Sea Bears subdue Rattlers, move closer to CEBL playoff berth

On a night when the stakes were at a season-high and emotion filled the air, the Winnipeg Sea Bears rose to the occasion.

With major implications on the line in the Canadian Elite Basketball League playoff picture and former teammate Teddy Allen making his return to Winnipeg for the first time since being released earlier this season, the Sea Bears outlasted their prairie rival Saskatchewan Rattlers 97-93 in front of a 9,105 fans at Canada Life Centre on Saturday.

The win snapped a four-game skid and improved the Sea Bears to 8-9 on the campaign, good for a 2 1/2-game advantage over the Rattlers (6-12) for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

The top four teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs.

Evan Mobley, Cavaliers agree on 5-year, $224 million rookie contract extension, AP source says

CLEVELAND (AP) — Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley has agreed to a five-year, $224 million contract extension with Cleveland, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday night.

Mobley has blossomed into one of the NBA's brightest young stars since being drafted with the No. 3 overall pick in 2021.

The 23-year-old's new deal could be worth up to $269 million if he reaches incentives, said the person who spoke on condition of anonymity because terms have not been finalized.

Mobley's agents, Joe Smith and Thad Foucher, first told ESPN about the extension. The sides have been talking about a deal for weeks.

Lakers shut down Bronny James after back-to-back promising performances

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Bronny James was a spectator on Saturday after the Los Angeles Lakers determined that they have seen all they need out of the NBA's most talked-about rookie.

He finished Summer League on an upward trajectory after a dismal start, scoring 25 points on 10-of-21 shooting over his final two games. That included making 3 of 8 baskets from 3-point range after going 0 for 15 in his first four games.

“He had two pretty good games last two,” Lakers Summer League coach Dane Johnson said. “I think it’s just going to help him going into the summer so we can work on different things with him. Just that confidence and knowing he can play at this level. It’s still going to take a lot of time and a lot of reps."

Some fans were disappointed that the Lakers kept James on the bench, briefly breaking out a chant of ���We want Bronny” in the first quarter of Saturday's 107-81 victory over the Chicago Bulls.

Jazz waive Westbrook as expected to clear his departure, likely for the Nuggets

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Utah Jazz waived point guard Russell Westbrook on Saturday, creating the opportunity for him to potentially join the Denver Nuggets.

Utah acquired Westbrook from the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday in a sign-and-trade deal for point guard Kris Dunn. The Jazz made the move with the anticipation they would buy out Westbrook's contract so he could sign with the Nuggets.

The Nuggets are in need of guard depth after parting with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Reggie Jackson earlier this month. ESPN reported Denver was Westbrook's expected destination.

Utah got the right to swap second-round draft picks in 2030, the draft rights to center Balsa Koprivica and cash.

Winnipeg high school hoopster to suit up for NCAA Div I school

Ramogi Nyagudi, one of the most celebrated basketball prospects in Manitoba history, is taking his talents to the NCAA.

Earlier this week, the 6-9 power forward from Winnipeg committed to play with the Division I University of St. Thomas Tommies in Minnesota beginning this fall.

“At the start, there’s a lot of people in my ear about what I should do or where I should go,” said Nyagudi by phone from St. Paul, Minn., Friday. “But I started looking at my own values. I did a lot of praying about it. My family did a lot of praying and I came to the decision that I have to go to St. Thomas.”

The Minnesota-born Nyagudi was a standout at St. Paul’s High School in Winnipeg for his Grade 10 and 11 seasons and followed that with an impressive campaign at DME Academy, a Wisconsin prep school, earning a scholarship offer from the University of Maryland while averaging 17 points and nine rebounds in Grade 12.

Memphis acquires Diakite in trade with Brooklyn, which gets former lottery pick Ziaire Williams

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The Memphis Grizzlies acquired forward Mamadi Diakite and the draft rights to Nemanja Dangubic from the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for one-time lottery pick Ziaire Williams and a Dallas Mavericks' 2030 second-round draft pick, the teams announced Friday.

Diakite, 6-foot-9, has played in 55 games for five teams since finishing his college career at Virginia in 2020. He was a rookie for the Bucks in 2021 on their championship team.

The 6-9 Williams played in 150 games for the Grizzlies the past three years, averaging 7.5 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists since he was drafted 10th overall out of Stanford in 2021.

Brooklyn had acquired Diakite earlier this month in a trade that sent Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks.

Bronny James continues promising play with 13 points in Lakers’ 93-89 win over Cavaliers

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Lakers rookie Bronny James put together his second promising Summer League performance in a row Thursday night, scoring 13 points in Los Angeles' 93-89 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The son NBA career scoring leader LeBron James had eight first-half points on 3-of-5 shooting. He ended the game by making 5 of 10 shots, including 1 of 3 from 3-point range. James also had five rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots.

James, taken 55th in this year's draft, had struggled throughout summer league until he scored 12 points Wednesday night in an 87-86 victory over the Atlanta Hawks. Until then, James was 7 for 31 from the field this summer and 4 for 19 in two games at Las Vegas.

James averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists last season in his lone year of college basketball at Southern California, appearing in the team’s final 25 games. He wasn’t able to start the season after needing a procedure to fix what was diagnosed as a congenital heart defect, which was found after he went into cardiac arrest during a workout last summer.

Johnson brothers join forces in wheelchair basketball

Brothers Bill and Joey Johnson have been involved in the wheelchair basketball world since their childhood, Bill becoming a decorated coach, and Joey retiring as a three-time Paralympic champion. Now for the first time, the Winnipeg natives are working together on the sidelines, uniting their talents to coach Great Britain men’s national wheelchair basketball team in the 2024 Paris Paralympics. Bill and Joey have crossed paths throughout their careers, from playing on the same teams when they were kids to Bill coaching Joey on occasion. However, the two had never joined forces as co-coaches until April 2023, when the brothers […]

Clippers trade Russell Westbrook to Jazz. He’s expected to join the Nuggets after a buyout

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Clippers sent Russell Westbrook to the Utah Jazz on Thursday in a sign-and-trade deal for point guard Kris Dunn.

The Jazz are expected to buy out the former NBA MVP's contract so Westbrook can sign with the Denver Nuggets, according to ESPN.

Utah also got the right to swap second-round draft picks in 2030, the draft rights to center Balsa Koprivica and cash.

Westbrook, a nine-time All-Star and the 2017 MVP for Oklahoma City, was traded for the fifth time in his career. He has now been traded to Utah by both franchises in his native Los Angeles in the past 18 months.

Raptors, Wizards to play NBA pre-season game at Montreal’s Bell Centre

TORONTO - The Toronto Raptors will host a pre-season game against the Washington Wizards in Montreal as part of this year's NBA Canada Series.

The game announced Thursday will take place Oct. 6 at the Bell Centre as the Raptors celebrate their 30th season.

It will mark the eighth time the Raptors have played a pre-season game in Montreal, which is the most of any Canadian city outside Toronto.

This year will mark the 10th edition of the NBA Canada Series since its debut in 2012.

WNBA players’ union leader is concerned league being undervalued in new media rights deal

PHOENIX (AP) — The executive director of the WNBA players’ union is concerned the league is being undervalued with the $2.2 billion over 11 years it will receive as part of the NBA’s recently approved media rights deals. “We have wondered for months how the NBA would value the WNBA in its media rights deal,” executive director of the union Terri Jackson said in a statement. “With a reportedly $75 billion deal on the table, the league is in control of its own destiny. More precisely, the NBA controls the destiny of the WNBA.” The NBA’s Board of Governors approved […]

Magic co-founder Pat Williams, who helped bring team to Orlando, dies at 84

Pat Williams, a co-founder of the Orlando Magic and someone who spent more than a half-century working within the NBA, died Wednesday from complications related to viral pneumonia, the team announced.

Williams was 84.

He started his NBA career as business manager of the Philadelphia 76ers in 1968, then had stints as general manager of the Chicago Bulls, the Atlanta Hawks and the 76ers — helping the franchise win a title in 1983.

A few years later, Williams was involved in starting the process of bringing an NBA team to Orlando. The league's board of governors granted an expansion franchise in 1987, and the team began play in 1989.

NBA moves a big step closer to finalizing new 11-year media rights deals

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The NBA's Board of Governors approved the league's next media rights deals with Disney, NBC and Amazon Prime Video at its meeting Tuesday, moving the league one giant step closer to finalizing the 11-year agreements that will be worth about $76 billion.

Now comes the next, and possibly final, step: seeing if Warner Bros. Discovery will match one of the deals in an effort to extend a relationship with the NBA that dates to the late 1980s. WBD has five days to match, that clock starting to run when it receives the contracts from the league.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, citing the ongoing process, declined to offer specifics on when that five-day window starts or whether it has already started.

“Without getting into the specifics of the deal, I'd say philosophically we set out with certain goals in these negotiations and part of them were economic and part of them also led to what are the best ways we can serve our fans going forward," Silver said. "Part of it was to get additional broadcast exposure, and hopefully we will have accomplished that. And also, to get more streaming connectivity with our fans, because in terms of traditional television — while still vital — there is a large portion of our fan base that no longer subscribes to those services.”

Mavericks star Kyrie Irving breaks left hand in offseason workout, has surgery

DALLAS (AP) — Kyrie Irving broke his left hand during an offseason workout and had surgery, and the Dallas Mavericks didn't provide a timeline for his recovery in an announcement of the injury Tuesday night.

Irving and Luka Doncic led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals in their first full season together. Boston won the title series in five games.

The 32-year-old Irving averaged 25.6 points in 58 games during the regular season while dealing with foot, heel and thumb injuries.

Irving made his deepest playoff run since going to the finals with Cleveland in 2017, and helped the Mavs get that far for the first time since Dallas won its only championship in 2011.