One-sentence wish for the Washington Commanders' 2026 season

Ahead of the 2025 season, theWashington Commandershad an aura of hope around the organization for the first time in a long time. After making it to the NFC Championship game in 2024, the team (and the league) had high expectations for then-second-year quarterback Jayden Daniels.

Unfortunately, that hope was short-lived. In their Week 2 matchup against theGreen Bay Packers, the Commanders lost edge rusher Deatrich Wise Jr. and running back Austin Ekeler for the remainder of the season. Jayden Daniels injured his knee and battled injuries for the remainder of the season, and in Week 9 against theSeattle Seahawks, he sustained an injury that would keep him on the sidelines even longer. Wide receiver Terry McLaurin, for the first time in his NFL career, missed significant time with an injury.

In that Week 9 game vs. Seattle, the Commanders also lost Marshon Lattimore and Luke McCaffrey, which was essentially the proverbial nail in the coffin for the 2025 season.

We're past all of that now, though, and general manager Adam Peters has made some changes and upgrades to the roster while Dan Quinn made some coaching staff adjustments. There is still an aura of hope around this team, although in 2026 it's closer to cautious optimism than actual hope. Bleacher Report recently named aone-sentence dreamfor every NFL team, and the Commanders got a two-parter:

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Washington Commanders:Jayden Daniels recaptures the magic from his rookie season and stays healthy, while a new-look defense boosted by rookie Sonny Styles goes from liability to asset in a deep playoff run.

Technically, it's still one sentence, but the author managed to combine both offense and defense into the Commanders' wish.

Daniels is ready to recapture the magic he made in 2024. He could have done it last year had he been healthy, but injuries were a problem. So, he has to keep his positive mentality and ability to overcome adversity, but he also needs to stay healthy. Without him on the field, the offense simply isn't the same.

Defensively, there's no question that the new-look defense becomes an asset. Sonny Styles definitely gave the defense a boost, but he's not alone out there. The Commanders added several other pieces that are integral to their success, and they all have to do their part to make it happen.

This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire:Washington Commanders: One sentence wish for 2026 NFL season

byVaclavien Pynzarien

in

May 22, 2026

One-sentence wish for the Washington Commanders' 2026 season

Ahead of the 2025 season, theWashington Commandershad an aura of hope around the organization for the first time in a long time. After ...

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Former Wisconsin fifth-round pick inks new contract in NFC North

Former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Isaiahh Loudermilk has found a new home in the NFL.

The four-yearWisconsin Badgersstandout will not be heading to the Green Bay Packers, but he is joining the NFC North.

Pittsburgh selected Loudermilk with the No. 156 overall pick back in 2021. He appeared in 58 games from 2021-24, but most recently missed most of 2025 due to ahigh ankle sprain.

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Now, the Minnesota Vikingshave announcedthey're signing Loudermilk to a new contract. Even though he played just 45 snaps a year ago, the Vikings like what they see and are willing to take a chance on the Kansas native.

Loudermilk, who has 63 total tackles in his NFL career, had 62 when he played on theBadgersfrom 2017-20. While he had 7.5 sacks in Madison, the former fifth-round pick's lone sack with the Steelers came during his 2021 rookie season.

Contact/Follow@TheBadgersWireon X (formerly Twitter) and like our page onFacebookto follow ongoing coverage ofWisconsin Badgersnews, notes and opinion.

This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire:Former Wisconsin DL Isaiahh Loudermilk signs with Minnesota Vikings

byVaclavien Pynzarien

in

May 22, 2026

Former Wisconsin fifth-round pick inks new contract in NFC North

Former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Isaiahh Loudermilk has found a new home in the NFL. The four-yearWisconsin Badgersst...

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Wembanyama disappointed after Spurs fall to Thunder, despite another brilliant stat line

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Victor Wembanyama fouled Jalen Williams on a shot attempt in the opening minutes of Game 2 of the Western Conference finals on Wednesday night.

Spurs Thunder Basketball

Except, no, he really didn't.

Yes, Wembanyama made contact with Williams. Yes, it looked like a foul. Yes, it was called that way — at first. Upon review, it was determined that Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein actually shoved Wembanyama into his teammate and caused the foul himself.

That's how physical the Thunder were with Wembanyama in Game 2. They grabbed, pushed, nudged, anything and everything they could muster against the 7-foot-4 French star who still finished with 21 points, 17 rebounds, six assists and four blocked shots.

But theThunder won 122-113, tying the series at a game apiece.

“It's all in the scouting,” Wembanyama said. "I have to trust the scouting. We have to trust it and do our work early. It's straight effort. ... Doesn't mean it's easy. We have to work through it."

He knew what was coming, and so did the Thunder. Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault told Hartenstein on Tuesday that he would have a bigger role in Game 2.

“I'm just kind of one of those players that brings physicality to the game,” said Hartenstein, who got only 12 minutes in Game 1 and then assumed a key role in Game 2 — with 10 points and 13 rebounds. “I think that's just kind of what we needed.”

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Stopping Wembanyama isn't going to happen. He's too good. The Thunder playbook in Game 2 — and going forward — will be about making life as difficult as possible for him, hoping to prevent outbursts like the41-point, 24-rebound gem that Wembanyamaput together in San Antonio's Game 1 win.

“Every good player, they have to feel the defense," Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It's tough. He’s very different to scout. You've got to try to mix things up, you've got try different things. And that’s just what we did. Coach tried something in the first game, didn’t like it, tried something else. That’s what it’s about.”

Wembanyama's debut in the conference finals is off to an elite start. He has got 62 points and 41 rebounds through the first two games; the last player with 60 points and 40 rebounds in the first two games of the conference finals was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1974 — with 69 points and 40 rebounds for Milwaukee against Chicago.

But the MVP finalist and Defensive Player of the Year wasn't in the mood to hear stats. He wanted a 2-0 lead, and settling for a 1-1 tie going home for Game 3 wasn't cause for celebration. The Spurs rallied from 13 down in the fourth to make it interesting, but couldn't finish the comeback.

He was asked what the toughest part of Game 2 was.

“I would say it's spending so much energy on catching back up ... then letting it go away,” Wembanyama said.

That, to him, was the biggest hit of all.

AP NBA:https://apnews.com/nba

byVaclavien Pynzarien

in

May 21, 2026

Wembanyama disappointed after Spurs fall to Thunder, despite another brilliant stat line

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Victor Wembanyama fouled Jalen Williams on a shot attempt in the opening minutes of Game 2 of the Western Conferen...

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World shares are mixed, Kospi gains 8.4%, as tech-led rally fades

Shares opened lower in Europe on Thursday after a mixed session in Asia, where a rebound in oil prices eclipsed another broad rally on Wall Street.

South Korea’s Kospi soared 8.4% to 7,815.59, helped by strong buying of technology shares such as Samsung Electronics, which gained 8.5% after its labor union and management reachedan agreementlate Wednesday that averted a potentially costly strike. Shares in SK Hynix, a computer chipmaker partnering withNvidia, surged 11.2%.

The advance was partly powered by a stronger-than-expected quarterly report fromchipmaker Nvidia, whose profit rocketed more than 200% higher in the February-April quarter from a year earlier, while revenue jumped 85%.

Nvidia has been one of thebiggest beneficiariesfrom the boom inartificial intelligence, thanks to powerful demand for its high-end AI chips. Its shares rose 1.3% on Wednesday before its earnings report was released, but they fell 1.3% in afterhours trading after the announcement.

The Kospi has been breaching records, recently exceeding 8,000 for the first time.

U.S. futures slipped, with the contract for the S&P 500 down 0.3%, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2%.

In early European trading, Germany's DAX gave up 0.3% to 24,669.59, while the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.2% to 8,102.25. Britain's FTSE 100 shed 0.4% to 10,393.56.

In other Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 jumped 3.1% to 61,684.14 after the government reported thatJapan’s exportsrose nearly 15% in April from a year earlier, despite shocks from the Iran war.

Technology-related shares were among the biggest winners, with Tokyo Electron gaining 5.9% and Advantest up 4.4%.

Taiwan's Taiex, also heavily weighted toward technology shares, gained 3.9% as major chipmaker TSMC's stock gained 3%.

Chinese markets declined, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng losing 1.2% to 25,352.82. The Shanghai Composite index dropped 2% to 4,077.28.

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Indonesia's share benchmark dropped 3.3% as the market absorbed the impact of a government decision to put strategicnatural resource exportssuch as coal under state control.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 picked up 1.5% to 8,621.70.

Oil prices pushed higher early Thursday, a day after Brent crude had dropped 5%. Brent, the international standard, gained $1.46 to $106.48 per barrel, while U.S. benchmark crude added $1.53 to $99.79 per barrel.

Brent remains well above its roughly $70 level from before the war with Iran. Prices have been yo-yoing on rising and falling hopes that the United States and Iran can reach an agreement to allow oil deliveries to fully resume from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.

On Wednesday, U.S. stocks bounced back, with the S&P 500 gaining 1.1% for its first risein four days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.3% and the Nasdaq composite rallied 1.5%.

Stocks got a lift from easing yields in thebond market,as the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.57% from 4.67% late Tuesday. That's a significant move for a market that measures things in hundredths of a percentage point.

The 10-year Treasury yield had been rising from less than 4% before the war with Iran began, along with other government bond yields around the world, because of worries that the fighting will keep oil prices high, among other factors

High yields slow economies and weigh on prices for stocks, cryptocurrencies and all kinds of other investments. Besides driving uprates for mortgages, they could also curtail companies’ borrowing to build theartificial-intelligencedata centers that have beensupporting the U.S. economy’s growthrecently.

With the easing of yields, technology stocks helped lead Wall Street higher. Advanced Micro Devices jumped 8.1%, while Intel gained 7.4%.

Smaller companies can feel even bigger relief from lower yields than their bigger rivals because many need to borrow to grow. The Russell 2000 index of the smallest U.S. stocks jumped 2.6%, more than double the gain of the S&P 500, which measures the biggest U.S. stocks.

Most big U.S. companies have reported better profits for the start of 2026 than analysts expected, which hashelped stocks run to records. Stock prices tend to follow the path of corporate profits over the long term.

In other dealings early Thursday, the U.S. dollar rose to 159.05 Japanese yen from 158.92 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1601 from $1.1624.

byVaclavien Pynzarien

in

May 21, 2026

World shares are mixed, Kospi gains 8.4%, as tech-led rally fades

Shares opened lower in Europe on Thursday after a mixed session in Asia, where a rebound in oil prices eclipsed another broad rally on ...

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Mike Tyson vs. Floyd Mayweather fight now set for fall, crucial details pending

An exhibition fight between Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will take place in the fall instead of the spring as initially scheduled because Tyson is recovering from a broken hand suffered in training, according to the fight promoters.

Tyson was seen wearing a cast on his right arm in March and, at the time, said he had sprained it during training.

The exhibition match between Tyson, 59, and Mayweather, 49, was initially scheduled for April 25 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The promoters, brothers Richard Miele and Craig Miele, cited May 30 as the initial fight date. The promoters have not announced a new date or venue but, according to the press release, will do so “shortly.’’

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This fall, Mayweather is also scheduled to fight Manny Pacquiao in a professional fight this September in Las Vegas.

Tyson’s right arm drew attention in March when he was wearing a cast. During an appearance on "The Ariel Helwani Show" Tyson said of the apparent injury, “Training, punching stuff. Just a little sprain, I have to go hard, it’s the only way I’ve got to go.’’

Later in the month, during Tyson’s trip to Thailand, there was no sign of the cast in videos and photos of Tyson.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Mike Tyson vs Floyd Mayweather fight now set for fall in latest update

byVaclavien Pynzarien

in

May 21, 2026

Mike Tyson vs. Floyd Mayweather fight now set for fall, crucial details pending

An exhibition fight between Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will take place in the fall instead of the spring as initially schedule...

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Alperen Sengun attending the biggest weekend of the …

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The EuroLeague Final Four in Athens is set to get extra attention off the court, with NBA starAlperen Sengun attending the biggest weekend of the European basketball season, per EuroLeague.

This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype:Alperen Sengun attending the biggest weekend of the …

byVaclavien Pynzarien

in

May 21, 2026

Alperen Sengun attending the biggest weekend of the …

Advertisement The EuroLeague Final Four in Athens is set to get extra attention off the court, with NBA starAlperen Sengun attend...

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Mark Cuban partners with Donald Trump after backing Kamala Harris

BillionaireMark Cubanjoined PresidentDonald Trumpat a May 18 event on drug prices.

The Trump administration announced the expansion ofTrumpRx.gov, a government website listing discounted prescription drugs negotiated by his administration. The website will refer people to private-sector online pharmacies and drug-pricing websites, including Cuban's Cost Plus Drugs, Amazon Pharmacy, and GoodRx.

"Republicans want cheaper drugs. Independents want cheaper drugs. Democrats want cheaper drugs," Cuban said at the event. "I think we're going to do something special."

Cuban's partnership with Trump may have raised eyebrows for some people, since the former"Shark Tank" judgeand owner of the Dallas Mavericks endorsed Trump's opponent, former Vice PresidentKamala Harris.

More:Trump touts TrumpRx prescription drug website expansion

Mark Cuban had harsh words forDonald Trump

Cuban recalled having a falling out with Trump as he was making his first run for president. CBS News reported in 2016 Cuban was escalating his criticism of Trump, saying the then-presumptive nominee was getting"stupider" before his eyes.

"I was supporting him. Because again, I didn't think he would win. And then as I started talking to him more about things, I asked him questions about real estate and he didn't really understand the financial side of real estate," Cuban said on the "Just B with Bethenny Frankel"podcastin 2020. "It was just clear he wasn't somebody who learned about anything. That's where we kind of had our falling out."

Cuban also said Trump was the first person to tell him that heshould run for president himself. He said he considered running as an independent candidate but decided against it based on pollster projections of a race against Trump and former PresidentJoe Biden.

"Look, personally I don't have a problem with the guy," Cuban said on the podcast. "Now professionally as the president, I think he's an idiot. You know, I never thought he was smart in talking to him."

The Trump Twitter Archive shows Trump was critical of Cubaneven before the 2016 election.

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"I know Mark Cuban well. He backed me big-time but I wasn't interested in taking all of his calls. He's not smart enough to run for president!"Trump wrote in February 2017.

Mark Cuban said he wouldn't endorseKamala Harrisagain

Cubanendorsed Harris in the 2024presidential election, which Trump at the May 18 event called a "big mistake."

In one viral comment in the election, Cuban said Trump is never seen around "strong, intelligent women" because they intimidate him, while speaking on ABC’s “The View.” He clarified thecomments on X, saying he was talking about former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley not being active in his campaign.

"I stand by my opinion that he does not like being challenged publicly," Cuban concluded.

Since Trump took office, Cuban has been critical of the Democrats for their messaging.

“It’s just, ‘Trump sucks.’ That’s the underlying thought of everything the Democrats do. ‘Trump sucks.’ Trump says, ‘The sky is blue’: ‘Trump sucks,’” he said onCrooked Media’s “Pod Save America" in July 2025, according to The Hill. “That’s not the way to win. It’s just not.”

Cuban said firmlyat POLITICO’s Health Care Summitin April he would not like to see Harris run for office again. He praised Trump's efforts to bring the drug prices down.

Talking to reporters after the May 18 event, Cuban declined a question about supporting Harris, saying "I'm not talking about my politics at all," according toFox News' "Outkick."

Contributing: Ken Alltucker, Scott Gleeson,USA TODAY

Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at KCrowley@usatodayco.com. Follow her onX (Twitter),Threads,BlueskyandTikTok.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Mark Cuban and Donald Trump team up for TrumpRx expansion

byVaclavien Pynzarien

in

May 20, 2026

Mark Cuban partners with Donald Trump after backing Kamala Harris

BillionaireMark Cubanjoined PresidentDonald Trumpat a May 18 event on drug prices. The Trump administration announced the expansi...

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