This wasn’t a talent or infrastructure issue. Spain was home to arguably the two biggest clubs in the world, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. More than half of their 2006 squad were Champions League Finalists between 2000 and 2006, with several players winning the title with Barcelona just weeks before the World Cup.

La Liga had held the top spot in the UEFA Coefficient rankings since 2000, with other clubs such as Valencia, Deportivo La Coruña, and Sevilla finding success and developing notable players. Yet the Spanish national team lagged behind similarly large nations like France, Italy, and Germany, who each boasted 3, 5, and 6 major trophies respectively. Rather, Spain was on par with the likes of Denmark, Greece, and Czechoslovakia, who each had a Euros title and little World Cup success.

Euro 2008 qualifying started poorly for Spain, with defeats to Northern Ireland and Sweden in their first 3 matches. Manager Luis Aragonés and those within Spanish management didn’t think the squad had the physicality to out-muscle other nations, and that the team needed a new style that focused on possession. Without expert goalscorers and with a defense deemed to be a weak point, Spain opted to focus on protecting the ball and developing their play by way of short and quick passes, a tactic that came to be known as Tiki-Taka.

This play style worked tremendously for the Spanish, who reeled off a record-tying 35-match unbeaten streak starting in 2007, lasting until the 2009 Confederations Cup where they shockingly lost to the United States. Spain won the 2008 European Championship during this run, which itself was apart of another streak, as they won three consecutive major tournaments: Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup, and Euro 2012. This was one of the greatest and most dominant eras of a national team in the history of the game, as this sort of prolonged glory was rarely seen before. So how did this happen?

The easy answer is that Spain had a “Golden Generation,” or a group of players coming through around the same time that were far more talented than any group of players from that country before. In addition to the likes of Xavi, Iker Casillas, Xabi Alonso, Carlos Puyol, Fernando Torres, David Villa, and Andrés Iniesta, who had all established themselves by 2008, David Silva, Sergio Ramos, Gerard Piqué, Sergio Busquets, Cesc Fàbregas, and Jordi Alba, were all born between 1986 and 1989 and broke into the team to complete a ridiculously talented squad. But this generation didn’t appear by chance. And better yet, they wouldn’t be the last.

After the high of back-to-back-to-back tournament victories, Spain entered a sharp and sudden decline. They were bounced in the Group Stage in the 2014 World Cup, lost in the Round of 16 in Euro 2016, and the Round of 16 again in the 2018 World Cup. They nearly made the Final of Euro 2020, losing to champions Italy in the Semifinals, but lost again in the Round of 16 at the 2022 World Cup. Perhaps Spain truly just had a Golden era where everything went perfectly. But then came a rebirth.

Spain entered Euro 2024 as an outside choice to win the competition. They cruised through the tournament, winning all but 1 match in normal time en route to a 4th European crown. They remained unbeaten in the run up to this year’s World Cup, where they yet again calmly deconstructed their opponents to win football’s biggest trophy for a 2nd time. They are currently on another 2+ year run without a defeat, having set the record for longest international unbeaten streak at 38 matches without a loss. If it wasn’t before, it's clear now that this is not a fluke or abnormal overachievement. Spain have won 50% of the major tournaments they have participated in over the last two decades, and they are here to stay. While the 2008-2012 group should be considered a Golden Generation, that label isn’t the “why” for Spain’s success; it’s the result. The byproduct of several factors and decisions coming together to build a footballing machine that churns out stars and trophies. To understand the story of how Spain reached the top of the football world, we have to go all the way back to the 1980s to start.

Johan Cruyff

Johan Cruyff played for FC Barcelona from 1973 to 1978, winning a La Liga title, a Copa del Rey, and two Ballon d’Ors in his time in Catalonia. While he was a legendary figure at the club during his playing days, his time as Barcelona manager had a far greater impact on the club. He won four La Liga titles as manager, as well as a European Cup in 1992. But it was the process behind these successes that was truly influential for not just Barcelona but the Spanish national team. Cruyff had been the on-field face of the Dutch-developed “Total Football,” a style where any player could play any position on the field to retain structure and advance the passage of play through free-flowing passing and creativity. Cruyff was at the center of this, using his vision and intelligence to move through opposing defenses with Ajax and the Dutch national team. His managerial tactics were built from these playing foundations, and he revolutionized the Barcelona system.

Cruyff brought new ideas to a club in Barcelona that had pre-existing structures and regiments. Big changes were made to training sessions, where Cruyff believed in developing passing, technique, and skills over pure physical fitness. He instituted 4-3-3 and 3-4-3 formations to utilize passing and connectivity as the system of attack. Cruyff also made big changes to the development process at La Masia, Barcelona’s famed academy. Prior to Cruyff, Barcelona had weeded out players that they did not believe would reach 1.80 meters (5 feet 11 inches). Cruyff was strongly against this, as he valued technical ability over physicality, finding that smaller players with lower centers of gravity had better control over the ball. This reduced emphasis on the physical qualities of players applied to speed as well, as he believed that players with skill who could read the game would be better to control a match than those with pure speed. He also believed in utilizing these academy products, and he brought the likes of Guillermo Amor, Pep Guardiola, and Albert Ferrer into the first team at a young age.

Now, these changes at FC Barcelona were not of an immediate impact to Spain as a whole. The national team didn’t see any success in the 1990s and for most of the 2000s. But by 2008, Spain’s squad was beginning to become dominated not just by Barcelona players, but by Barcelona academy products who had trained in and graduated from La Masia, and were results of Cruyff’s changes to the club. Xavi and Iniesta, both 1.70 meters (5 feet 7 inches), would likely have been disregarded under the old system. Sergio Busquets, who always lacked in pace, may not have been trusted with a midfield role, nor would he have been inserted into a significant role in the first team at just 20 years old. Cruyff left Barcelona in 1996, but his impact has been felt at the club and in the national team to this day.

Identity and Philosophy

Much of this article has discussed FC Barcelona in pair with the Spanish national team, naturally given their overlapping successes and players. But there’s more to it than just the sharing of players between club and country. It’s the shared formative beliefs and the chemistry that players with aligned development paths share.

6 out of Spain’s 11 starters in the 2010 World Cup Final were active FC Barcelona players, and all of them either spent much of their youth career in La Masia or joined the academy at an older age and continued their development with the club’s C and B teams. These players, namely Gerard Piqué, Carles Puyol, Sergio Busquets, Xavi, Andrés Iniesta, and Pedro were all taught the same footballing ideals, and regularly practiced this style weekly as Barcelona teammates. This is still true today, as 8 of Spain’s squad members this year are current FC Barcelona players, with a further 3 players having spent time in the Barcelona Academy during their youth careers. Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres, Pau Cubarsí, Dani Olmo, and Pedri featured regularly throughout the tournament, and these players have each been at Barcelona for at least the past two seasons. Growing up in similar systems, these players have been rigorously trained in the Barcelona and Spanish style- which is also a factor in Spain’s rise: a national team identity.

Many of the top national teams have had a stylistic identity: The Netherlands with the aforementioned Total Football, Germany with their pressing, Brazil with their creativity and flair, France’s history of elite goalscorers, Argentina’s superstar systems designed around Maradona and Messi, you get the picture. Spain finally found their identity in the 2000s with Tiki-Taka, and has evolved into today’s team that controls possession and pace of play through on-ball ability and is defensively sound through their structure. If you were to watch a match with a filter, you would be able to tell that Spain is playing based off of how they are playing. This has proved critical in international football, where talent pools are pre-determined and managers, typically natives of the country who have been raised in a national style, can come and go without drastically changing the identity of a team who cannot transfer players in and out of their squads as club teams do.

Youth Development and Senior Team Continuity

A major success for the Spanish national team were the 1992 Olympic Games hosted in Barcelona. Men’s Football in the Olympics is a U-23 tournament, although up to 3 senior players are allowed. Spain hadn’t found much success here either, with just 3 Olympic appearances since 1930, exiting in the Group Stage in two of them. They qualified as hosts, and the home field seemed to give them a notable boost as they advanced all the way to the Final, where they defeated Poland 3-2 to claim the Gold Medal. In preparing to host the Olympics, Spain’s government and sporting federations began increasing funding into athletic development, and they saw the results of this in a big way at the Games. The success in football, which was somewhat separate in that the sport was already well-funded, still gave increased credence into putting more money into youth development.

As FIFA and UEFA have expanded youth tournaments since the 1990s, Spain has become one of the most successful youth nations in the sport. They have reached the Olympic Final three more times since hosting, taking Silver in Sydney in 2000 and in Tokyo in 2021 before winning Gold again at the most recent Olympics in Paris two years ago. Their U-21 team has reached the Final of the U-21 European Championships in 5 of the last 8 editions, winning 3 of them. Their U-19 team is arguably the most successful of the youth teams, winning a whopping 10 of the 21 U-19 European Championships since its establishment in 2002, including taking home the title in this year’s edition two weeks ago. Additionally, their U-17 team has medaled in 5 of the last 14 U-17 World Cups.

This history of youth success is all the more relevant today given that the current Spanish manager, Luis de la Fuente, was a Spanish youth team coach from 2013 until 2022, when he accepted the job of the senior team. He won European Championships at the U-19 level in 2015 and the U-21 level in 2019, as well as claiming silver with the Olympic team in 2021. de la Fuente has an established history with many of the Spanish players, having managed 16 of the 26 players in this summer’s squad at youth level, winning a U-19 or U-21 European Championship with most of them. In fact, 3 of the 11 Spanish starters in the World Cup Final last weekend, Fabián Ruiz, Dani Olmo, and Mikel Oyarzabal, started in the U-21 European Championship Final in 2019 under de la Fuente, a clear sign of how incredible Spain are not just at youth development, but turning talented young players into successful professionals.

This is where chemistry comes in again. Through the Spanish system, these players are incredibly familiar with one another and have played with each other for years. The system even encourages managerial development as seen with de la Fuente.

The End Result

Looking at the machine Spain has built today, you’d think they were always one of football’s premier nations. Yet that couldn’t be further from the truth. Spain is proof that, with the right philosophy and investment, a sporting underachiever can be transformed into a dominant powerhouse. If they stay true to their on-field identity of passing and chemistry and off-field identity of youth development, Spain will be a major threat to win the Euros and the World Cup for decades to come.

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I’ve gathered my thoughts on this deal during the recent writing break I took, and finally have reached my verdict: it’s not a good trade for the Celtics. Let me preface this by saying that I am a pro-analytics person. The analytics have the data and history to back up things, yes, but within context. Jaylen Brown was despised by analytics this past season, but let’s put it into context: these analytics didn’t like Jaylen Brown in one of his most effective seasons, and they definitely didn’t like him before. Those analytics would’ve suggested trading Brown during the 2021-22 season or after the 2022-23 season, and they would’ve been wrong as he won Conference Finals and NBA Finals MVPs as he guided the Celtics to an NBA title. The analytics from this season also judged Brown as the sole #1 option, something he wouldn’t be with Jayson Tatum back full time next season. There wasn’t an analytical narrative about trading Jaylen Brown last offseason when the Celtics were looking at a gap year due to Tatum’s injury and the second apron, which tells me one of two things: the analytics weren’t awful last year (when he was the #2 guy), or the newer analytics that aren’t in favor of him haven’t been proven reliable yet off of this single season of usage. But that’s enough about the analytics part of the discourse. It’s time to talk money. Sure, his contract may be a bit expensive, and regardless of performance it’s difficult to have two max salary players in this current CBA, but I just cannot understand this trade being financially motivated when the return is a player of near equal salary who is older and less effective. In my eyes, I don’t see the fact that Paul George’s deal is a year shorter as a hugely significant benefit. Yes, it helps and allows for sooner flexibility, but it’s just one season. This is of course where your viewpoint on the analytics matters, but in my view, turning Jaylen Brown into Paul George far outweighs the financial flexibility of the shorter contract. Now, there is a possibility that the return on this trade could change, and that is if Paul George’s $56.6M expiring deal is dealt away next summer as part of a deal for a better player. But that possibility remains to be seen. We’ve also already seen the example of a team trading away a franchise star who they thought was overpaid and tried to patch together his impact with other players: the Timberwolves did this when they traded away Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks after he helped them reach the Conference Finals. I wonder how that trade has turned out for both teams? I also understand that, regardless of any takes on the players involved, it seems there’s a good chance the Celtics’ relationship with Brown and his role on the team going forward made a trade not just inevitable but necessary. I question why there was so much haste in the process, as I can almost guarantee this trade package would be on the table in October. For now, the Celtics have swapped a 29 year-old All-NBA 2nd Team player for a 36 year-old former star on nearly the same salary and 2 first round draft picks.

The Aspiration Scandal keeps dragging on

I’m going to keep this part brief because this investigation is getting pretty annoying at this point. The Clippers traded Kawhi Leonard to the Raptors, but that deal is now on pause as the Raptors were informed that by acquiring Leonard they would be assuming any penalties or punishments related to Leonard as the result of the investigation. Should he be found innocent, the Raptors intend to complete the deal as originally agreed upon, but the question here is why weren’t the Raptors, or any NBA team for that matter, informed of this before the offseason started? And why did the NBA take an entire week after the deal to inform the Raptors of this? And WHY are we still waiting on the results of this investigation? Pablo Torre reported the story more than 10 months ago, and the investigative process of the investigation is assumed to be finished by now, so what’s the holdup? As far as we know from what Adam Silver has said, the NBA hasn’t been informed about the complete findings, so it’s not that the league is taking their time deciding the appropriate punishment- we’re not even to that phase yet. Whatever the final result is, we’ve still seen the last of Kawhi Leonard in a Clippers uniform.

The LeBron James free agency is still a ways from an answer

Unsurprisingly, the King is still yet to find a new home. I didn’t think LeBron would sign with a team for at least two weeks, and that’s where we stand now. It does seem to be down to Golden State, Miami, Cleveland, Minnesota, and Philadelphia, but I think we’re still a ways from hearing a final decision. I don’t think this will drag on all offseason, I believe we will definitely hear a decision before August, but I’d be surprised if there was any news before next week. Golden State is the most entertaining landing spot, while Philadelphia and Minnesota are probably the best spots to chase a title. I don’t think LeBron will return to Cleveland at this time, but they can’t be ruled out because of the history.

Cleveland just made a huge mistake

The Cleveland Cavaliers just gave Donovan Mitchell a 4-year, $273M max extension to keep their franchise star in Ohio long-term. That is an enormous contract to hand to a guy who has yet to prove that he can lead a team to a championship, much less a Finals appearance. Not a week after the Celtics traded Jaylen Brown in part because he was too expensive of a player to have on the team for what they believed he provided, the Cavaliers, a franchise who have been above the second-apron for the last year, doubled-down financially, giving a quarter of a billion dollars to Mitchell that goes into effect at the start of his age-31 season and runs through his age-34 season. Mitchell is an elite player and one of the best guards in the league, but has yet to find the formula to get it done in the postseason. His splits and ratios drop across the board in the playoffs, and the NBA has only seen a few guard-led teams win the title over the last 15 years, namely two-time MVPs Stephen Curry and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with the Warriors and Thunder, as well as this past season with Jalen Brunson’s Knicks, a title run that is a historic exception to many trends. This is not going to turn into a championship for Cleveland, and will leave them in decline with a massive contract owed.

One of the dumb teams just did the dumbest thing ever

There’s a group of franchises out there that I and others call the “dumb teams.” They regularly make the wrong decisions, whether they looked doom from the start or actually appeared positive. Over the years, this group has regularly included the Kings, Bulls, Nets, Pistons, and of course, the Pelicans. New Orleans hasn’t done all that much this offseason, insisting on running back a 26 win team and declining all offers for their best players. They didn’t even have as much as a first round pick, thanks to an infamous trade they made. Their only move of note is the re-signing of veteran center DeAndre Jordan. It’s not a very consequential transaction, as he likely won’t see many minutes and is there for his experience and locker room presence. So what’s wrong with this move? In the NBA, experienced players are given contracts of a certain size, something called the vet minimum. Players with 10+ years of experience are to be paid no less than $3.9M. There’s a scale of salaries ranging by years of experience, and because the NBA wants teams to keep signing NBA veterans, the league subsidizes vet minimum contracts in the salary cap at $2.4M, the minimum for players with 2 years of experience. There’s one small problem with this: the vet minimum subsidization applies for 1 year deals. The Pelicans signed Jordan to a 2 year deal. Why they thought they needed to lock down DeAndre Jordan for multiple years I have no idea. Somehow, nobody in the Pelicans’ front office knew about this regulation and went ahead to sign Jordan for 2 years when they could just sign him for 1 year and do the same thing next summer. It’s not an error with massive implications; it’s only a difference of $1.5M, but it’s the type of mistake that never be possible in a professional front office. It’s the type of mistake that only a few franchises could make, and I’m not surprised at all that it’s the Pelicans who made this type of error. It’s this type of lack of insight that reminds me that New Orleans will probably never win an NBA championship in my lifetime.

What have you thought about the NBA offseason? Let me know in the comments.

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Le Tour de France.

“Cycling? That’s boring,” you might say. And for people who have never watched, I can’t blame you for thinking that. I thought the same too before I got into it. I actually stumbled upon the Tour by chance. My father had been big into the Tour when I was young, but lost interest over the post-Lance Armstrong years. In 2021, I came downstairs to find the television left on NBC after the Today Show, and was now airing Stage 2 of the Tour. I remembered watching it as a child, so I left it on in the background but paid more attention as the stage got closer to the finish. The route that day was a particularly interesting one with a double ascent of the Mûr-de-Bretagne where Mathieu van der Poel claimed the victory and the maillot jaune. From there I was hooked, and have watched nearly every stage since. Today, I’d like to convince readers like you to give the Tour a chance. Here are 5 reasons why you should watch the Tour de France:

1: The annual GC battle between Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard

This is cycling’s equivalent to Messi and Ronaldo, Brady and Manning, Steph and LeBron, or Federer, Nadal, and Djoković. The Slovenian and Danish riders have been the two best Grand Tour riders for a half decade now, occupying the top 2 General Classification spots in each of the last 5 Tours, with Pogačar winning 3 and Vingegaard winning 2. Pogačar is usually the favorite and it’s no different this year, but Vingegaard is seemingly in his best form since he last won in 2023. These two will battle it out on every stage yet again, and both have stacked teams to help them in the fight, Pogačar with UAE Team Emirates and Vingegaard with Team Visma-Lease a Bike.

2: It truly is a team sport

When I first started watching, I had no idea that not only is cycling a team sport, but teams are absolutely crucial to the success of the winners. Teams consist of 8 riders and are equipped with all types of riders to help the team’s objective, whatever it may be. Some teams fight for GC, while others fight for Points Classification, Team Classification, or stage wins. Teams like UAE and Visma compete for GC and Team Classification, but teams like Soudal-Quick Step, NSN, and Alpecin-Premier Tech opt to compete for Points and stage wins. Many riders will race in the support role, helping their top climber or sprinter compete by pacing, jostling for ideal positions, operating as their lead-out, and carrying supplies. There are a lot of tactics involved in what rider does what and when.

3: There are a LOT of competitions

As mentioned before, there are several different objectives for teams to fight for. The overall GC winner may take home the full race honors and the yellow jersey, but that isn’t the only big competition. The green jersey is available to the Points Classification winner, the polka dot jersey is available to the Mountains Classification winner, and the white jersey is available to the Young Rider Classification winner. The active leaders in the competitions wear their respective jerseys during the race, and it is a big deal for riders to wear it even for a single day, let alone winning the classification. There is also an award for the most combative rider, the rider who was the most aggressive in attacking on breakaways. Stage wins also mean a lot to riders who aren’t at the level to fight for classifications and to teams who don’t have the personnel to compete in the classifications. There’s something for everyone in the Tour, but also entertainment at all phases of each stage. It’s not just 5 hours of cycling waiting for the finish line to appear, there’s constant action.

4: It’s impressive to watch

Completing the Tour is a feat in itself. Over the last 5 editions, nearly 19% of riders abandoned the race and didn’t reach the finish. While some riders fall victim to injury or illness, others drop out due to exhaustion or inability to complete a stage within the time limit. This makes it all the more impressive to witness the likes of Pogačar, Vingegaard, and other climb mountains of 8-12% grade at 12-15 MPH, day after day, and in sweltering heat. It is a brutal undertaking to compete in a Tour, and many riders only compete in 1 or 2 out of the 3 total Grand Tours in a year as it is too much of a strain on the body to compete in all 3 and attempt to get the best results. The best riders appear to do what seems to be a monumental task with ease, and for these reasons, finding success in the Tour is a lot tougher of an objective than many of the other sports we watch.

5: The natural beauty of the scenery

On the East Coast where I live, the Tour is a morning sport, with most stages ending between 10:30 and 11:30 AM. I find the Tour a beautiful way to start the day, with quaint French towns, rolling hills, and staggering mountain peaks occupying the television throughout the race. While I tune in for the cycling action, I find the viewing experience really enjoyable in the high mountains and countryside. The broadcasters do a really great job showing the vastness of the Alps and Pyrenees, as well as exploring the towns they ride through. Even if you don’t find the appeal in the sport, the Tour is at the very least a great backdrop for your living room.

The 2026 Tour de France kicks off tomorrow with the Grand Depart in Barcelona! Will you be tuning in? Let me know in the comments!

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8 years ago, the United States’ proposal to host the World Cup, with the help of Canada and Mexico, won the bidding rights for 2026. I remember hearing the news and being excited. Soccer was a peripheral sport for me at the time, something I had played briefly when I was young and at recess and gym at school, but never followed all that seriously. The MLS was the league I was most familiar with, but I never watched. The only time I watched soccer was international tournaments during the summer. The 2014 World Cup was my introduction, and I watched the Euros and the Copa America in 2016 and the Confederations Cup in 2017. I was excited that the World Cup would be coming to America, but I didn’t truly understand the scale of what it meant.

Flash forward to 2026. I’ve been deeply invested in the game for years now. It started with the 2018 World Cup, and was furthered by getting introduced to the club side of the sport through Tottenham’s run to the Champions League Final in 2019 as well as my father getting into the sport. My obsession really began over the pandemic as club football was by far the first sport to resume play, giving me 2 months to put all my focus onto a single sport. I learned a lot about the game, the players, the history, and the current systems during that time. All of it made me dream about the World Cup in 2026.

As it got closer, reports about the expected demand and the potential ticket prices made it seem a lot less likely that I’d be able to attend. I didn’t have high hopes, and as the tournament approached in 2025, I didn’t really have thoughts on attending anymore.

Then I was handed a lifeline: at a family gathering last October, my aunt and uncle informed me that they’d won the ticket lottery for a pair of Group Stage matches in Boston, and had tickets to share with me and my cousins. This was a surprise to me, but of course a welcome one. I was going to the World Cup.

The draw came in December. England v Ghana! A chance to see one of the world’s most storied teams. I was open to seeing any team, and as an avid fan of the sport I was familiar with a lot of players from most nations at the tournament, but the prospect of seeing England was a treat. But as the calendar moved nearer to the tournament, my excitement was waning. All of the American politics and decisions from FIFA were draining the thrill of what is supposed to be a celebratory event. But I had to remind myself that I was fortunate enough to be in the position to be there. At $300, the ticket cost wasn’t breaking the bank like some of the resale ticket prices that have been in the thousands, but it’s money that I had the privilege to be able to commit to attending a sporting event. Many around the world would do anything to be able to attend this tournament, yet even still some just aren’t in the position to do so at such an exorbitant price. I had to stay excited.

The issues surrounding this World Cup are very real. The aforementioned ticket prices, the difficulty that not just fans but referees, team officials, and players have had entering the country, the political involvement FIFA has had despite being a “neutral” and “apolitical” organization.

But despite all of the trials and tribulations, there’s one thing that can’t be stopped, no matter the obstacles:

Humanity.

You can’t stop human spirit.

I went into Boston on a Saturday for a day in the city. Immediately upon getting off the train it was clear this wasn’t your typical day in Boston. Something unique was happening. People were everywhere. The World Cup was here. Over the course of the weekend, I saw people wearing kits of 24 different countries in the World Cup, exactly half of the teams in the competition. But there was one nation that stood out a fair bit more than the rest.

Scotland.

If you have been following the World Cup, you’ve probably heard about the thousands upon thousands of Scottish fans who descended upon Boston. For a variety of reasons, the Scots made a far deeper connection with Boston than any other fans visiting the other 15 cities. I made the trip into the city the day after their final match in Boston, so while some supporters had packed up and left that day, many fans were enjoying their last day in the city they’d grown to love over the previous two weeks. And boy were they having a great time. Marching in droves through the streets. Exploring local restaurants and bakeries. Singing and chanting everywhere. The Scottish culture was on full display. But culture on display only results in viewing pleasure. The real display of humanity comes through connection.

We went out to an Irish bar where we expected to find plenty of Scots enjoying their Saturday night. There were plenty of them, as well as other visitors. I was wearing my France kit, which invited many conversations from people asking me if I was French or if I preferred Mbappé or Olise. But the Scots were the main attraction. And that’s how I met Keir.

Keir was visiting from Scotland with his friend James. My cousin and girlfriend were first drawn to him as he was wearing a kilt, but we struck up conversation, which I naturally transitioned to the topic of football. I learned that he was a Rangers fan, so we got to discussing the likes of Alfredo Morelos and Ally McCoist. Keir was open to all conversation as we pestered him with questions and topics, and he graciously stuck with us for the night. We talked about life, how things were in Scotland compared to America, learned that he is in a band, and that he regularly travels for Scotland games. We laughed, we drank, and we sang with all the others:

“NOOOO SCOTLAND NO PARTYYYYY”

“WE’VE GOT MCGINNNNN, SUPER JOHN MCGINNNNN”

It was a raucous environment. It was some of the most fun I’ve ever had. And to think it was the product of a middle-aged Scottish man and 4 Americans who recently graduated college having a night out together, all thanks to the World Cup. All because of football. All because of a game.

I inquired about Scottish food and drink I knew: Haggis and Irn-Bru. Keir told me they were delicious, and I promised I’d try them sometime. We discussed making the trip over to Scotland some day, and we exchanged information if we were ever to meet up again. Eventually it came time to say goodbye, a surprisingly hard farewell for someone we’d just met 3 hours before. We told him he was the GOAT, he told us that we’d made his night. I’ll never forget Keir.

It’s the point of what the World Cup is about. Not even the product on the pitch. But the multicultural gathering that ensues and the people who connect. The Scots may have gotten a new experience being in America, but they brought Scotland to us and gave people like myself a taste of their culture without me ever having stepped foot in Scotland. It highlights many things: why the political interference with visiting fans is so frustrating, why traveling the world and meeting new people is so positive, heck, even why AI will never replace raw human interaction. Sports can be divisive, but can also be one of the most uniting forces in human society.

Three days later I attended the England v Ghana match. The game itself was mostly forgettable and ended in a 0-0 draw, with the best part possibly being the fact that the forecasted rain held off. But yet again, the fans struck me at all times. The people there to support their country. English fans were chanting all throughout the stands and the concourses. The Ghanaian sections appeared to be having a party, especially around full-time when they secured a point.

But more than just the culture that I observed, the biggest takeaway I found was that people can be so nice. Just about everyone I interacted with who wasn’t from America was friendly and courteous. The English fans who came over at the tailgate to talk about Tottenham, or the Ghanaian fans who asked which way the stadium was. It’s all a reminder about the shame that is the conflict and bad actors that keep us from a united world. Especially through the vessel of enjoying a football match, I figure that most people from around the world, if they are able to communicate with each other, would get along, which is something I was able to experience thanks to the World Cup.

Politicians may try to divide us. Billionaires may try to deplete us. Corrupt organizations may try to limit us. But this sport can bring us together.

Long live the World Cup.

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Aday Mara- 12th Overall, Oklahoma City Thunder

Originally from Spain, Mara shot up draft boards thanks to a breakout Junior season after transferring to Michigan from UCLA. The 7-foot 3-inch big man was the defensive anchor for the Wolverines, averaging 2.6 blocks despite only averaging 23.4 minutes per game. Mara is one of my favorite players in the draft and someone who I thought would’ve been a great fit for a few teams before the Thunder, but is an excellent choice by OKC. They struggled to contain Victor Wembanyama in the Western Conference Finals, which is a common issue for most teams, but more problematic for the reigning champions who are one of the league’s top title contenders. Chet Holmgren disappeared offensively while the Thunder couldn’t figure out how to maximize his defensive abilities in the correct role. Mara brings elite rim protection, great touch around the basket, and very good passing and vision for a man of his size. He should fit into the Thunder rotation seamlessly, allowing them to keep a high level shotblocker on the floor at all time and give them an extra defensive look alongside Holmgren.

Hannes Steinbach- 14th Overall, Charlotte Hornets

Steinbach was consistently projected in the fringe-lottery range for months, being known to NBA scouts from his time with the German national team. While Washington struggled as a team throughout the season, Steinbach always produced, leading the country in rebounds and double-doubles, averaging 11.8 boards per game. He’s an experienced player from his time in Germany that will translate to the NBA with ease, and fills a need on the Hornets with his size. The Hornets were lacking a bit in the front court last season as their guards excelled, and Steinbach is a top talent to add to their ranks. Measuring in one inch shy of 7-feet, he has the height to play center and form a monstrous pairing on the glass with Moussa Diabaté.

Karim López- 21st Overall, Memphis Grizzlies

I love what the Grizzlies did here, trading back multiple times and acquiring 5 second-rounders to ultimately still end up with their guy in López. The highest-selected international player, López developed his game with the New Zealand Breakers of the NBL, becoming the first Mexican-born player to be selected in the first round of the NBA Draft. Now I’ll admit, I don’t know a whole lot about López as he didn’t partake in the college game, but he’s rated highly by a lot of scouts who like his physicality and two-way potential. He was viewed as a lottery talent by many, but likely slipped due to his lack of an elite trait and on-ball creation. 21st overall may be more reflective with López’s lack of elite upside that other prospects have, but is a bit of a steal compared to his overall ability. He’s a professionally proven player, averaging 12/6/2 as an 18-year old in the Australian league, and will be a nice addition to the Grizzlies’ rebuild.

Labaron Philon Jr.- 22nd Overall, Philadelphia 76ers

Philon’s fall in the draft was a surprise, although it is more understandable in a historically deep guard class. He was electric in his second year at Alabama, where he was and efficient lead guard in an elevated role, averaging just shy of 50/40/80 splits while scoring 22.0 points per game. He excelled in SEC play and in March Madness, scoring 35 points against future champions Michigan in the Sweet 16. Philon has an elite handle and is quick and flashy, using those skills to find open shots with ease, and was a decent creator for his teammates. He may be slight defensively, but has the potential scoring prowess to outdo his defensive shortcomings. While he doesn’t have a route to starting in Philadelphia, he is a steal at 22nd overall and gives the Sixers a second chance on their Jared McCain mistake. Funnily enough, the selection of Philon was the return compensation from the Thunder for McCain, and with his upside, could make the Sixers winners of that deal long-term.

Tarris Reed Jr.- 26th Overall, San Antonio Spurs

I could’ve written about either of the Spurs’ selections, as I was a big fan of both the Quaintance and Reed picks. Ultimately I chose to elaborate on Reed, as I came to be really impressed with his production in the latter part of the season and in UConn’s run to the National Championship Game. Reed is an old-school interior big, using brute force and skilled movement and touch to bully defenders inside the paint. While he doesn’t have an outside shot and probably will never be a floor spacer, he fills a need for the Spurs in frontcourt depth, which they evidently lacked in the minutes that Wembanyama was on the bench in the Finals. Reed developed a lot this year to rise into the first round, and is another big body for the Spurs to throw in front of the rim on both sides of the court.

What did you think of the NBA Draft? Let me know in the comments

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1: As a Celtics fan, I’m glad Giannis isn’t heading to Boston

This is something that I’ve been pretty firm about since those rumors first started several weeks ago. I didn’t want to break up the Jays. I didn’t want to send significant capital away in favor of two superstars. I didn’t want to base a team around the potential fit of Giannis and Tatum. I’d have more of a reaction to the fit of Giannis on the Celtics if that trade had actually happened and I knew what the roster looked like with him on it, but I’ve seen enough superstar scorer pairings in recent years where the on paper fit was way better than the on court fit. Think the 2021-22 Lakers or the 2024-25 Suns. Even Giannis himself went through this on the Bucks, as they declined when swapping out their defensive identity with Jrue Holiday for Damian Lillard. And, while any notion of Giannis being injury-prone is just false, he has had some injury problems in recent years, especially late in the year and in the postseason. For a big man who is on the wrong side of 30, I would be concerned about handing him a long term max extension that takes him to his late 30s. All of this is to say I was very unsure of the Celtics acquiring Giannis, and I’m glad that they didn’t.

2: The Miami Heat have a lot of work to do to make this team a contender

The price to pay to acquire Giannis consisted of Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, and significant draft capital. While there’s no centerpiece young star in this deal, it is a solid crop of young/young-ish players to send back to Milwaukee who as a group in Miami were always solid enough to be a play-in team. For Miami, it is a lot of rotation players to send away, and while they are acquiring an MVP-caliber player, there’s not much built around him to make Miami an elite team. At this moment, the Heat have just 7 players who have a real role in an NBA rotation, let alone a playoff rotation, that being Giannis himself, Bobby Portis (who always was included in the deal), Bam Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins, Nikola Jović, Davion Mitchell, and Norman Powell (should he resign with Miami in free agency). I’m not sure how that’s much different than the Bucks of the last couple of seasons, who did not have a championship-caliber roster built around Giannis. Wiggins and Mitchell will both be in the last years of their deals and might not be long-term pieces. They’re really lacking in the guard and ball-handling department, and while that’s a defensively solid group, I see very little offensive upside outside of Giannis and Bam when he’s facing the Wizards.

3. This is not a bad return for Milwaukee

In addition to the players mentioned above, the Bucks received the 13th pick in Tuesday’s draft, unprotected first rounders in 2031 and 2033, and a pick swap in 2030. That is a quality haul of picks. This year’s draft is loaded with talent, as the 13th pick will land a player who would be top 10 or even top 8-worthy in many other drafts, and the unprotected firsts will come when Giannis is 36 and 38 years old. Whether he is still in Miami or elsewhere, it’s hard to imagine him being a dominant player by then. For someone who doesn’t expect this trade to result in significant success for the Heat, I believe those draft picks will be pretty valuable, although the new anti-tanking rules make them a lot more luck-dependent than before. On the player side, Tyler Herro is a recent all star who is a Wisconsin native, and despite being a 2027 free agent, one would expect that he would be interested in staying in Milwaukee long term. Jaquez Jr. is another 2027 free agent, but the Bucks can offer him his rookie extension and would have RFA rights regardless. Ware and Jakucionis are recent first rounders who are still very young but had shown promise in Miami, and will easily slot into the Bucks rotation. With their 2 lottery picks from the draft, the Bucks will have a solid young core to build around. They’ll also have significant cap space this summer and in the coming years to add pieces to their roster.

What do you think of the Giannis trade? Did the Bucks or the Heat come out better? Let me know in the comments!

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10: Where do the Cavaliers go from here?

The Cleveland Cavaliers made it to the Conference Finals without LeBron James for the first time since 1992, and won significantly more playoff games this year than their current core did in prior seasons. However, it may be one of the more underwhelming Conference Finals runs in NBA history. The Cavs weren’t an underdog story- they came into the season as the favorites to win the East. They’re not a young team on the rise either, with their stars being 24, 28, 29, and 36 years old. This was the make-or-break year for Cleveland, and while they made it farther than they did in their previous playoff disappointments, they still didn’t make it far enough. Even reaching the Conference Finals was soured by getting dominated by the Knicks, a sign that Cleveland is still a long ways from title contention. The issue here is the finances: the Cavaliers are already slated to be a second-apron team in 2026-27 before filling out the rest of their roster. It’s almost a foregone conclusion that one of their big money guys will have to go, but who? Donovan Mitchell is the face of their team and Evan Mobley is their young franchise cornerstone, so it would seem unlikely that either of them would be dealt unless it was for a bigger superstar. More likely would be Jarrett Allen or James Harden. Allen is more disposable, but wouldn’t fetch much in return. Harden crumbled again in the playoffs and is getting older, but it would be a surprise for the Cavs to walk away from Harden after trading Darius Garland to get him. It’s possible a full-scale tear down could be in the works similar to what the Jazz did in 2022, which landed Mitchell in Cleveland in the first place. Whatever happens, changes are coming for the Cavaliers.

9: What moves do the likes of the Nuggets, Pistons, Timberwolves, and Rockets make?

Denver, Detroit, Minnesota, and Houston all harbored title aspirations this season but fell short of even the Conference Finals. Those four teams face different situations in regards to how close they are to contention and how long their window is, but all will surely be very active in the trade market. The Nuggets must decide if their title window with Nikola Jokić is salvageable, and what moves need to be made to keep it open and refresh the team after an unexpectedly early exit. The Pistons surprised many as they leapt to the top of the East by winning 60 games, and while losing in 7 in the Conference Semifinals isn’t a failure, it’s clear their current roster needs some upgrades to be true title contenders, and they must navigate the RFA market with Jalen Duren after he imploded in the postseason. The Timberwolves had some rough injury luck, but yet again fell short of a Finals appearances, something that is far from guaranteed in the current environment of the Western Conference. They’ve built good playoff teams with Anthony Edwards, but have yet to built a truly elite roster that can fight for the championship. The Rockets had an up-and-coming team filled with young talent, but declined after trading for Kevin Durant. As big favorites against a shorthanded Lakers team, the Rockets completely wilted and lost in embarrassing fashion. Houston clearly needs some shakeup, but their roster has gotten noticeably older pretty quickly thanks to the Durant trade and other veteran acquisitions, so they are on the clock to make a run or tear it down.

8: What and when is the result of the Aspiration scandal investigation?

The Aspiration scandal is one of the more interesting stories to ever come out of the league and is a pretty unprecedented situation. If you’re unfamiliar with the scandal, Aspiration was a company that was a sponsor of the Los Angeles Clippers that went bankrupt in 2025 and was revealed to be a fraudulent operation. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer was an investor in Aspiration, and Kawhi Leonard had a sponsorship deal with the company worth $28 million. However, some investigative reporting found that Leonard never did any work or promotion for Aspiration, and that Aspiration used Ballmer’s investment to pay out Leonard’s endorsement deal. The accusations are that the Clippers broke CBA rules by paying Kawhi Leonard through Aspiration and outside of the salary cap. If true, the Clippers could be penalized severely, with significant fines, loss of draft picks, and possibly more penalties, such as the voiding of Leonard’s contract. Whether or not the Clippers were intentionally circumventing the salary cap to pay Leonard is yet to be proven and will be difficult to do so, but what may prove more challenging for the league is how to determine punishment within the context of other teams and the NBPA. Adam Silver and the league will have to find a medium between giving a punishment that rival owners believe is fair, but also doesn’t anger the NBPA, which something like voiding Leonard’s contract would. Silver said recently that they were getting to the point where the investigation needed to wrap up, so we should hear a ruling about the investigation before the end of the summer.

7: Will the Board of Governors approve expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle this summer?

This is less of a “will they” and more of a “what are the specific details of the process?” It’s definitely a possibility that the expansion agreement doesn’t get finalized this summer, but it will be coming soon in the future. Even if we don’t get expansion, there will be something in regards to the NBA Europe plan that has been proposed. The big wait in recent years was for the new media rights deals to be finalized before committing to expansion, but now that that’s over, it’s all down to when the league feels is the right time to begin the process. If expansion is confirmed this summer, the soonest we would see the new franchises begin play would be 2028. And barring a massive shock, the two franchises are expected to be in Las Vegas and Seattle.

6: Does the NBA make an effort to reduce flopping?

This has been a much-discussed topic among fans and NBA media. There are several rules that have become much more relaxed in recent years, such as what constitutes a travel, how much contact can the offensive player generate, and of course, flopping. We not only often see flops rewarded with foul calls, but rarely see flops called as a flop by the rules. There were just 84 flopping technicals called this season, meaning less than 7% of games were ruled to have had a flop. Most NBA fans would reckon that there is at least 1 flop in every game, but the majority of them go uncalled. Adam Silver has discussed possible changes coming in relation to flops, but the flopping technicals were supposed to be the change already. Whatever changes might be instituted, we will have to wait and see it in practice until we know if the NBA is serious about getting flops out of the game.

5: What will the Spurs do to get back to the Finals?

The San Antonio Spurs’ young roster arrived this season in a big way, winning 62 games and making the NBA Finals in their first crack at the postseason. However, they not only fell short of a title, but were exposed in the process. While some players can be excused for lacking experience such as Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle, De’Aaron Fox was brought in to be a veteran leader, and he had a downright terrible Finals. While it was only his 2nd playoff appearance, the Spurs traded for him as an established star and gave him a lucrative contract extension with the expectation that he would help lead the young players to contention, rather than falling apart in the biggest moments. San Antonio isn’t in trouble with the aprons yet, but they’ll need to hand out max rookie extensions to Wembanyama, Castle, and Dylan Harper in each of the next 3 summers, in addition to paying Fox, who looks like he’ll be usurped as lead guard by Harper. Whether the Spurs will look into trading Fox this summer is uncertain, but with the emergence of Harper, it won’t be possible to pay a max contract to a guard like Fox to come off the bench. The Spurs will also be in the market for more veteran players who can play in big postseason games, as they need more experience and more big man depth.

4: Can the Knicks run it back?

The New York Knicks finally ended their title drought, but it’s now harder than ever to repeat as champions, with 8 different franchises taking home the Larry O’Brien over the last 8 seasons. The Knicks will have to make decisions on who to resign out of the trio of Mitchell Robinson, Jose Alvarado, and Landry Shamet, all of whom played significant roles during the playoffs. New York currently sits just $21M shy of the second apron before resigning any free agents, with just 8 players contracted for next season. There’s also the question of next season itself: can the Knicks play like that for 82 games? They haven’t been a dominant regular season team, winning 53 games this past season, the most wins they’ve had during this stretch with Jalen Brunson. The Knicks turned it up several notches in the postseason, and performed more like a 65+ win team during the playoffs as they cruised their way to the title while only losing 3 games and only 1 of their last 16. The Knicks stayed pretty healthy throughout the season and especially in the postseason, which is always a factor in who makes a run, but their roster has been quite durable with the likes of Brunson, Josh Hart, and Mikal Bridges rarely missing games. However, the Knicks know that their window will only be open for so long, as all 5 of their starters will be between 29 and 31 years old on opening night, and most are in need of contract extensions within the next couple of years. New York has the tools to repeat, but it’s a tall task in the current NBA.

3: Which team does LeBron sign for now? Does he finally plan on retiring in 2027?

This isn’t the first time LeBron James has become a free agent with the Los Angeles Lakers, but this is the first time that it hasn’t seemed certain that he would stay with the Lakers. This is a pretty interesting offseason for LA, as they must also resign Austin Reaves to a significant contract extension. Are the Lakers interested in keeping LeBron around and paying 3 players big money? LeBron has still been a productive player, but he took a noticeable step down this season and isn’t quite worth a max deal anymore. If he were to leave, the big question is who would be willing to pay a 41-year old LeBron top dollar? At his age and production, it would be a questionable chemistry fit on an already established roster. If he were to leave LA, the primary options seem to be the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors. The Cavs would have to clear a lot of space in order to sign LeBron, but a deal with the Warriors would be simpler as they have cap space. Also, how much longer does LeBron intend on playing? The expectation is that he would announce his retirement plans before his final season, and the end of his career seems nearer than ever. If he does announce his retirement plans, it’ll be one of the biggest season storylines in recent memory.

2: What will the draft order of the top 4 picks be?

The 2026 Draft Class is shaping up to be historic, with the talent and depth to be a legendary draft if enough players reach their potential. The top 4 seems pretty set in stone with AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer, and Caleb Wilson, but the order in which they’re drafted is up in the air. Dybantsa has emerged as the clear favorite to go 1st to the Washington Wizards, but Peterson has been in that conversation all year, and recently worked out only for the Wizards and not for any other teams, despite being projected to go 2nd. Is this another Ace Bailey situation? If Peterson is uninterested in playing for the Utah Jazz, that won’t seem to matter since they drafted Bailey anyway last year… except for the fact that Boozer is also available and has ties to the organization through his father Carlos. There’s also Wilson, who has been the consensus 4th guy in the class for a while, but some view him as having possibly the highest ceiling in the class, so I wouldn’t rule out the Memphis Grizzlies taking him 3rd. With all of the uncertainty at the top, the plethora of guards in the rest of the top 10, and the overall talent of the class, next Tuesday’s draft will likely be one of the more entertaining drafts in league history.

1: How does the Giannis trade saga end?

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade will be the biggest story of the summer. Who will gather up the assets to trade for the Greek Freak? The New York Knicks were a long-rumored destination, but after winning the title the Knicks are no longer in position to shake up their roster. The current favorites appear to be the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat. The Celtics would likely trade away Jaylen Brown as part of the deal, while the Heat would send away a package of young players and draft picks. While Boston and Miami appear the most likely landing spots, we can’t rule out the likes of Minnesota, Toronto, Orlando, or Houston from making a deal. It’s not often that former MVPs get traded during their peak years, so this would be a big deal in NBA history. If Giannis can stay healthy, any team that acquires him would ascend to near the top of the list of title contenders.

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Group I

France: 1st, Semifinals

Best Player: Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid)

France are significant favorites to contend for the title yet again after reaching the Final in each of the last 2 tournaments. Les Bleus feature a stacked roster with depth in almost every position, and a forward line consisting of Kylian Mbappé, Michael Olise, and Ousmane Dembélé will devastate opposing defenses. France will face steep competition in the group stage, but still finish 1st before a tough knockout run. After defeating Sweden in the Round of 32, France edge by Ecuador and Morocco in extra time, eventually losing to Spain in the Semifinals.

Norway: 2nd, Quarterfinals

Best Player: Erling Haaland (Manchester City)

Norway return to a major tournament after a 26 year drought, and what a return it is. The Landslaget are high flyers, with Erling Haaland scoring a wealth of goals. Martin Ødegaard, Julian Ryerson, and Alexander Sørloth help him to produce a dangerous attack that falls just shy of winning the group. In the Round of 32 the Norwegians storm past Germany, then put away Japan in the Round of 16, before a tight loss to England in the Quarterfinals ends their run.

Senegal: 3rd, Round of 32

Best Player: Sadio Mané (Al-Nassr)

Senegal have been arguably Africa’s best side over the last decade in whole, and again bring a really talented side to this tournament. They’re strong in midfield with Pape Gueye, Pape Matar Sarr, Lamine Camara, and Idrissa Gueye, with even more talent in attack with the likes of Iliman Ndiaye, Ismaïla Sarr, Nicolas Jackson, and of course Sadio Mané. The Lions of Teranga are unlucky to be drawn into this group, where they’ll play well but finish 3rd, and lose to England again in the Round of 32.

Iraq: 4th, Group Stage

Best Player: Aymen Hussein (Al-Karma)

The Lions of Mesopotamia are in their 2nd World Cup after a 40 year drought, and have been handed a gauntlet of a group. They’ll show some heart, but ultimately don’t have the quality to compete against the likes of France, Norway, and Senegal.

Group J

Argentina: 1st, Quarterfinals

Best Player: Lionel Messi (Inter Miami)

The reigning champions feature one of the most talented Argentine sides in a while, with Julián Alvarez, Lautaro Martínez, and of course Lionel Messi leading the way in attack. Emi Martínez is elite in big tournaments, and they have quality all across the roster. They won’t face much trouble in the group, and will blow by Uruguay and the United States in the knockouts, but fall to Portugal in the “Game of the Century” in the Quarterfinals.

Algeria: 2nd, Round of 32

Best Player: Riyad Mahrez (Al-Ahli)

Algeria are an under-appreciated side that have the quality to make noise at this tournament. The Fennecs feature Riyad Mahrez, who is still a class winger, as well as Rayan Aït-Nouri and a young star in Ibrahim Maza. They’ll score their way to 2nd in the group before giving Spain an early tough test in the Round of 32, but ultimately fall to the European champs.

Austria: 3rd, Group Stage

Best Player: Konrad Laimer (Bayern München)

Austria were a surprise outfit in Euro 2024, where they topped their group ahead of France and the Netherlands. The Austrians have a lot of decent players but no real standout, especially in attack where they still rely on Marko Arnautović. There is no such repeat of 2024 this time, as they go out in the Group Stage on goal difference.

Jordan: 4th, Group Stage

Best Player: Mousa Al-Tamari (Rennes)

Jordan are making their debut, and are a better side than some may expect. Mousa Al-Tamari is a regular for a Rennes side that finished 6th in Ligue 1, and Al Nashama will be no pushover in this group. That being said, it’s still a group stage exit.

Group K

Portugal: 1st, Champions

Best Player: Vitinha (Paris Saint-Germain)

Portugal boasts easily the best midfield in the world between the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha, and João Neves, and will create a plethora of goal-scoring opportunities. With world-class starters and unusually talented depth for a smaller country, Portugal have one of the best squads at the tournament, and their only question is if they have someone to convert all the chances into goals. Cristiano Ronaldo gets overshadowed in the knockout stage by Gonçalo Ramos, and after defeating Ghana, Switzerland, Argentina, and England, Portugal reach their first World Cup final, where they defeat Iberian rivals Spain to become the 9th country to win the sports’ biggest crown.

Colombia: 2nd, Round of 16

Best Player: Luís Diaz (Bayern München)

Colombia is back at the World Cup, and made the Final of their last major tournament, the 2024 Copa America. Led by starman Luís Diaz, Los Cafeteros are a good team that turns up at tournaments, and it will be the same story here. After finishing 2nd in the group, Colombia knock out Croatia and move to the Round of 16, where they give Spain a run for their money but ultimately fall short of advancing.

DR Congo: 3rd, Group Stage

Best Player: Yoane Wissa (Newcastle United)

It’s been a long wait for DR Congo to return to the World Cup, where they aren’t just looking for their first point, but their first goal as well. And they do have attacking talent with Yoane Wissa and Cédric Bakambu, and a lot of experience in defense that will give them a chance in this group. They’ll get their goal, but won’t be able to advance despite finishing in 3rd.

Uzbekistan: 4th, Group Stage

Best Player: Abdukodir Khusanov (Manchester City)

The White Wolves are another nation making their World Cup debut, and feature a notable talent in Abdukodir Khusanov. Eldor Shomurodov is a solid striker, and the Uzbeks will put up a fight in this group. Still, they finish bottom of the group in 4th.

Group L

England: 1st, Semifinals

Best Player: Harry Kane (Bayern München)

England bring an interesting squad with some notable names missing and some surprise inclusions, but their midfield duo of Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice is one of the world’s best, and Harry Kane just completed one of the best goalscoring seasons ever. This team is tested and poised for a deep run. The Three Lions top their group and beat Senegal, Mexico, and Norway to advance to the Semis, but fall to Portugal in another heartbreaking defeat.

Croatia: 2nd, Round of 32

Best Player: Joško Gvardiol (Manchester City)

Croatia have a history at the World Cup, with 3 podium finishes in the last 7 tournaments. They find themselves in between generations in 2026, with their golden era behind them and a crop of emerging young talent. Luka Modrić, Ivan Perišić, and Andrej Kramarić still lead the line, with a forceful defensive duo of Joško Gvardiol and Luka Vušković. It’s 2nd in the group, but an extra time defeat to Colombia in the Round of 32 marks an early exit for the former finalists.

Ghana: 3rd, Round of 32

Best Player: Antoine Semenyo (Manchester City)

The Black Stars have several exciting attacking options even without the injured Mohamed Kudus, with the likes of Iñaki Williams, Abdul Fatawu, and Kamaldeen Sulemana surrounding starman Antoine Semenyo. This team will score goals. They’ll get out of the group, but will fall to Portugal in their first knockout game since the infamous Quarterfinal against Uruguay in 2010.

Panama: 4th, Group Stage

Best Player: Adalberto Carrasquilla (Pumas)

Panama will hope for better results than in their debut in 2018, and that will be a tall task in this group. They’ll still be looking for their first World Cup point in 2030 after losing all 3 matches.

And that does it for my World Cup previews! There will be more World Cup content coming from me soon- I’ll be attending England v Ghana next Tuesday, so there will be a match review for that one!

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Group E

Ecuador: 1st, Round of 16

Best Player: Willian Pacho (Paris Saint-Germain)

This Ecuador side will be an absolute pain to score against, excelling in qualifying and allowing just 0.28 goals per game. La Tri boast a Champions League-finalist defensive pairing in Willian Pacho and Piero Hincapié, as well as a machine in the midfield named Moisés Caicedo. Ecuador tops their group to the surprise of many, knocking out Scotland before falling to juggernauts France in extra time in the Round of 16.

Germany: 2nd, Round of 32

Best Player: Jamal Musiala (Bayern München)

Still in recovery from their post-World Cup triumph collapse, Germany have plenty of quality players but still lack the depth of top tier talent that they used to have. Joshua Kimmich, Nico Schlotterbeck, Florian Wirtz, and Jamal Musiala are some of the world’s best, but they lack convincing goal threats up top. Die Mannschaft fall to 2nd in the group after getting shut down by Ecuador, and lose in another disappointing early exit to Norway in the Round of 32.

Côte d’Ivoire: 3rd, Round of 32

Best Player: Yan Diomande (RB Leipzig)

The Ivorians are a sneaky-talented squad. Yan Diomande was playing high school soccer in Florida just a couple of years ago, but is one of the best young wingers in the world. Odilon Kossounou and Evan N’Dicka are rock solid at the back, and there’s plenty of experience in their midfield with Franck Kessié. Les Éléphants will play tough but are unlucky to come 3rd, where they get edged out by Türkiye in the Round of 32.

Curaçao: 4th, Group Stage

Best Player: Tahith Chong (Sheffield United)

It was a monumental effort from Curaçao to qualify for their first World Cup. Unfortunately for the Blue Wave, they were drawn into one of the most difficult groups for a side like them to get out of. They’ll face a tough task to even get on the scoresheet.

Group F

Netherlands: 1st, Round of 32

Best Player: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)

This Dutch side is again loaded defensively with the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Micky van de Ven, and Denzel Dumfries, but are still lacking that consistent goalscorer up top. Cody Gakpo has performed for his country in recent years, and Donyell Malen is in elite form, but they don’t have that one forward who can get them out of a jam. The Oranje win the group, but get knocked out early but Morocco in the Round of 32.

Japan: 2nd, Round of 16

Best Player: Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad)

The Samurai are an oft-underrated side, having made the knockout stage at the last 2 competitions despite being tipped for a group stage exit. It’s a shame that Kaoru Mitoma and Wataru Endo miss out with injury, but Japan have plenty of depth. Ritsu Doan and Daichi Kamada will create goals for the team, and they’ll stun Brazil in the Round of 32 before falling to Norway in the next roun

Sweden: 3rd, Round of 32

Best Player: Viktor Gyökeres (Arsenal)

The Swedes have a pretty talented starting eleven with the likes of Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyökeres, Lucas Bergvall, and Yasin Ayari, but there’s a significant drop off in the depth of their roster. Despite the forward talent, Sweden have yet to really put it together even before Dejan Kulusevski’s injury. They’ll squeak out of the group in 3rd on goal difference but will quickly be put to the sword by France in the Round of 32.

Tunisia: 4th, Group Stage

Best Player: Ellyes Skhiri (Eintracht Frankfurt)

Tunisia are not a bad side, and have picked up a win in each of their last 2 World Cup appearances. They’re unlucky to be in a group of this strength, and the Eagles of Carthage will be a clear 4th.

Group G

Belgium: 1st, Round of 16

Best Player: Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid)

The Red Devils are reaching the end with their golden generation that broke through in the 2010s, and a near-fruitless end it will be, with the 2018 World Cup being their only Semifinal appearance at 7 tournaments. Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku have declined, and the quality of the back line has dropped off significantly, leaving a tall task for Thibaut Courtois. Belgium finish top of an easy group and beat South Korea in the Round of 32, but come to an underwhelming end at the hands of Türkiye in the Round of 16.

Egypt: 2nd, Round of 32

Best Player: Mohamed Salah (Free Agent)

Egypt are back at the World Cup after missing out in 2022, and feature a high-end attacking duo in Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush. The Pharoahs will produce plenty of goals, and give Belgium a good run for group winner, but will advance in 2nd. Hosts United States wait in the knockout round, where Egypt’s run comes to an end in the Round of 32.

Iran: 3rd, Round of 32

Best Player: Mehdi Taremi (Olympiacos)

It is unfortunately an ominous time for the Iranian side, but they have long been a tough team to beat and are no slouch. They can compete in this group, and despite their present situation show grit and heart to reach the knockout stage for the first time, where they fall to Switzerland in the Round of 32.

New Zealand: 4th, Group Stage

Best Player: Chris Wood (Nottingham Forest)

The All Whites are back at the World Cup for the first time since their unbeaten group stage in 2010, and are still looking for their first victory. While they do have a proven goalscorer up top in Chris Wood, the rest of the team lacks in talent compared to most other nations in the tournament, and while they stand their group, ultimately finish bottom without a point.

Group H

Spain: 1st, Finalists

Best Player: Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)

The European champions are entering the tournament as one of the big favorites, but will need Lamine Yamal to be at full health as he is currently returning from an injury. Even without him, they produce goals as a team from their elite midfield featuring Rodri and Pedri, and are overall loaded at all positions. They breeze to the top of the group and defeat Algeria, Colombia, Türkiye, and France on the way to the Final, where they fall just short.

Uruguay: 2nd, Round of 32

Best Player: Federico Valverde (Real Madrid)

La Celeste have dropped a bit in stature after their previous generation aged out, and have not produced the same wealth of stars in recent years, with Federico Valverde being their only truly elite player. Uruguay will slump through the group stage and be knocked out in the first opportunity by Argentina.

Saudi Arabia: 3rd, Round of 32

Best Player: Salem Al-Dawsari (Al-Hilal)

The Saudis are a more than capable side, with two very quality players in Salem Al-Dawsari and Saud Abdulhamid. They will put up a fight in this group, only finishing 3rd behind Uruguay on goal difference. The hosts Mexico knock them out in the Round of 32.

Cabo Verde: 4th, Group Stage

Best Player: Logan Costa (Villarreal)

Cabo Verde are making their World Cup debut, and will get an early reality check against Euro 2024 winners Spain. They’ve produced some positive results recently, but won’t be able to compete with the other nations in this group, and the island nation will finish in 4th.

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Group A

Mexico: 1st, Round of 16

Best Player: Raúl Jiménez (Wolves)

The hosts look to rebound after their knockout stage streak ended in 2022, and they’re in a solid group to make that happen. Raúl Jiménez is in better form than he’s been in a while, and their home support is sure to give them an advantage. Young Gilberto Mora is one to watch if he gets decent minutes, and there will be plenty of games for him to do so as El Tri top their group. Mexico beats Saudi Arabia in the Round of 32, before falling to England in extra time in the Round of 16.

Czechia: 2nd, Round of 32

Best Player: Patrik Schick (Bayer Leverkusen)

The Czech are back at the World Cup for the first time in two decades, and they’ll make more noise in the group than some expect. This squad made good work to qualify, and feature decent players in Patrik Schick and Tomáš Souček. They’ll edge South Korea to 2nd in the group, but fall to hosts Canada in the Round of 32.

South Korea: 3rd, Round of 32

Best Player: Heung-min Son (Los Angeles FC)

The Koreans surprisingly advanced to the knockout stage in 2022, but star forward Heung-min Son is approaching the twilight of his career after having left the Premier League, and the rest of the forward line doesn’t seem to have the same attacking firepower. South Korea scrape through to the knockout stage on goal difference, but fall to Belgium in the Round of 32.

South Africa: 4th, Group Stage

Best Player: Lyle Foster (Burnley)

Bafana Bafana are back at the World Cup, but they just simply don’t have the quality to be back for very long. Even in a wide open group, South Africa won’t be able to produce goals with Lyle Foster as their top man, and they will finish bottom without a point.

Group B

Switzerland: 1st, Round of 16

Best Player: Granit Xhaka (Sunderland)

The Swiss have been very consistent in recent years, reaching the Round of 16 at the World Cup and sometimes the Quarterfinals at the Euros, and it will be more of the same here. Granit Xhaka and Johan Manzambi highlight a quality midfield with decent depth, and they have stalwarts in defense such as Manuel Akanji and Gregor Köbel. Switzerland win their group and defeat Iran, but fall to Portugal in the Round of 16 just as in 2022.

Canada: 2nd, Round of 16

Best Player: Alphonso Davies (Bayern München)

Canada is hosting the tournament for the first time, and are stil looking for their first ever World Cup win. With talent such as Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David, and Tajon Buchanan, the Canucks finally get those victories, finishing second in the group and advancing to the knockout stage. In the Round of 32, Canada make more history with an extra time win over Czechia, continuing to the Round of 16 where they lose out to Morocco.

Bosnia & Herzegovina: 3rd, Group Stage

Best Player: Ermedin Demirović (Stuttgart)

The Bosnians made a shock return to the World Cup after beating Italy in the playoff, but the return will be underwhelming. Edin Džeko is far past his prime, and there is other forward talent like Ermedin Demirović and Esmir Bajraktarević, but their only win will come over Qatar and they’ll fail to reach the knockout stage.

Qatar: 4th, Group Stage

Best Player: Akram Afif (Al Sadd)

The previous tournament’s hosts return for the 2nd appearance, but it will be more of the same for the Qataris despite an open group. Akram Afif is a genuine talent who will turn heads, but won’t be able to produce enough to get his country to their first knockout stage appearance.

Group C

Brazil: 1st, Round of 32

Best Player: Raphinha (Barcelona)

The Selecão are in a bit of a slump at the World Cup of late, having not reached a Semifinal since 2014 and a Final since 2002. That slump will continue, as Brazil just aren’t what they used to be. Marquinhos, Gabriel, Vini Jr., and Raphinha are all elite players, but the midfield and fullbacks are really lacking. They’ll scrap out a group win on goal difference, but fall in a shock upset to Japan in the Round of 32.

Morocco: 2nd, Quarterfinals

Best Player: Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain)

The Moroccans look to repeat their magical run to the Semifinals in 2022, and they certainly have the talent to do so. Achraf Hakimi is one of the best fullbacks in the world, and Brahim Díaz and Ismael Saibari are significant attacking talents. This is a younger generation than the squad from 2022, and the Atlas Lions will advance in 2nd in the group. From then, they make another run, defeating the Netherlands and Canada in the knockout rounds before exiting the tournament against France in the Quarterfinals.

Scotland: 3rd, Round of 32

Best Player: Scott McTominay (Napoli)

The Scots are back at the World Cup after a 28-year absence, and will look to finally make some noise at the competition. Scott McTominay has been fantastic for club and country recently, but it will be another underwhelming tournament the Tartan Army. They will make it to the knockout stage on goal difference, which is an achievement for them, but will fall in the Round of 32 to Ecuador.

Haiti: 4th, Group Stage

Best Player: Wilson Isidor (Sunderland)

It’s been a 52 year wait, but Haiti are back on the world stage. Les Grenadiers won’t be the pushovers some will expect, and they’ll certainly give Scotland and Morocco a go, but ultimately lack the quality to get out of a group like this.

Group D

Türkiye: 1st, Quarterfinals

Best Player: Arda Güler (Real Madrid)

Making just their 3rd appearance at the World Cup, Türkiye field a very talented team that looks to build off their Quarterfinal run at Euro 2024. Often tipped to be dark horses, Kenan Yildiz and Arda Güler lead the way as the Turks finally make good on that promise, topping their group and defeating Côte d’Ivoire and Belgium on their way to the Quarterfinals, where they finally fall to Spain.

United States: 2nd, Round of 16

Best Player: Christian Pulisic (AC Milan)

The hosts have been preparing for this moment for years, once with hope that this tournament would be the arrival of the United States as a soccer powerhouse. Now as the tournament begins, it’s clear that dream is still far off. The USA are not a bad side, but will need Christian Pulisic to be on his best form to make real noise. The lack of a solid #1 option in net and depth in defense proves to be their downfall, as the Americans fail to top their group, and after beating Egypt in the Round of 32, fall to reigning champions Argentina in the Round of 16.

Paraguay: 3rd, Group Stage

Best Player: Miguel Almirón (Atlanta United)

Paraguay return to the World Cup for the first time in 16 years and find themselves in a pretty even group. However, the recent fitness concern with Julio Enciso is a tough break for La Albirroja, and despite finishing 3rd don’t pick up enough points to advance to the knockout stage.

Australia: 4th, Group Stage

Best Player: Alessandro Circati (Parma)

The Socceroos will look to repeat their surprise run to the Round of 16 in Qatar, but don’t seem equipped to compete with the rest of the group on paper. They’re definitely a solid team, but don’t boast the stars of years’ past and don’t quite have the attacking talent to make it out of the group.

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Mexico- Manuel Negrete v Bulgaria, 1986

The Mexicans are hosts for a record 3rd time, and it was as hosts in 1986 that Manuel Negrete scored their best goal. Negrete controlled the ball in the midfield before initiating a one-two featuring 3 consecutive touches without the ball hitting the ground, the final of which was Negrete’s scissoring shot into the far corner.

South Korea- Park Ji-sung v Portugal, 2002

The Koreans have qualified for every World Cup since 1986, and might have more spectacular goals than unspectacular, with a significant catalog of long-range strikes. Not wanting to pick any of these over the others, the choice here is a goal of technique from their run as hosts in 2002, where Park Ji-sung controlled a cross off his chest onto his right foot, juggling it around a defender into a half-volley that megged the keeper for the winning goal.

Czechia- Tomáš Rosický v United States, 2006

The Czechs are making just their 2nd appearance since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, a big return for the former World Cup finalists. Their best goal comes from their most recent tournament in 2006, where Tomáš Rosický converted a shot from more than 30 yards out against the United States.

South Africa- Siphiwe Tshabalala v Mexico, 2010

Bafana Bafana are making their first appearance at the World Cup since hosting the tournament in 2010. Their best and most iconic moment at the World Cup came in the opening game that year against Mexico, where Siphiwe Tshabalala chased down a cross on the left side and rifled a shot past the Mexican keeper to put the hosts up 1-0 and hitting a memorable celebration.

Canada- Alphonso Davies v Croatia, 2022

Canada is making their 3rd appearance at the World Cup but still looking for their first result, losing all 3 games in both their debut in 1986 and their return in 2022. They improved in their 2nd appearance by scoring their first 2 goals, the first of which being the only one scored by a Canadian player, as Alphonso Davies headed a beautiful cross into the back of the net within 90 seconds.

Bosnia & Herzegovina- Edin Džeko v Iran, 2014

The Bosnians are making their 2nd tournament appearance after debuting 12 years ago, where they nabbed their only victory against Iran in the final group game. Edin Džeko opened the scoring with a long ranged shot from the top of the box for their best goal in Brazil.

Qatar- Mohammed Muntari v Senegal, 2022

Qatar are back at the World Cup after debuting as hosts 4 years ago, where they lost all 3 games and scored just one goal. Late in the game against Senegal, Mohammed Muntari headed a cross home for their only goal at the tournament.

Switzerland- Blerim Dzemaili v France, 2014

The Swiss have been a consistent side at the World Cup, reaching the knockout stage in 4 of the last 5 tournaments. Their best goal comes from a moment of consolation in a brutal defeat to France in 2014. Down 5-0 late in the game, Blerim Dzemaili snuck a deep free kick under the French wall and past the keeper into the back of the net.

Brazil- Carlos Alberto v Italy, 1970

The World Cup’s most successful nation, Brazil have scored a record 237 goals at the tournament, making this choice one of the tougher picks. Fortunately, there is a simple choice here, that being one of the great team goals ever scored, Brazil’s 4th goal in the 1970 Final finished off by a powerful finish by fullback Carlos Alberto. With defensive pressing, elite dribbling and hold-up play, passing, and a great finish, it’s one of the most iconic goals in tournament history.

Morocco- Abderrazak Khairi v Portugal, 1986

Morocco are back at the World Cup for the 3rd straight time after their Semifinal run in 2022, but their best goal comes from long before that, their first-ever World Cup win in 1986 against Portugal. Abderrazak Khairi scored a pair of great goals, but the choice here is his second of the two, a skilled and powerful finish off of a cross into the box.

Haiti- Emmanuel Sanon v Argentina, 1974

Haiti’s only previous World Cup appearance came 52 years ago, losing all 3 matches and scoring just twice. However, their 2 goals, both scored by Emmanuel Sanon, were excellent. His strike against Argentina gets the nod here, a thunderous half-volley off of his left foot from well outside the box.

Scotland- Archie Gemmill v Netherlands, 1978

Scotland return to the World Cup after a 28-year drought, having never reached the knockout stage at any of their 8 appearances. They nearly achieved that in 1978 thanks to Archie Gemmill’s wonder goal that put the Scottish just one goal away from advancing on goal difference. Gemmill recovered the ball outside the box and dribbled through two Dutch defenders before lobbing it over the keeper for an incredible goal.

United States- Eric Wynalda v Switzerland, 1994

The Americans have been regulars at the World Cup since 1990, only missing the tournament in 2018. In their opening game as hosts in 1994, Eric Wynalda scored the equalizing goal with a free kick from nearly 30 yards out, placing it perfectly in the top left corner.

Türkiye- Lefter Küçükandonyadis v South Korea, 1954

Despite a 3rd-placed finish in 2002 on their resume, the Turks will surprisingly make just their 3rd World Cup appearance this summer. Their entry takes us back 72 years ago and is the oldest goal on this list. In Türkiye’s 7-0 drubbing of South Korea, Lefter Küçükandonyadis volleyed home an extraordinary goal from just outside the box with his left foot for the game’s second goal, a spectacular effort not often seen that long ago.

Paraguay- Nelson Cuevas v Slovenia, 2002

Paraguay makes their return to the World Cup after a 16-year absence after their run to the Quarterfinals in 2010. Their best goal came from Nelson Cuevas against Slovenia in 2002. Late in the game with Paraguay needing another goal to advance to the knockout stage, Cuevas took the ball down the right wing, but cut in and beat his man, dribbling by another defender before firing in a shot off the crossbar to send Paraguay through to the knockouts.

Australia- Tim Cahill v Netherlands, 2014

The Aussies debuted in the 1974 edition without scoring a goal, but have featured in every tournament since 2006 and qualified for the knockout stage twice. However, their best goal comes from 2014 where Tim Cahill scored his famous volley against the Netherlands, netting an astonishing goal with his left foot off of a cross.

Ecuador- Agustin Delgado v Costa Rica, 2006

Ecuador have qualified for the World Cup for the 5th time this century, and despite their multiple appearances, don’t have a stellar catalog of goals, with a number of headers and tap-ins. Their 2nd goal against Costa Rica in 2006, courtesy of Agustin Delgado, is still a decent finish, as he brought down a ball off of his chest in the box and half-volleyed it high over the keeper into the goal.

Germany- Toni Kroos v Sweden, 2018

As one of the most successful nations at the World Cup, Germany have scored dozens of beautiful goals over the years. With plenty to pick from, the choice is a stroke of genius that came in a critical moment. Facing elimination in the Group Stage in the final seconds, Toni Kroos masterfully executed a free kick routine to perfection to keep the Germans alive in the tournament.

Côte d’Ivoire- Bakari Koné v Netherlands, 2006

The Ivorians are appearing in their 4th World Cup, with their 3 previous appearances coming during their golden era between 2006 and 2014. Their best goal came in their debut tournament, which saw Bakari Koné collect the ball and drive to the right corner of the box and fire a rocket into the goal, narrowing the deficit to 1 against the Netherlands.

Netherlands- Giovanni van Bronckhorst v Uruguay, 2010

The most successful nation without a World Cup trophy, the Netherlands could make a case for having the most impressive goal catalog in the tournament, making this decision more difficult than most. In the end, the pick is Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s unbelievable strike against Uruguay in 2010, taking a thundering shot from an improbable angle and placing it in the very top right corner of the goal.

Japan- Keisuke Honda v Denmark, 2010

Japan has qualified for every World Cup since their debut in 1998, and look to build off of consecutive knockout stage appearances. Their best goal was a strike that helped lead them to the knockout stage in 2010, as Keisuke Honda converted a free kick from well outside the box to give Japan the lead against Denmark.

Sweden- Kennet Andersson v Saudi Arabia, 1994

The Swedes are back at the World Cup after missing the last edition, and have made some big runs in the past. Their best goal comes from their most recent Semifinal appearance came in 1994, where Kennet Andersson brought down a pass, flicked it over and ran past his defender, before swerving around another defender and scoring from outside the box.

Tunisia- Raouf Bouzaiene v Belgium, 2002

Tunisia have qualified for the World Cup for the 6th time in the last 8 tournaments, but are still looking to make the knockout stage for the first time. Their best goal comes from one of their least successful appearances, gaining just a single point in 2002 by drawing against Belgium, thanks to Raouf Bouzaiene’s perfectly curled free kick that drew his country level.

Belgium- Nacer Chadli v Japan, 2018

Belgium were quite an exciting side in the 1980s and 2010s, producing some fantastic goals of skill or range. But their best goal has to be that famous counter attack finished off by Nacer Chadli to beat Japan in the final seconds of their knockout stage game in 2018, one of the most brilliant displays of offensive teamwork in the biggest of moments.

Iran- Roozbeh Cheshmi v Wales, 2022

Iran are entering their 7th World Cup, having qualified for the last 3 but never reaching the knockout stage. They’ve won just 3 of their 18 matches, and one of those wins came late in stoppage time against Wales in 2022, when Roozbeh Cheshmi curled in a strike from outside the box to give the Iranians a last-minute victory.

Egypt- Mohamed Salah v Saudi Arabia, 2018

Egypt have participated in 3 World Cups and scored 5 goals in total, 2 of which were scored by Abdelrahman Fawzy against Hungary in 1934 and do not appear to have been recorded on video as far as I could find, and 2 more goals in 1990 and 2018 from the penalty spot. That leaves Salah’s goal against Saudi Arabia in 2018, which is still a worthy winner, as the star winger brought down a long-range pass with a beautiful touch before beating both the defender and the keeper with a perfect chip.

New Zealand- Stephen Wooddin v Scotland, 1982

The Kiwis have made 2 World Cups, losing all 3 games in 1982 and drawing all 3 games in 2010, scoring 2 goals in each tournament. Their best goal came against Scotland in their debut game, as Stephen Wooddin brought in a cross on the run and fired in their 2nd goal of the game from just outside the box.

Spain- Juan Señor v Belgium, 1986

Spain enter the World Cup as one of the premier favorites, and with their style of play have generated many fantastic goals over the years. However, their best comes from before their recent success, from Juan Señor back in 1986. Señor received the cross at the top of the box from a free kick taken near the corner flag and directed it cleanly into the goal from range.

Uruguay- Any of Diego Forlán’s open-play goals, 2010

I have to make an exception here for Uruguay, because it would be a disrespect to the rest of Diego Forlán’s otherworldly goals from 2010 to only pick one of them as Uruguay’s representative. He produced not one, not two, but three goals from outside the box in South Africa, as well as his bouncing volley against Germany which actually won Goal of the Tournament.

Saudi Arabia- Saeed Al-Owairan v Belgium, 1994

The Saudis have qualified for 7 of the last 9 tournaments, but their best appearance came in their debut in 1994 as they made it to the knockout stage, thanks to Saeed Al-Owairan’s effort in their final group game against Belgium. Al-Owairan produced one of the best goals seen at the World Cup, dribbling most of the length of the pitch to grab the game’s only goal.

France- Benjamin Pavard v Argentina, 2018

As 2-time champions, Les Bleus have produced their fair share of fantastic goals, but this is one of the simpler decisions despite their large catalog. Trailing in the 2nd half against Argentina in the first knockout stage game in 2018, fullback Benjamin Pavard connected with a misfired cross on the half-volley, resulting in one of the most brilliant goals in World Cup history.

Senegal- M’Baye Niang v Poland, 2018

Senegal have qualified for their 3rd World Cup in a row, their only appearance before 2018 coming in 2002 when they made a run to the Quarterfinals. Their best goal was produced through clever thinking rather than brilliant skill, as M’Baye Niang snuck his way back onto the pitch and chased down the ball, getting free from the defender to seal the game against Poland with a 2nd goal.

Norway- Tore André Flo v Brazil, 1998

Norway are appearing in their 4th World Cup this summer, their first in 28 years. After minimal success in their first 2 appearances, the Norwegians had their most famous moment in a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over reigning champions Brazil in the final group game to advance to the knockout stage. In the 83rd minute, Tore André Flo blazed down the left wing with the ball, sending fullback Junior Baiano flying as he cut inside and fired the equalizer into the net.

Iraq- Ahmed Radhi v Belgium, 1986

Iraq will make their 2nd appearance at the World Cup after debuting in 1986, where they lost all 3 of their games. Their only goal came from Ahmed Radhi against Belgium, and was a solid strike from the right side of the box.

Argentina- Diego Maradona v England, 1986

For all the brilliant moments produced by the 3-time world champions, there was no doubt about Argentina’s best-ever goal. Not even Lionel Messi has produced a goal for his country comparable to what El Diego did against England 40 years ago. Widely considered one of if not the greatest goal ever scored, Maradona dribbled through half of the England team across half of the length of the pitch en route to finishing off one of the sports’ most iconic moments.

Algeria- Djamel Zidane v Northern Ireland, 1986

Algeria qualified for both World Cups in the 1980s and 2010s, but none of the others until this summer’s tournament. Their best goal came in their opening match in the 1986 edition against Northern Ireland, as a brilliant free kick design saw Djamel Zidane rocket a laid-off ball into the back of the net from about 25 yards away to level the game 1-1.

Austria- Hans Krankl v West Germany, 1978

Austria are back at the World Cup for the first time since 1998, a long drought for a country that were semifinalists in 2 of the first 5 editions. Their best goal comes from 1978 against West Germany, where Hans Krankl controlled a cross into the box with a juggle, before turning and firing the ball into the back of the net in style.

Portugal- Ricardo Quaresma v Iran, 2018

Portugal remain one of the best nations that haven’t lifted the World Cup, and they’ll look to change that this summer. While Portugal have several iconic goals on their record, their best goes to Ricardo Quaresma for the skill and rarity of his Trivela goal against Iran in 2018. Quaresma dribbled inside on a laid-off ball and perfectly executed a shot with the outside of his right foot for a beautiful goal.

Colombia- James Rodriguez v Uruguay, 2014

Colombia are featuring in their 7th World Cup, and none of their appearances were more successful than their run in Brazil in 2014. James Rodriguez’s breakout moment saw him come away with the Golden Boot, which was capped off by his breathtaking strike against Uruguay in the knockout stage, where he took the ball off his chest before spinning and firing a long-ranged rocket off of the top of the crossbar and down into the goal, a strike that easily won Goal of the Tournament.

England- Joe Cole v Sweden, 2006

The Three Lions have scored plenty of fantastic goals at the World Cup, making this a tough decision. Ultimately, the nod goes to Joe Cole’s effort against Sweden in 2006, where Cole brought the ball down off his chest and launched an outrageous volley that dipped at the perfect angle to beat the keeper.

Ghana- Sulley Muntari v Uruguay, 2010

Only debuting in 2006, Ghana have qualified for 5 of the last 6 World Cups, and have quite an impressive haul of goals in their short history in the tournament. Their historic campaign in 2010 saw the best of these goals, as Sulley Muntari unleashed a shot from almost 40 yards out on the stroke of halftime to give Ghana the lead.

Croatia- Robert Prosinečki v Jamaica, 1998

The Croatians have made a huge impact at the World Cup despite only making their first post-independence appearance in 1998. They’ve produced many stellar goals along the way, the best of which might be Robert Prosinečki’s shot against Jamaica in their debut tournament. Off of a free kick, Prosinečki tapped the ball off before receiving it back and curled in a goal from range at a difficult angle.

Panama- Felipe Baloy v England, 2018

Panama made their first World Cup in 2018 and were dealt a tough hand, being placed in a group with two semifinalists in Belgium and England, and lost all 3 matches while scoring just 2 goals. After losing 3-0 to Belgium and trailing 6-0 to England, Panama would get their historic moment as Felipe Baloy headed home a smartly-designed free kick.

Are they any goals you think were better than these? Which goal is your favorite? Let me know in the comments!

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The tournament’s increased size means a larger knockout stage too. 32 teams will reach the bracket-phase of the championship, meaning that many more nations can have their sights set on getting out of their group. This means that the dark horse potential is more likely than ever.

How I classify dark horses

In this article, the teams I am talking about as possible dark horses are teams that I rate higher than the consensus and believe will make it further than expected in the tournament. These teams won’t be making a run to the final (only 8 nations have since 1970), but have the potential to win a knockout game or two, and some with the ceiling of a semifinal run in the vein of Morocco in 2022. A few rules:

• Dark horses cannot have previously won the World Cup (England, France, Spain, Germany, Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina)

• Dark horses cannot have reached the Knockout Stage at the 2022 World Cup (United States, Netherlands, Australia, South Korea, Croatia, Japan, Senegal, Morocco, Portugal, Switzerland)

• Dark horses cannot be ranked in the top 20 of the FIFA Rankings (Belgium, Colombia, Mexico)

• Dark horses cannot be a host nation (Canada)

This leaves 27 eligible teams teams, getting rid of nations with World Cup triumphs, recent Group Stage success, or a perception as one of the better teams in the world. I also do not consider host nations to be dark horses, as many host nations have seen improved performances at home, and they do not really fit the description of a “dark horse” as a big spotlight is put on the host nations.

Now without further ado, here are my best bets for dark horses this summer:

Ecuador

I have a lot of faith in Ecuador this year. La Tri have qualified for the World Cup for just the 5th time, and despite being placed in a competitive Group E, I think they’ll face little trouble in qualifying for the knockout stage for the 2nd time ever.

Ecuador is in elite form, currently riding a 17-match unbeaten run, their last defeat being a 1-0 loss in Brazil in September 2024. They’ve conceded just 5 goals in that timeframe. They were brilliant during CONMEBOL qualification, finishing 2nd ahead of the likes of Brazil, Uruguay, and Colombia, letting in just 5 goals during the 18-game qualification cycle, tied for the fewest ever in the current South American qualification format (since 1998). Ecuador has been consistently sound defensively for a while now, conceding multiple goals in just 2 of their last 36 matches.

The Ecuador defense is anchored by some high-profile stars. The center back pairing of Willian Pacho (PSG) and Piero Hincapié (Arsenal) is one of the best in the world, a pairing that gets even better when forming a trio with midfield force Moisés Caicedo (Chelsea). Fullbacks Ángelo Preciado (Atlético Mineiro) and Pervis Estupiñán (AC Milan) fill out the rest of the backline, completing a defensive grouping that rivals some of the elite nations not just on the field but on paper. Record goalscorer Enner Valencia (Pachuca) is still the country’s talisman at the age of 36 and continues to be a very capable option. In their 17-game unbeaten run, Valencia scored 8 of Ecuador’s 15 goals.

Despite never having won a World Cup knockout round game, I expect Ecuador to win multiple this summer, and they have the talent and defensive dominance to make a run at the Semifinals.

Türkiye

Türkiye will play in only their 3rd World Cup, making their first appearance since their 2002 Semifinal run. Drawn into a favorable but balanced Group D, the Turks look to be the favorites of the group, and a group win would set them up with an open path to the Quarterfinals.

Türkiye are in fine form, winning 9 of 12 since the start of 2025. They finished 2nd in their UEFA qualification group, dominating Georgia and Bulgaria and even holding Spain to a draw in Seville. This placed them in the UEFA qualification playoffs, where they notched 1-0 victories against Romania and Kosovo to advance to the World Cup, holding firm by allowing just 2 shots on goal.

The current Turkish generation may be the most talented in their history. The squad is headlined by young superstars Kenan Yıldız (Juventus) and Arda Güler (Real Madrid). The pair helped Türkiye reach the Quarterfinals of Euro 2024 in their first tournament with the national team. They may soon make a trio with Can Uzun (Eintracht Frankfurt) who is coming off of a breakout campaign in the Bundesliga. Türkiye also possess a plethora of names in the midfield and forward lines who are in their primes, such as Orkun Kökçü (Beşiktaş), Atakan Karazor (Stuttgart), Kerem Aktürkoğlu (Fenerbahçe), and Barış Alper Yılmaz (Galatasaray), providing Türkiye with the necessary depth to compete against top nations. And of course, captain Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Inter Milan) still leads the way and will feature in midfield. Another boost to Türkiye’s hopes have been the performances of goalkeeper Uğurcan Çakir (Galatasaray), who was brilliant in the Champions League this season.

Türkiye are on the rise and look poised to deliver an encore performance to their run in the Euros two years ago, and with an ideal bracket draw have a clear route to the Quarterfinals.

Côte d’Ivoire

Ivory Coast look quite strong heading into their 4th World Cup, their first appearance since 2014. Les Éléphants will face steep competition in Group E, but are a tough side themselves and will be a tricky out in a knockout game. They should reach the knockout stage for the first time ever.

The Ivorians have lost just 6 of their last 34 matches going back to the knockout stage of AFCON 2024 where they miraculously became champions. They finished 1st in their CAF qualification group, incredibly not allowing a single goal through the 10 game cycle. They continued their strong defensive performances in friendlies against South Korea and Scotland in March, winning 4-0 and 1-0 respectively.

The Ivorian defense is headlined by Evan Ndicka (Roma), Wilfried Singo (Galatasaray), and Odilon Kossounou (Atalanta). Ndicka has kept a clean sheet in 16 of his 27 caps, and Singo hasn’t conceded a goal in his last 447 minutes of play. The midfield features big names like captain Franck Kessié (Al-Ahli), Seko Fofana (Porto), and Ibrahim Sangaré (Nottingham Forest), who further contribute to the defensive might. There is depth in attack, featuring breakout star Yan Diomande (RB Leipzig) who produced 19 goals + assists in his first season in Germany, as well as former Arsenal winger Nicolas Pépé (Villarreal), who is coming off of his most productive season in years and has been solid for the national team as their most experienced attacker. Amad Diallo (Manchester United) is another notable name, although is coming off of a down year.

This is a squad that should expect to get out of the groups and fight to win a knockout round game, even against a contender. It wouldn’t come as a shock to see the 2024 AFCON champs make a run to the Quarterfinals.

Norway

Norway are making just their 5th appearance at any major tournament, their first since Euro 2000 over a quarter century ago. Despite a tough draw in Group I, the Landslaget should get through and have more than enough talent to make a deep run.

The Norwegians were in perfect form during UEFA qualification, winning their group with a perfect 8-0-0 record and +32 goal difference, including defeating Italy by 3 goals in each of their home and away matchups. Norway went on a 12-match unbeaten run from late 2024 through 2025, their 2nd-longest such streak, and was the first time that they completed a calendar year unbeaten.

Unsurprisingly, one of the big storylines coming into this year’s World Cup is Erling Haaland (Manchester City) making his major tournament debut. He has scored a ridiculous 55 goals in 49 games for his country, recently going 11 straight games with a goal for Norway in 2025. He ranks 3rd all-time in goals per game in international play (min. 50 goals) only behind Vivian Woodward and Poul Nielsen, players who last played more than a century ago. Haaland isn’t the only attacking talent on the roster, which features Alexander Sørloth (Atlético Madrid), who has scored 68 goals across the last 4 La Liga campaigns, captain Martin Ødegaard (Arsenal), who just captained his club side to the Premier League title, and Julian Ryerson (Borussia Dortmund), who just notched 15 assists from right back in the Bundesliga, and will surely help provide for Haaland. There’s also a crop of young talent, such as Antonio Nusa (RB Leipzig), Andreas Schjelderup (Benfica), Oscar Bobb (Fulham), and Thelo Aasgaard (Rangers).

One would think Norway is destined to fight for second in their group, yet Austria topped France in the group stage at Euro 2024, so a side with Norway’s talent can definitely give them a go. With all their attacking quality, this Norway group easily has the potential to make a run to the Quarterfinals.

Let me know who your dark horses are!

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41 points. 24 rebounds. Let that sink in. The youngest player to ever record a 40/20 statline in a playoff game. The only player since Wilt Chamberlain to do so in their Conference Finals debut. Wembanyama is putting up Wilt numbers. Numbers that Wilt put up 65 years ago under a different set of rules, back when 7-footers weren’t a thing.

Evidently Wembanyama and the Spurs are not a good matchup for the Thunder. They of course produced the 2nd-best record in the NBA this season at 62-20, so it’s expected that San Antonio would be a tougher opponent than most. But for how defensively tough and offensively deep the Thunder are, they have had a really hard time against the Spurs. The Thunder are now 1-5 against the Spurs this season, a stark contrast to their 71-14 record against the rest of the league. The Thunder, who shot 48.4% from the floor during the regular season, good for 5th-best in the NBA, have shot just 44.1% across their 6 games against the Spurs, a figure that would rank dead last in 30th.

Part of this problem is the Thunder’s roster makeup compared to Wembanyama. In Game 1, Thunder Head Coach Mark Daigneault tried putting smaller defenders on Wembanyama, utilizing Alex Caruso, Jalen Williams, and Lu Dort on a lot of possessions. Chet Holmgren, runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year to Wembanyama, didn’t see much time as the primary defender on him. This sounds strange, but Holmgren is essentially a smaller and less fluidly-mobile version of Wembanyama, and is one of a few centers that Wembanyama can physically outmatch with strength alone. To say that this strategy backfired is an understatement. We will probably see more of Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein in defensive possessions against Wembanyama, as those other defenders, while excellent, are simply too small for the Frenchman. The Thunder are usually able to be pesky and physically rough against opposing guards and wings, but this doesn’t work against someone who is nearly 90 inches tall.

If you somehow haven’t seen the highlights from this game, please take a few minutes out of your day to do so. The abilities Victor displays break the fabric of basketball reality.

The first three clips (0:00, 0:16, 0:27) are simple examples of Wembanyama just being taller than anyone else around him. These aren’t jaw-dropping moments, but he is going to out-rebound almost anyone almost all of the time just due to the sheer size difference.

Next up (0:35, 1:11) are moments that only someone of Wembanyama’s length could be able to achieve. He can cover several feet when turning and making a jump towards the basket, and at his height it looks like a toddler dunking on a Fisher-Price hoop.

We also can see what sets Wembanyama apart from other unusually tall players (1:52). He displays excellent footwork when working inside the paint, a skill that has allowed him to master the ability to use his size to its full potential and contort himself around defenders to get to the basket.

In most games, there is some specific moment where the freakishness of his height is on full display (2:10). In this particular play, Devin Vassell drives in and pulls up for an elbow jumper, only to notice that Wembanyama is in open space in front of the basket. Vassell changes his mind mid-jump, opting to make a shot-like lob towards Wembanyama, who plucks the ball out of mid-air with one hand for an alley-oop, despite his other arm behind held down to the ground by Holmgren.

This was a very poor night from newly-crowned NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who shot just 7/23 from the field. A significant part of these struggles are due to the presence of Wembanyama inside the arc. Unlike many modern NBA guards, SGA has a heavy shot-diet of layups and mid-range jumpers, all shots that occur around where Wembanyama patrols (2:31). In this clip, Wembanyama notices SGA moving to the corner and doubles him with Vassell, easily blocking the shot when SGA pulls up for a fadeaway.

We’ve never seen anything like Wembanyama before, but we have seen a sort-of beta or prototype version of the player: Kevin Durant. At 7-feet tall, Durant would have been deemed a center prior to his career beginning, but he had no thoughts of playing the 5. He displayed rare movement and bagwork for someone that tall, and was a knockdown shooter from anywhere on the court. Now, imagine if Durant was half of a foot taller. Like a Pokémon evolution, adding another 6 inches onto Durant’s frame essentially gives you Victor Wembanyama. His footwork, skill, spin moves, and touch (2:42) are awfully reminiscent of what Durant does, but his shots are far more difficult to defend at his height.

The most memorable moment of the night (3:32) is the game-breaking part of what Wembanyama can do: he’s not limited to production inside the paint. Down 3 with under 30 seconds to go in OT, Wembanyama suddenly pulls up from 28 feet and nails a game-tying three pointer. That is an audacious shot for any player, but an utterly ridiculous one for the tallest player in the league to be taking. He can truly do it all. He also displays elite confidence and competitive drive, which is a critical part of getting the best out of his talents to become the player the rest of the league is scared of.

This three-point threat is on display in the second overtime (3:59), as Wembanyama’s shooting range as well as his ball-handling ability makes Cason Wallace bite, allowing Wembanyama to easily drive past him and the other Thunder defenders for the flush.

The Spurs would begin to finally put the game to bed, and sticking a guard like Alex Caruso on Wembanyama in the paint is honestly disrespectful to his game. While his slender frame allows him to be an unimaginably smooth mover, Wembanyama definitely isn’t lacking in brute force (4:15). He spins past Caruso and emphatically throws down a dunk over Holmgren for the and-1. This mismatch occurs again on the very next play (4:42), as the size different of more than a foot is too much as Wembanyama easily puts away an alley-oop.

Finally, Wembanyama seals the game with a ridiculous block (5:03), showing off his incredible wingspan. Jalen Williams drives towards the hoop, beginning his gather-step before Wembanyama has stepped foot into the paint. Wembanyama is still on the opposite side of the paint as Williams collects the ball to put up a layup, where Wembanyama ruthlessly swats away the attempt to end the game and secure the victory for San Antonio.

A reminder: the man is just 22 years old. Players that young rarely are major contributors to championship teams. They are almost never the best player on the team. If the Spurs are to win the NBA Championship this season, it will likely be thanks to a Finals MVP performance from Wembanyama, which would place him as the 2nd-youngest to win the award behind Magic Johnson in 1980. Even then, Magic was paired with one of the greatest players to ever play the game in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Think of other great young players to win an NBA Championship. Dwyane Wade in 2006? He had Shaquille O’Neal. So did Kobe in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Tim Duncan in 1999? He had David Robinson. Kawhi Leonard in 2014 was on a loaded Spurs roster with Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker. What we are seeing is not normal.

I watched the Metropolitans 92 and G-League Ignite showcase in October of 2022 when I first heard about this 7’4” phenom from France, and immediately understand what he could be capable of if he were to reach his potential. Now that we’re seeing it, it’s still hard to believe.

I’ve watched basketball since 2010, so I’ve witnessed a fair share of all-time greats as a basketball fan. Only a few players have left me in awe of their performances due to their wizard-like skillsets or imposing physical dominance. The likes of Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Nikola Jokic fit in this category. These players are the best of the best and have achieved historic statlines and became NBA champions, but I’m not sure that any of them felt unfair to play against. Victor Wembanyama truly looks like he should be competing against another class of basketball athletes.

And again, he is just 22 years old. We may yet be 4 YEARS away from his basketball peak. I can’t even begin to imagine what 4 years worth of development, experience, and improvement would look like for someone who already seems unparalleled.

We’ve said that Victor looks like he was made to play basketball, like an NBA 2K created player. Perhaps inversely, basketball was made for him to play.

He’s Victor Wembanyama. And he might just be the best basketball talent to ever step foot on a court.

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The Wizards and Jazz are in similar situations

Washington and Utah were the big winners of the lottery, landing the #1 and #2 picks respectively. It was a long time coming for the two organizations, both of whom had the highest odds last year yet fell out of the top 4. Both teams have been in the tank for a few years now and finally appear to have gathered enough young talent to claw themselves out of the rebuild phase. Both teams made interesting deadline moves to acquire former All-Stars, with the Wizards acquiring Trae Young and Anthony Davis and the Jazz making a deal for Jaren Jackson Jr. Now, each will add a player deemed to be one of the best prospects at their position in recent years, namely AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson. I am expecting Dybantsa to go to Washington and Peterson to go to Utah, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if it was the other was around. With veteran stars, a collection of young players who have found their footing in the league, and an elite scoring rookie, I believe that both of these teams will find themselves competing for and making it into the Play-In next season.

The Bulls’ next Front Office should be excited

It’s been a similar story for the Bulls in each of the past few years- never good enough to contend, never bad enough to land a high draft pick. The most recent era of the Bulls will be remembered for the injuries that quickly derailed the brief excitement around the team in 2021, and terrible mismanagement of the roster by Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley. The Bulls didn’t make a single trade involving a player for three whole years, but then proceeded to trade away every player of value on the roster without receiving any notable draft compensation in return. Karnisovas and Eversley were fired after this season, while Head Coach Billy Donovan left the team. The new regime led by Bryson Graham will be left with some mistakes from the past, such as the Patrick Williams extension or the decision to select Noa Essengue with the 12th pick instead of the Pelicans’ trade offer for Derik Queen (or selecting Queen themselves), but now receive a gift in the form of the #4 pick in this year’s draft, which will likely be Caleb Wilson. Wilson will be a perfect fit in Chicago where he can run off the PnR with Josh Giddey, giving the Bulls size that they desperately need. Matas Buzelis showed promise this year, Tre Jones is a solid depth guard, and the Bulls also have the #15 pick from Portland. If they can hire the right coach, Chicago might have something here.

The Pacers made a big mistake

I think Ivica Zubac will be a great addition to Indiana’s roster when everyone is back and healthy next season, not just filling the hole they had at center but probably as an upgrade over Myles Turner. However, the price that the Pacers paid to acquire Zubac was risky: Bennedict Mathurin, a 2029 First, and a 2026 First that was protected 1-4 and 10-30, becoming a 2031 First if the 2026 pick didn’t convey. Unfortunately, the pick landed at #5 and now belongs to the Clippers. I really want to emphasize that Zubac is a fantastic player. People might forget that Zubac was 18th in All-NBA voting in 2024-25 and is on a great contract for the next two years. But for the Pacers, that price is too high when you consider the talent available in this year’s draft. It also begs the question of why they tanked before the deadline just to trade the pick? For the Clippers, this is a big coup. They’ve accumulated a nice batch of young players despite lacking their own draft picks in recent years. Maybe landing this pick furthers the possibility of a Kawhi trade this summer?

I feel bad for the Nets and Kings… fans

I’ll keep it simple: I’m glad that the Nets and Kings didn’t get top 4 picks. These are two franchises that have not been run particularly well in recent years, and I would rather not see premier talents end up in the hands of the Nets or Kings’ management. The Nets still owe picks to Houston and will struggle to get more top talent in the next years, so unless they sign or trade for a star, I don’t expect they’ll be good anytime soon, especially not with the morass of players they selected last season that hold similar basketball traits. I’ve expressed my disdain for the Kings before, with their lack of player development and their terrible trade decisions. I wouldn’t trust their ability to help Dybantsa or Peterson reach their ceiling. I do feel bad for their fans though, who have sat through another awful year just to find that their team won’t be selecting the franchise-altering player they hoped for. These are two of the least successful teams in recent and long-term history, and this was their chance to finally break through.

The End of an Era

These recent lotteries have been highly anticipated, not just because of the importance of landing a top draft pick, but because of the flattened lottery odds that have seen surprising teams jump into the top 4, or more importantly, the top spot, such as the Pelicans in 2019, the Hawks in 2024, or the Mavericks in 2025. If you thought it was crazy already, it’s about to get a lot more wild. The NBA will be introducing a new lottery system next year in an attempt to curb tanking. This 3-2-1 system awards a number of balls to teams depending on place: the bottom three teams are in the relegation zone and receive 2 balls, the other non-Play-In teams will receive 3 balls, the 9/10 seeds will receive 2 balls, and the loser of the 7/8 matchup will receive 1 ball. We will potentially see a playoff team land the top pick and the worst teams fall outside of the top 10. The lottery will almost appear to be entirely random in its order. Imagine if the Orlando Magic got the chance to draft Dybantsa while the Wizards were picking 12th. That’s the sort of scenario we could see in the most extreme results of the new lottery system.

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Last month, photographs were released by Page Six showing Vrabel and Russini together at a resort in Arizona. While the pictures didn’t show damning evidence of an affair, it was highly suspected. Vrabel and Russini both came out and denied the allegations, stating that the photos were taken out of context. Russini would later resign from The Athletic a week later. In a statement regarding her resignation, Russini said that she was leaving The Athletic to help the review process and that her contract was up at the end of June, and that The Athletic had given her their full support throughout the ordeal. At this point, it was still possible that the situation was being overblown by media speculation. Clips were circulating of previous questionable comments Russini had made on air or on Twitter, and new content and stories were being produced daily to add to the fire of the scandal.

By the end of April, things began to take a turn towards the guilty side. On the day that the NFL Draft began, new photos and videos were published by Page Six that featured Vrabel and Russini kissing in a bar in 2020. This evidence pretty clearly ruled out the claims of innocent interactions. Vrabel and the Patriots would then announce that he would miss Day 3 of the Draft to spend time in counseling with his family, a sign that there was serious trouble in his personal life. This week, additional photos were released, showing the pair renting a boat together in 2021 when Russini was just weeks away from giving birth to her first child… who would be named Michael.

The optics of this situation continue to get worse week by week and day by day. I see a new story about Vrabel or Russini every day, and the attention will continue to be constant. Honestly, I am just waiting for the next batch of photos of the two to be released. There seems to be no end in sight for the media discussion about the scandal.

In the Boston sports focus, we have already dealt with a situation like this before, and quite recently too. In 2022, the Boston Celtics were coming off of an NBA Finals appearance in Head Coach Ime Udoka’s first season at the helm- just as the Patriots are with Vrabel. In September, just weeks before the NBA Preseason would begin, we were rocked by the sudden suspension of Udoka for violating organizational policy. The violation in question was reported as an inappropriate relationship with a Celtics staffer, which later turned out to be concerning remarks from Udoka towards the staffer. While Udoka was originally handed a long-term suspension, the Celtics would later promote interim Head Coach Joe Mazzulla to the full time job, ending Udoka’s time in Boston.

The major difference in the Udoka scandal and the Vrabel scandal is that while Udoka violated the Celtics’ policies by being involved with a fellow employee, Vrabel’s affair is with someone unrelated to the Patriots organization- therefore, Vrabel did not break any team policies. Russini was quick to resign in part because this raises serious concerns in regards to journalistic ethics, as she was having a relationship with someone whom she was tasked to report on. As it stands, there is no policy violation-related reason to fire Vrabel from his position.

More likely, Vrabel’s tenure with the Patriots would only come to an end prior to the season if he too chooses to resign. It is now my belief that this would be the ideal course of action in regards to the Patriots side of this scandal.

It is clear that this scandal will continue to be a news story for a while. Even if it begins to die down over the next couple of months, media coverage will reignite discussion about the situation when Training Camp starts in late July, and the affair would be a hot topic well into the Patriots’ season, especially if results on the field don’t go the Patriots’ way. There will be much talk about the scandal and where Vrabel’s head is at if the Patriots are struggling. Questions will be asked if Vrabel is fit to lead the team when we know for a fact that he is dealing with major turmoil in his personal life, and with how public and detailed the affair is becoming, will only continue to compound the situation. I hope that the Patriots can get ahead of that and move on.

This is a terribly unfortunate situation. Mike Vrabel was a highly respected member of the Patriots for his role in helping bring three Lombardi trophies to Foxborough in the 2000s, and his return to the organization as Head Coach was celebrated as a hero’s welcome. After all, Vrabel’s work as Head Coach of the Tennessee Titans was highly praised after he led the franchise to an AFC Championship Game appearance in 2019, two AFC South Division titles, and the #1 seed in the AFC in 2021. He immediately delivered success after returning to the Patriots, leading them to the Super Bowl in his first year on the job, winning the Coach of the Year Award for his efforts. I also feel terribly for the families of both Vrabel and Russini who have undoubtedly been rocked by these developments, and I hope for the best for them.

This is not an ideal situation for any team, but it is certainly more frustrating when the team in question is chasing a championship. I do not want this distraction to cloud the team all year long and derail the promising path the franchise is on. Vrabel resigning now would also be beneficial for the team if the alternative was that the situation becomes too troublesome and forces Vrabel to resign or be fired mid-season. If the Patriots needed to name an interim coach during the season, the primary options would be one of the coordinators. Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels has proven multiple times to not be suited for the role of Head Coach compared to his performances as OC, while Defensive Coordinator Zak Kuhr is in his first official year on the job, having filled interim defensive play-calling duties last year while DC Terrell Williams took a leave of absence to battle cancer. Needless to say, neither would be a trustworthy option at Head Coach. Even Williams himself was only in his first year as a DC last season, and would likewise not be very experienced ahead of taking an interim Head Coaching role. If Vrabel were to leave the organization right now, there would still be time to look for a new Head Coach prior to the start of Training Camp, or at the very least prepare one of the in-house options for the advanced role.

This situation isn’t a positive for anyone off the field or on the field (except the tabloids), and I believe it would be best for all parties to resolve the football-related issue right now. And that starts with moving on from Mike Vrabel.

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The Celtics looked to be a mediocre team after losing 7 of their first 12 games, but soon turned it around and proceeded to produce an astonishing season given their expectations, winning 51 of their final 70 games to finish 56-26, the Eastern Conference’s 2nd-best record. And in early March, Jayson Tatum made a miraculous comeback less than 10 months after suffering one of the most disruptive injuries a player can experience. The Celtics were back on top, and entered the postseason as the favorites to come out of the East. The playoffs started smoothly for Boston as they jumped out to a 3-1 lead over the Philadelphia 76ers thanks to two blowout victories. Joel Embiid had returned and seemingly thrown off the Sixers play style, with the previously effective shot volumes of Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubre Jr. and VJ Edgecombe shrinking significantly.

And then, without warning, everything collapsed.

The Celtics lost Game 5, Game 6, and Game 7, becoming the 14th team in NBA history to blow a 3-1 lead, and just the 6th to do so as the higher seed.

The Celtics led by double figures early in the 3rd quarter of Game 5, and while the Sixers cut the deficit, Boston led throughout the quarter. Jayson Tatum put the Celtics up 4 with 58 seconds left in the quarter, and that was the last that we saw of the Celtics team we knew all season and in the series up to that point. Prior to that shot, the Celtics had shot 46.2% in the series, averaging 28.5 points per quarter. After that shot, those numbers dropped to 37.6% and 22.7 points per quarter.

The Celtics have had a concerning habit under Joe Mazzulla of going cold at an instant, whether for the end of a game or a multi-game stretch in the series. They stagnant and stop running offensive sets, playing iso-ball and settling for a three or passing around late and forcing up a bad shot. We’ve seen this in all three of their playoff exits since he became Head Coach, and the Celtics were significant favorites over all three: the Heat in 2023, the Knicks in 2025, and the 76ers in 2026. For all of Joe Mazzulla’s fantastic regular season coaching and his successful three point-heavy offense that has resulted in a 238-90 record since 2022, his coaching has had significant drawbacks in the postseason. From his lack of experience hurting in key moments in 2023, his stubborn offensive game plan continuing unchanged after it wasn’t working in 2025, and his deviation from the bench strategy that worked in 2026, I do have my worries about Joe’s ability to succeed in the postseason- something that sounds odd to say about an NBA champion coach. It’s my belief that the 2023-24 Celtics roster was so stacked and deep that a high number of coaches would have won a championship with that roster, and while I’ll always push back against people that discredit their title, I must admit that there have definitely been tougher paths to the trophy. I’m not ready to give up on Coach Mazzulla yet, but there are high expectations with this franchise, and early exits like this are not normal.

We also must talk about the cornerstones of this season: Jaylen Brown and Derrick White. Brown became the #1 option for the Celtics in the absence of Jayson Tatum, and shined as the Boston overperformed expectations. He averaged a career high 28.7 points per game while maintaining his typical shooting splits on higher shot volume and usage rate. Yet Brown’s performances in this series after Game 1 didn’t exactly live up to the performances we saw from him all season. Between Games 2 and 7, Brown shot 44.3%, making just 70.5% of his free throws and committing 3.8 turnovers per game. These type of performances combined with a series loss bring into doubt Brown’s ability to be the lead player on a contender, which to me is not an issue on this team when Tatum is beside him. Derrick White similarly underwhelmed in the series. White’s shot was off all season as he connected on just 32.7% of his threes, a significant drop from the 38.7% he averaged over the previous 3 seasons. He couldn’t even match that figure in this series, shooting 27.3% from beyond the arc. I’m not sure what happened to his shot. Maybe he’s been dealing with a shoulder or wrist injury, I don’t know. But one of the league’s best 3 & D players is far less effective at that shooting clip, and as White turns 32 this summer it makes you wonder if we’ve seen his peak.

Offseason Outlook

There has (unsurprisingly) been a lot of discussion about the Celtics roster and whether or not Jaylen Brown should have a future on this team. I personally would love to not see any of those rumors for the next year. Jaylen Brown should be a Boston Celtic today, tomorrow, next year, and hopefully for the rest of his career. Brown won Finals MVP for his performances in helping bring Banner 18 to Boston, and we can’t let one series erase all that he has shown that he can do. The biggest point of discussion in reference to a Jaylen Brown trade seems to be around a deal to acquire Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks. I’m not going to get deep into that unless we get serious reports that a trade might happen in June or July, but I personally am vehemently against the idea of that trade. I don’t want to trade Jaylen. The Bucks have no reason to accept a package of Brown and other assets in exchange for Giannis. And I don’t believe that acquiring Giannis would make the Celtics any better. For now, I’m not going to entertain that trade idea.

The Celtics have two clear needs this offseason: another guard, ideally a ball-handler, and a starting big man. The Celtics definitely missed the bench shooting of Anfernee Simons against the Sixers, and the man they exchanged him for, Nikola Vucevic, was supposed to be the needed help in the frontcourt. Vucevic’s time in Boston went so bad that he was a DNP in a winner-take-all Game 7, even when Neemias Queta and Luka Garza were in foul trouble. With Tatum out, the Celtics certainly lacked creation at the guard spot, as the combination of Pritchard and White isn’t among the best in the league, and Jaylen Brown has his struggles as a primary handler and creator. The Celtics always needed a big after the exodus of their centers last offseason, and the performances of Queta and Garza were certainly a welcome surprise, but neither appear to be a championship-caliber starter.

It’s possible that Simons could be brought back as he fit well in the Celtics system. He wouldn’t come cheap, but any addition might come alongside a Sam Hauser trade. Hauser’s shooting could be of use to a few other teams, and his role seems expendable with the development of Baylor Scheierman and Hugo Gonzalez, and the $11M in salary that Hauser earns could go elsewhere. The big man free agent market isn’t anything to write home about, but former Celtic Robert Williams III is one of the best available, and a reunion would be celebrated by the fanbase. He’s provided great interior defense and as a bouncy lob threat, but unfortunately has struggled to stay healthy throughout his career, playing just 120 games over the last 4 seasons.

This was supposed to be a gap year for the Celtics, so it’s hard to get too disappointed with how the season turned out. We saw significant development with several depth players on the roster, Jayson Tatum didn’t miss a beat in return from a major long-term injury, and the Celtics are still positioned to contend for an NBA championship. The team is in a better spot financially than they were last summer when they dumped starters and let free agents walk due to the constraints of the Second Apron. The Celtics are in possession of several of their future draft picks, which is more than a lot of contenders can say. With some roster retooling to plug the holes at guard and center, the Celtics should remain one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference in 2027.

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Winner: New York Jets

The Jets came into this draft with two selections and left with three, taking DE David Bailey at #2, TE Kenyon Sadiq at #16, and trading into the back-end of the opening round to take WR Omar Cooper Jr. at #30. Most teams that find themselves in the position that the Jets do would’ve spent their pre-draft process evaluating quarterbacks, but there was no second option after top pick Fernando Mendoza this year, leaving the Jets to look elsewhere to build up their roster while setting their sights on a new signal-caller next season. And build up their roster they did, grabbing three players who will start immediately in 2026.

Bailey is a certified wrecker at the Edge position and that’s not just because he went to Texas Tech. He fills a massive need for a Jets Defense that recorded just 26 sacks last season, and the pressure he’ll provide will help the Jets force more turnovers after recording the fewest takeaways (4) since the merger in 1970. Sadiq was an interesting choice after spending a 2nd-Rounder on Mason Taylor a year ago, but he’s a quick and versatile pass catcher at the position and will boost an offensive that lacked explosiveness. Speaking of explosiveness, Cooper Jr. will fit nicely lining up across from Garrett Wilson. A high-level athlete at the position, it doesn’t take much to see why Cooper should excite Jets fans- just look at his game-winning score against Penn State last season- and is great value at the end of the round for a guy some thought would go in the top 15.

Loser: Arizona Cardinals

The Cardinals are entering a full reset after the Kyler Murray era flamed out, and kept their pick to select RB Jeremiyah Love at #3. Love was regarded as the consensus best tailback in college football last season and that pedigree carried over to the draft as he became the highest draft pick at the position since Saquon Barkley in 2018. I have no complaints about Love as a player and I’m pretty sure that he’ll become an All-Pro caliber back, but I have major issues with the organization that selected him.

I’ve watched sports for 16 years and have become very familiar with how the bad organizations operate. The second I heard rumblings about the Cardinals taking Love at #3 I knew it was going to be true, because that’s what bad organizations do. Arizona has a mess of a roster and needs help in almost every position. They employ Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew at quarterback and were the final team to hire a head coach after getting spurned by several candidates who chose other franchises. Drafting a running back in their situation is in my eyes organizational malpractice. Recent and long-term history shows that most teams that selected a running back at top of the draft didn’t achieve much success in the following years and the positional value doesn’t make sense for a team with a roster as lacking as theirs is. Besides, the backfield isn’t even a position of desperate need for the Cardinals who signed Tyler Allgeier in March and return James Conner back from injury.

Winner: New York Giants

The Giants added another top-10 selection in the draft last weekend by dealing Dexter Lawrence to Cincinnati. While the last time they held two top-10 picks didn’t work out for them when they selected Kayvon Thibodeaux and Evan Neal in 2022, there is hope for better luck this time after they picked LB Arvell Reese at #5 and OT Francis Mauigoa at #10. While they don’t fill huge needs, these are two premier talents that don’t come around at those draft slots often.

Reese was considered by some to be the best prospect in the draft class regardless of position. Reese is incredibly young, as he won’t turn 21 until the end of preseason, so there’s a lot of development to be had. He provides versatility as an edge rusher or off-ball linebacker who generates a rare combination of speed and power and has true superstar potential, the only question being what his immediate role will be in a crowded defensive front in New York. Mauigoa was a big part of Miami’s run to the CFP title game last season and was considered one of the best players available. The Giants might not be able to use him at tackle, but he can slot into the guard spot if that’s what is needed, given that he’s a quick mover and a bit smaller than others on the outside. Mauigoa is certainly a worthy return for Sexy Dexy.

Loser: Kansas City Chiefs

It’s been a while since Kansas City was selecting in this area of the draft, and they traded up even higher to take CB Mansoor Delane at #6. Delane will probably become a top corner under Steve Spagnuolo within a couple years, and his college tape is impressive. Another player who I don’t have a problem with on the field.

Now I don’t know the behind the scenes of everything, but I question if it was necessary for the Chiefs to trade up three spots to take Delane. It seemed the Saints were pretty locked into taking a receiver at #8 so it wouldn’t have been New Orleans beating the Chiefs to their guy. The Commanders needed defensive work but had been rumored to be taking either Jeremiyah Love or Sonny Styles depending on who was still available at #7. The Browns (who the Chiefs traded with at #6) were in need of significant additions to their offensive line, which they did end up doing at #9, and I would’ve been surprised to see them take a corner in Delane. Unless Kansas City had intel that another team was calling Cleveland about trading up to select Delane, I doubt it was necessary to deal a third and fifth rounder to move up those three spots. My first instinct was that the Chiefs were moving up to select Arvell Reese, that is until the Giants snatched him at #5, but it seems Kansas City was targeting Delane all along.

Winner: Cleveland Browns

Speaking of Cleveland, that trade lands them in the winners category. The Browns were pretty putrid last season as they are still suffering through the disastrous consequences of the Deshaun Watson trade. The Browns moved back from #6 to select OT Spencer Fano at #9 and used their extra first from the Travis Hunter trade from last year to take WR KC Concepcion at #24, grabbing two more draft picks in the process. Cleveland landed two capable players that will shore up some weak positions in Cleveland.

After losing a lot of contribution from an offensive line that allowed the 7th-most sacks in 2025, the Browns were predicted to use a first to improve the trenches, which they did in taking Fano. Many outlets had #10 pick Francis Mauigoa ahead of Fano, but Fano provides experience of having played multiple positions across the line at Utah, and the Browns need that versatility. The biggest question with Fano will be which spot he plays, and he may very well end up as a guard in the pros. Concepcion was an elite playmaker in college, with high-end speed and agility that will make him a possibly electric gadget player. He’s a speedy deep threat across the middle and can be utilized as a return specialist as well.

Loser: Los Angeles Rams

Coming off of an NFC Championship loss, the Rams find themselves in win-now mode. Matthew Stafford may have been named MVP in 2025, but he’s 38 years old with a recent history of back and neck problems that have made retirement a rumor for years. It’s expected that this will be the final year with Davante Adams, and Puka Nucua also needs a new contract amidst his off-field issues, so many expected the Rams to grab a receiver. While local product Makai Lemon was on the board at #13, the Rams selected QB Ty Simpson instead.

Simpson will get the opportunity to learn and develop behind a future Hall of Famer at quarterback, and needs the development after just one year as a full-time starter at Alabama. He produced good numbers last season, limiting turnovers while showing prowess in his movement. The problem with this pick is the current situation for the Rams. They are in a short window to compete for a championship and had a rare opportunity to select a player at such a high pick thanks to the Atlanta Falcons. With lacking receiver depth after their two stars, a receiver pick made so much sense. We’ve seen this before with the Packers in 2020, who picked with the future in mind instead of drafting immediate help for a contending team, and they failed to make it to the Super Bowl despite two MVP campaigns from Aaron Rodgers. This isn’t even considering the fact that the Rams took Simpson at #13, a very high selection for his caliber. Maybe they tried to trade back, maybe they didn’t, but it is a head-scratcher for me.

Winner: Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys possess an elite offense and a poor defense, so defensive help was expected from their two first round selections. Dallas was able to give up minimal compensation to move up a spot to get their guy, dealing two sixth-rounders to the Dolphins in order to take S Caleb Downs at #11. The Cowboys later traded back with their other pick, grabbing two fourth-rounders from the Eagles to move back and select DE Malachi Lawrence at #23, a player who they wanted at #20 anyway.

Downs is an elite player who was considered the safest bet of the draft, and was fantastic at Ohio State. He should be able to provide results immediately for a Dallas team that could really use the help. The Cowboys loved Lawrence, a big powerful edge rusher, and were able to add more picks while still getting the guy they wanted, and Dallas has had great results developing players on the defensive front in recent years. I fully expect Downs and Lawrence to be a part of the next elite Cowboys Defense .

Loser: Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings have been pretty astute defensively in recent years, and overcame poor quarterback play to finish with a winning record last season. They chose to add to the defensive line, selecting DT Caleb Banks at #18. While he is a top talent, the question marks surrounding his health make me unsure of this selection.

Banks is a mountain of a man on the interior line and has an elite ceiling. He would’ve been a top-10 lock had he not had injury troubles, breaking his foot multiple times in the last year and playing just 3 games last season. Minnesota needed the help on the inside, but there’s no guarantee that Banks will be able to be healthy when dealing with foot injuries at his size. Many players will slip dozens of spots when they suffer these types of injuries, and we’ve seen that with Jermod McCoy this draft. If he stays healthy, we are talking about a future star, but 18th is just too high of a spot for me for the risk that Banks brings.

Winner: Chicago Bears

After a breakout year, the Bears appear to be building both an elite offense and defense, and will likely be drafting in the late first round for a long time. Safety was one of Chicago’s top needs, and they were able to get S Dillon Thieneman at #25. Many thought he’d be off the board by the time the Bears were on the clock, so this is an elite selection for Chicago.

Thieneman was an First Team All-American safety at Oregon last year. He’s a very well-rounded player who has proven production through multiple years at the college level, and should translate pretty safely to the pro game. Chicago now possesses a number of top talents across both sides of the ball and is in position to contend for many years. We’ve seen several rookie early round defensive backs contribute to Super Bowl champions in recent years, such as Trent McDuffie with the Chiefs, Cooper DeJean with the Eagles, and Nick Emmanwori with the Seahawks, and Thieneman has a chance to join that group this year.

Who else did you think won and lost the first round?

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But what if I told you that there’s a mistake that teams regularly make in the top 10? An error that most teams make eventually? It doesn’t have anything to do with scouting or player evaluation- it’s actually quite simple.

They’re drafting the wrong side of the ball.

The top 10 of the NFL Draft is typically offense-heavy. Since 2011, more offensive players were taken in the top 10 than defensive players in 11 of the last 15 drafts, and 2019 is the only year where there were more defensive players taken in the top 10 than offensive players. The top of the 2024 Draft was more dominated by offense than ever before, with each of the first 14 selections being offensive players.

I believe teams drafting near the top are better off selecting defensive players.

Let’s look at the numbers. For data, I’ll be looking at 15 years but with the draft years adjusted to 2009 to 2023, so that the players have a decent sample size of their career.

Career Length

The first data point we’ll look at is career length by games played. While these numbers are affected by injuries, the sample sizes are large enough to account for short career outliers. Besides, injuries are a part of the game and affect both offensive and defensive players similarly.

These graphs display the raw data, but the averages are 94.20 games for offensive players, and 103.63 games for defensive players. That means these defensive players played 10% more games than the offensive players. But many of these players are still actively playing. What if we remove the draft picks from the 5 most recent drafts and only use 2009 to 2018? The results are similar, with offensive players averaging 107.97 games played, and defensive players averaging 122.79 games played, meaning those top defensive picks played nearly 14% more games than their offensive counterparts.

But there is still a problem with this. Quarterback is a unique position where if the player isn’t the best at the position on his team, he won’t play, which is different from rest of the offensive and defensive positions, and given the number of quarterbacks selected in the top 10, could possibly be dragging the numbers of the offensive players down. So let’s look at the same data but with quarterbacks removed.

There’s a slight change, as these non-QB offensive players averaged 97.51 games played, but that’s still short of the 103.63 game average for the defensive players. And when removing the players from the last 5 drafts we see very little change: the non-QB offensive players from 2009 to 2018 averaged 109.79 games, a figure that is still notably lower than the 122.79 games by the defensive players.

Career longevity doesn’t always correlate with talent, performance, and peak ability, but it is a factor in determining success. These defensive players are playing upwards of a whole season’s worth of extra games compared to the offensive players.

Pro Bowl

While Pro Bowl selections have been criticized in recent years for the laughable replacements and bias towards big name stars, they at least give a solid snapshot of the top players in the game. Let’s look at the number of top 10 picks that received a Pro Bowl nod.

Here we can see there is a notable percentage different between top 10 defensive selections and top 10 offensive selections that made a Pro Bowl, with 12.9% more defensive players getting a nod than offensive players. Some may argue that this data isn’t convincing enough given the nature of the Pro Bowl and the selection process. Do we have an alternative way of judging the top players from a given season?

All-Pro

The All-Pro teams are a much more distinguished publication of the best players of a season. the AP All-Pro teams are comprised of a First Team and a Second Team and are voted on by selected NFL writers and broadcasters, a more reputable source than online fan-voted nominations such as the Pro Bowl. Here are the top 10 draft picks that were named to an AP All-Pro team.

There’s a much larger gap than in the previous stats: while just over a quarter of top 10 offensive picks were named to an All-Pro team, nearly half of defensive players picked in the top 10 were named All-Pros. Now I’m no mathematician, but a 20% difference and 70% increase at those sample sizes is statistically significant. Looking at the data, more top 10 defensive draft picks made All-Pro teams than didn’t between 2010 and 2023. For further analysis, let’s take a look at the breakdown by positional groups.

I split the offensive and defensive players each into four general positional groups. The defensive groups in particular were harder to distinguish, and the case could easily be made for several players to be in a different group, but regardless there is yet another clear takeaway: the defensive positional groups tend to have higher All-Pro rates than the offensive groups. The “Pass Catchers” group saw just 23.81% named to an All-Pro team, while just 16.13% of quarterbacks received the honor. The low number for quarterbacks again raises the question of them weighing the offensive numbers down, but yet again this ceases to be the case, as 35.10% of non-QB offensive players were named to an All-Pro team, still much less than the rates of defensive players. The one offensive group that does show reliable success data is Running Backs, but from a sample size of just 8 players it is hard to reasonably define their reliability.

After analyzing this data, I believe that we can come to the conclusion that more top 10 defensive draft picks have achieved a high level of success than top 10 offensive draft picks. But can we take it a step further and argue specifically that more defensive players should be selected in the top 10 of drafts?

11 to 15

Let’s take a look at the players selected just outside of the top 10 and see how they compare.

Interesting. Not only is there again a sizable gap between the offensive and defensive data, but the data from defensive players drafted 11th to 15th is higher than the data from offensive players drafted 1st to 10th. More than a third of defensive players drafted 11th to 15th were named to an All-Pro team, more than double that of their offensive counterparts. By now, I feel that I can confidently argue that more defensive players should be taken higher in the draft.

Things to Consider

Now, I will acknowledge that, as I displayed earlier, part of this is due to the number of quarterbacks selected given that it is widely accepted to be the most important position- I fully understand the thought process of why GMs commit so much draft capital into quarterbacks because of what could happen if the player turns out to be a hit. The number of quarterbacks selected in the top 10 is so high because 1) given the importance of the position, it is a significant factor into why those teams were as bad as they were, and 2) the value of the position puts draftees in high demand, and teams know that they can’t wait to select a top quarterback later. But even if you removed quarterbacks, there have still been more offensive players selected in the top 10 of the last 15 drafts, which is why the non-QB numbers hold significant weight.

I’ll also admit that using All-Pro nods and career length is not a perfect system. My argument here is based on idea of drafting players who provide elite performances, so how much does playing an extra year make a difference? Dante Fowler has played 71 more games than Todd Gurley did, but there’s no question as to who was the better player. Joe Burrow hasn’t made an AP All-Pro team but Kyle Pitts has, yet nobody would argue that Pitts is a better or more impactful player than Burrow is. That is an exception however, and most of the worthy players have been named All-Pros. This system also ignores that players who weren’t named to honors teams, and I fully believe that a player can have a successful and impactful career without being named as one of the best players of a given season. However, when selecting players at the very top of the draft, the hope is to select a player who goes on to have an elite peak and is considered to be one of the best players at their position. For example, Michael Crabtree was a good player, but teams would hope that a top 10 pick produces a player the likes of Mike Evans, Julio Jones, or Ja’Marr Chase. As the data shows, there is a significantly higher proportion of defensive picks that net a high-level player.

The 2026 NFL Draft

How can I apply my case to this draft? First, I sampled a few mock drafts from media outlets that were published within the last couple of days. I found the average number of defensive players picked in the top 10 to be 5.00 and the top 15 to be 6.88. While the top 10 number is encouraging at an even half-and-half split, the top 15 number is a bit underwhelming, especially considering that this is a good defensive draft class and a weak quarterback class.

One of the big groups of interest in this draft is the wide receiver class. A total of 5 wide receivers appear in the top 15 of these mocks: Carnell Tate, Jordyn Tyson, Makai Lemon, Denzel Boston, and Omar Cooper Jr. I would advocate for a lesser number, with only Tate going in the top 10 and Tyson and Lemon being fringe top 15 guys. The likes of Caleb Downs, Mansoor Delane, and Rueben Bain Jr. appear just inside or outside most top 10s, and I would argue for all of them to be selected in the top 10. With the only quarterback being Fernando Mendoza who is locked into the first pick of the draft, that does help to bring this draft closer in line to an ideal draft based on the case I have made. There are also a number of offensive linemen in consideration for top 15 spots, namely Spencer Fano, Francis Mauigoa, Kadyn Proctor, Vega Ioane, and Monroe Freeling. If teams are 50-50 on filling a defensive need or shoring up the offensive line, I would suggest the defensive player.

A lot of research went into producing this article and making the case for defensive players at the top of the draft. I am very open to feedback and critique if you have a counter-argument, so please let me know in the comments!

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But not everyone will enjoy the fruits of the postseason. For some, it’s an unnecessary glimmer of hope that extends the season for an extra week just for a beatdown at the hands of a contender. For others, the playoffs bring dreams of lifting Larry O, just for an underdog to snatch those dreams in a stunner. Not every playoff exit hurts the same. It’s time to look at all 19 remaining playoff and play-in teams (apologies to the Miami Heat) and split them into tiers based on how impactful and disappointing playoff failure would be for them.

Tier 6: Simply Making the Playoffs is a Success

Toronto Raptors

After missing the playoffs for the past three seasons and losing the remnants of their championship core in Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, and OG Anunoby, the Raptors have quickly rebuilt into a solid playoff team behind Scottie Barnes and recent acquisition Brandon Ingram, finishing as the Eastern Conference’s 5th seed. But just making it to the postseason was the goal for Toronto this year, and nothing more should be expected for a team that has been one game over .500 since Thanksgiving.

Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks had been stuck in play-in purgatory since their Conference Finals run in 2021, and were expected to push on to a playoff berth this season. While their 6th-place finish isn’t a surprise, the way they got there is- the Hawks were four games under .500 at the All-Star break before ripping off 18 wins in 20 games. After moving on from Trae Young and adding a high pick in this summer’s draft, the focus will be on next season for the Hawks to truly make a leap and build on their core of Jalen Johnson and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.

Charlotte Hornets

The Hornets won a combined 40 games over the past two seasons and looked to be headed for another season in the tank after a 4-14 start. Charlotte has won 40 of their 64 games since, producing a 60-win pace over their final 38 games. While they were unfortunate to finish 9th, the Hornets return all of their core players next year and should see continued development from Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel. They’ll look to follow the Pistons blueprint and contend near the top of the East in 2027.

Phoenix Suns

Phoenix won 36 games last year, resulting in the trade of Kevin Durant and a third-consecutive summer coaching search. Expectations were low, so it was a surprise when the Suns got off to a hot start. They’d continue those performances for the rest of the year behind the play of Collin Gillespie and Dillon Brooks. Injuries kept Phoenix from keeping up with the top 6, and faced with the prospect of getting wiped out by Oklahoma City, the Suns can be proud of their surprise season and look forward to 2027 with their cast of young emerging players.

Portland Trailblazers

After a promising finish to 2025 and a plethora of talented rising stars, there was hope for the Blazers to push for the play-in, a hope that was instantly thrown off the rails after Chauncey Billups’ arrest 1 game into the season. Despite most of their roster missing significant chunks of time with injuries, the Blazers climbed all the way up to 8th in the Western Conference behind the play of Deni Avdija, Shaedon Sharpe, and Donovan Clingan, and should take valuable experience from this year as they build towards becoming a contender again.

Tier 5: Also Happy to be Here, But Want a Title

Detroit Pistons

The Pistons produced one of the most unbelievable leaps last season, and followed it up with another huge jump to 60 wins and the Eastern Conference’s top seed. With an elite but young roster led by Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren, the Pistons will almost certainly fall short of a championship this season- but Detroit will believe they can compete for a title, and anything less will be disappointing. Regardless, the Pistons can absolutely be proud of consecutive playoff appearances and a 1 seed, and will be one of the favorites next season.

Boston Celtics

It’s strange to see the Celtics in this category, but this season was much more than any Boston fan could’ve hoped for. Without Jayson Tatum for the year and coming off an offseason of exits, the Celtics were projected to be right around .500, and in the worst case scenarios of injuries and underperformance could have gone into the tanking battle. Instead, Boston won 56 games behind Jaylen Brown’s superstar ascendence and breakout seasons from Neemias Queta, Baylor Scheierman, Hugo Gonzalez, and Ron Harper Jr. As the favorites in the East, the Celtics expect a Finals appearance, but this season showed that the Celtics will be an absolute force next season, perhaps as the best team in the NBA.

San Antonio Spurs

This was supposed to be the Spurs’ breakout season, making it to the postseason for the first time in the Victor Wembanyama era. Instead, the Spurs finished with 62 wins, tied for third-most in franchise history, reaching the NBA Cup Final and reeling off a ridiculous 27 wins in 29 games in February and March. While most young teams that make a big leap typically need at least a year before finding success in the playoffs, this Spurs team feels different- whether that’s the elite young guard combo of Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper, star guard De’Aaron Fox, a veteran presence in the likes of Luke Kornet or Harrison Barnes, or the alien Wemby himself. While San Antonio appears to be true contenders already, they’ll be happy to have finally reached the start of what should be a long period of contention.

Tier 4: Reigning Champion Juggernauts

Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder get their own category. Coming off of one of the most dominant seasons in NBA history and their first title, the Thunder followed it up with another spectacular season, winning 64 games and leading the league in wins again, thanks to what was likely another MVP campaign from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. While OKC can rest easy knowing this squad has already reached the pinnacle, an early exit would be terribly disappointing. Not as bad as teams who haven’t won in years, but too much at stake to be behind young teams on the rise.

Tier 3: Already Failed, But Will Run it Back Regardless

Philadelphia Sixers

The Sixers are a tough placement. While VJ Edgecombe looks like a future star and Tyrese Maxey is one of the league’s best at the guard position, their current window is hampered by the enormous salaries going to the aging and often unreliable combo of Joel Embiid and Paul George, who combined for just 75 games. The Sixers rebounded from last year’s catastrophe with a 45-win season, aided in part by an East-leading 27-4 record against sub-.500 teams. Philadelphia won’t contend for titles anytime soon with their current makeup, but are stuck with Embiid and George until their contracts are up, meaning we will see these Sixers again next year even if they lose in the play-in.

Los Angeles Clippers

After three seasons of consistent 4th or 5th place finishes only to lose in the first round, it feels like the Clippers went through three more seasons this year alone- first the 6-21 start and an unceremonious end to Chris Paul’s career, then the 16-4 resurgence just for another James Harden trade request, and a solid 20-15 finish with new faces Darius Garland and Bennedict Mathurin. Kawhi Leonard had his best season as a Clipper… and they finished 9th. With their options narrowed down to missing the playoffs or facing the Thunder in the first round, the season is coming to an end soon as another failure in the Kawhi era. After their retooling this season, the Clippers will bring back a similar roster next year, which is the final year of Kawhi’s contract.

Golden State Warriors

This season couldn’t have gone much worse for the Warriors, losing Jimmy Butler for the season in January and missing Stephen Curry for most of the second half, as they spiraled to a 12-26 finish after Butler’s injury. If it wasn’t already clear, Golden State’s era of contention with Curry is now over, with no imminent rebuild coming until Curry’s retirement, unless they shock everyone and trade him. We’ll see Curry back with the Warriors next season and they probably won’t make much noise.

Tier 2: So… Are You Ever Gonna Get One?

New York Knicks

It was more of the same for the Knicks, who have increased their win total in all four years of the Jalen Brunson era, finishing 53-29 this time. With a loaded group featuring Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart, the Knicks have been edging closer to the Finals, reaching the Conference Finals last season only for a poor showing against the Pacers. New York’s roster will only get prohibitively more expensive, and the Towns trade rumors might come to fruition with another playoff loss. The Knicks’ window is still open, but more change will come if they don’t make it to the Finals

Denver Nuggets

Fortunately for Denver, they did win a championship with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, so this era as a whole will go down successfully. But 2023 remains their only Finals appearance with the Joker, as they fell short in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals in each of the past two seasons. This past offseason, Denver made their biggest roster change since acquiring Aaron Gordon in 2021, as they swapped out Michael Porter Jr. for Cam Johnson, a move that didn’t exactly go as smoothly as anticipated. With a roster headlined by players in or entering their 30s and multiple extensions kicking in to send Denver into second-apron range, this roster needs to deliver another deep run- and soon.

Houston Rockets

After a breakout 52-win campaign last season, the Rockets traded for a superstar in Kevin Durant… and won 52 games again. While that was good for 2nd in the West last year, the Rockets fell short of home-court this season. A matchup with the banged-up Lakers boosts their chance of winning a playoff series for the first time since 2020, but Houston traded for Durant for more than that. It feels early to put the Rockets in this category after just two playoff appearances, but Durant is soon to turn 38 and only has one guaranteed year left on his contract, so the clock is ticking for the Rockets to make a run with this group.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Minnesota is coming off of back-to-back Western Conference Finals appearances, a big success for a franchise that had only been there once before 2024. The Wolves sputtered down the stretch without Anthony Edwards, finishing 6th in the conference and matching up with Denver in the first round. History says its expected that Edwards hasn’t willed his team to a title yet, something that superstars typically do during their age 26 to 28 years, so Minnesota won’t worry yet if they still can’t make it out of the West, but there will be pressure to deliver a Finals run soon, and potentially some offseason roster shakeup.

Tier 1: Major Changes Imminent

Cleveland Cavaliers

After last year’s 64-win campaign ended in underwhelming loss to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Semifinals, the Cavaliers followed it up with a mediocre 22-19 start, but finished strong in the second half by going 30-11, aided by the trade for James Harden. However, Cleveland must make a deep run this postseason to keep their roster intact. Facing the brunt of the second-apron yet again, Harden has a player option while Donovan Mitchell will enter his final guaranteed year of his deal. All signs point towards significant changes for the Cavaliers if they can’t get it done in the playoffs.

Orlando Magic

This was the second season after the Magic’s breakout 2023-24 season where they won 47 games and forced a Game 7 in the first round. The Magic failed to reached that mark in both seasons since despite better on-paper rosters. While they’ve been constantly hampered by injuries, the fit of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner has been brought into question, while the rest of the roster still struggles to find capable shooters. Orlando is in the play-in again, and it’s possible that a coaching change is the only big move that will come from this- but I wouldn’t be shocked if the Magic decide to break up their core and retool in the offseason.

Los Angeles Lakers

By nature of their situation, the Lakers will see significant changes no matter how they do this postseason. LeBron James and Austin Reaves are both free agents, and with the uncertainty around Lebron’s relationship with the team for more than a year, many expect him to look elsewhere for next season. The Lakers actually improved their win total for the fourth straight season behind the play of Luka Doncic, only to see both him and Reaves injured ahead of the playoffs. Unlike other teams in this category the Lakers’ championship window won’t be ending soon, but they won’t be bringing the same roster into the 2026-27 season.

Let me know down below who you think has the most to lose this postseason!

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Two words. Load Management.

Let’s take a look at the 15 players that made the All-NBA Team ten years ago, just seven years before 2023’s CBA.

Just one player missed more than 10 games, that being DeMarcus Cousins of the Sacramento Kings, who still played 65 games. A third of the players reached the 80-game mark, with the honorees averaging 76.3 games played. Now let’s look at the 2021-22 and 2022-23 All-NBA teams, the final two before the new CBA

What’s this? No players reaching the 80 game mark? Six players playing fewer than 60 games and nine players playing fewer than 65 games? These players averaged just 67.3 and 66.9 games played in 2021-22 and 2022-23 respectively, a significant decline from 2015-16. Clearly some of these players missed time with injuries, but 21 of these 30 players failed to reach the 70-game mark. Let’s look at Jayson Tatum, one of the players who did play more than 70 games. In 2022-23, Tatum played 74 games and missed 8, yet none of those missed games were consecutive, and 4 of those came in the final five weeks of the season. There’s no injury here: the Celtics were simply choosing to rest Tatum. When teams intentionally don’t play their best players, the quality of the product is diminished.

In comes the new CBA and the NBA’s Player Participation Policy. The PPP required star players to be available for nationally-televised games and road games, and to limit absences due to rest. Most consequentially, the NBA also instituted a 65-game minimum to be eligible for awards, with players required to play at least 20 minutes in a game for it to count towards their total. With this new rule in effect, 4 players from the 2021-22 All-NBA team (LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Ja Morant) wouldn’t have been eligible, and 6 players from the 2022-23 All-NBA team (Damian Lillard, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jimmy Butler, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, as well as Luka Doncic due to the minutes requirement) wouldn’t have been eligible. It seemed to be a reasonable fix to the load management issue, and many people were in favor of the rule.

Until this season.

You see, injuries are a part of the game. Some injuries are minor, some major, but a large number of players deal with an injury somewhere in-between during the season. Hamstring injuries, a common ailment, tend to cost players anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks depending on the severity. Knee, ankle, back, wrist, shoulder, and foot problems are some of the main medium-term injuries players will deal with during the season, and were a large part of the causes of those stars finishing the season having only played 55 to 65 games. But is an arbitrary numerical line the answer?

What seemed to be an easy fix has had unfortunate consequences, perhaps none more problematic than the case of Cade Cunningham. Cunningham was a borderline MVP candidate at times this season, leading the Pistons to the top of the Eastern Conference. Cunningham played in 61 of the first 68 games of the season, missing three games in early November with a hip injury, two games in early January with a wrist injury, and then individual games in late January and early March. Evidently, Cunningham was a regular participant and was not getting nights off just to rest. On March 17th, Cade went down with an injury in the first quarter against the Wizards- which turned out to be a somewhat serious collapsed lung. Cunningham returned this week, but it was too late- he wouldn’t be eligible for awards despite being a near-lock to make the All-NBA First Team.

Is that scenario the intention of the PPP? Is deeming a player ineligible for awards because they played 63 or 64 games and not 65 truly in the spirit of seasonal awards? There has been much conversation about how to fix that rule, and regret of pushing for it in hindsight.

Now, as I discussed previously, there is clearly a need for some sort of policy. In a world without the PPP, players were free to sit out of games regularly. Nobody wants that to happen. Is there an alternative fix?

The Proposal

The minimums are too arbitrary. So what if we did away with the harsh minimum… kind of? I’ve theorized a tier system of awards eligibility where games played translates to the percentage of which a player’s award votes count

• Votes count 100% for players who play at least 70 games

• Votes count 90% for players who play between 66 and 69 games

• Votes count 75% for players who play between 62 and 65 games

• Votes count 60% for players who play between 58 and 61 games

• Players who play fewer than 58 games are ineligible for postseason awards

Why 58? 58 games is the 70% mark. I think everyone would agree that award-eligible players should at least be able to play 70% of the season. Additionally:

• The minimum minutes requirement remains at 20, and the players still receive 2 exemptions for playing less than 20 but more than 15 minutes

• Players will also receive an exemption for games in which they play fewer than 15 minutes due to injury, and proceed to miss at least the next 5 games.

This new addition ensures that players get credit for games in which they exit early with an injury. The 20 minute minimum rule exists to deter players from starting the game, playing a few minutes, and then sitting, but doesn’t make exceptions for injuries where the player was initially going to play the full game.

Let’s use the 2022-23 All-NBA voting as an example to see what this would look like in action.

Under these new guidelines, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, and a few others would have been ineligible. Because of this, we can’t get a perfect picture of what it would have been, as votes for those players would have gone to others. But we can try our best. Here is what the final tally would have been, still using the positional selections in effect at the time:

1st Team

G Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, 359.3

G Donovan Mitchell, 314.1

F Jayson Tatum, 484

F Giannis Antetokounmpo, 350

C Joel Embiid, 426.6

2nd Team

G Luka Doncic, 302.25

G De’Aaron Fox, 144

F Jaylen Brown, 152.1

F Jimmy Butler, 136.5

C Nikola Jokic, 327.6

3rd Team

G Damian Lillard, 82.2

G Jrue Holiday, 35.1

F Lauri Markkanen, 44.1

F Julius Randle, 125

C Domantas Sabonis, 147

In this scenario, Donovan Mitchell jumps Luka Doncic into the First Team, De’Aaron Fox replaces Stephen Curry on the Second Team, and Jrue Holiday and Lauri Markkanen fill the empty spots on the Third Team.

Using these rules for this season, the likes of Anthony Edwards, Devin Booker, Cade Cunningham, and Luka Doncic would be eligible for postseason awards, resulting in an All-NBA team that is much more reflective of the stars of the 2025-26 season than the one that we will get.

This is one of many possible proposals. I also considered keeping the 65-game rule in effect for the First Team- in the 2022-23 example, that would mean Jaylen Brown moves into the First Team, while Giannis Antetokounmpo slots into the Second Team despite having more points as he did not reach the 65-game minimum. There are plenty of other possibilities, such as a minutes-based system, or expanding upon my proposal to make it as least-arbitrary as possible by assigning the value of the exact number of games a player played to their vote percentage.

It’s not perfect, but it’s a start, and I believe this proposal finds a good middle-ground between the desire for availability to matter and the want to ensure representation of the best players of the season in awards.

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