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From Broderick Turner: Mercurial guard Russell Westbrook, who opted into his $4-million contract this summer, has been traded to Utah in a sign-and-trade deal that will give the Clippers guard Kris Dunn, according to people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
As well as the Clippers acquiring Dunn, they also will receive a second-round draft-pick swap with the Jazz and cash. The Clippers will sign Dunn for three years and $17 million.
Westbrook, 35, and his representatives are working on a buyout with the Jazz that will allow him to join the Denver Nuggets once he clears waivers, according to a person not authorized to speak publicly. Once he joins the Nuggets, it will be Westbrook’s fifth team in six seasons heading into the 2024-25 campaign.
Multiple reports said the Nuggets were interested in Westbrook after losing guards Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who joined Orlando in free agency, and Reggie Jackson, who was traded to Charlotte.
During an interview with the media Monday, Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said the team had been working with Westbrook’s agent to find a place that fit the veteran after All-Star forward Paul George was lost to the Philadelphia 76ers in a free-agency deal. He signed for $212 million over four years.
In Dunn, 30, the Clippers get a tough defender who showed improvement in two seasons with Utah. The 6-3 guard averaged 5.4 points, 3.8 assists and 2.9 rebounds last season in 66 games, 32 starts. He shot 47% from the field and 36.9% from three-point range.
He will be playing for his sixth team heading into his ninth season.
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LAKERS
From Dan Woike: JJ Redick and a chunk of his new coaching staff sat baseline Thursday in Las Vegas, the Lakers’ key young pieces all flashing elements of why the Lakers valued them.
The result — another Lakers Summer League win and some critic silencing — was momentary. Maybe in the 93-89 win, there was something more.
From the jump, Dalton Knecht, the Lakers’ first rounder, splashed threes and attacked the rim with an athletic two-handed dunk. It all reinforced that he can score — something the Lakers and Redick will probably try to incorporate this season.
Knecht scored 20 and grabbed seven rebounds, looking like a piece the Lakers could try and use sooner-then-later.
Bronny James, more of a long-term developmental project, showed the mid-range and rim-attacking skills that can help offset a three-point shot that’s still under construction.
He finished with 13 points on 50% shooting.
DODGERS
From Jack Harris: When the Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani last offseason, it came with an assumption about their future schedule.
Major League Baseball was already planning to open its 2025 season with two games in Tokyo, Japan. Thus, the belief was that whichever team signed Ohtani, the two-time MVP and two-way Japanese star, would be one of the clubs picked to go.
On Thursday, that speculation became official, with MLB announcing that the Dodgers will face the Chicago Cubs in a two-game, regular-season series on March 18-19 at the Tokyo Dome in the opening games of the MLB season.
OLYMPIC DISTANCE RUNNING
From Kevin Baxter: For centuries the snow-capped San Francisco Peaks, which tower over the high desert of northern Arizona, have held sacred meaning for more than a dozen Native American tribes.
To the Navajo “the summit that never melts” was a place where deities lived. For the Hopi, the mountains provided life-giving rain and spiritual sustenance while the Havasupai’s creation story is centered on the four peaks, which they believed were at the center of the earth.
The mountain tops are no less divine to some who live in their shadows today. For decades, endurance athletes have been making the pilgrimage to Flagstaff, at the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau, to live and train in the rarefied air more than a mile and a quarter above sea level. And the results have been breathtaking.
“For a distance runner, there’s no place in the world like Flagstaff,” said Matt Baxter, who broke New Zealand’s national indoor record at 5,000 meters after moving to Arizona.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1877 — Spencer Gore beats William Marshall in 48 minutes (6-1, 6-2, 6-4) in the first men’s singles tennis championship at the All England Club, Wimbledon.
1909 — Cleveland shortstop Neal Ball pulls off the first unassisted triple play in modern major league history.
1910 — Cy Young wins his 500th career game as the Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Senators 5-4 in 11 innings.
1922 — Johnny Weissmuller is the first swimmer to break the 1 minute barrier for the 100 meter freestyle; 58.6 seconds.
1957 — Don Bowden is the first American to break the four-minute mile with a 3:58.7 time at Stockton, Calif.
1980 — The Summer Olympics open in Moscow without the United States and 64 other boycotting countries.
2008 — In the WNBA’s first outdoor game, the Indiana Fever overcomes the heat and humidity in New York to beat the Liberty 71-55. Arthur Ashe Stadium, home of the U.S. Open, had a basketball court laid on top of the tennis court.
2009 — Tom Watson squanders a chance to become golf’s oldest major champion. The 59-year-old misses an 8-foot putt on the 72nd hole of the British Open, then loses a four-hole playoff by six shots to Stewart Cink.
2009 — Eighty-one-year-old Hershel McGriff becomes the oldest driver to take part in a national NASCAR series race, finishing 13th in a Camping World West Series event at Portland International Raceway.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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