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Although the NBA Playoffs are far from over, the Suns’ season is a wrap, and Phoenix fans are already more concerned with offseason things than who ultimately gets to lift the Larry O’Brien trophy. The internet is full of Suns trade proposals and free agency talk, with a little draft speculation thrown in here and there.
In this article, I’m not going to speak on what the Suns should do, but rather what they can do, how they can get things done, and the tools they have to work with.
First, let’s look at some key league thresholds for the 2026-27 season:
Second, let’s summarize where the Suns stand right now.
The Suns are currently looking at a cap sheet of $185,670,477 for 11 players (and $23.2 million in dead money) under standard NBA contracts for the 2026-27 season. That puts them over the cap and just $15,329,523 under the luxury tax threshold. They have three players — Highsmith ($1 million guaranteed), Bouyea (non-guaranteed), and Ighodaro (non-guaranteed) — on contracts that aren’t fully guaranteed or are club options ($6,898,968 total value). If they were not to bring back any of those three, it would get them a total of $178,771,509 in guaranteed salary and put them $22,228,491 below the luxury tax threshold.
One thing to keep in mind is that the luxury tax threshold is NOT the same as the first tax apron line. The first apron is $8 million above the luxury tax threshold.
Phoenix starts out the offseason $23,329,523 below the first tax apron, but could get that up to $30,228,491 by waiving the three players on non-guaranteed contracts. While that extra $6.9 million of space added to the cap sheet cushion by waiving three non-guaranteed contracts might look good at first glance, it doesn’t actually cover the cost of replacing them with three other players on vet minimum contracts. Yes, it would actually cost more to do that unless the replacements were all players with one year of experience or less. As doing it really wouldn’t help free up a significant amount of salary to use elsewhere, I won’t mention it again. Another thing that isn’t a concern regarding the cap sheet is two-way contracts, because they don’t count against the cap.
In short, here’s where the Suns stand at this moment:
That’s going to make it very difficult to re-sign their own free agents without going over the first tax apron and virtually impossible to re-sign them without paying luxury taxes this season. The only possible way to do that would be to make some drastic cost-cutting trades to shed a lot of salary…and doing that could be much harder than you expect.
According to Spotrac’s Keith Smith, he’s projecting only 4 teams will have enough open cap space to just take on salary without sending much or any back in return.
While deals with any of these teams could be made, it’s a good bet the Suns wouldn’t be the only team calling them to work out deals to shed some of their own salary. That doesn’t mean it would be impossible, though.
Shedding salary works in the Suns’ favor in two ways. First, it gives them more space to operate in and potentially avoid the tax aprons. Second, it could give them a bit more flexibility in pursuing free agents other than their own. Having Bird rights (Mark Williams) and Early Bird Rights (Collin Gillespie and Jordan Goodwin) allows them to go over the aprons to re-sign them. No worries there.
For signing other free agents, they have to rely on “exceptions” rather than cap space to do so.
Author’s Note: All salary figures denote maximum amounts allowed for the first salary year of the contract.
While the Suns will have enough space under the tax threshold and the first tax apron to use the full MLE to sign a free agent, using it hard caps a team at the first tax apron. If the Suns were to use it, that would leave them with only $8 million to sign other players, including re-signing all of their own free agents. Use the Full MLE, without shedding a LOT of salary first, and we can only wave goodbye to the possibility of bringing back Collin, Goodie, and Mark W. There is no way around a hard cap. None.
Yes, it’s possible to shed enough salary to make using this exception practical, but I’ve already gone over the likely difficulty in doing that, so it’s best to just shelve the idea of using the full MLE. Although going over either of the tax aprons is undesirable, not having the option of going over the first apron greatly hamstrings the front office if they are serious about putting a better team on the floor in 2026-27.
The TPMLE is actually a portion of the full MLE that can be used by tax-paying teams as well as any team over the cap. It’s worth only 40% of the full MLE, but using it doesn’t hard cap the team at the first tax apron. It does, however, hard cap the team using it at the second apron. Since the Suns definitely want to avoid going over that, consider this as their main option to sign a free agent (other than their own) this offseason. It’s not a lot to work with, so don’t count on landing a big fish with it, although it could be enough to bring back a solid rotation player.
Although both forms of the MLE can be split in order to sign more than one player, teams are only allowed to use one form of the mid-level exception in a given season.
While this is available to the Suns, it also hard caps teams that use it at the first tax apron. See my comments in the Mid-Level Exception portion of the article on why this is a “bad thing”.
This can be used to sign a player to either a three-year contract that includes a third-year team option or a four-year contract with a fourth-year team option. Players who are signed using the second-round pick exception won’t count against a team’s cap between July 1 and July 30 of their first season. That allows teams to preserve all the cap room they need until July 31 without having to worry about their second-rounders cutting into it and allows those players to sign their first NBA contracts before taking part in Summer League games.
Teams have unlimited use of this exception to fill out their rosters unless doing so would violate an existing hard cap.
Here are the rules for using TPEs:
On the surface, these TPEs don’t seem to be very valuable, but they could be very handy in certain situations. For example, if the Suns have a trade set up to send out Royce O’Neale’s $10.9 mil salary in exchange for two players, one making $10 million and the other making $5 million, they don’t need a TPE to make it work but by taking back more than 100% of the salary they send out hard caps them at the 1st tax apron…unless they use the $5 million TPE to absorb the seocnd player’s salary which helps them avoid the hard cap. They basically get to apply a salary imbalance from a previous trade to a new one, which counts on the books as the Suns sending out more salary than they received.
Last season, 27 of the NBA’s 30 teams ended the season hard capped at either the first (19) or second tax apron (8). There are multiple ways to get hard capped at either of the two, but here I’m going to concentrate only on the first tax apron. There’s no way the Suns should even consider going over the second tax apron again, so getting hard-capped there isn’t something we need to be concerned about.
With over $23 million in dead money on their cap sheet, the Suns’ odds of fielding a team better than the one they had this past season aren’t good…unless they’re willing to not only pay luxury taxes again AND take a step or two over that first tax apron line. Yes, they could take measures to cut salary from their cap sheet to stay under it, but those won’t be easy to do and would most likely result in a roster less talented than last season’s.
That’s why it’s important to avoid a first tax apron hard cap. To do that, they have to avoid doing any of the following:
While I’m not proposing that the Suns should use any of their very limited supply of future draft picks as trade sweeteners this offseason, they can, and here is a list of their tradable picks:
2026: 2nd round pick (47th)
2027: 1st round pick (least favorable of Cleveland, Minnesota, and Utah)
2029: 2nd round pick (own)
2033: 1st round pick (own), 2nd round pick (own)
Juan Soto is back in the New York Mets lineup for Thursday’s game against the Tigers after exiting Wednesday night’s game with a foot injury.
Soto fouled a pitch off his foot in the third inning of a 3-2 win in extra innings for the Mets. He finished the at-bat despite being in obvious pain, and came back for an at-bat in the sixth inning before eventually being replaced by MJ Melendez. Soto’s x-rays were negative following the game, and being placed immediately in the lineup for a day game after a night game is certainly a good sign.
Soto hasn’t been himself at the plate since returning from the injured list in April, hitting .221/.333./.412 with six RBIs in 19 games. Even if he isn’t playing to his career numbers yet this season, Soto’s immediate return to the lineup is the best-case scenario for a team dealing with key injuries to Francisco Lindor, Francisco Alvarez, Jorge Polanco, and Luis Robert Jr., among others.
Steve Gelbs of SNY reported Thursday that Lindor’s updated MRI showed healing in his injured calf, but that there is still no timetable for the shortstop’s return. Adding that, manager Carlos Mendoza said that Lindor will progress with the strength-training portion of his recovery.
Additionally, MLB’s Anthony DiComo reported Thursday that Alvarez had surgery on the torn meniscus in his right knee. The team expects Alvarez’s recovery to be towards the longer end of his recovery timetable, and he is likely to be sidelined for eight weeks.
New York has a chance to earn their first series sweep of the season Thursday afternoon against a struggling Tigers team. Detroit is just 3-8 in May.
The Guardians, again, are hanging around the bottom half to bottom third of MLB in offense. Why is that the case, and what can be done to change things?
First, it’s important to acknowledge some notable improvements for Guardians’ hitters. In 2025, they were 28th in MLB with 87 wRC+ as a team. Their walk rate was 16th best in MLB at 8.3%. In 2026, so far, they are 20th in wRC+ and fourth in MLB in walk rate at 11.2%. This improvement is especially notable because the Guardians’ three best hitters from last season have had very slow starts to the season, with Jose Ramirez putting up a 101 wRC+, Kyle Manzardo a 66 wRC+ and Steven Kwan a 70 wRC+. If we assume Ramirez will return at least to something closer to 120 wRC+ and Manzardo and Kwan to something closer to league average, the overall offensive output should be closer to just eking into the top half of MLB.
Why doesn’t it feel like things are better for the Guardians’ than a top half offense? When looking at batted ball date, the team is still solidly top 10 in both pull-rate and fly-ball rate. This, by the way, is Jose Ramirez’s primary issue. His pull-rate is down a solid 9% over what it has been the past three years of his career. He’s also seeing about 5% more first-pitch strikes. Basically, Hosey… go up there and try to deposit the first pitch you see in the corner bleachers, and everything should be fine. Anyway, there’s your “how to fix Jose” article in two sentences. The Guardians, as a whole, likely need to look to swing more often on first pitches as they are 26th in MLB in swing rate on the first thing they see from a pitcher in a given at-bat.
But, back to the topic at hand, the Guardians’ offense as a whole. Cleveland still ranks near the bottom of the league in a couple crucial categories – they are last in bat speed (70.3%), 29th in hard-hit rate (34.7%), and 25th in barrel rate. So, while some folks have rightly pointed out that the Guardians have seen some excellent defense played against them…
…the primary issue they are having is they just are not hitting the dang ball hard often enough. So, hey, Guardians – swing faster, get the barrel on the ball – done. Sarcasm aside, some basic ways the Guardians may look to be getting better swings off may be that they are only 15th in MLB in swinging at pitches in the heart of the plate. The Guardians simply are not swinging the bat much – they are toward the bottom swinging at pitches in the shadow of the zone, in chasing and in wasting swings, which is good. However, it seems that this valiant attempt to walk more is perhaps inhibiting their ability to get after pitches in the heart of the zone. Now that a strong plate discipline ethic has been established, it’s truly time to tell these guys to look to let it rip on pitches that drift toward the heart of the plate, regardless of the count.
If you’ve watched a few seconds of Cleveland Guardians’ baseball this season, you MAY have noticed that the team struggles to hit changeups. It’s not your imagination. The Guardians are far and away the worst offense against changeups in MLB at -14.9 runs below average. So, you can bet the Guardians are going to see a LOT of changeups until something changes there. I suspect that part of our hitters’ bat speed issues are due to their attempt to adjust to the steady diet of offspeed they’ve been seeing. The solution for this is pretty simple – get in the cages and set those batting machines to “nastiest changeup mix you’ve ever seen.”
There really is no way out of this predicament other than going through it. Daniel Schneemann, Jose Ramirez and Angel Martinez are the only hitters right now to have positive run value vs. changeups. CJ Kayfus leads the team with 1.2 runs above average against them, so, hey, might be a good idea to get him back up here at some point. Over the past three years, Jose, Angel and Kwan are the only Guardians’ hitters currently on the roster who have a positive run value vs. changeups. It’s an organizational issue and you have to hope that Grant Fink and the gang are hard at work on finding a way to deal with it. I note that Stephen Vogt said, recently, that young hitters have to hit the fastball in order to survive in the bigs, so adjusting the offspeed is the next big challenge once they are here. It’s probably fair to expect some improvement vs. changeups from folks like Chase DeLauter, Travis Bazzana, Brayan Rocchio and even Kyle Manzardo as they continue to gain experience… but it’ll take some intentional work.
There could be some help, offensively, still on the way from Columbus. Aside from getting Kayfus back on track, Kahlil Watson has an average exit velocity of 94.4 mph and a hard-hit rate of 56.6% in Columbus. Might swapping him and Petey Halpin in a couple weeks and giving Watson steady plate appearances in center while letting Angel Martinez eat into Kwan’s playing time make sense at that point? Cooper Ingle has an average exit velocity of 90.6% and a hard-hit rate of 56.6%. Is there a way to get him on this roster at some point to see if that can transfer some? And, finally, at some point Ralphy Velazquez will make his way to Columbus and begin putting pressure on both Kyle Manzardo and Rhys Hoskins. We don’t yet have his exit velocities and hard-hit rates but a .512 slugging and a .202 ISO are positive signs, especially if he continues to build on a recent hot stretch.
Ultimately, the improvements are going to have to come from within the players currently on the roster. The Guardians need to go to the plate looking to do maximum damage on pitches that come near the heart of the zone. They need to spend tons of time in the cages getting the best looks they can at the best changeups pitching machines can produce. They need to maintain their excellent plate discipline and trust that their 29th best batting-average-on-balls-in-play will improve if they make quality contact consistently. I think Guardians’ fans should be optimistic that, by the summer, this can be a top 15 offense in baseball. But, it won’t come without putting in a lot of work until then.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Corey Seager is going through a slump like none he has ever had to endure in the big leagues.
The two-time World Series MVP shortstop is hitless in his last seven games for the Texas Rangers. That is part of a longer 0-for-27 span, also a career long, that includes 11 strikeouts.
“You’re obviously still working on things and you’d like to see some better results, but you’re not getting them,” Seager said after going 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in a wild 6-5 comeback win over Arizona on Wednesday night.
While he has started 42 of the Rangers’ 43 games, the 32-year-old Seager said physically he feels “completely fine.” He has played 24 in a row since his only game off April 16.
“It’s one of those things that you’re going to figure it out out there,” Seager said. “It’s always been like my focus, right, you’re going to figure it out swinging. So right now, I want to keep going out there and trying to figure it out.”
The Rangers had a day off Thursday, when his .179 batting average ranked 167th out of 174 qualified MLB hitters. Seager, in the fifth season of a $325 million, 10-year deal, has 28 hits and 22 walks but 50 strikeouts account for 27.5% of his 182 plate appearances. He has seven home runs and 20 RBIs.
His last hit was an RBI single in the fourth inning at Yankee Stadium on May 6. Seager’s solo homer in the first inning put Texas ahead to stay in that 6-1 win over New York, but strikeouts in his final two at-bats started his hitless span. He is 6 for 61 (.098) with 23 K’s over his last 16 games.
This is the latest in any of his 12 seasons that Seager, a .285 career hitter in 4,500 at-bats over 1,173 games, has been below .200. He never finished a game under that mark in eight of those seasons, including three times he went 1 for 5 (.200) in openers (2016, 2020 and 2024) before having at least three hits in the second game.
“Corey still feels good to go,” first-year Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “I like him in the lineup. So I’m going to continue putting him there if his body feels good and his mind is right. And it is, so that part is good.”
Schumaker did acknowledge that there is a date picked for Seager to sit out a game around one of the team’s off days. The manager didn’t say if that would be Friday at Houston, or coincide with their only remaining scheduled off day this month, next Thursday between road series against Colorado and the Los Angeles Angels.
Texas sat slumping first baseman Jake Burger for two games last weekend. He went 3 for 3 on Tuesday night, then matched a career high with four RBIs on Wednesday, a three-run homer and then a tying RBI single in the ninth inning.
Seager was hitting .194 after 10 games last year, which had been his latest sub-.200 mark, then went 14 for 30 (.467) his next eight games. He finished the season at .271 with 21 homers and 50 RBIs, even with an 0-for-25 span over six-plus games in June. He was limited to 102 games overall because of hamstring issues and an appendectomy.
“Someone told me a long time ago ... that when you are in a funk, it just means you’re going to get really, really hot,” Schumaker said. “There’s some really big names right now that have had tough months, and that’s OK to start the season. And that just means, in my opinion, that he’s going to have a really good five months.”
Milwaukee squandered a masterpiece from Jacob Misiorowski last night, allowing the Padres to come back and eke out a ninth-inning win. Both teams have now each won one game heading into today’s rubber match, which pits Kyle Harrison against right-hander Griffin Canning.
Milwaukee has embraced a youth movement within its rotation, but Harrison (2.41 ERA, 1.22 WHIP) has been pitching like a seasoned veteran. He hasn’t allowed more than two runs in any of his seven appearances while striking out just over eleven batters per nine innings.
However, Harrison is coming off a slightly more stressful outing against the Yankees. The left-hander allowed just two runs on four hits, but walked four batters, allowed at least one baserunner in every inning, and lasted only four innings. He’ll look to bounce back against a Padres lineup that Misiorowski dominated last night.
San Diego is starting former Gold Glove winner Griffin Canning, who made his season debut on May 3 after spending the early part of the year rehabbing an Achilles tear suffered last season with the Mets. Canning posted a career-best 3.77 ERA before the injury and looked effective in his first start back (against the White Sox) but the Cardinals tagged him for six runs in his last outing.
No big surprises in today’s lineup, as the top of the order — Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang, and William Contreras — remains unchanged. Contreras will get the day off behind the plate in favor of cleanup hitter Gary Sánchez. Andrew Vaughn is batting fifth in front of Luis Rengifo, who’s at third base today. Rounding out the order are Garrett Mitchell, Sal Frelick, and David Hamilton, who gets the start at shortstop in place of Joey Ortiz.
Notably, Christian Yelich is again out of the lineup after Pat Murphy said yesterday that he’d been dealing with “back soreness.” Yelich reportedly tried to play last night, but given his history of back issues, it’s understandable that the Brewers want to be cautious. Definitely a situation worth monitoring over the next few days.
Today’s first pitch is set for 12:40 p.m. You can catch the game on Brewers.TV, WTMJ 620, and the Brewers Radio Network.
The Dallas Mavericks will be on the clock with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
For a team that already has Kyrie Irving and Cooper Flagg leading the way, the Mavericks aren’t exactly looking for the next superstar for the franchise. Instead, they are looking for players that can complement the core and become long-term options for the future.
“You’ve got Cooper Flagg who can hoop, period,” NBA Draft Lottery representative Rolando Blackman said via team reporter Dwain Price. “The important factor is (the players around Flagg) have to be overall strong players and have the overall opportunity to pass the basketball and to be able to now shoot the basketball.
“Any time you have a player that can go downhill and take it to the basket – just like Kyrie can, just like Flagg can – the important factor is to remember when you pass that basketball, you’ve got to be able to have somebody that can put that ball in the hole and take advantage of all the advantages that they’ve just given you with their talents.”
This doesn’t necessarily mean the Mavericks will target a guard, especially since passing is such an important part of how frontcourt players go from good to great. Most centers coming into the league have to pass like guards in order to make it in the NBA, and the Mavs hope to have that with Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II.
For a team that won just 26 games last season, the Mavs can’t be too picky about the position of their next rookie. Instead, they need to focus on who is the best player available.
In a draft that is very deep, the Mavericks should be able to add to their core with someone like Arizona’s Brayden Burries or Labaron Philon Jr. from Alabama.
Mavs Moneyball community, should the team go with the best player available or is there a specific player they should target with the No. 9 pick? Keep the conversation flowing in the comments below.
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The Phillies and Red Sox play the rubber game of their midweek series at Fenway on Thursday.
Each team has a win, but they’ve combined for seven runs in the two games. Boston and Philly are both playing better since changing managers last month, but neither team is hitting.
Boston appears to have the better end of a southpaw pitching matchup. My Phillies vs. Red Sox predictions and MLB picks look for the Sox to take it at home.
Wednesday’s 2-1 win marked the 15th time this season the Boston Red Sox have scored three runs or fewer at Fenway Park. Boston has scored 21 in their last 11 at home.
The Red Sox face lefty Jesus Luzardo who has a 5.77 ERA, although the underlying stats indicate that might be partially due to bad luck. Boston hits 96 OPS points higher against lefties and is 13% better than league average.
The Philadelphia Phillies have also been hitting below league average on the season and face Boston southpaw Ranger Suarez. Philadelphia is hitting 10% below league average and 51 OPS worse against lefties.
COVERS INTEL:Luzardo is in baseball’s top 10% in strikeout percentage, swing and miss, chase rate, exit velocity against and hard-hit percentage against. His FIP (a predictor of future ERA) is below 3.00. So he should start seeing better results soon.Suarez left Philadelphia last winter after eight seasons, so he’s familiar with the lineup. He’s held opponents scoreless in four of his last five starts and has logged two eight-inning outings over that span. His fastball’s run value is in MLB’s top 1%, and his overall pitching value is top 5%.
Most of Luzardo’s struggles have been at home this season. He’s 2-0, 2.04 in road starts with 12 strikeouts per nine. Opponents are hitting 21% below league average against him away from Philadelphia. Add that to Boston’s offensive struggles at home (74 OPS+) and it should be low-scoring.
The Boston Red Sox have hit the Game Total Under in 18 of their last 24 games at home (+12.40 Units / 47% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Phillies vs. Red Sox.
| Location | Fenway Park, Boston, MA |
| Date | Thursday, May 14, 2026 |
| First pitch | 6:45 p.m. ET |
| TV | NBC Sports Philadelphia, NESN |
| Phillies starting pitcher | Jesus Luzardo (3-3, 5.98 ERA) |
| Red Sox starting pitcher | Ranger Suarez (2-2, 2.77 ERA) |
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change.
Not intended for use in MA.
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DENVER — Jared Bednar may have put it best after the Colorado Avalanche erased a three-goal deficit to win their series on an overtime tally by a defenseman who hadn’t scored since January and with a different team, no less.
“That one was,” the coach said, “something.”
Something, indeed.
The Avalanche advanced to the Western Conference final for the eighth time since relocating to Denver courtesy of a Brett Kulak goal in a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild in Game 5. It’s just the second time in the last nine playoff appearances the Avalanche have made it past the second round.
On the other occasion, in 2022, the team went on capture the Stanley Cup championship.
With a team led by Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, it’s always a Cup-or-bust scenario. This team especially, given a regular season with captain Gabriel Landeskog on the ice, their depth — the Avalanche had 16 different players score in the Wild series — and the play of their stars.
Among the preseason favorites, they led the NHL most of the regular season in capturing their fourth Presidents’ Trophy, which goes to the team with the best record.
Like Carolina, the Avalanche are rolling into the conference finals. The Hurricanes advanced with a pair of sweeps while the Avalanche required nine games, including a first-round sweep of the Los Angeles Kings. As of Thursday, Colorado is a slight favorite over the Hurricanes to win the Cup.
Next up for Colorado is either Vegas or Anaheim. Colorado was 2-0-1 against both the Golden Knights and the Ducks in the regular season.
Bednar understands the lofty expectations year in and out, given his talented roster. Criticism comes with the territory.
“It’s hard to win,” Bednar said. “But I wouldn’t want it any other way. I don’t think our players would want it any other way.
“People are going to get on you because you didn’t win the Cup. I’d still rather be fighting for that, having earned that type of reputation because of the way you play through the regular season and the group that you put together as an organization and the high expectations, rather than, “Let’s just try and make the playoffs.’”
Not much rattles the Avalanche these days. Not even a three-goal hole, which set up a frantic finish and the overtime winner from Kulak, who took a pinpoint pass from Martin Necas and lined it into the net to send the capacity crowd into a frenzy.
It was Kulak’s first goal since Jan. 19 when he was with Pittsburgh before being traded to Colorado the following month. It was also the first time the Avalanche won a series on home ice since 2008, when they beat the Wild in Game 6 of the conference quarterfinals.
“In an environment like this, where the building felt like it was going to start shaking at any moment, it was exciting,” said Landeskog, who played in his first regular season since 2022 after being sidelined with a knee injury. “Now, it’s kind of a sigh of relief.”
The Avalanche have a few days to heal. They were without forward Artturi Lehkonen and defenseman Sam Malinski the last two games of the Wild series due to upper-body injuries. Makar momentarily left Wednesday’s game after a collision but returned.
“The playoffs are a long grind and you want to keep your focus narrow,” said Kulak, who made the Stanley Cup Final with Edmonton last season. “We can get some rest.”
Colorado has a 3-4 record in the conference finals since arriving in town before the 1995-96 season. All three times the team has advanced, though, a banner has followed — 1996, 2001 and 2022.
“They’re a really good team,” Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes said.
A strength of Colorado has been its depth. The 16 different players to score in the second round is tied for the most in a singles series, according to NHL Stats.
“The depth is what’s going to win, coming down the stretch here in the playoffs,” Landeskog said. “Guys are stepping up all over the place.”
In net, too, even if a goalie dilemma may now be a storyline.
Scott Wedgewood took over in the second period after Mackenzie Blackwood surrendered three first-period goals. Wedgewood stopped all seven shots he faced in the second and third periods (he saw none in OT).
“Just proud,” Wedgewood said of making the conference final. “Proud of our group ending it and finding a way to do that because we knew going into the series, it wasn’t going to be an easy out. There’s a long road ahead, a lot of stories to write and just preparing for that.”
San Diego Padres (25-17) at Milwaukee Brewers (23-17), May 14, 2026, 10:40 a.m. PST
Watch: Padres.TV
Location: American Family Field – Milwaukee, Wisc.
Listen: 97.3 The Fan
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For the first time in his career, Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh has been placed on the injured list. After resting and attempting to play through some side discomfort, the Big Dumper seemed to aggravate his side discomfort in Wednesday’s game. He was eventually replaced by Mitch Garver behind the dish, and now the club will be without their superstar backstop for at least 10 days with an oblique strain, with C Jhonny Pereda recalled in his place.
The news is unsurprising, but troubling, as Raleigh now faces the uncommon challenge of rehabbing an oblique injury as a switch-hitter, an issue noted by Daniel Kramer of MLB.com as one of the factors that may complicate his recovery timeline. Raleigh will receive imaging on Friday when Seattle begins the second leg of the Vedder Cup as they play host to the San Diego Padres.
While Raleigh has struggled immensely in 2026, and it is some small relief to see him receive the time to effectively heal, that’s a bronze lining at best. Cal’s absence puts serious strain on a catching corps that has not demonstrated strength. Mitch Garver signed to a minor league deal this winter after the club soured swiftly on their initial backup plan of Andrew Knizner, who was released before Opening Day despite signing a big league deal. He’ll be expected to take on the primary role in the interim.
Garver, of course, originally came to the Mariners in 2024 with the intention of full-time DH work, as he’d done overwhelmingly in his time with the Texas Rangers. While Garver’s 2024-25 were disappointments, and saw him relegated into a backup role again, he’s been a fairly stalwart, but a major reason for Garver’s DH shift was durability issues, which saw him placed on the IL at least once a year from 2019-2023. Garver has not missed time with the M’s, but it’s a concern point now to see the 35 year old pushed into more serious duty.
That may mean a more even split of time with Pereda, who has fewer big league games under his belt than Garver has played in seven different seasons. Pereda is no Alejandro Kirk, but he does bring a more contact-focused approach at the plate than Garver. The 30 year old is in his eighth MLB organization, and faces primarily a titanic task of filling the shoes and sliding shorts of the Big Dumper for an indefinite period of time. Pereda has hit well in Triple-A Tacoma (his seventh different Triple-A club), running a .321/.414/.417 line in 100 plate appearances, and has historically performed well at the top level of the minors regardless of whether it’s earned him big league opportunities. This will likely be his most significant stretch of play in his career, though it’s possible Seattle looks externally for another option.
A lot of terrible things have happened to the Philadelphia 76ers in the last decade.
But how many of them actually happened under Daryl Morey’s watch?
Daryl Morey was hired by the Philadelphia 76ers on November 2, 2020. By my calculations, most of the bad luck, incompetence, witchcraft, inexplicable disasters and tragicomedy that has resulted in the royally screwed 2026 76ers happened before November 2, 2020. Trading the Jayson Tatum pick for the Markelle Fultz pick? Before Morey. Jimmy Butler trade? Before Morey. Tobias Harris and Ben Simmons contracts? Before Morey. Trading Mikal Bridges for Zhaire Smith? Before Morey.
Morey was recently fired by the 76ers, ending his long and high-profile tenure as one of the league’s most philosophically convinced executives: 3-pointers and layups, no long twos. In service of that philosophy, he made mistakes, as does every GM. But most of the damage had already been done, and I honestly believe he positioned the 76ers as well as he possibly could have in his six-year tenure. His firing signalled that it was time for a new philosophy, but Morey gave the team a pretty good shot given the hand he was dealt.
Upon his hiring in November 2020, Morey was immediately presented with two non-negotiables. First, Doc Rivers was his head coach, having been hired just a month earlier. Second, Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons were his franchise players. Every move the 76ers had made for three full years was in service of that plan. Morey was handed the keys, sure, but they were for a company car with engine issues. So he quickly drafted Tyrese Maxey 16 days into his job, and got to work with what he was given.
There’s a scene in Rush (2013) when F1 driver Niki Lauda is test-driving a Ferrari and says “it’s terrible. Drives like a pig,” to which his mechanic replies “Oh, you can’t say that… it’s a Ferrari!”
That, in essence, is what Morey was presented with.
He never got to test drive anything, never really got to buy his own car. And he had to stick with Embiid, the man who a tortured city’s hopes were all pinned on after years of intentional failure. Once Embiid finished second, second and first in MVP voting between 2020 and 2023, that was it. Morey would be paying Embiid whatever he wanted for the rest of his career, no matter what.
Then there’s Ben Simmons, a basketball/personal/financial/metaphysical disaster that will go down in mysterious legend. Morey famously executed a year-long standoff with Simmons before trading him for James Harden, but I may need to write a book titled “The Four Years that Made and Broke Ben Simmons” to explain to future generations that, prior to his on-court collapse in Game 7 of the 2021 Hawks series, Simmons was an All-NBA-level player. He was incredible, and then he was gone. We may never know exactly what happened, but the fact that Morey managed to acquire Harden — a great player, for all that comes with him — for a deflated asset like Simmons was remarkable.
Harden was perhaps Morey’s kryptonite, a player with the tantalizing offensive tools that served his philosophy far better than Embiid or Simmons, with the former enjoying the mid-range jumper (Morey’s arch nemesis) and the latter incapable of shooting 3-pointers. He was convinced Harden was one of the most impactful players of his generation, and had built team after team around him in Houston. Had he instead committed to Maxey sooner, a player he drafted, perhaps Morey could have avoided the eventual blow up that ended he and Harden’s relationship.
The 76ers’ current problems are mostly due to two contracts for Embiid and Paul George that are slated to pay out nearly $300 million in the next three years. In the era of the apron luxury tax, that is not a feasible way to build a basketball team. And while I won’t say Morey had no choice in handing them out (you always have a choice), Embiid was a non-negotiable. I also think clearing cap space for George and then actually signing him into it was an impressive maneuver at the time. Nobody ever sings a real, big free agent anymore, and 76ers didn’t have to give up anything to get him. That fourth year player option really hurts, I get it, but any GM in his position would have done it to get it done.
Those contracts were peak “if they don’t work, I’m going to get fired anyway so what do I care?” deals. They were big swings, and Morey hung his job on two expensive deals for injury prone players who just didn’t play enough to justify them. But what else was he supposed to do? Use the cap space to fund a lemonade stand? Would 76ers fans have preferred Morey not pay Embiid after he dropped 50 in a playoff game and have him demand a trade instead?
It is interesting that the 76ers, the team most synonymous with rebuilding because of “The Process” has almost gone a full decade without tearing anything down — a period that spans Morey’s entire tenure. He was hired not to save the 76ers but to push a clearly talented roster out of the second round. Instead, he basically just became a crisis manager, always seemingly one step behind the next avalanche ready to bury the 76ers between every rock and every hard place.
But imagine if Morey had not drafted Tyrese Maxey at No. 21, and instead taken Zeke Nnaji or Leandro Bolmaro or R.J. Hampton, the three players pick after him? Imagine if Morey had salary-dumped Ben Simmons instead of acquiring Harden, or had filled the Paul George cap space with Buddy Hield, Royce O’Neale and DeMar DeRozan? What if he had filled it with another Tobias Harris extension?
Would Philadelphia actually be better off?
Or are the 76ers’ present issues arguably the best possible situation for a team built around one of the least available superstars in the history of the league? Perhaps his philosophy has expired, and a new voice in the room should be welcomed or elevated. But I don’t think Morey should be blamed for the check engine light, the brakes seizing up and for the eventual crash — it wasn’t his car.
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The San Antonio Spurs have a chance to deliver the knockout punch in Game 6 against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Led by the dynamic duo of Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox, San Antonio brings a dangerous one-two punch.
While Wemby grabs the spotlight, my Spurs vs. Timberwolves predictions see Fox landing the decisive blow that could send Minnesota packing.
My NBA picks are taking Fox to top his scoring prop on Friday, May 15.
Tip-off is set for 9:30 p.m. ET from the Target Center in Minneapolis, with the game airing on Prime Video.
Spurs: San Antonio closes out this Western Conference semifinal set with a road win. Minnesota is running out of time and struggling to find solutions for a deep Spurs attack.
Top star Anthony Edwards is playing on one good leg, and his support cast either can’t hit a shot (Julius Randle) or can’t stay on the floor due to foul troubles (Jaden McDaniels).
Books have the Spurs as road chalk, and I agree. San Antonio puts the Wolves away in Game 6.
Despite playing with sore ankles in Game 5, De’Aaron Fox topped his points prop for the third straight outing.
Fox scored 18 points with the bulk of those buckets in and around the key.
Fox is second on the team in points in the paint (9.0) and sees a clearer path to the rim if the Minnesota Timberwolves continue to tinker with their rotation.
Minnesota played rim protector Rudy Gobert a playoff-low 23 minutes in Game 5, opting to go small. With Victor Wembanyama in high screen action, Fox finds easier looks inside with Gobert gone and an extra day to rest his wheels.
Projections sit at 17+ with a ceiling of 20 points.
COVERS INTEL: Fox has done well vs. Minnesota guards Ayo Dosunmu (injured) and Mike Conley (old) in this series. Jaden McDaniels is a rare T-Wolves player having success against Fox (34.5 FG%), and he’s expected to match up on Wembanyama more in Game 6.The San Antonio Spurs had six players score at least 12 points in the Game 5 win, and that depth is wearing down Minnesota while exhausting all defensive counters.
The T-Wolves just don’t have the horses to keep up with that offense, especially with Anthony Edwards not at 100%, and the T-Wolves’ poor outside shooting is unable to close the gap.
Wembanyama keeps topping his rebounding props, snatching at least 15 boards in four of the first five games. The only game he didn’t top that prop is when he was tossed 12 minutes into Game 4.
San Antonio’s paint protection is forcing Minnesota into low-percentage looks, and that’s creating ample rebounding opportunities for the 7-footer.
The T-Wolves are suffering from bad starts versus the Spurs, and head coach Chris Finch told reporters they need to do a better job of being patient and creating better shots. That could slow things down in Game 6.
On top of Fox getting to the paint against a smaller Minnesota rotation, he should also find opportunities to find teammates on drive-and-kick and screen-and-roll options with Wemby.
San Antonio has hit the moneyline in 30 of its last 40 away games (+26.65 Units / 20% ROI). Find more NBA betting trends for Spurs vs. Timberwolves.
| Location | Target Center, Minneapolis, MN |
| Date | Friday, May 15, 2026 |
| Tip-off | 9:30 p.m. ET |
| TV | Prime Video |
Not intended for use in MA.
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How Steve Kerr conducted secret Taylor Swift stunt during recent Warriors season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Warriors coach Steve Kerr is in his Taylor Swift era.
Or, he was a few years ago, at least.
In a lengthy ESPN feature about the 60-year-old published Thursday, writer Wright Thompson shared how Kerr subtly referenced the pop singer throughout the course of the 2022-23 NBA season. The result? An end-of-year compilation of clips featuring the coach narrating her song, “All Too Well.”
“Three years ago, to entertain himself in his press conferences, Steve worked phrases from Swift’s song ‘All Too Well’ into his interview answers, smoothly enough that nobody noticed,” Thompson wrote. “For instance, to get the first line of the song, he took the podium after beating the Rockets in March of 2023 and said, ‘I walked through the door of the locker room at halftime.’
“Over a long season he got most of the lyrics done, crossing them off as he went. His son Matthew later edited them into a video for their family group chat, so that Kerr appeared to have recited the whole song.”
While the video never has been made public, Thompson shared that Swift eventually saw it through a mutual friend and found it “creative and funny.”
“Can I put it on social media?” she asked, according to Thompson.
But Kerr asked that it remain private, but it only should be a matter of time before Warriors and Taylor Swift fans alike comb through the postgame footage to make a video of their own.
We’re just wondering how the Warriors coach was able to weave, “But you keep my old scarf, from that very first week” into a press conference.
Your move, Swifties.
Fresh off another drama-filled lottery, the league has turned its attention to the NBA Draft Combine, with the 2026 class shaping up to feature some of the best depth in years. Prospects are getting their measurements updated and putting themselves through agility tests, workouts and scrimmages.
With mock drafts popping up from reputable sources and the draft just over a month away, let’s look at what the early indications say the Philadelphia 76ers can do with the 22nd pick.
ESPN (Jeremy Woo): Allen Graves, SF, Santa Clara
ESPN provides some of the better draft coverage out there, with Jeremy Woo spearheading their latest mock. At 22, Woo slots in Santa Clara’s Allen Graves over names like Koa Peat, Isaiah Evans, Dailyn Swain and Amari Allen.
This feels like a strong pick given the available talent. Graves has a smooth offensive game and a legitimate frame to match, measuring 6’7.75 barefoot with a 7’0 wingspan and 8’10.25 standing reach. He had a late growth spurt and brings a lot to the table offensively, with advanced ball skills, a serviceable jumper and consistent playmaking reads. His game personally reminds me of former Sixer Nic Batum, with Naz Reid being another player he shows shades of.
Graves would be a compelling pick at 22. He is relatively unproven in terms of competition level, but there is plenty to like in a vacuum and even more so as a theoretical fit with the Sixers. He could slot in alongside Paul George and Joel Embiid, providing connective play and floor spacing without sacrificing size or mobility.
Yahoo Sports (Kevin O’Connor): Henri Veesaar, C, North Carolina
Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor brings a lot more variation in his latest mock, with names like Swain, Graves and Allen all coming off the board well before pick 22. O’Connor has the Sixers selecting Henri Veesaar, an experienced third-year big out of North Carolina. Notable names still on the board in this mock include Jayden Quaintance, Bennett Stirtz, Tounde Yessoufou and Evans.
This sits toward the ceiling of Veesaar’s range, barring any last-minute rise. Most mocks have him going in the late first round or even into the second.
So what would justify the reach? Veesaar is quite different from most of the bigs Philadelphia has been accustomed to. He features a legitimate perimeter game and a real shooting touch, knocking down over 40 percent from three on solid volume, with enough offensive versatility to do damage in other ways as well. On paper, he has enough of an offensive arsenal to either back up Embiid or play alongside him in supersized lineups.
That said, I would be pretty surprised if Veesaar is the name the Sixers land on at 22. In many eyes he would not be the best available prospect, and it is hard to imagine the team using their highest pick on a big that many draft boards have sliding. However, if Embiid’s availability is that serious of a concern, spending draft capital on a center when the position figures to be overhauled this summer is not without logic.
The Ringer (J. Kyle Mann & Danny Chau): Cameron Carr, SG, Baylor
The Ringer is no stranger to controversial rankings and mock drafts. J. Kyle Mann and Danny Chau are manning their draft board this cycle, and they currently have the Sixers selecting Cameron Carr at 22. Notable names still on the board include Chris Cenac, Karim Lopez, Allen and Evans.
Carr is a fascinating pick for several reasons. He boasts a real frame to grow into, measuring 6’4.5 barefoot with a 7’7.5 wingspan and 8’8 standing reach. He is one of the better off-ball shooters in this class, with a proven jumper to go along with his wiry frame. Similar to VJ Edgecombe, Carr is also an unusually good rim protector for his size and position, offering serious two-way upside in the long view.
So what makes this pick complicated? Carr will need time and development, particularly when it comes to adding weight to his frame. The defensive flashes are real, but he will need to show stronger and more consistent effort on that end, and self-creation on offense is limited at best. Still, factoring in what he brings right now, with a standout frame and a smooth jumper, it is easy to see why the Sixers might be willing to roll with Carr even if he needs some seasoning. He would provide the largest wingspan-to-height ratio among perimeter players in this class, with real vertical ability and the upside to get even better.
If the Sixers are looking for a connective wing who can provide length behind the backcourt without sacrificing perimeter shooting, there are not many names that fit the bill better than Carr.
It’s worth noting that Carr crushed the scrimmage portion of the combine Wednesday, which might put him out of the Sixers’ range.
The Athletic (Sam Vecenie): Amari Allen, SF, Alabama
Last up is The Athletic, led by renowned draft expert Sam Vecenie. In his mock, Vecenie has the Sixers selecting Amari Allen at 22, over names such as Graves, Joshua Jefferson and Yessoufou.
Vecenie describes Allen well in his write-up as a swiss army knife type of player with a wide range of skills. Allen has excellent size at 6’5.25 without shoes, weighing in at nearly 205 pounds, with a 6’8 wingspan and 8’3 standing reach. As a wing, he is one of the better playmakers in this class, capable of making smart reads and playing well within his strengths. Unlike many prospects, he avoids forcing risky passes and rarely turns the ball over or telegraphs his intentions. Allen also features a serviceable jumper, shooting 34 percent from three and 74 percent from the foul line. The percentages are not eye-popping, but his shot passes the eye test. It is smooth and repeatable, and with some minor tweaks, could become a real strength in the years ahead. The closest comp for Allen’s overall game is the Knicks’ Josh Hart, minus the elite rebounding.
Allen’s range varies drastically depending on who you ask. Some analytics have him as high as the late lottery, while others, as seen here, slide him deeper into the first round. Teams are always hunting for wings who can handle, pass and shoot without being a liability on defense, and Allen checks those boxes. If the Sixers want a ball handler outside of their backcourt with plenty of upside to grow into at just 20 years old, they could do a lot worse than Allen at 22.