AP Sports

The AP NFL MVP finalists are Josh Allen, Saquon Barkley, Joe Burrow, Jared Goff and Lamar Jackson

Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow and Saquon Barkley are finalists for The Associated Press 2024 NFL Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year awards. Josh Allen and Jared Goff also are MVP finalists while Burrow is also in the running for Comeback Player of the Year. Ja’Marr Chase and Derrick Henry are the other finalists for the Offensive Player award. The winners will be announced at NFL Honors on Feb. 6. A nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the league completed voting before the playoffs began.

SZA to join Kendrick Lamar as a guest during Super Bowl halftime performance

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Guess who’s joining Kendrick Lamar on the Super Bowl halftime stage? None other than Grammy-winning singer SZA. Lamar and Apple Music released a trailer Thursday of him walking on a football field before SZA walked up from behind and splashed the rapper. Lamar and SZA will lead the halftime festivities from the Caesars Superdome on Feb. 9. SZA is Lamar’s former Top Dawg Entertainment labelmate. She appeared his recent album “GNX” and was featured on a couple songs including “Gloria” and “Luther,” which also features sampled vocals from Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn through “If This World Were Mine.”

Welcome home, Wemby: As expected, Spurs’ star gets a hero’s welcome in Paris

PARIS (AP) — The first enormous roar from the crowd came before the game even started. All Victor Wembanyama needed to do to get the fans in Paris into a full-blown frenzy was, it turned out, say hello into a microphone. The roar just from that lasted about 30 seconds. Welcome home, Wemby. For the first time as an NBA player, Wembanyama played in his homeland on Thursday — the star attraction in this two-game set of games between San Antonio and Indiana, a series that concludes on Saturday night.

NBA still talking about expanding its footprint in Europe, Adam Silver says

PARIS (AP) — The NBA is still exploring ways to expand its role in European basketball. Commissioner Adam Silver said Thursday that those talks with FIBA and other stakeholders will continue. That means there’s no deal — yet. But Silver, speaking before the start of the NBA Paris Games between San Antonio and Indiana, gave no indication that the league is softening its stance that more can be done. Meetings were had in Paris this week, and those talks will continue in the coming months.

Australian Open: Did the Happy Slam become the Angry Slam? Or is tennis just changing?

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Why is everyone so angry at what long has been known as the Happy Slam? Things are a little out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that’s got only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there have been some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s semifinals Thursday night. But the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans are continuing a recent trend at Grand Slam tennis tournaments of loud and unruly folks in the stands. Also drawing attention have been some of the folks in television coverage at Melbourne Park.

Lawsuit says ex-Yankee Mariano Rivera failed to protect a girl from sexual abuse at a church camp

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Yankees legend Mariano Rivera and his wife are accused in a lawsuit of failing to protect a young girl who was sexually abused by an older child during a summer camp trip sponsored by their church. In a lawsuit filed in this month, lawyers for the girl allege that the Hall of Fame pitcher and his wife, Clara Rivera, flew from New York to Florida to investigate after the girl’s mother expressed concerns about her daughter’s safety. But rather than take action, the lawsuit says the couple “isolated and intimidated” the victim into remaining silent. The Riveras’ lawyer says any allegations that they “knew about or failed to act on reports of child abuse are completely false.”

Australian Open: Madison Keys upsets Iga Swiatek and will face Aryna Sabalenka in the final

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Madison Keys saved a match point and upset No. 2 Iga Swiatek 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (10-8) in a high-intensity Australian Open semifinal to reach a Grand Slam title match for the second time in her career. Keys is a 29-year-old American who was the runner-up at the 2017 U.S. Open. She claimed more games against Swiatek than the five-time major champion had dropped in her five previous matches combined. Keys will face No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday’s final. Sabalenka beat good friend Paula Badosa 6-4, 6-2. Sabalenka won the Australian Open the past two years and can become the first woman since 1999 to complete a threepeat.

British Open to return to St. Andrews in 2027. One last chance for Tiger Woods?

The British Open returns to St. Andrews in 2027 for the 31st time. And that begs the question of whether Tiger Woods will have one last chance to compete at the Old Course. Woods was emotional when he crossed the Swilcan Bridge in 2022 the last time the Open was at St. Andrews. It wasn’t his last British Open but he thought he might be done playing when it ever returned to the home of golf. Now it’s a five-year turnaround. Woods will only be 51 for the 2027 Open. The decisions means Muirfield will have to wait. Muirfield last held the Open in 2013.

Mikaela Shiffrin healed from puncture wound suffered in ski crash, will race next week in France

Mikaela Shiffrin has recovered from her ski crash two months ago and tells The Associated Press she plans to return to World Cup racing next Thursday at a slalom event in Courchevel, France. Shiffrin has been out since the serious spill in a giant slalom race on Nov. 30 in Killington, Vermont, where something punctured her in the side and caused severe trauma to her oblique muscles. The 29-year-old Shiffrin remains focused only on progression, not picking up her pursuit of World Cup win No. 100. Her plan includes racing the slalom and giant slalom at the world championships next month in Austria.

Bill Belichick and North Carolina have a signed contract for his hiring as football coach

North Carolina football coach Bill Belichick and school officials have signed his official employment contract. That formalized last month’s hiring after speculation that the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach might opt instead for a return to the NFL. The school released the contract Thursday, a day after Belichick had signed the deal. It includes $10 million per year in base and supplemental salary. Only the first three years of the five-year deal are guaranteed. There’s also another $3.5 million in available bonuses. Belichick would owe a $10 million buyout if he leaves before June, then $1 million afterward.