PRO BASKETBALL
With the Los Angeles Lakers mired in the worst years in franchise history, owner Jeanie Buss has turned to Magic Johnson to lead them back to championship contention.
And she removed her own brother from his job to do it.
Jeanie Buss fired general manager Mitch Kupchak on Tuesday and put Johnson in charge of basketball operations. Jim Buss also was dismissed as the Lakers’ executive vice president of basketball operations in a major shake-up of the struggling team’s front office.
Jim Buss retains his ownership stake in the team, but Jeanie Buss has final say under the structure set up by their late father, Jerry Buss. She used it to chart a new course for the 16-time NBA champion franchise, which has the NBA’s third-worst record at 19-39.
The Lakers have already swung their first deal under Johnson, agreeing to send Lou Williams to the Houston Rockets for Corey Brewer and a future draft pick.
Brewer’s agent Wallace Prather confirmed the terms of the trade, which were first reported Tuesday by Yahoo Sports. Neither team immediately revealed the trade publicly.
Williams led the Lakers in scoring at 18.6 points per game, playing off the bench. Brewer was averaging 4.2 points for Houston.
BASEBALL
PHOENIX (AP) - Major League Baseball intends to push forward with the process that could lead to possible rule changes involving the strike zone, installation of pitch clocks and limits on trips to the pitcher’s mound.
While baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred expressed hope the ongoing process would lead to an agreement, he said clubs would reserve the right to act unilaterally, consistent with the rule-change provision of the sport’s labor contract.
Union head Tony Clark said last weekend he did not foresee players agreeing to proposed changes for 2017. Under baseball’s collective bargaining agreement, management can alter playing rules only with agreement from the union - unless it gives one year notice. With the one year of notice, management can make changes on its own.
Manfred said while he prefers an agreement, “I’m also not willing to walk away.” He said he will send a letter to the union in the coming days and plans to continue dialogue with Clark and others in hopes of reaching agreement.
PRO FOOTBALL
BOSTON (AP) - The value of Tom Brady’s missing Super Bowl jersey is listed as $500,000 on a Houston Police Department report.
The New England Patriots quarterback is listed as the complainant in the report dated Feb. 6, the day after the Patriots came back from a 25-point deficit to defeat the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in overtime. The police report was made public Tuesday.
Investigators have been working to identify who was in the locker room at the time the jersey was taken. A Houston police officer was stationed outside the locker room on the day of the game, but access to the location was controlled by Patriots team security.
The Texas Rangers, the state’s top law enforcement officers, were assisting in the investigation along with the NFL’s security department.
OLYMPICS
SAPPORO, Japan (AP) - Asia’s Olympic leader thinks the continent could stage three consecutive Winter Games, and Sapporo would be an ideal location to follow Pyeongchang and Beijing.
Olympic Council of Asian president Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah said Sapporo has all the facilities needed to organize the Winter Olympics for a second time.
Sapporo hosted the Winter Games in 1972 and city officials are considering a bid for 2026, but nothing official has been decided. It would mean the IOC would return to a city in Asia for a third straight time following Pyeongchang, South Korea in 2018 and Beijing in 2022.
“Sapporo is capable and ready,” Sheikh Al Fahad said while in Sapporo for the Asian Winter Games.
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) - The Court of Arbitration for Sport has ruled against five Russian cross-country skiers who wanted their provisional suspensions lifted to allow them to compete at the world championships.
The five were suspended by the International Ski Federation pending a full inquiry after World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren alleged doping samples they gave may have been tampered with at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Two of the five won medals.
CAS hasn’t dismissed the appeal against the provisional suspensions, but denied “urgent requests” to compete at the world championships, which start Wednesday.
COLLEGE SPORTS
EASLEY, S.C. (AP) - Authorities are investigating the death of an associate athletics director at Clemson University.
Pickens County Sheriff Rick Clark said the body of 60-year-old Bert Henderson was found on Tuesday morning near his Easley home.
Henderson was reported missing by Clemson officials Monday afternoon after he failed to report to work. His wife died last year.
Henderson started working at Clemson in 1978 as a trainer and worked with the 1981 national championship football team. He later worked with Clemson’s Alumni Center before becoming executive director of its planned giving efforts.
No other details about Henderson’s death have been released. Crews had been using K9s and a helicopter to search for him.
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