Jrue Holiday is being traded by Boston to Portland, a year after helping the Celtics win the NBA championship. Holiday’s acquisition from the Trail Blazers in 2023 helped spark the Celtics to their NBA-record 18th title, and now he’s headed back to Portland from a Celtics team that could now be in transition. ESPN reported that the Celtics would get Anfernee Simons and two second-round picks from the Trail Blazers. The departure of Holiday, who made his sixth career All-Defensive team selection in his first season in Boston, was confirmed to The Associated Press early Tuesday on condition of anonymity because the deal is not yet official.
Kevin Durant has been traded to Houston. The New York Knicks are looking for a coach. Cooper Flagg is about to become the No. 1 pick in the draft. Expansion plans likely will take a big step forward in a few weeks. The Los Angeles Lakers just got sold. The NBA offseason officially has started. In reality, it’s been going for a few weeks already. There’s a parade this morning at 11:30 in Oklahoma City to celebrate the newly crowned champion Thunder, and in every other NBA city there’s going to be a parade of movement over the coming weeks to try to catch the champs.
Dallas Mavericks CEO Rick Welts marvels at the “craziest” reversal of fortune for the club that landed the rights to draft Cooper Flagg just months after the seismic trade of Luka Doncic. Dallas had just a 1.8% chance to win the draft lottery when Welts was telling his staff it was about to embark on the most important offseason in franchise history. He was thinking about the lingering fallout of the widely reviled Doncic trade. Suddenly the Mavs have a chance to grow with another young player who has superstar potential in Flagg, the teenager from Duke.
MLB
Elly De La Cruz homered, tripled and drove in three runs as the Cincinnati Reds defeated the New York Yankees 6-1. Gavin Lux also went deep for the Reds, who have won two straight and 11 of 16. Aaron Judge accounted for the Yankees’ run with his 28th homer. Cody Bellinger had three hits. It was only the second time in 14 games that Yankees pitchers allowed three or more earned runs. New York came in with a 1.99 ERA since June 10. Lux homered off starter Allan Winans, who was called up from the minors to make his Yankees debut.
Atlanta 3 N.Y. Mets 2
Ronald Acuña Jr. homered, Spencer Schwellenbach pitched seven strong innings and the Atlanta Braves held off the New York Mets 3-2 in the opener of a four-game series. Michael Harris II and Sean Murphy each had an early sacrifice fly for the Braves, who beat starter Paul Blackburn for the second time in six days and improved to 4-0 against the Mets this season. Juan Soto hit a two-run homer that pulled the Mets within one, but he struck out against left-hander Dylan Lee with runners at the corners to end the eighth. New York has dropped nine of 10, including a three-game sweep by its NL East rival in Atlanta last week.
L.A. Angels 9 Boston 5
Alex Cora is 0 for 2 in arguing obstruction calls with umpire Alan Porter after the Boston Red Sox manager was ejected in the fifth inning of a 9-5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, the second straight game in which Cora was tossed. Cora wasn’t around to see the Angels score four in the eighth to snap a 5-all tie, but he saw enough of Walker Buehler’s shaky start to acknowledge the veteran right-hander might be losing his grip on a rotation spot. Handed a 3-0 lead before he took the mound, Buehler walked four and hit two batters during a five-run first inning in which he threw 39 pitches. He finished with a career-high seven walks in four innings and has a 6.29 ERA in 13 starts.
The Philadelphia Phillies were off last night. They’ll open a three-game series in Houston against the Astros tonight at 8:10.
Baltimore 6 Texas 0
Seattle 11 Minnesota 2
St. Louis 8 Chicago Cubs 2
Pittsburgh 5 Milwaukee 4
Washington 10 San Diego 6
Arizona 10 Chicago White Sox 0
Dominican prosecutors have requested that suspended Tampa Bay Rays player Wander Franco be sentenced to five years in prison for his alleged crimes. Franco faces charges of sexual abuse involving a girl who was 14 years old at the time. The prosecutors said in court there is sufficient evidence to prove Franco had a relationship with the minor for four months and that he transferred large sums of money to the minor’s mother to consent to the illegal relationship. The prosecutors also requested the minor’s mother be sentenced to 10 years in prison, arguing she sexually trafficked her daughter.
With mounds of dirt, construction vehicles and the exact location where home plate will be at the new Athletics ballpark serving as the backdrop, team owner John Fisher stood in front of a large gathering with one message: “We are Vegas’ team.” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, state and local government dignitaries, former Athletics greats such as Rollie Fingers and Dave Stewart, Little Leaguers and many others looked on Monday as the team celebrated the groundbreaking of a $1.75 billion, 33,000-person capacity ballpark that is expected to be finished in time for the 2028 season.
San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. is suing Big League Advance in an attempt to void the future earnings contract he signed as a 17-year-old minor leaguer that could cost him about $34 million. The lawsuit, filed in San Diego County Superior Court, accuses BLA of using predatory tactics to lure him into an “investment deal” that was actually an illegal loan. The suit alleges BLA misrepresented itself to Tatis, hiding its unlicensed status and pushing him into loan terms banned by California’s consumer protection laws. Attorney Robert Hertzberg said the suit also seeks public injunctive relief to protect young athletes from such deals.
SOCCER
Paris Saint-Germain didn’t allow a single shot on goal as the European powerhouse beat the Seattle Sounders 2-0 and advanced to the Club World Cup round of 16. Paris Saint-Germain won Group B on a goal-differential tiebreaker after Atlético Madrid defeated Botafogo 1-0. The 68,740-capacity Lumen Field was lively on Monday with 50,628 fans. Paris will play the runner-up of Group A on Sunday in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Seattle has been eliminated from the cup.
Wrexham poster boy Paul Mullin has left to join third-tier English soccer club Wigan on a season-long loan deal. Mullin says "I'm excited for the next part of my story. I’ve scored a lot of goals over the last few years, but more than anything, I give my absolute all for the club that I’m playing for, and I’m going to do that again with Wigan.” Mullin helped Wrexham become the first team in the history of English football’s top five divisions to secure three successive promotions. He formed such a close bond with Ryan Reynolds, one of the club’s owners, that he even appeared in the last “Deadpool” movie.
NHL
The Anaheim Ducks are trading forward Trevor Zegras Z-Gress to the Philadelphia Flyers for forward Ryan Poehling and two draft picks. Zegras was the Ducks’ first-round pick in 2019. The Ducks also will get the 45th overall pick in the upcoming draft that initially belonged to Columbus, along with a fourth-round pick next season. Zegras had two 60-point seasons early in his NHL career but struggled with injuries for the past two seasons. The 26-year-old Poehling had 12 goals and 19 assists for Philadelphia last season.
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