Minnesota Teams

If you only check in on one local team this week, make it the Minnesota Lynx. Star player Napheesa Collier—affectionately known as "The Queen"—is set to make her 2026 season debut this Wednesday after recovering from an injury. The Lynx are already in first place, so adding a perennial MVP candidate back into the lineup makes them a genuinely terrifying matchup for the rest of the league.

NFL

Football is officially back! NFL training camps are opening up this week, which means players are reporting to their teams to start practicing for the upcoming season. The biggest headline making the rounds is that star quarterback Aaron Rodgers has announced that 2026 will be his final season before retirement. In other news, players are currently pushing the league to use natural grass instead of artificial turf in all stadiums to help prevent injuries, though the NFL claims its data doesn't show that grass is actually safer.

NBA

The basketball world is currently buzzing about the WNBA All-Star break and the upcoming 3-point contest. There's a bit of drama surrounding the shooting competition, as reports surfaced that big-name stars like Caitlin Clark and Sabrina Ionescu declined their invitations to participate. Ionescu publicly denied turning them down, calling the report "false," but the league is worried that without its biggest shooters, the fan-favorite event could lose its luster. On the gaming side, the cover athletes for the NBA 2K27 video game were just revealed: Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama, WNBA star Caitlin Clark, and NBA veteran Derrick Rose.

MLB

We are less than two weeks away from the MLB trade deadline (July 31), which is the last chance for teams to trade players to gear up for a playoff run. The New York Yankees are making headlines as they look to add talent, especially since they've been struggling to score runs lately without their injured slugger, Aaron Judge. Meanwhile, the Detroit Tigers are weighing whether to keep their star pitcher, Tarik Skubal, or trade him away to a contender for a massive haul of younger players.

NHL

It's the quiet part of the hockey calendar, but the Winnipeg Jets provided some great comedy this week. The NBA's Miami Heat accidentally sent out a press release with a link that mistakenly featured a photo of LeBron James—who left their team back in 2014. The Jets' social media account jumped at the chance to troll the basketball team for the hilarious mix-up.

College Sports

College football season is creeping up, and the sport might be on the verge of a massive shake-up. The commissioner of the SEC (the sport's most powerful conference) is floating the idea of breaking away from the NCAA, the national governing body for college sports. If that happens, it would completely change how college athletics are run. In lighter news, coaches recently gathered for their annual media days, where one SEC coach hilariously described a peer as "the Adonis of all college football coaches."

Other Sports

• Golf: The PGA Tour is making its annual stop right here in Minnesota for the 3M Open in the Twin Cities. Scottie Scheffler, the best golfer in the world right now, headlines the field.
• MMA: UFC superstar Conor McGregor is dealing with another leg injury, adding to a recent, frustrating trend of highly anticipated UFC fights ending abruptly and anticlimactically due to fighter injuries.