Man jailed for 20 years for random murder of 'gentle, kind' teen — and more

 Court hears Anthony Facchi was on bail when he walked into a house uninvited and fatally stabbed a 16-year-old boy he had never met. 

The Los Angeles Lakers will have an opportunity to truly mold their team around Luka Doncic this summer. They're projected to have roughly $50 million of salary cap space, and if LeBron James ends up leaving, all of that cap space could be used on players who will complement Doncic while truly moving the needle in the right direction.

While Doncic is yet to play on a championship-caliber team in the NBA, he did play on a Dallas Mavericks team that reached the NBA Finals in 2024. That squad featured a strong front line with the likes of Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II, who were shot-blocking threats in the middle, as well as capable two-way players throughout its roster.

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated made an appearance on "Run it Back TV" and said the Lakers want to model their roster around that 2024 Mavericks squad that lost in the championship series to the Boston Celtics.

“It’s really about reinventing this team around Luka Doncic and building the kind of team that Dallas had in its last couple of years. That means finding someone that is maybe a better fit than Deandre Ayton to be that Dereck Lively, Daniel Gafford — hell, maybe it is Daniel Gafford — just find somebody that can fit into that role.

Look out for more 3-and-D type of players who fit the Dorian Finney-Smith, PJ Washington type of mold. They just really want to make Dallas 2.0. I think they feel they can succeed with a backcourt of Luka and Austin Reaves.

“Even though there are defensive challenges there, they believe they can succeed with those two guys if they get the right type of players in that frontcourt. So I think it’s going to be all about finding the Dallas versions of those players that I mentioned this offseason.”

The challenge will be to acquire players who have speed, athleticism and defensive ability who are also useful, if not productive, on the offensive end. The Lakers currently lack two-way players, and that deficiency is a major reason why they aren't considered contenders right now.

Gafford has been mentioned as a player they have been interested in trading for, but it seems unlikely Dallas would work with them on a trade for him, given the awful optics of last year's trade that sent Doncic to L.A. Other players the Purple and Gold could pursue this offseason include Peyton Watson of the Denver Nuggets, Tari Eason of the Houston Rockets, the Miami Heat's Andrew Wiggins and, of course, Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Insider: Lakers want to model Luka Doncic's cast after 2024 Mavericks

The 2026 league year is coming next month. It officially begins on March 11, with the legal negotiating period beginning on March 9.

The Arizona Cardinals have many roster decisions to make before then.

Leading up to the new league year, we will profile every player on the roster, go over what they did last season, what their contract status is and what they face in 2026.

Next up is safety Budda Baker.

Budda Baker 2025 season

It was another productive season for Baker in 2025, and another season with player honors. He made the Pro Bowl for the seventh straight season and for the eighth time overall. He also won the Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award.

He played in 16 games last season, logging 120 total tackles, picking off one pass and breaking up five passes.

He was a little down statistically from his 2024 year, but he was still impactful, although he did miss more tackles than previous seasons.

Budda Baker contract status

He is signed through 2027. He receives a $1 million roster bonus on March 15 and is scheduled to make more than $14.4 million in salary, with nearly $7.8 million of it guaranteed.

Budda Baker offseason outlook

Baker, now entering his 10th season, all with the Cardinals, is reaching legendary status. He is nearing Larry Fitzgerald in terms of what he means to the franchise. He will be back in 2026. He will probably be a captain again, and he is expected to anchor the back end of the defense.

Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire's Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.

This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: Budda Baker's contract status and 2026 offseason outlook

We’re less than 48 hours away from the NHL Trade Deadline this upcoming Friday, and the Avs have made another trade a week after acquiring defenseman Brett Kulak from the Pittsburgh Penguins. This time around, Colorado acquired right shot defenseman Nick Blankenburg from the Nashville Predators in exchange for a 2027 5th-round draft pick.

The 27-year-old Blankenburg will very likely be Colorado’s 7th defenseman for this season, and serve as “break glass in case of emergency” depth, in case the Avs need an NHL-caliber defenseman to slot in for any number of reasons. In 49 games for Nashville this season, Blankenburg has recorded six goals and 15 assists for a total of 21 points this season, and is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer on an expiring $775K contract.

Blankenburg is a good set-and-forget third-pairing defenseman and should be more than fine stepping into the lineup whenever he might be called upon. It is interesting that after a week of hearing how much the Avalanche value big strong and size on the back end that they’d target not only another right hander as well as someone listed at 5-foot-9 and 177 lbs. But the price must have been right and Blankenburg is an affordable depth addition.

As previously mentioned, we’re less than 48 hours before the deadline as of tonight and action has started to pick up around the league. Colorado has yet to address their forward group, which might be next on the docket after seemingly setting their defensive core for the rest of the season.