NBA:
A pair of Pac-12 freshmen guards went 1-2 in Thursday's NBA draft. The Philadelphia 76ers used the first pick to select Markelle Fultz of Washington, who was one of the most electrifying freshmen in college basketball last season. The 6-foot-4 Fultz averaged 23.2 points, 5.9 assists and 5.7 rebounds for the Huskies. It's the second straight year the 76ers have owned the first overall selection. They acquired the pick from the Celtics on Monday and gave Boston the No. 3 choice.
The Lakers went with a local product with the No. 2 pick, getting UCLA guard Lonzo Ball. He wanted to remain in the Los Angeles area after averaging 14.6 points, 7.6 assists and six rebounds in his lone season as a Bruin.
The Celtics used the third pick to take Duke forward Jayson Tatum, who averaged 16.8 points and 7.3 rebounds in his only season of college ball.
Kansas guard Josh Jackson went to the Suns with the No. 4 pick. Jackson furnished 16.3 points and 7.4 boards a game for the Jayhawks as a freshman last season. The Kings grabbed Kentucky point guard De'Aaron Fox at No. 5. Fox averaged 16.7 points, 4.6 assists and four rebounds last season. Orlando used the sixth choice to get Florida State forward Jonathan Isaac, who delivered 12 points and 7.8 boards a game.
The draft has already included a major trade involving the Bulls and Timberwolves. The Bulls are sending three-time All-Star Jimmy Butler and the 16th overall pick to Minnesota for Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and the No. 7 overall pick. The seventh pick became Arizona forward Lauri Markkanen.
French point guard Frank Ntilikina (tee-lih-KEE'-nuh) went to the Knicks with the eighth choice before Dallas landed North Carolina State guard Dennis Smith at No. 9.
The 10th selection was used by Sacramento to take Zach Collins before he was dealt to Portland for the draft rights to 15th pick Justin Jackson of North Carolina and No. 20 Harry Giles of Duke. A record 16 freshmen were selected in the opening round, three coming from Kentucky. No seniors were taken with the first 28 picks.
The Brooklyn Nets selected big man Jarrett Allen from Texas with the 22nd pick of the NBA draft Thursday night. The 6-foot-11 Allen, a one-and-done player for the Longhorns, averaged 13.4 points and 8.4 rebounds for Texas last season. Earlier this week, the Nets traded pick Number 27 and center Brook Lopez to Los Angeles for D'Angelo Russell and center Timofey Mozgov. Russell was the second pick in the 2015 draft.
Meanwhile, Ice Cube promises serious basketball for his new 3-on-3 basketball league. Former NBA players who wanted to play were told the competition needed to be worthy of a sport so popular it's ticketed for the next Olympics. The eight-team league co-founded by the actor-entertainer begins Sunday in New York. It plays on 10 weekends, culminating in the Aug. 26 championship game in Las Vegas. Cube says players want to say they were the first champions.
MLB:
The Angels took advantage of three errors and two wild pitches while scoring four times in the seventh inning of a 10-5 whipping of the Yankees in New York. Albert Pujols hit a pair of RBI singles, including the tiebreaking hit in the seventh. Aaron Judge crushed his major league-leading 25th home run, a three-run blast that put the Yanks ahead 5-1 in the second. New York lost for the eighth time in nine games and fell into a first-place tie with Boston in the AL East.
Boston was off and will start a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels tonight.
Joc Pederson hit a go-ahead home run in the seventh and the Los Angeles Dodgers used the long ball again to power past the New York Mets 6-3 Thursday night and complete a four-game sweep. Justin Turner and Enrique Hernandez also hit home runs for the Dodgers, who had a club-record 15 in the series. It is also the most the Mets have allowed in a four-game series.
A person familiar with the negotiations says a group headed by 14-time All-Star shortstop Derek Jeter currently doesn't have the necessary money to buy the Marlins, but is close. Jeter's group bid about $1.3 billion, an offer similar to one submitted by a group led by Tagg Romney, the son of former presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Addison Russell smacked a solo homer among his four hits as the Cubs rolled to their fourth win in five games, 11-1 over the Marlins in Miami. Kris Bryant launched a three-run homer, Willson Contreras added a two-run shot and Ian Happ delivered four hits and two ribbies. Jake Arrieta provided two of Chicago's 16 hits and limited the Fish to a run and six hits in seven innings.
Boston has renamed a street in honor of retired Red Sox player David Ortiz, one day before the ballclub will retire his No. 34. Mayor Marty Walsh called the man known as Big Papi a "legend on and off the field" at the ceremony to rename the street near Fenway Park as David Ortiz Drive. A bridge near Fenway Park is already named for Ortiz.
NFL:
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr has tweeted that he has finalized a five-year contract extension that will keep him tied to the team through the 2022 season. A person familiar with the deal says the contract will be worth $125 million. Both sides had expressed a strong interest in signing a long-term deal with Carr, who was scheduled to enter the final year of his rookie contract.
Andy Reid has signed a contract extension with the Kansas City Chiefs. Reid, 59, was entering the final year of a five-year deal. The terms of the extension were not announced today. Reid has a 43-21 record and three playoff appearances in four years with the Chiefs, who won the AFC West last season. He is entering his 19th season as an NFL head coach, the first 14 with Philadelphia. He has a regular-season record of 173-114 and has won 184 games including the playoffs, the second-most victories among active NFL coaches behind Bill Belichick. With the Eagles, Reid reached one Super Bowl, losing to New England.
The father of former pro-football star Michael Vick has been arrested on charges of being involved in a drug ring. The Virginian-Pilot reports that federal authorities arrested 55-year-old Michael Dwayne Boddie on Thursday. A federal indictment unsealed Wednesday in Newport News alleges that he and 11 others conspired to sell heroin. Vick rose to stardom with the Atlanta Falcons before serving prison time for running a dogfighting operation. He announced his retirement in February.
New England Patriots wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell has a three-book deal with Scholastic, the children's publisher told The Associated Press on Thursday. The books include a newly illustrated edition of his self-published "The Magician's Hat," to come out next May, and two more original works. Mitchell is a literacy advocate who founded the "Read With Malcolm" program.
NHL:
The Edmonton Oilers have traded forward Jordan Eberle to the New York Islanders in exchange for forward Ryan Strome. Eberle has 165 goals and 217 assists over 507 career NHL games, all with Edmonton. He has scored at least 20 goals in each of the past four seasons, and had a career-high 34 in 2011-12.
For Mike Lesakowski and 39 of his hockey-playing friends, it's game on. And on and on and on. From the opening faceoff Thursday night to the final whistle set for the morning of July 3rd, the group of mostly 40-something Buffalonians will be on the ice playing one continuous game spanning 11 days — or 251 hours, to be exact.
World Cup:
The Russian city of Sochi's only professional soccer club says it is withdrawing from the league, in a move which calls World Cup legacy plans into question.
FC Sochi says in a website statement that it's "taking a break" to rethink its strategy but plans to return in the 2018-19 season. "This does not mean that FC Sochi will cease to exist," the club added.
It didn't mention any deal with Russian football authorities, who would need to approve any return.
FC Sochi, which played in the Russian third tier, had been due to move into Sochi's World Cup stadium after the tournament.
It held a single league game there in April, its 6,000 fans vastly outnumbered by empty seats in the 47,000-capacity arena.
The Fisht Stadium was originally built to host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympics. After the games, it closed for an extensive refit and only held its first football games this year. It's one of Russia's four venues for the Confederations Cup.
The stadium is 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the center of Sochi in the tourist-focused Olympic Park, which could pose difficulties for fans traveling to club games. A pro ice hockey team using a nearby Olympic arena has struggled to attract fans, averaging 5,300 at home games.
Professional soccer in Sochi has long been plagued by financial problems, which forced an earlier incarnation of FC Sochi to withdraw from the league in 2015.
Another club from the city, Zhemchuzhina Sochi, briefly played in the Russian top flight in the late 1990s until cashflow problems forced it to close.
PGA:
Jordan Spieth is the leader through one round of the PGA's Travelers Championship in Connecticut. Spieth hit a wedge to four feet for birdie on the final hole to complete a 7-under 63 for a one-stroke lead over Johnson Wagner and Brett Stegmaier. Rory McIlroy shot a 67 and Jason Day carded a 2-over 72 after missing the cut at the U.S. Open last Friday.
The Travelers Championship in Connecticut might have more top-10 players on the weekend then the U.S. Open. The LPGA Tour heads to Arkansas for the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, where Stacy Lewis had her most recent victory three years ago. Steve Stricker plays his second straight week in Wisconsin, when he's host to the PGA Tour Champions.
Obit:
Former Arizona State football coach Frank Kush has died at age 88. Kush took over a dormant franchise and compiled a 176-54-1 record from 1958 to 1979, winning two Border Conference and seven Western Athletic Conference titles. His 1975 team went 12-0, capped by a 17-14 Fiesta Bowl victory over Nebraska.
Herve Filion, the Hall of Fame harness racing driver won retired in 2012 with a then-North American record of 15,179 victories, has died. He was 77. Born in Angers, Quebec, Filion, came to the United States in 1961 and was the North American victory leader 16 times, earning his first title in 1968 and last in 1990.
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