Sports

4:43 AM ET Associated Press SAITAMA, Japan — Luka Doncic is only a 22-year-old Olympic rookie, a player who might still be a few years away from his best basketball. Sergio Hernandez doesn’t need to wait. “For me, I said this two years ago: He is the best player in the world, including the NBA,”

10:08 AM ET The Unites States faltered down the stretch Sunday in a 83-76 loss to France at the Olympics. The U.S. led 74-67 with 3:41 remaining, before Evan Fournier ignited a 14-0 run that helped France secure the victory. Fournier finished with 28 points for France. It is the United States’ first Olympic basketball

7:51 PM ET Associated Press CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers extended a qualifying offer Friday to center Jarrett Allen, making him a restricted free agent. The team had until Aug. 1 to make the offer to Allen, a 23-year-old acquired last season in a trade from Brooklyn and viewed as one of Cleveland’s core pieces. The

3:55 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN The New Orleans Pelicans officially named Willie Green as their next head coach Thursday. Green is coming off a stint as an assistant with the Phoenix Suns, who just made a run to the NBA Finals, which delayed the timing of the Pelicans’ announcement. “After an extensive and collaborative search,

3:29 PM ET Associated Press MILWAUKEE — Thousands of fans lined downtown Milwaukee streets on Thursday to catch a glimpse of their beloved Bucks in a parade to celebrate the city’s first NBA championship in half a century. Six police officers on horseback clopped past cheering fans at the head of a procession that included

11:58 PM ET Atlanta Hawks center Onyeka Okongwu — the sixth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft — underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder on Wednesday and will miss approximately six months, sources told ESPN. Okongwu’s role grew as the season wore on for the Hawks, but a lingering

12:17 AM ET The Milwaukee Bucks are the 2021 NBA champions after rallying from a 2-0 series deficit against the Phoenix Suns. Now what? We’re not wasting any time spinning forward to next season, where a host of current contenders and potential superteams will aim to unseat Giannis Antetokounmpo & Co. in 2022. What will

1:22 PM ET Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden welcomed Tom Brady and the Super Bowl-winning Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the White House on Tuesday, the first visit by the reigning NFL champions since 2017. It was Brady’s first visit since 2005 with the New England Patriots when George W. Bush was in office.

11:46 AM ET Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said the Bulldogs are over the 85% threshold for vaccines, thus able to avoid regular COVID-19 testing and the team having to wear masks indoors, but he said he was still pushing for more vaccinations. “It’s not about a number,” Smart said. “It’s not about a threshold.

8:00 AM ET Former West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck still remembers, with vivid clarity, the day Pittsburgh and Syracuse officially announced they were bailing on the Big East to move to the ACC. He was headed east from Morgantown to the West Virginia-Maryland football game on Sept. 17, 2011, and made a plan to

6:33 AM ET Wisconsin plays Wisconsin football. Iowa is Iowa. Northwestern does Northwestern things. Minnesota is increasingly Minnesota. The Big Ten West might have more proven entities than any other division in college football. But for such a reliable division, the West has been pretty difficult to forecast of late. In 2018, defending champion Wisconsin

7:32 AM ET On the 10th anniversary of Nebraska‘s entrance into the Big Ten, interim athletic director Garrett Klassy officially began his term overseeing the Huskers’ program. The irony isn’t lost on those who have lived through a jagged first decade in the conference. Athletic director Bill Moos’ abrupt retirement last month isn’t the most

5:55 PM ET The Philadelphia Flyers, Nashville Predators and Vegas Golden Knights made interconnected trades ahead of Saturday’s roster freeze for the Seattle Kraken expansion draft. The Flyers traded center Nolan Patrick and defenseman Philippe Myers to Nashville for defenseman Ryan Ellis, who then sent Patrick to Vegas for center Cody Glass. How did each

7:00 AM ET The NHL is expanding to 32 teams beginning with the 2021-22 season, as the Seattle Kraken will join the Pacific Division. This sets up a natural regional rivalry with the Vancouver Canucks and brings the sport back to the city whose Metropolitans were the first team awarded the Stanley Cup in 1917.

10:50 AM ET Ron Francis and Dave Hakstol didn’t know they were participating in a four-week audition. They bonded at the 2019 IIHF world championships in Austria and Slovakia, where Francis was part of Team Canada’s management brain-trust and Hakstol was a member of the men’s team coaching staff. “I got to know him as

4:49 PM ET ESPN News Services NEW YORK — The Yankees’ post-All-Star break opener against the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night was postponed because of positive COVID-19 tests within New York’s organization. Major League Baseball said the postponement was to allow for more testing and contact tracing. New York was among the first major

11:44 AM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Rick Hendrick gave Kyle Larson a second chance in NASCAR because Hendrick Motorsports had wanted him in its lineup for years. Now that Hendrick has his man, he has locked Larson down for two more seasons with full sponsorship. Hendrick on Wednesday told his 93 dealerships that

8:03 PM ET Associated Press HAMPTON, Ga. — Kurt Busch passed brother Kyle with 24 laps left and won the NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday to complete a sibling weekend sweep at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Kurt Busch raced to his first victory of the season, 33rd overall and the fourth of his career at Atlanta.

8:35 PM ET Associated Press A 3-year-old colt co-owned by the wife of embattled trainer Bob Baffert ran under the name of another Hall of Fame trainer on Saturday, when it finished fourth in the $1 million Belmont Derby Invitational at Belmont Park, where Baffert has been suspended and is suing to regain access. Du

7:02 PM ET Associated Press HAMPTON, Ga. — Kyle Busch completed a 5-for-5 sweep of what might be his final season in the Xfinity Series with a late recovery at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday. Busch finished 0.550 seconds ahead of Jeb Burton for his 102nd Xfinity victory and 222nd overall in NASCAR’s three national