PRO BASKETBALL
The Memphis Grizzlies traded away the final piece of the franchise’s best years, sending veteran point guard Mike Conley to the Utah Jazz for a trio of players, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press.
The Grizzlies swapped Conley for forward Jae Crowder, guard/forward Kyle Korver and guard Grayson Allen, said the person, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because neither Memphis nor Utah has announced the trade, which cannot be completed until the new league year starts on July 6.
Conley confirmed the trade on Twitter, thanking Memphis for making him the man he is and being his home. “Time for another chapter! Excited to give all I have to The Jazz …!” Conley tweeted.
ESPN.com first reported the deal, which it says also includes Utah’s No. 23 pick overall in Thursday night’s draft.
Conley was the final piece of the core that led the Grizzlies to seven consecutive playoff berths, including the 2013 Western Conference Finals. Zach Randolph and Tony Allen left in 2017 as free agents, and Memphis traded Marc Gasol to Toronto in February, splitting up a duo that had been the NBA’s longest-tenured teammates. Gasol went on to help the Raptors win their first NBA title.
HOCKEY
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Nikita Kucherov won the NHL’s highest honors, receiving the Hart Trophy as the league MVP and the Ted Lindsay Award as the best player according to a vote of his fellow pros. The Russian right wing also formally picked up the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s top scorer at the hockey world’s annual Vegas ceremony at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Kucherov’s Russian teammate, won his first Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie in another bittersweet recognition for the Lightning, who won 62 regular-season games before getting swept by Columbus in the opening round.
Calgary’s Mark Giordano won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman, earning the award for the first time at 35 years old. Vancouver forward Elias Pettersson won the Calder Trophy given to the league’s top rookie, and Ryan O’Reilly added his first Selke Trophy as the NHL’s top defensive forward to the Blues’ Stanley Cup victory.
Barry Trotz of the New York Islanders won his second Jack Adams Award as the best coach, while Boston’s Don Sweeney was named the league’s top general manager.
Wild forward Jason Zucker won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy for leadership and humanitarian contributions to hockey. Florida center Aleksander Barkov won his first Lady Byng Trophy as the player best combining sportsmanship, gentlemanly conduct and ability, while Philadelphia’s Wayne Simmonds won the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award.
PRO FOOTBALL
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The NFL’s top medical experts believe they can take the knowledge of college football physicians and trainers and the research from the NCAA to make football safer - together.
Dr. Allen Sills and Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president for health and safety initiatives, spent Monday and Tuesday in Indianapolis sharing data about their findings on the prevention and treatment of injuries. It’s the most formal presentation league executives have had with college officials, and Sills and Miller hope this presentation leads to a broader conversation that includes discussions about lower-body injuries.
The two-day meeting included participants from the NFL’s health and safety team, the NCAA’s Sport Science Institute and medical staffs from schools in each of the power five conferences. It comes amid a rapidly evolving landscape of injuries in football. Sills is the league’s chief medical officer.
COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Brian Klein hit the tiebreaking home run for Texas Tech, and the Red Raiders beat Florida State 4-1 at the College World Series to close the 40-year coaching career of NCAA all-time wins leader Mike Martin.
Klein’s homer, his second of the CWS and third of the season, came in the sixth inning and stood up because of the Seminoles’ inability to find a spark on offense.
Tech (46-19) won a second game at the CWS for the first time in its four appearances.
FSU (42-23) had no trouble scoring while sweeping through a regional in Athens, Georgia, and a super regional at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to earn Martin his 17th trip to the CWS. The Seminoles beat Arkansas 1-0 here Saturday, but lost 2-0 to Michigan before the Red Raiders eliminated them.
Martin heads into retirement with 2,029 career wins - most by any coach in any college sport - but no national championships. Each of his 40 teams won at least 40 games and played in the NCAA Tournament.
BOXING
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) - The International Boxing Association is near bankruptcy, days before a decision to formally exclude the body from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
AIBA executive director Tom Virgets told board members it will be insolvent if International Olympic Committee members derecognize the troubled body next Wednesday.
The full IOC membership is expected to sign off on recommendations made last month by its executive board, which would deny AIBA its expected $17.5 million share of Tokyo Games commercial revenue and cut off the men’s and women’s 2019 world championships in Russia as qualifying paths.
AUTO RACING
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - NASCAR denied Ross Chastain’s appeal after his race-winning truck was disqualified following a postrace inspection at Iowa Speedway over the weekend.
National Motorsports Appeals Panelist Bryan Moss heard Chastain’s appeal and chose to uphold the original penalties assessed by NASCAR for the No. 44 being too low. Niece Motorsports owner Al Niece had said the truck passed opening and pre-race inspections and may have suffered minor damage during the race that left it too low.
Chastain’s disqualification was the first under strict new rules put in place this season to deter cheating and it was the first time this year a winning car had been DQ’d on race day. NASCAR said the last time it disqualified an apparent race winner was April 17, 1960, when Emanuel Zervakis’ victory at Wilson Speedway in North Carolina was thrown out because of an oversized fuel tank. The series also stripped Mike Skinner of a victory the day after a 1999 race at Atlanta Motor Speedway for an unapproved cylinder head, but that decision was overturned on appeal.
Chastain’s misfortune gave the victory to Brett Moffitt and Chastain will be scored as if he finished last in addition to his victory and bonus points being stripped away.
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