Huffman Sports Wire News Break · ALL · Reporting · Published · Huffman Sports Wire News Desk
NBA: The extension deadline sorted the 2023 class, and opening day is finally here
The rookie extension deadline for the 2023 draft class passed on Monday, and only seven players signed new deals before it closed. That total is the lowest since 2018, when five players signed, and San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama was the only player in the class to land a maximum salary extension. His five-year deal carries a projected value of 255.2 million dollars and starts with the 2027-28 season.
The rest of the paid group shows how carefully teams spent this fall. Charlotte signed Brandon Miller for five years and 208.8 million dollars, Houston signed Amen Thompson for five years and 208 million dollars, Utah signed Keyonte George for five years and 155 million dollars, and Detroit signed Ausar Thompson for five years and 155 million dollars. Oklahoma City signed Cason Wallace for five years and 135 million dollars, and Golden State signed Brandin Podziemski for five years and 110 million dollars. Fourteen eligible players did not reach a deal, and that group includes Scoot Henderson of Portland, Anthony Black of Orlando and Bilal Coulibaly of Washington. Henderson, Black and Coulibaly now head toward restricted free agency in the summer of 2027, and their seasons just became very expensive auditions.
The standings start counting today with the first opening day tripleheader in league history. Boston visits Detroit at 3 ET to open the slate, Philadelphia visits New York at 7 ET after the Knicks hold their championship ring ceremony at 6:30 ET, and Oklahoma City visits San Antonio at 9:30 ET to close the night. All three games air on NBC and Peacock. The contracts are settled, the banners are ready, and opening day only had to wait until the middle of the afternoon to start acting like a holiday.
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MLB: The World Series gets its Game 1 duel, and both dugouts know the other rotation too well
The World Series opens on Friday, October 23 in Milwaukee, and the projected Game 1 matchup pairs Tampa Bay right-hander Drew Rasmussen against Milwaukee right-hander Jacob Misiorowski at 8 ET on FOX. Milwaukee finished with the best record in baseball at 103-59, and Tampa Bay finished with the best record in the American League at 98-64. The series then shifts to St. Petersburg for Game 3 on Monday, October 26, and somebody leaves this matchup with the first championship in franchise history.
The familiarity between the rotations gives the series its sharpest edge. Rasmussen and fellow Tampa Bay starter Freddy Peralta both began their major league careers with Milwaukee before trades sent them elsewhere, and both are projected to start games at American Family Field during the series. Misiorowski brings the fastest velocity in the matchup, and his first meeting with Tampa Bay slugger Junior Caminero pairs that velocity against a bat speed measured at 79.4 miles per hour. Two pitching staffs built to miss bats will spend a week trying to prove that October still belongs to the arms.
The economics tell the other half of the story, as Milwaukee ranked nineteenth in payroll this season and Tampa Bay ranked twenty-eighth. This matchup is only the second World Series in the past 100 years between two teams that have never won the title, and the only other example came in 1980, when Philadelphia beat Kansas City. Small budgets, familiar faces and a guaranteed first-time champion make this the rare Fall Classic that feels brand new before the first pitch.
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NFL: The McLaurin fear grows, the Rams lose Adams for weeks, and Dell finally gets his comeback
Washington still has no official diagnosis for wide receiver Terry McLaurin, and the reporting around his left knee injury turned darker on Tuesday. McLaurin was carted off during the Monday night loss at San Francisco after catching 1 pass for 27 yards, and head coach Dan Quinn said after the game that the team feared the injury could be significant and that scans were scheduled for Tuesday. A report from NFL Media said the team is bracing for news that McLaurin could miss the rest of the season, and that report is not an official team announcement. Washington enters its bye week at 1-4-1, and the difference between a scare and a season-ending injury will shape everything the Commanders do next.
Los Angeles took its own receiver hit in a different way, as the Rams will play without Davante Adams for 6 to 10 weeks after he ruptured a hamstring muscle during the Sunday loss to Arizona. Adams has 30 catches for 480 yards and 4 touchdowns in 6 games this season. The Rams also lost nose tackle Poona Ford for the season with a ruptured triceps, defensive tackle Kobie Turner for 4 to 6 weeks with a groin injury, and kicker Blake Grupe for the season with a torn ACL. A 2-4 team just lost its second receiver, two defensive tackles and its kicker in one afternoon, which is less an injury report and more a roster disappearing act.
Houston delivered the good version of injury news, as wide receiver Tank Dell will be activated from injured reserve and will play in Week 7 against the New York Giants on Sunday. The game will be the first for Dell since December 2024, when he suffered a severe knee injury against Kansas City that cost him the entire 2025 season. Dell caught 51 passes for 667 yards and 3 touchdowns in 2024 before the injury, and his return gives Houston a familiar target back after a 22-month absence. After a Tuesday built on scans and timelines, the best sight of Week 7 might simply be Dell running a route again.
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NCAAF: Ohio State loses Sayin for weeks, Texas likely loses its sack leader, and Week 8 starts tonight
Ohio State will play without quarterback Julian Sayin for at least several weeks, and head coach Ryan Day confirmed the timeline late on Monday while noting that testing and meetings were still ongoing. Sayin was injured during the fourth quarter of the 19-15 win at Indiana on October 17 and later returned to the sideline with his right arm in a sling. He has made 21 consecutive starts for Ohio State and has thrown for 2,007 yards this season. True freshman Luke Fahey closed the Indiana game and is in line to take over, and Ohio State has a bye week to prepare before it visits Southern California on October 31. The Buckeyes beat the team that owned a 22-game winning streak, and the price was the quarterback who helped them do it.
Texas faces a similar problem on defense before its biggest home game of the season. Edge rusher Colin Simmons is dealing with a high ankle sprain and is expected to miss the Saturday game against seventh-ranked Ole Miss, with his status described as week-to-week in the reporting. A scan on Monday showed no structural damage, and Simmons leads the nation with 16 tackles for loss and 10.5 sacks through 6 games. Texas has lost 2 straight games and now likely has to pressure Ole Miss without the most productive pass rusher in the country. Week 8 opens tonight with Middle Tennessee at FIU at 7 ET on CBS Sports Network, Missouri State at Delaware at 7 ET on ESPNU, and South Alabama at Marshall at 7:30 ET on ESPN2. The midweek games arrived early, and the injury news beat most of them to the punch.
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CBB: Exhibition night goes wide, from Durham and East Lansing to the Battle of Bowling Green
Two top-ten exhibitions share the headline slot tonight, and both tip at 7 ET. Second-ranked Duke hosts eighth-ranked Tennessee at Cameron Indoor Stadium on ACC Network, and sixth-ranked Michigan State hosts fourth-ranked Connecticut at the Breslin Center with streaming on B1G+. Connecticut won its first exhibition 72-52 over Syracuse on October 13, and Michigan State won its first exhibition 89-59 over Incarnate Word. Tennessee enters Durham after an 86-70 exhibition loss to Xavier on October 15, and the Volunteers carry a roster built with 9 transfers and 4 freshmen who are still learning to play together. Tennessee added guard Juke Harris after he averaged 21.4 points per game last season at Wake Forest, and a loud road test is a fast way to find out whether that scoring travels.
The rest of the Tuesday slate stretches well beyond the ranked matchups. Western Carolina visits Appalachian State at 6:30 ET, Lindenwood visits Southern Illinois at 7 ET, and Bowling Green visits Western Kentucky at 7:30 ET in a matchup billed as the Battle of Bowling Green. None of these exhibitions counts in the standings, and every one of them gives a coaching staff a cleaner read on rotations before the regular season opens. The sport is handing out free scouting reports all night and calling them exhibitions.
Wednesday brings one more exhibition with a personal twist, as Louisville visits Kansas on October 21. Forward Flory Bidunga left Kansas for Louisville and now returns to Allen Fieldhouse to face his former team in his first exhibition trip back. Kansas counters with freshman Tyran Stokes, and the matchup gives both programs a headline game before the games count. October basketball is supposed to be a warmup act, and this week keeps booking main events instead.
That's the Afternoon Edition. Five sports, zero filler. See you tonight.
Sources: - [Hoops Rumors](https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2026/10/2026-nba-rookie-scale-extension-recap.html) - [USA TODAY](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2026/10/20/nba-opening-day-celtics-pistons-76ers-knicks-thunder-spurs/92338468007/) - [NBC Sports](https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/how-to-watch-boston-celtics-vs-detroit-pistons-tv-live-stream-info-for-2026-nba-season-tip-off) - [Pitcher List](https://pitcherlist.com/mlb-lcs-news-moments-rays-move-on-to-world-series-set-to-face-brewers/) - [Sports Illustrated](https://www.si.com/mlb/brewers/onsi/2026-world-series-clash-rays-michael3) - [Sports Illustrated](https://www.si.com/mlb/playoffs/si-am-what-makes-the-rays-brewers-world-series-matchup-unique) - [Athlon Sports](https://athlonsports.com/mlb/poll-of-the-day-who-will-win-the-world-series-rays-or-brewers) - [NBC Sports](https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/terry-mclaurin-believed-to-have-season-ending-knee-injury) - [Associated Press](https://www.2822news.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-commanders-wr-terry-mclaurin-suffers-knee-injury-vs-49ers-that-team-fears-is-serious/) - [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/sports/rams-wr-davante-adams-hamstring-out-6-10-weeks--flm-2026-10-19/) - [Los Angeles Rams](https://www.therams.com/news/rams-injury-updates-cardinals-week-6-2026-blake-grupe-torn-acl-out-for-season-poona-ford-davante-adams-kobie-turner-trent-mcduffie-raiders) - [theScore](https://www.thescore.com/nfl/news/3629208/texans-dell-to-play-for-1-st-time-since-knee-injury-in-2024) - [USA TODAY](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/bigten/2026/10/20/julian-sayin-injury-ohio-state-football-ryan-day/92343616007/) - [Columbus Dispatch](https://www.dispatch.com/story/sports/college/football/2026/10/19/ohio-state-football-qb-julian-sayin-out-several-weeks/92329482007/) - [theScore](https://www.thescore.com/ncaaf/news/3629018/report-texas-simmons-expected-to-miss-ole-miss-game-with-high-ankle-sprain) - [College Football Schedule](https://www.collegefootballschedule.net/college-football-schedule-tonight) - [Busting Brackets](https://bustingbrackets.com/college-basketball-games-today-tennessee-duke-and-uconn-michigan-state-headline-tuesday-s-exhibition-schedule-basketball) - [Busting Brackets](https://bustingbrackets.com/10-october-exhibitions-that-could-tell-us-the-most-about-the-2026-27-college-basketball-season-basketball) - [Michigan State Athletics](https://msuspartans.com:443/news/2026/10/19/mens-basketball-no-6-michigan-state-hosts-no-4-uconn-in-exhibition-game-at-the-breslin-center-tuesday-night)
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