Sports

The NBA offseason is officially here. It’s been going on for some time, actually

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 Tuesday 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.

The Thunder are NBA champions, and they might be just getting started

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The promise came three years ago from Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti. It might have been overlooked for a couple of reasons. One, the Thunder were awful at the time. Two, he was speaking Latin. “Labor omnia vincit,” Presti said after the 2021-22 season, quoting a motto of Oklahoma. Depending on how Presti was translating it, it could have been “hard work conquers all” or “slow work conquers all.” Either way, it applies to the Thunder. They did hard work. They did slow work. They conquered all.

Golden State Warriors help transform lives of incarcerated men through coaching program

VACAVILLE, Calif. (AP) — The Golden State Warriors are partnering with the UK-based Twinning Project to teach incarcerated men at Solano State Prison in Vacaville, California, how to coach. The program includes a focus on mental health and anger management, too. Coaching has provided a purpose and much-needed self-confidence for these men, many of whom are serving sentences of life without the possibility of parole.

Olympics’ champion: New IOC president Kirsty Coventry inaugurated to start 8-year leadership

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The first female and first African president of the IOC, Kirsty Coventry, was inaugurated in the role on Monday. The ceremony was on the Olympic body’s 131st birthday with praise for Coventry from her predecessor Thomas Bach that it was “in the best of hands.” Coventry cited her family including her two young daughters as “my rocks, my inspiration” to lead the International Olympic Committee through the next eight years. The challenges include staging the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

Dominican prosecutors in Wander Franco trial seek 5-year prison sentence

PUERTO PLATA, Dominican Republic (AP) — 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.

National champion LSU Tigers pack punch offensively, but they hang hats on pitching under Johnson

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — During its rise as a national power in the 1990s, LSU built its identity on prodigious home run numbers. The Tigers still have plenty of offense, but pitching is the name of the game in the bayou nowadays. LSU’s pitching prowess was omnipresent in the College World Series as the Tigers won their second national championship in three years with a two-game sweep of Coastal Carolina in the finals. The Tigers posted a CWS-best 2.60 ERA over five games and opponents batted .205 and just .145 with runners in scoring position. Kade Anderson was selected Most Outstanding Player.

Athletics celebrate groundbreaking of $1.75 billion stadium project in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS (AP) — With mounds of dirt, construction vehicles and the exact location where home plate will be at the new A’s 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.

Rebuilding Pac-12 reaches deal with CBS for its football and men’s basketball games

The Pac-12 struck a media-rights deal with CBS that sets up the network to broadcast a minimum of four football and men’s basketball games per season on its main network and provide a cable and streaming presence for the reconfigured league from 2026-31. Financial details of the new deal were not disclosed. Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould called it a “transformational partnership” that allows the Pac-12 to grow when it starts as remodeled league in 2026-27.

F1 owner Liberty Media finally set to seal deal to take control of MotoGP after European approval

Formula 1 owner Liberty Media says it is finally set to complete a deal to take control of motorcycle racing series MotoGP after receiving approval from the European Commission. Liberty Media says the “unconditional” approval was the last step in completing the deal to buy 84% of Spain-based MotoGP rights holder Dorna Sports. Liberty says the agreement could go through by July 3. Dorna chief executive Carmelo Ezpeleta remains in charge of MotoGP but Liberty says he will be joined on the Dorna board by Chase Carey and Sean Bratches, two veterans of Liberty’s takeover of F1 in 2017.

‘Craziest’ reversal of fortune puts Mavs on path to Flagg after all the Doncic drama

DALLAS (AP) — 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.