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⚾ Five things to know Wednesday
- The Red Sox might reenter the trade market following Curtis Mead’s injury. Boston made the first big splash ahead of the MLB trade deadline when it swapped Connelly Early for Mead. It took just two days for the move to backfire as Mead fractured his wrist in his debut and could realistically miss the rest of the season as a result. The Red Sox already needed more help, so the Mead injury only adds to the desperation for reinforcements. Among yesterday’s biggest trade rumors was that the club is in search of a new shortstop. Elsewhere, the Cardinals face a deadline dilemma as they ponder whether to sell an asset or two or completely blow it up, and the Tigers might be playing themselves right out of contention and into a Tarik Skubal trade.
- Draymond Green will return to the Warriors. This might be the last season of the Green and Stephen Curry era, as the former reportedly intends to sign a one-year deal worth $27.7 million. It is the exact same contract he opted out of in order to give the Warriors the flexibility to sign LeBron James. With King James off to the 76ers, Green will play his 15th campaign in Golden State at his original price tag. He also said he thinks James did not pick the Warriors because of the stigma of teaming up with an existing superstar like Curry.
- Jalen Carter and Denzel Ward reset the defensive tackle and cornerback markets. The Eagles will reportedly make Carter the highest-paid defensive tackle in NFL history with a four-year, $152 million extension that keeps him in Philadelphia through 2031. His return gives the Eagles one of the league’s greatest interior defensive lines — and one of the most expensive, too, with Jordan Davis already on a massive contract of his own. Ward, meanwhile, will become the highest-paid defensive back in league history for the second time in his career when he inks a two-year, $62.2 million extension with the Browns. That deal adds on to his existing contract, locking him in with Cleveland through 2029.
- Big Ten Media Days are off and running. Commissioner Tony Petitti and representatives from six football programs took the stage in Chicago yesterday to discuss the state of the conference and look ahead to the 2026 season. Most notably, USC is not backing down from high expectations for what needs to be a step-forward year for Lincoln Riley, and Luke Fickell acknowledged that the pressure is on him to right the ship at Wisconsin in what looks like a do-or-die campaign. We separated fact from fiction for the first six teams at media days, including whether D’Anton Lynn was the right hire for Penn State’s defensive coordinator job.
- Ohio State and Notre Dame might have changed the college sports revenue-sharing game. Not even the most iconic and traditional jerseys in the sport are off-limits for advertisements. Ohio State announced a landmark partnership with JPMorgan Chase that pays the Buckeyes at least $15 million per year for jersey patches, and it took just a couple of hours for that to become only the second-most lucrative deal as Notre Dame unveiled a jersey patch agreement with SoFi worth $18-20 million. These deals set a new standard in the financial arms race between college sports’ biggest brands. Speaking of uniforms, here are the best new looks in college football for 2026 — corporate sponsor patches and all.
🏈 Do not miss this: Top 10 NFL players at every offensive position
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Training camp is underway for all 32 teams across the NFL, and in honor of this major offseason milestone, we unveiled the first part in our player rankings series. Eleven of my colleagues and I filled out ballots ranking our top 10 players at each position, plus the top play-callers and head coaches. The votes are tallied, and the results are in. Meet the 10 biggest stars at each offensive position.
There is no more important position than quarterback, so let’s start there. The upper class is highly competitive, with six different players earning top-three votes. You might be surprised to learn, however, that the reigning NFL MVP only placed third on our list. Here is the group surrounding Matthew Stafford:
2. Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs
3. Matthew Stafford, Rams
4. Joe Burrow, Bengals
Outside of the most elite tier at each position, there are some varying opinions about a myriad of divisive players. Christian McCaffrey and Saquon Barkley are prime examples. While both earned third-place votes on the running back ladder, both also missed the cut on at least one ballot entirely.
Here are a few other polarizing names who ranked highly on some ballots and were absent from others:
- Commanders OT Laremy Tunsil – High: 3 | Low: Unranked
- Cardinals RB Jeremiyah Love – High: 5 | Low: Unranked
- Falcons TE Kyle Pitts – High: 5 | Low: Unranked
- Falcons WR Drake London – High: 6 | Low: Unranked
🏀 NBA, WNBA Power Rankings
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There is a new team in the top five of our offseason NBA Power Rankings. It does not take much guessing to surmise that would be the 76ers, who stunningly landed LeBron James in the biggest free-agent signing of the year. Our Brad Botkin explained Philadelphia’s rise from No. 8 in the previous iteration.
- Botkin: “What is the summer for if not to be optimistic? The Sixers are stacked. There is no way to dispute that. We will see if they can shoot well enough, defend well enough, and stay healthy enough, but right now I’ll take all the talent and bet on them to figure out the fit as they go.”
James’ decision was certainly the most impactful development in the NBA over the last two weeks, but it was not the only one. A couple of other teams moved up in the pecking order as a result of those other transactions, not to mention those in pursuit of James, who missed out on securing his services. Here are a few of them:
- Pacers: ↓1
- Timberwolves: ↓2
- Pistons: ↑3
Want more basketball rankings? You’re in luck. This week’s WNBA Power Rankings have also arrived. The league’s 30th season is back underway after All-Star Weekend, and ahead of the stretch run, we changed things up a bit with a special edition of the rankings that features one key player to monitor in the second half of the campaign for each team.
The Fever are up one spot this week to No. 3, and it’s not Caitlin Clark that we’re most curious about. Instead, our Jack Maloney says to keep an eye on Tyasha Harris as an X-factor for Indiana.
- Maloney: “During the Fever’s 7-2 run heading into the All-Star break, Harris averaged 9.8 points and 3.7 assists on 53.6/44.4/88.9 shooting splits. The Fever would be thrilled if she can keep that up. Her playmaking and perimeter defense is just what they need.”
👍👎 The best (and not-so-best) of the rest
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📺 What we’re watching Wednesday
⚾ Braves at Mets, 1:10 p.m. on MLB Network
⚾ Brewers at Giants, 4 p.m. on MLB Network
⚾ Guardians at Reds, 7:10 p.m. on ESPN Unlimited
⚾ Yankees at White Sox, 7:40 p.m. on MLB Network
⚾ Cubs at Cardinals, 7:45 p.m. on Peacock
⚽ Louisville at Current, 8 p.m. on CBS Sports Network
⚽ MLS All-Star Game, 8 p.m. on Apple TV
🏀 Dream at Wings, 8 p.m. on USA Network
⚽ Gotham at Bay, 10 p.m. on CBS Sports Network
🏀 Valkyries at Mercury, 10 p.m. on USA Network
⚾ Mariners at Dodgers, 10:30 p.m. on MLB Network
