first three goals, still managed to trail by one late in the second period, then scored five of the final six to beat the Wild 9-6 in Game 1 Sunday in Colorado.
It was unexpected and spectacularly entertaining for everyone except the goalies and coaches.
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We hardly knew what to make of it. Except this best-of-seven actually may live up to the hype that began about the time the Wild traded for Quinn Hughes in December to announce themselves as a serious threat to the Avalanche.
But it was Colorado’s Norris Trophy defenceman, Cale Makar, who made the difference in Game 1 by returning from the medical room to score twice in his team’s four-goal third period.
“That’s Cale Makar doing Cale Makar things,” Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog said. “I wasn’t that concerned; I know he’s tough and he was going to be back at some point.”
After Minnesota missile Marcus Foligno launched Makar into orbit with a hit on the forecheck less than three minutes into the game, the player regarded as the best defenceman in hockey went straight to the bench, then the dressing room, and was not seen again until the second period.
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The Wild saw too much of Makar in the third when he twice zipped shots past rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt from the right-wing circle.
“Just a weird game,” Makar said. “Coming from the last few games we played (in the first round against the Los Angeles Kings), it was really tight out there. Today, it just felt a little bit more open and sometimes that can be a tendency to kind of lack a little bit on the defensive side. I don’t think we’re going to see that again. Just probably a one-off. But I liked that we were able to stick with it and find a way to win, obviously, in a unique way.”
Makar said of Foligno’s legal hit: “I obviously saw it coming. I tried to absorb it. Just a weird kind of fall there. I tried to kind of back out of it as I saw he was kind of coming at me. I knew he was trying to separate myself from the puck. It’s a very common thing; you’re going to see it every single night. Just unfortunately caught me in a weird spot like that. I think I’ve got to find different ways to go back on pucks.”
Makar’s return was a game-changer. Had he not — had he been seriously enough injured to miss the rest of the game and others — it could have decided the series.
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“You’ve got to give him a lot of credit, right?” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “Comes back not feeling great after the injury in the first. Gets sorted out and taken care of, but comes back and has a great finish to the game.
“But I’ll say, there’s not too many guys this time of year that aren’t playing hurt and digging in and playing through that stuff. That’s what makes the playoffs great. That’s what’s expected; it’s not a one-off. The bulk of guys on every team that are still playing and will continue to play are going to play hurt and injured. I think they all deserve the credit. Tonight, it was Cale. Tomorrow night, it’ll be somebody else.”
Game 2 is here Tuesday. And Game 1 is probably a one-off because the slack defending, missed coverages, poor plays with the puck, were so uncharacteristic for the Avalanche and Wild, who have in common that they do not often beat themselves.
The Avalanche led the NHL in team defence during the regular season, then allowed only five goals in their four-game sweep of Los Angeles in the playoffs’ first round.
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The Wild hit that total on Sunday when Foligno scored on a shorthanded breakaway at 16:55 of the second period, nearly disfiguring both Avalanche goalie Scott Wedgewood and the net as Minnesota’s heavy forward crashed into the post while giving Minnesota its only lead, 5-4.
As for his team’s defensive play, although the Wild were ventilated in Round 1 by the Dallas Stars’ power play, they yielded only four five-on-five goals during a six-game win. The Wild dominated at even strength. The Avalanche scored seven five-on-five goals Sunday.
A power-play goal by Colorado’s Artturi Lehkonen offset Foligno’s shorty as the defensive powerhouses skated into the third period tied 5-5.
But Makar scored from a poorly-defended faceoff play at 3:21 of the third period, and Nazem Kadri beat Wallstedt cleanly from 35 feet on a breakaway to make it 7-5 at 5:43.
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And after Matt Boldy’s bounce pass to the front of the net caromed in off teammate Mats Zuccarello to bring the Wild back within a goal with 3:59 remaining, Makar scored again 65 seconds later, creating room to get his shot past Boldy and through Artturi Lehkonen’s screen.
Nathan MacKinnon, who let the puck get past him on Foligno’s breakaway, scored into an empty net with 2:08 to go.
Eight different Avalanche players scored and 13 skaters finished with at least one point. MacKinnon had a goal and two assists and was plus-three. Devon Toews, Makar’s defence partner, had four points and was plus-four.
Hughes led the Wild with a goal and two assists. Minnesota’s offensive stars, Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov, finished with only a single assist each. The Wild played without top centre Joel Eriksson Ek and key defenceman Jonas Brodin, both injured.
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“Listen, that was a crazy game,” Landeskog said, and not in an admiring way. “Let’s just call it for what it is. But I think we did a good job on the bench, in the room, talking about what we needed to focus on, settling down when we needed to when they kind of had momentum. We’ll enjoy this one tonight, and then tomorrow we’ll sort out what we can do better.”
Both teams did enough to lose.
“It’s not that we weren’t emotionally engaged in the game and physically engaged in the game, because I think we were,” Bednar explained. “But not enough on the defensive side. We were on the offensive side. The forecheck looked good (and) we did some good things. But like when it came to the defending, I feel like we forgot a little bit just how hard we need to work to be good defensively. We were easy in some areas and loose on some gaps and late a few times, and they play hard offensively.”
The Avalanche hadn’t played in a week. They had plenty of rest and practise for the series. The Wild, however, eliminated the Stars on Thursday night and didn’t know until late Friday that they’d be flying the next day to Denver to start on Sunday.
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But Minnesota coach John Hynes bristled at the idea that his team could have used a practice to prepare for the Avalanche.
“I don’t think our practice has anything to do with it,” he said. “I think it’s all about wrapping your head around the series and understanding the differences between Colorado and Dallas. I think if we went out there for a 30- to 35-minute practice, it wouldn’t have made one ounce of difference on this. It’s about the mindset and understanding the differences between the two series.”
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