NBA News

Los Angeles Clippers (23-27, ninth in the Western Conference) vs. Sacramento Kings (12-40, 15th in the Western Conference) Sacramento, California; Friday, 10 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: Sacramento looks to end its four-game home slide with a victory over Los Angeles. Advertisement The Kings are 2-7 against Pacific Division opponents. Sacramento has a 5-25 record in games decided by 10 or …

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — There wasn’t one specific thing coach Mark Few could point to in trying to explain Gonzaga’s struggles against Portland. It all went wrong. “Just outplayed us, outexecuted us, outshot us,” Few said. “When they got open shots, they made them. And we didn’t. Literally every phase of the game.” Advertisement Sixth-ranked Gonzaga lost 87-80 to the …

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Matvei Gridin had a goal and an assist for the rookie’s first multipoint game in the NHL, leading the Calgary Flames to a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night. Ryan Lomberg scored the go-ahead goal at 6:44 of the third period. Jonathan Huberdeau and Connor Zary also scored for Calgary. Nazem Kadri, MacKenzie …

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shane Wright scored twice to lead the Seattle Kraken to a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night. Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson also scored and Chandler Stephenson and Frederick Gaudreau each had two assists for the Kraken, who have won five of their last six games. Joey Daccord made 25 saves. Advertisement …

DENVER (AP) — Josh Manson scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period and the NHL-leading Colorado Avalanche beat the San Jose Sharks 4-2 in their final game before the Olympic break Wednesday night. Artturi Lehkonen scored twice and Nathan MacKinnon had two assists for Colorado to reach another career milestone. Advertisement MacKinnon joined Joe Sakic as the only players …

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Andrej Stojakovic scored 17 points and No. 5 Illinois made 17 3-pointers in an 84-44 win over Northwestern on Wednesday night. Keaton Wagler, Zvonimir Ivisic and Ben Humrichous each had 13 points for Illinois (20-3, 11-1 Big Ten), which won its 12th straight game. David Mirkovic had 12 points and Tomislav Ivisic had 12 rebounds. Advertisement …

HOUSTON (AP) — Derrick White made six 3-pointers and scored 28 points and the Boston Celtics used a big third quarter to build the lead and cruise to a 114-93 win over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night. White’s performance helped the Celtics win a fourth straight game despite missing star Jaylen Brown, who sat out with left hamstring tightness …

Free agent pitcher Framber Valdez and the Detroit Tigers have agreed to a $115 million, three-year contract, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Wednesday night. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been announced. Advertisement Valdez became one of baseball’s most durable starters with the Houston Astros. …

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — Bobby Hauck, coach of perennial FCS power Montana and the Big Sky Conference’s all-time wins leader, announced his sudden retirement Wednesday, saying he didn’t enjoy his job anymore because of the changes in college football in recent years. Bobby Kennedy, who finished his first season as receivers coach, will succeed Hauck. Kennedy and Hauck had worked …

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington Post sports section died Wednesday. Whether you blame natural causes or more avoidable factors, the loss for the D.C. area is immense. The ramifications were felt almost immediately. Shortly after the newspaper eliminated its sports section while laying off a third of its staff, the hometown NBA team made a massive trade. The Washington Wizards …

The Cleveland Cavaliers have made their deal with the Los Angeles Clippers official. James Harden is heading to Cleveland, Darius Garland to Los Angeles. Cavs’ president of basketball operations, Koby Altman, released a statement about the shocking trade. First, he spoke about trading for Harden: “James Harden has cemented himself as an all-time great in this league and he adds …

MADRID (AP) — Iñaki Williams scored six minutes into stoppage time as Athletic Bilbao won 2-1 at Valencia to reach the semifinals of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday, and its Basque Country rival Real Sociedad made it to the last-four by winning 3-2 at Alaves. Athletic will be playing in its sixth Copa semifinal in seven seasons. It won …

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Charlotte Hornets are bringing Coby White back home to North Carolina, where he is the state’s career high school scoring leader and played for the Tar Heels. The Hornets agreed to acquire White from the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the situation. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because …

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — It’s Manchester City vs. Arsenal in the English League Cup final. The current top two in the Premier League will go head-to-head at Wembley Stadium next month after City beat Newcastle 3-1 on Wednesday to complete a 5-1 win on aggregate in the semifinals. Advertisement Both City and Arsenal are still in contention for a clean …

Shai Gilgous-Alexander, the reigning NBA MVP and current frontrunner to go back-to-back with that award, will be out through at least the All-Star break with an abdominal strain, the team announced Wednesday. SGA will be re-evaluated after the break. He suffered the injury in the Thunder’s win over the Magic. Advertisement Gilgeous-Alexander being out for the All-Star Game means Commissioner …

The Chicago Bulls keep making moves, this time dealing a player they should have traded well over a year ago in order to actually get something of value. That player is Coby White, whose contract status has been thoroughly covered on this site. Advertisement The TL;DR version is this: The Bulls just traded him to the Charlotte Hornets at his …

The Cleveland Cavaliers have made the biggest move of the trade deadline so far, and could be looking to make more. Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James isn’t expected to be one of the players they target before Thursday’s deadline, but he could be making his way back home this summer. According to Joe Vardon and Jason Lloyd of The …

Action around the NBA is starting to heat up. Not only is the league’s trade deadline on Thursday afternoon, next weekend will be the annual All-Star Game in Los Angeles. Currently there are eight former Ohio State players on NBA rosters, and one of them has already been moved ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline. With the season having already passed …

The Spurs are back in the win column again, just in time for a visit from the NBA’s best team (by record), fresh off of their 40th win of the season. The Spurs have had the Thunder’s number for most of the season, with a 3-1 record against them, but the Thunder finally flipped the tables in the last contest …

Several former Maryland men’s basketball players have impressed away from College Park this season, giving Terps fans something to root for. Former star Jahmir Young has been one of the most impressive ones, and that was rewarded Tuesday. Advertisement Young is one of 26 G League players selected to participate in events during the NBA’s All-Star Weekend. He will play …

In some ways, the goals Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris set for the Milan Cortina Olympics are the same ones he set in his three previous appearances at the Games. “Landing when it matters, landing how I want to, landing my hardest tricks and walking away with some hardware,” he said. Advertisement But this time, McMorris listed one other element that …

MILAN (AP) — Staging future Winter Games as early as January and the Paralympic Winter Games in February is a possibility because of the effects of warmer temperatures, the International Olympic Committee said Wednesday. Every Winter Games medal was won in February since the 1964 Innsbruck Olympics opened Jan. 29, and moving to January would likely disrupt scheduling of storied …

LOS ANGELES (AP) — In just his fifth collegiate game, freshman Alijah Arenas scored a career-high 29 points and Kam Woods scored 18 points and USC held off Indiana 81-75 on Tuesday night in a frenzied finish. Arenas, who entered with 30 points scored this season, shot 9 of 23 — including 3 of 9 from 3-point range — and …

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Jake Guentzel scored with 14 seconds remaining in overtime after teammate Darren Raddysh forced the extra session by scoring with 26 seconds left in regulation as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat Buffalo Sabres 4-3 on Tuesday night. Guentzel took a long pass from Nikita Kucherov just outside the blue line of the Sabres’ zone, skated in …

On Tuesday afternoon, the Memphis Grizzlies traded forward Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazz in a blockbuster move involving eight total players and three future first-round picks. Following Jackson’s departure — a transaction that now gives general manager Zach Kleiman 13 future first-round picks over the next seven years (in addition to a $29 million trade exception) — rival …