Author: rb809rb

Indiana and Ohio State will meet for a third straight season in October 2026.

The Big Ten released its 2026 football schedule Wednesday, and the defending national champions will host the team that won the national title after the 2024 season in Week 7 on Saturday, Oct. 17. Indiana played at Ohio State in 2024 before the two teams met in the Big Ten title game at the end of the 2025 regular season. Indiana won that game 13-10, and the Hoosiers went on to cap a 16-0 season with a win over Miami in the national championship game.

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Indiana plays Ohio State, Michigan and USC over a four-game stretch this fall. After hosting the Buckeyes, the Hoosiers visit Michigan in Week 8. Following a game against Minnesota in Week 9 and a bye in Week 10, Indiana hosts USC in Week 11 before ending the season with a road trip to Washington and its annual rivalry game with Purdue.

There are more games among the top teams in the Big Ten across the 2026 season. Oregon plays USC, Ohio State and Michigan, in addition to its rivalry game with Washington, and USC hosts Ohio State in Week 9. Penn State appears to have the best schedule rotation of the traditional Big Ten powers; the Nittany Lions avoid games against Indiana, Ohio State and Oregon.

There is still one game that needs to be figured out for every team’s schedule to be complete, however. Since USC and Notre Dame are not playing in 2026, the Trojans have an opening in Week 0. USC has off weeks in Week 7 and Week 10 and is scheduled to play a yet-to-be-named team at the end of August.

Here’s the complete Big Ten schedule for the upcoming season. Northwestern plays nine straight games to end the season after a bye in Week 2, while Indiana and USC have the latest bye weeks.

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Week 1

• Eastern Illinois at Minnesota

• Northern Illinois at Iowa

• Western Michigan at Maryland

• South Dakota State at Northwestern

• Indiana State at Penn State

• Washington State at Washington

Week 2

• Rutgers at Boston College

• Mississippi State at Minnesota

• Eastern Michigan at Michigan State

• Bowling Green at Nebraska

• Western Illinois at Wisconsin

Week 3

• Virginia Tech at Maryland

• Southern Illinois at Illinois

• Western Kentucky at Indiana

• Michigan State at Notre Dame

• Eastern Washington at Washington

• Eastern Michigan at Wisconsin

Week 4

• Nebraska at Michigan State

Week 5

• Penn State at Northwestern

• Michigan State at Wisconsin

Week 6

• Illinois at Michigan State

• Ball State at Northwestern

Week 7

• Northwestern at Michigan State

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

• Michigan State at Michigan

Week 11

• Washington at Michigan State

• Northwestern at Ohio State

Week 12

• Northwestern at Minnesota

Week 13

• Michigan State at Rutgers

Rutgers forced No. 7 Michigan State into a halfcourt game Tuesday night at Jersey Mike’s Arena. The Spartans came averaging 17.3 fastbreak points per game — good for 12th nationally — and had only two of those by intermission.

They eventually found themselves down 12 with 9:39 remaining in regulation against a Rutgers team hovering near the bottom of the Big Ten standings and four days removed from a 23-point home loss to Indiana. What looked like a potential trap game on the schedule, which features a Friday night showdown with No. 3 Michigan in East Lansing, was playing out as such.

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Jeremy Fears Jr. had other plans.

The redshirt sophomore guard inspired a Spartans comeback that resulted in an 88-79 overtime win. Fears scored 27 of his season-high 29 points over the course of the second half and extra frame. He also clocked out with nine assists, two shy of Rutgers’ team total.

Fears delivered his most memorable dime in the final seconds of regulation. He started to penetrate before firing a pass to the left wing, where Divine Ugochukwu hit the game-tying 3 with 11.1 ticks left.

Michigan State (19-2, 9-1 Big Ten) went on to preserve its now-seven-game winning streak, denying the Scarlet Knights (9-12, 2-8) their sixth top-10 win under head coach Steve Pikiell.

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Rutgers came in 283rd in the country in 3-point percentage, with a 31.9% clip, and knocked down 10-of-27 attempts (37%) from long range. Freshman Harun Zrno accounted for four triples while chipping in 16 points off the bench. The Scarlet Knights were led by Tariq Francis’ 23 points. The former NJIT standout shot a combined 2 of 11 from the field in the second half and OT, though.

Pikiell’s group couldn’t buy a bucket in overtime. In fact, the Scarlet Knights didn’t record a field goal for more than four minutes in the extra frame.

Michigan State pulled ahead at the charity stripe, and that’s where Fears tallied the team’s final eight points.

Rutgers’ two Big Ten wins this season arrived in overtime. But this time, the Scarlet Knights didn’t have enough left in the tank to pull off one of college basketball’s biggest upsets of the new year.

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In addition to Fears, three other Spartans scored in double figures. Forwards Jaxon Kohler and Coen Carr piled up 12 and 13 points, respectively, and center Carson Cooper turned in 12 points and 14 rebounds.

Fears and Cooper worked a two-man game throughout the second half as Michigan State whittled its deficit.

Tom Izzo’s crew will now head home to prepare for a heavyweight match with their in-state rival.

Bill Belichick won six Super Bowls as a head coach, two more as an assistant and is considered by some to be the greatest coach in football history. Even those who disagree cannot in good faith contend that he’s not the most accomplished coach in the history of the game.

On Tuesday, news broke that his résumé is not good enough to earn Belichick induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on his first ballot.

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This is according to ESPN, which reported Belichick fell short of the 40-vote threshold (out of a possible 50) required for induction to the Hall. Per the report, Belichick received the bad news directly from the Hall on Friday.

‘Don’t even understand how this could be possible’

Belichick has not responded to the news in public, but proclaimed, “Six Super Bowls isn’t enough?” when he heard the news, according to the report. And he had plenty of high-profile support in his corner on Tuesday with reactions from peers and rivals ranging from dismay, outrage and shock that Belichick didn’t make the Hall on his first ballot.

Patrick Mahomes, whose Kansas City Chiefs were Belichick’s biggest rival at the end of his New England Patriots tenure, called the news “insane.”

Hall of Fame former Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson had choice words for the voters who did not vote for Belichick.

Retired 3-time Defensive Player of the Year and future Hall of Famer JJ Watt couldn’t believe his eyes.

Ryan Clark, who played for New England’s rival Pittsburgh Steelers during Belichick’s reign, wrote that the decision disqualifies any future coach from entering the Hall on his first ballot.

Former Patriots Julian Edelman and Jason McCourty, both of whom won Super Bowls with Belichick, weighed in.

Other players, NFL executives, reporters, media personalities and longtime Hall of Fame voters were among the others to express their dismay at the news.

In case you have trouble reading the above tweet, that’s venerated NFL reporter and 32-year Hall of Fame voter Peter King responding to the ESPN report:

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“Holy f***! … I’m very, very surprised,” King said, per ESPN.

LeBron James weighed in from the basketball world.

Hall of Fame voter Mike Sando wrote that he considered Belichick to be a “slam-dunk” candidate, but offered an explanation of newly enacted voting rules that may have impacted Belichick’s first-ballot candidacy.

Regardless, people wanted to know as soon as the news broke who didn’t vote for Belichick. And why? Who did and didn’t vote for Belichick was not clear from the report.

As for the why? It’s not like coaches don’t make it on the their first ballot. It’s rare, but Tom Landry, Don Shula and Chuck Noll all made it on their first ballot in classes that weren’t the Hall’s inaugural. Belichick certainly stands alongside and arguably above those coaches in the annals of NFL history.

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Did scandals cost Belichick?

During and since his tenure with the Patriots, Belichick has generated his share of unflattering headlines. His name is tied to a pair of scandals — Spygate and Deflategate — whose respective egregiousness depends on the eyes of the beholder.

Per ESPN, this was enough to compel former rival executive Bill Polian (Indianapolis Colts, Buffalo Bills) to launch a campaign among voters that Belichick should “wait a year.” Polian is a Hall of Fame voter. Polian denied the report in an interview with Sports Illustrated Tuesday, declaring that he voted for Belichick.

Polian later backtracked on that claim in an interview with ESPN, telling the reporters who initially broke the news that he didn’t remember with certainty whether or not he voted for Belichick.

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Here’s what Polian said, per Don Van Natta’s and Seth Wickersham’s words:

In an interview with ESPN on Tuesday night, Polian denied telling fellow voters that Belichick should serve a one-year penance for Spygate. But he said he heard his fellow voters “float that idea” but he insisted he didn’t agree or disagree with the proposal.

Polian said he voted for Kraft and even spoke up on his behalf during the deliberations, saying Kraft had no knowledge of the Spygate scheme. Polian added that he could not remember with 100% certainty if he voted for Belichick, saying he was 95% sure he voted for the coach and a player, “most likely” L.C. Greenwood.

Belichick’s post-Patriots tenure as the head coach of North Carolina can be aptly described as embarrassing on multiple levels. But again, the guy won eight total Super Bowls, and this is the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His UNC tenure is not relevant here.

Until and unless voters explain themselves, the reason for Belichick’s snub will remain a mystery.

Bill Belichick will not be a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer.

ESPN reports the former New England Patriots head coach, and current UNC head coach, fell short of the 40 out of 50 votes needed for enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame during his first year of eligibility.

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Belichick was reportedly “puzzled” and “disappointed” by the development, reportedly asking one associate, “Six Super Bowls isn’t enough?” and “What does a guy have to do?” with a different associate.

Belichick was the only coach among the finalists for enshrinement this year. Other finalists outside of the traditional player pool — headlined by Drew Brees and Eli Manning — are New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and seniors Ken Anderson, Roger Craig and L.C. Greenwood, all of whom also need at least 40 votes. It’s unclear how those other four fared.

Simply stated, the decision is a shocker. No coach in the history of professional football has a résumé better than Belichick, who is the NFL’s all-time leader in Super Bowl titles, postseason wins and division titles, as well as third in regular-season wins. He and Tom Brady turned the New England Patriots into a machine for two decades, and he presided over the league as the standard to which other coaches were compared.

Belichick’s list of rings also expands to eight when you factor in his tenure as New York Giants defensive coordinator under Bill Parcells, who was enshrined in 2013.

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Per ESPN, the reason why Belichick fell short was the Patriots’ history of cheating under his watch. Spygate and Deflategate were both embarrassing spectacles for the Patriots and the NFL. Former executive Bill Polian, who faced off with Belichick’s teams repeatedly as general manager of the Indianapolis Colts, was reported by one voter via ESPN to have told the voting body that Belichick should have to “wait a year” for induction as penance.

“The only explanation [for the outcome] was the cheating stuff,” a veteran Hall voter told ESPN on Tuesday. “It really bothered some of the guys.”

Polian denied ESPN’s report, telling Sports Illustrated’s Matt Verderame that he voted for Belichick and that any claim he tried to influence voters away from Belichick is “totally and categorically untrue.” However, hours later, ESPN updated its article with an interview with Polian, in which the 83-year-old admitted he could not remember with 100% certainty that he voted for Belichick.

If anything, the situation is reminiscent of the many steroid cases that have dominated the discourse around the National Baseball Hall of Fame over the past two decades. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, who have their own overwhelming résumés, never got enough votes in 10 years of BBWAA ballots, and Cooperstown recently changed its rules to prevent cases like them from coming up in the historical committee votes.

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There’s also the case of Carlos Beltran, the veteran outfielder who had a strong case for first-ballot induction but had to wait until his fourth year for enshrinement due to his involvement in the Houston Astros’ cheating scandal.

There are other nitpicks for Belichick’s legacy. His first year as UNC head coach was widely seen as a failure, with a 4-8 record and questions about his fitness for such a job at 73 years old. Brady winning a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after leaving Belichick and the Patriots also caused a shift in their respective reputations, but not nearly enough for Belichick to not be considered an all-time great.

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Whatever the reason, Belichick’s exclusion is sending shockwaves throughout the football world. Not helping the situation is the Hall of Fame’s notoriously opaque voting process. Former Houston Texans star JJ Watt, a future Hall of Famer himself barring a similarly shocking development, was among those questioning Belichick’s exclusion.

Ultimately, the decision says so much more about the Hall of Fame and its voting body than Belichick’s legacy. When the Hall’s Class of 2026 is both announced and enshrined, the voters have essentially guaranteed the conversation will be focused as much on who didn’t make it.

Darian Mensah is transferring to Miami after all.

The Duke quarterback reached a settlement with Duke on Tuesday that allows him to freely enter the transfer portal and play for another school in 2026. The agreement comes after Duke took legal action against Mensah to prevent his transfer.

“Darian extends his sincere gratitude to Duke University for engaging in good-faith discussions and reaching this resolution,” a statement from Mensah’s Young Money APAA Sports agency said. “He wishes the Blue Devils, Coach [Manny] Diaz, the staff, and the entire fan base continued success in the seasons ahead.

“The 2025 ACC Championship run will forever stand as a remarkable chapter in Duke football history, one Darian is proud to have been part of.”

Then, hours later, Mensah committed to play at Miami next season, according to On3’s Pete Nakos and Hayes Fawcett. Mensah had been heavily linked to Miami ever since he announced he wanted to leave Duke. The Hurricanes needed a new starting quarterback after Carson Beck played the final game of his six-season college football career in Miami’s national title game loss to Indiana.

“We are committed to fulfilling all promises and obligations Duke makes to our student-athletes when we enter into contractual agreements with them, and we expect the same in return,” Duke said in a statement. “Enforcing those agreements is a necessary element of ensuring predictability and structure for athletic programs. It is nonetheless a difficult choice to pursue legal action against a student and teammate; for this reason we sought to resolve the matter fairly and quickly.”

Mensah isn’t the only Duke player who is heading to Miami, either. Duke wide receiver Cooper Barkate entered the transfer portal late like Mensah did. And he also said Wednesday night that he was heading to Miami.

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Barkate had 72 catches for 1,106 yards and seven TDs in 2025. He’s a perfect second option for Mensah at Miami alongside star wide receiver Malachi Toney.

A week ago, Duke filed for a temporary restraining order to prevent Mensah from enrolling at another school. The TRO was granted, though Mensah was permitted to enter the transfer portal.

Duke had said that Mensah’s “enrollment at another school and commitment to play football at that school” would be a violation of the terms of the NIL deal he signed with Duke ahead of the 2026 season and that the contract stipulated that “no other school can use Mensah’s NIL.” There was reportedly no buyout in Mensah’s contract with Duke.

Miami allegedly made a big offer for Mensah after the Hurricanes had struck out on quarterbacks through the winter transfer cycle. Alabama QB Ty Simpson declared for the draft after the 2025 season and said that the Hurricanes had offered him $6.5 million to enter the transfer portal instead and play for the Hurricanes.

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Simpson elected to stay in the draft. And Miami kept searching.

Mensah will be the third straight transfer quarterback to start for the Hurricanes in 2026 as he follows Cam Ward and current starter Carson Beck. And it’s hard to dispute the Hurricanes’ success with either of those two.

Miami went 10-2 in the regular season in 2024 and just missed out on the College Football Playoff. Ward, who came to Miami from Washington State, threw for over 4,300 yards and tossed 39 TDs in 13 games. He parlayed that success into a fourth-place finish in the Heisman Trophy voting and the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Beck has led the Hurricanes to the title game after he transferred from Georgia. Beck came to Miami on what was one of the richest NIL deals for a quarterback ahead of the 2025 season despite his late-season elbow injury. Beck suffered a serious injury to his throwing elbow at the end of the first half of the SEC title game in December and wasn’t able to throw during spring practice.

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However, he was healthy for Week 1 as Miami beat Notre Dame. That turned out to be pivotal, as it ultimately got the Hurricanes into the College Football Playoff in the final rankings.

Mensah arrives at Miami with better stats in a previous season than either QB, too. As Duke won the ACC title — Miami tied for first but didn’t make the title game due to tiebreakers — Mensah was 334-of-500 passing for 3,973 yards and 34 TDs with just six interceptions.

In that ACC title game win over Virginia, Mensah was 19-of-25 for 196 yards and two scores and an interception. In the Blue Devils’ bowl win over Arizona State, he competed just 57% of his passes but threw for 327 yards and four scores along with an interception.

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His transfer is a massive blow to Duke — especially as the Blue Devils made their own big-money move to get him from Tulane after the 2025 season. Mensah proved to be well worth Duke’s investment and it wasn’t too long ago that the school celebrated his return for 2026.

Instead, Mensah is heading to a conference rival. And yes, the two teams will play each other in 2026. Miami hosts the Blue Devils in November.

An All-American clash between No. 6 Jessica Pegula and No. 4 Amanda Anisimova at the Australian Open ended up being pretty one-sided.

Pegula cruised to a 6-2, 7-6 win over her compatriot to reach her first career Australian Open semifinal and third career Grand Slam semifinal in singles. She is now the only American woman remaining in the women’s singles draw and will face No. 5 Elena Rybakina on Thursday for a trip to the final.

In a matchup of talented Americans, Pegula was the steadier hand from start to finish. Especially at the start and finish. Anisimova’s body language wasn’t great as Pegula broke her to open the match, and the 24-year-old was slamming her racket and yelling at her coaches’ box at the end of the decisive tiebreaker, which Pegula won 7-1.

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Overall, Anisimova committed 44 unforced errors to Pegula’s 21, plus seven double faults, and just wasn’t landing the kind of aggressive shots to make up for that discrepancy.

The second set was at least more competitive, with both players exchanging two breaks, but Anisimova came apart quickly as the tiebreaker progressed.

The win is a long-awaited breakthrough for the 31-year-old Pegula, who was bounced before the fourth round in both 2024 and 2025 at Melbourne. She has a formidable path ahead of her, though, as Rybakina hasn’t dropped a set this tournament and dominated No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the hours before Pegula’s match.

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And whoever wins that match seems likely to face No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final. It was Sabalenka who defeated Pegula in the latter’s lone career Grand Slam final at the 2024 U.S. Open.

Things got extremely heated at the final buzzer at the Paycom Center on Tuesday night.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Lu Dort and New Orleans Pelicans guard Jeremiah Fears had to be separated after they got into a shoving match on the final play of the game — which sparked a massive scuffle under the basket that took quite a while for officials and coaches to calm down.

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Dort appeared to foul Fears, who was going up for a layup right at the end of the Thunder’s 104-95 win over the Pelicans. That didn’t sit well with Fears, who immediately got into Dort’s face. Quickly, things escalated.

Fears had to be held back repeatedly, and was even seen being escorted to the tunnel while still trying to get back to Dort. It’s unclear what was said between Dort and Fears, but Pelicans president Joe Dumars even had to get on the court to get involved.

But as the game was over, there were no technical fouls to be dished out. As players were separated and things died down, they simply walked off the floor.

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The issue, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said, was at least partially on the officials — who he said failed to manage a similar, though much smaller, altercation earlier.

“I thought they lost control of the game in the final minutes,” he said, via The Oklahoman’s Justin Martinez. “I thought that altercation at the end started well before that with the [Saddiq Bey and Jaylin Williams] situation. I thought they could have managed that cleaner.

“And then the second thing is I think that’s a foul on Dort. And if it was, they should put a whistle on that play regardless of the score and the time. Because if they do that, everybody stops playing and you can legislate the situation as you normally would.”

Dort finished with 12 points and eight rebounds in the win for the Thunder. All of his points came from behind the 3-point line, too. Shai GIlgeous-Alexander led the way with 29 points and six rebounds, and Chet Holmgren added 20 points and 14 rebounds. The Thunder led the entire way in the second half to pick up the nine-point win at home, which snapped a two-game losing skid. They now sit at 38-10.

Fears added seven points and two rebounds off the bench for the Pelicans, who fell to just 12-37 with the loss. Zion Williamson led with 21 points and 11 rebounds, and Saddiq Bey finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds.

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While there were no in-game penalties, the NBA is sure to hand down some sort of punishment in the coming days.

Novak Djokovic won zero sets in the fourth round of the 2026 Australian Open. He won zero sets in the quarterfinal of the 2026 Australian Open.

And now he’s about to play in his 13th Australian Open semifinal.

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The 10-time Australian Open champion survived a two-set deficit in the quarterfinal on Wednesday after opponent Lorenzo Musetti, the tournament’s No. 5 seed, was forced to retire with an injury in the third set while up 6-4, 6-3, 1-3.

It was a brutal scene for the 23-year-old Italian, who held a 1-9 record against Djokovic going into the match.

Djokovic praised Musetti as deserving of the win in his post-match interview:

“I don’t know what to say except for I feel sorry for him. He was the far better player, I was on my way home tonight. Don’t know what to say, these kind of things happen in sport. It happened to me a few times. You know, being in quarters of a Grand Slam up two sets to love up and being in full control. I mean, so unfortunate. I don’t know what else to say. I wish him a speedy recovery and he should’ve been the winner today no doubt.”

Fortune has been kind recently for Djokovic, who advanced past the fourth round in a walkover after No. 16 seed Jakub Menšík pulled out with an abdominal injury. However, he’s about to reach the same stage of the tournament where he’s bowed out in the past two years, having retired in 2025 while facing Alexander Zverev and losing to Jannik Sinner in 2024.

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Sinner will again face Djokovic in the semifinals. Djokovic is in search of an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam men’s singles title, but the recent reign of Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have caused his current drought to extend into a third year. Djokovic hasn’t won a Slam since the 2023 US Open and if he doesn’t win this tournament, it will officially be the longest he’s gone without a title since his first one in 2008.

Cooper Flagg is indeed the real deal.

The 6-foot-9 forward, who was picked first in last year’s NBA Draft, entered the league with lofty expectations and has seemingly made a reality of them. That doesn’t happen often.

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Flagg’s production and ability to adapt to the NBA are wildly encouraging, to the point where the Dallas Mavericks can now do something they perhaps didn’t feel comfortable doing immediately after the draft:

Build around the Maine native.

No more attention to trio of aging stars

The Mavericks have a cast of older stars, including Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson, and have lived with the misplaced idea that an aging team is closer to a championship than a young one.

(The idea of veterans being more championship proven isn’t wrong, but when one is nursing an ACL tear, another is constantly in and out of the lineup due to a myriad of injuries, and the last one is no longer playing like a star on any level, it’s difficult to justify such a position.)

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With the emergence of Flagg, there are now no more excuses to hang on to the above trio. In fact, it’d be irresponsible to do so, as that would just waste everyone’s time.

Of course, pivoting off that trio is easier said than done.

While we aren’t sure if Irving will ever return as the star he once was, he at least plays as an on-/off-ball combo to such an extent that teams close to a title will likely bring his name up in internal meetings as the Feb. 5 trade deadline approaches. But as far as trade value goes, the Mavericks can’t justify a high price given Irving’s ACL tear and the fact he turns 34 in March.

Thompson doesn’t have much trade value, as he’s about to turn 36 and manages just 11.7 points per game while struggling defensively. His best days are clearly behind him, and even if his financial compensation ($16.6 million this season, and $17.4 million next) is fairly modest, you can easily make the case that he’ll get targeted defensively in the postseason, without adding enough juice offensively to justify such an acquisition.

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As for Davis, well, I covered that in detail recently. The TL;DR version is this: Old, expensive and often injured aren’t attractive elements.

Yet, despite all of the above, the Mavs simply shouldn’t care about the return, as long as they don’t take on future money. If, by some miracle, they get offered expiring contracts for Davis, they should take it and run, as to better reset in the summer. If someone offers more, you act cool and don’t call them back to confirm the legitimacy of the offer. (You got away with one there, Atlanta.)

[Get more Mavericks news: Dallas team feed]

While Irving isn’t as frequently injured as Davis, nor as expensive, you have to wonder if he’s got enough value to ask for pick compensation. That should be the initial ask for Dallas, of course, but if offers come in that are limited to deals that expire, you at least gauge them. Extracting some kind of value for Irving, such as a young player early in his rookie contract, could also help seal the deal.

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As for Thompson, there isn’t a rush. But if you can get something for him that includes a second-round selection, you grab that as well.

What should Dallas be looking for?

If the idea is gathering cap space for Davis, Irving and Thompson — which it should be — it provides the Mavericks with the ability to design their own supporting cast.

Want to lean into shooting? Sign the best spot-up players who can play off Flagg and space the floor for him. Want to build a mean defensive frontline? Acquire a nasty trio of big men who can all board, defend and switch on the perimeter.

Because however the Mavericks slice it, their new focus is Flagg, and every major, as well as minor, roster decision has to be with him in mind.

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They could also put forth an enormous effort in identifying Flagg’s primary co-star, although that’s highly unlikely to be found in free agency, which has become almost dormant of true stars in recent years. More than likely, that player will need to be acquired through trade. But that too grows significantly easier when Dallas has oodles of cap space at their disposal.

Of course, the observed mind will accurately ponder, “What about draft picks?” — which is absolutely a fair question given that Flagg is just 19 and will need players closer to his timeline.

This year’s pick, their 2026 first-rounder, will have to be one of Dallas’ primary building blocks. The Mavericks have full control of it, and the 2026 class is loaded. They have every single reason to be as bad as humanly possible to get a star this summer who is cost controlled and fits the aforementioned timeline.

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As the Mavericks don’t have much control of their future, in terms of draft equity, this year is — by far — their most important in terms of identifying another major piece to their forthcoming puzzle.

This is all to say they can’t waste time. There is no reason to stay with the older core. If members of it are still on the roster as the Mavericks enter 2026-27, that would be a mistake.