SAN FRANCISCO — Devin McCourty agrees that his long-time coach should be enshrined into the Hall of Fame this summer, but said the real impact of Bill Belichick not getting voted in this year will be the attention stolen from those who are.

Belichick won a record six Super Bowl titles as head coach of the New England Patriots before parting ways with the team after the 2023 season. Eligible for the Hall of Fame for the first time this year, news broke last week that he will not be part of the 2026 Hall of Fame class that will be announced Thursday night.

Belichick was up for selection alongside Patriots owner Robert Kraft and three senior player candidates in Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson, 49ers running back Roger Craig and Steelers defensive end L.C. Greenwood. Kraft reportedly also did not make the final cut.

The widespread speculation is that voters did not support Belichick being a “first-ballot” Hall of Famer because of the 2007 Spygate scandal and the Deflategate drama that resulted in a suspension for quarterback Tom Brady. Other voters have said they prioritized what is viewed as a backlog of worthy candidates whose windows to be voted into the Hall of Fame are running out.

McCourty took issue with the various requirements, including that at least four — but no more than nine — candidates can be elected annually.

“Shouldn’t the Hall of Fame just be, ‘Is this guy a Hall of Famer, yes or no?’ And then we move forward,” McCourty said on Tuesday ahead of working Super Bowl LX as a commentator for NBC Sports.

McCourty was a first-round pick in 2010 by the Patriots and went on to win three Super Bowl titles while playing 13 seasons for Belichick. He believes his former coach will reach the hallowed halls of Canton one day, but is concerned that his omission this year will be a storyline that overrides the induction of others.

“I think the travesty of all of this is this summer, there’s gonna be a Hall of Fame induction and there’s gonna be guys who are deserving of being in the Hall of Fame. And we can probably all bet that the top topic is gonna be Bill Belichick not being there,” McCourty said. “And I think that’s unfortunate because there are going to be players, coaches, contributors that are Hall of Fame worthy, but because this feels like a huge mistake, the only talk is going to be about the guys that didn’t get into the Hall of Fame.”

–Field Level Media

The Minnesota Timberwolves will be searching for consistency when they complete a three-game road trip Wednesday night against the Toronto Raptors.

The Timberwolves’ inconsistency was recently exposed in a two-game set against the Memphis Grizzlies.

After defeating the Grizzlies 131-114 on Saturday, the Timberwolves dropped the rematch 137-128 on Monday.

The loss ended a four-game winning streak that followed a five-game losing streak.

The Raptors, meanwhile, opened a five-game homestand with a 107-100 victory over the Utah Jazz on Sunday. They had lost their two previous games after winning four straight.

This will be the first meeting of the season between Minnesota and Toronto. The teams split two games last season.

In the last game vs. Memphis, Anthony Edwards scored 39 points for the Timberwolves but their defensive intensity was lacking as the Grizzlies shot 50% (44 for 88) from the field.

“Defense wasn’t there tonight like we needed it to be,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said.

The Grizzlies shot 46.3% from 3-point range (19 of 41) and had a 45-40 advantage in rebounds.

Finch was not impressed with the effort.

“It’s on them,” he said. “They’ve got to come and put the work in. It can’t be a sometimes thing.”

Jaden McDaniels had his third straight 20-point game for Minnesota with 29 points on 11-for-14 shooting.

“He got a lot of great offense, but we didn’t get a lot of great defense from him or anyone else,” Finch said. “Offense, I’m not worried about. It comes from wherever it comes from.”

Julius Randle (thumb) and Edwards (back spasms) were listed as questionable before the game. Finch said that Randle was “banged up,” but not enough to miss the game. He finished with 19 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

Both are again listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game, although Edwards is now dealing with left elbow soreness.

The Raptors survived a sloppy game on Sunday to reach 30 wins, matching their total for last season.

Utah committed 24 turnovers leading to 26 Toronto points. The Raptors made 19 turnovers leading to 15 points.

During the game, it was announced that Scottie Barnes was going to the All-Star Game as a reserve. He was mobbed by his teammates during a timeout in the first quarter.

Brandon Ingram, however, did not make the team despite a strong season in which he is averaging a team-high 21.9 points per game.

“There are things that Brandon does at an elite level and there are things that Scottie is doing at elite level, but they’re so different,” said Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic, who will coach the World team in the All-Star Game. “You know, Scottie is amazing in open court and transition. Now, (Ingram) is taking advantage of that. He’s doing a better job in open court as well. (Ingram) is an elite scorer in half court, in (isolations) and post-ups. I think they have a lot of respect for each other and what they bring to the team at the end of the day. Winning basketball games, that’s what they do. They help the team win.”

Barnes had 14 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots on Sunday.

He limped off the court late in the fourth quarter but returned and is not listed on the injury report. He felt Ingram should also be an All-Star.

“I was disappointed Brandon didn’t make it,” Barnes said. “He has done so much for us this year. Look at the difference from last year to this year. He has been instrumental to our success.”

Minnesota gained some salary cap room Tuesday when it dealt veteran point guard Mike Conley to the Chicago Bulls as part of a three-team trade that included the Detroit Pistons.

–Field Level Media

The Minnesota Wild can enter the Olympic break on a five-game heater, but first they must defeat the Predators in Nashville on Wednesday night.

This will be the third game of the season between these Central Division rivals. The two previous games were determined in overtime, but Minnesota should be surging with confidence after winning four straight.

On Monday, the Wild coughed up a 2-0 lead against the Montreal Canadiens to find themselves in a 3-2 third-period hole. Brock Faber tied the game up 3-3 before regulation expired, and Kirill Kaprizov scored a game-winning power-play goal with 1:22 left in overtime.

“We didn’t get deterred,” Wild head coach John Hynes said. “It was good to see the response after we had a little adversity, where we had a couple of letdowns to end the second (period). The third (goal) in the beginning, I thought it was a fluky goal. I know it was tipped out in front, but I really liked our response.”

Kaprizov scored twice on Monday night, while Quinn Hughes added three assists to extend his personal point streak to nine games (two goals, 14 assists) and reach 400 assists in his NHL career.

“When you’ve got two superstars like that passing each other the puck, they just play at a different level,” Faber said of Kaprizov and Hughes. “They think at a different level. You know, there’s a reason they’ve clicked so much. They’re kind of on the same wavelength.”

The Predators have also been in some close games, including two straight one-goal victories ahead of Wednesday’s matchup. Following a 4-3 result at the New York Islanders over the weekend, they earned a rowdy 6-5 win against the St. Louis Blues on Monday.

In that game, the Predators found themselves in a 5-1 hole halfway through the second frame and had to rally for two goals before the intermission. Ryan O’Reilly got an early third-period goal to close the gap to 5-4, and Steven Stamkos scored twice to secure the Predators’ come-from-behind victory.

Justus Annunen made 13 saves on as many shots in relief of Juuse Saros, who surrendered all five of St. Louis’ goals.

“It was one of those games where everything is going the wrong way, but that’s why sports are so amazing, because you never know what is going to happen,” Stamkos said. “You either pack it in as a group, or you say ‘Screw it’ and go out there and try to make a difference. The guys made a difference (Monday), and it wasn’t the same guys all night. It was different guys.”

Predators coach Andrew Brunette added, “There are certain guys who get going, and they’re grabbing momentum for our group, and you can tell it’s on its way. You just kind of keep riding (the momentum) a little bit. I think we taxed a lot of guys (Monday), but these are crucial points. This is a crucial week for us.”

The Wild beat the Predators on Nov. 4 when Marcus Johansson scored the overtime winner. Nashville exacted some revenge Dec. 23, with Stamkos scoring less than a minute into overtime.

–Field Level Media