The TorontoBlue Jays have agreed to terms with RHP Luke Bard on a Minor League contract with an invite to 2023 Major League Spring Training.
Bard, 32, appeared in nine Major League games while pitching for the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees last season, combining for a 1.80 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP across 15.0 innings. The 6-3, 200 lb. righty was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the first round of the 2012 draft and made his debut with the Los Angeles Angels in 2018. The native of Charlotte, NC, has pitched in parts of four MLB seasons, going 4-4 with a 4.44 ERA.
Additionally, the Blue Jays have invited internal non-roster C Jamie Ritchie to 2023 Major League Spring Training.
ATLANTA, Ga. – The WNBA’s Atlanta Dream were awarded center Iliana Rupert on a waiver claim, the organization announced today.
Rupert (roo-PAIR) was drafted by the Las Vegas Aces with the 12th overall pick (first round) in the 2021 WNBA Draft and played her first season in the league in 2022. She averaged 3.8 points and 2.3 rebounds in 17 regular season games, and played in seven games in the Aces’ postseason run to the 2022 WNBA Championship.
With Virtus Segafredo Bologna in Italy this season, Rupert has averaged 13.1 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 22 games. She competed with the French National Team at the FIBA Women’s World Cup in 2022, averaging 6.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists in six games as France advanced to the Quarterfinal round in the tournament.
Luka Doncic and new running mate Kyrie Irving could play together for the first time when the Dallas Mavericks battle the host Sacramento Kings on Saturday night.
Irving was acquired from the Brooklyn Nets earlier this week, and Doncic has missed the past four games with a heel injury. Doncic indicated Friday that he is hopeful of playing in the second contest of back-to-back matchups between the clubs.
Irving recorded 25 points and 10 assists on Friday night as the Mavericks defeated the Kings 122-114. Dallas led by as many as 24 points and never trailed.
Irving averaged 24.5 points and 7.5 assists in his first two games with the Mavericks.
He was sharper in his team debut on Wednesday when he scored 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting. He was just 5 of 14 from the field on Friday but made all 12 of his free-throw attempts.
Two games into his Dallas tenure, Irving sees promising times ahead.
Though some observers are expecting Doncic to have a tough transition adjusting to Irving — another player who operates best with the ball in his hands — the NBA’s leading scorer at 33.4 points per game doesn’t see issues on the horizon.
Dallas had seven players score in double digits on Friday while winning its third straight game.
Sacramento got off to a horrendous start and trailed 45-25 after the opening quarter.
The Kings rallied to trail by six in the final stanza before the Mavericks held off the charge.
Kings standout De’Aaron Fox, who was named an All-Star reserve earlier in the day, had 33 points, six rebounds and five assists.
The Kings were back at home for the first time since Jan. 25. They went 4-3 on a road trip that concluded Wednesday in Houston but Fox didn’t want to use jetlag as an excuse.
Keegan Murray made 4 of 5 from behind the arc and Terence Davis hit 3 of 4. The rest of the squad missed 16 of 18 attempts.
Sacramento All-Star big man Domantas Sabonis contributed 18 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.
Kings guard Malik Monk (right ankle) departed in the third quarter and his availability for Saturday is unknown.
The Cleveland Cavaliers will face a short turnaround for Saturday night’s visit from the Chicago Bulls.
Cleveland’s game Friday night, a 118-107 victory at New Orleans, ended after midnight Eastern time.
But for the hot Cavaliers, nothing seems to faze them. They are looking to stretch their winning streak to six — and are looking out for each other.
The Cavaliers raced to a 38-28 lead after the first quarter and maintained the spark for much of the night, shooting 56.5 percent from the field for the game.
Donovan Mitchell, who sat out the previous game to rest a groin injury, scored 30 points. Evan Mobley (28 points, 13 rebounds) and Jarrett Allen (20 points, 11 rebounds) added double-doubles.
Mitchell scored 21 points in the first quarter and led five Cavaliers in double figures. LeVert (13 points) and Darius Garland (11) rounded out a balanced attack. Both also helped contribute to it without scoring, combining for 16 of the team’s 28 assists.
Cleveland is aiming to sweep the season series from Chicago after previous victories of 32, one and 11 points.
Hoping to salvage a victory from a three-game trip that started with losses to Memphis on Tuesday and to Brooklyn two night later, the Bulls wouldn’t mind seeing a less-than-peak version of Mitchell.
The All-Star scorched visiting Chicago for a franchise-record 71 points on Jan. 2 to key Cleveland’s 145-134 overtime victory, notching the most points by an NBA player in nearly 17 years.
Still in contention for a playoff spot, the Bulls stand 4 1/2 games out of the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference after the loss to the Nets. Still, players know opportunities are fading as the schedule approaches the All-Star break, and they want more than the play-in spot they currently occupy.
Zach LaVine led four Bulls in double figures against the Nets, scoring 38 points on 16-for-25 shooting. Nikola Vucevic had 15 points and 17 rebounds for his seventh consecutive double-double.
The Cavaliers have won six of the past 10 meetings between the teams overall and are 59-54 all-time in home matchups against the Bulls.
New York is likely to get better on Saturday night, which is a necessity — according to point guard and team leader Jalen Brunson — for the Knicks to compete with the elite teams of the Eastern Conference.
Trade-deadline acquisition Josh Hart is expected to debut for the Knicks against the visiting Utah Jazz on Saturday.
Whether Russell Westbrook makes the Jazz better following his acquisition by them may not be determined for some time.
A pair of retooled teams are slated to complete back-to-back sets Saturday night.
Hart was in Philadelphia with the Knicks but didn’t play Friday night, when New York squandered a 12-point, third-quarter lead in a 119-108 loss to the 76ers.
The visiting Jazz overcame a 13-point deficit in the final six minutes to beat the Toronto Raptors 122-116.
Hart’s absence was felt before he even put on a uniform for the undermanned Knicks, who led by double digits in each of the first three quarters but were outscored 45-22 over the final 18:05.
Hart, whom the Knicks acquired from the Portland Trail Blazers in a four-team trade on Thursday, should provide some much-needed versatility for New York, which played just nine players on Friday and will be without center Mitchell Robinson (broken right thumb) until at least the end of the month.
Hart is averaging 9.5 points, a career-high 8.2 rebounds and 3.9 assists this season. The latter figure is just shy of the career-best 4.1 assists he averaged in 2021-22.
There are few playmakers better than Westbrook, the NBA’s all-time leader in triple-doubles with 198. Yet Westbrook was immediately viewed as a buyout candidate when he was acquired by the rebuilding Jazz from the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday as part of a three-way trade in which the Lakers got Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt from the Jazz and D’Angelo Russell from the Minnesota Timberwolves.
However, the Jazz and Westbrook have had multiple conversations in which he reportedly has expressed an interest in playing for Utah.
The Jazz, who appeared headed for the NBA lottery after trading starters Royce O’Neale, Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell last summer, continued their resilient season by ending Friday’s game on a 22-4 run.
Utah (28-29) is in a virtual tie with the Oklahoma City Thunder (27-28) for 10th place in the Western Conference and the final spot in the play-in tournament.
The Atlanta Hawks will look to continue their ascent in the Eastern Conference standings when they host the reeling San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night.
It also will be the first time Hawks guard Dejounte Murray will face the Spurs following an offseason trade that brought him to Atlanta.
The Hawks have won three of their past five games, most recently a 116-107 home victory over the shorthanded Phoenix Suns on Thursday. Trae Young racked up 36 points and 12 assists in the victory, which allowed Atlanta to sweep the season series against the Suns and move back to the .500 mark as the Hawks sit in eighth place in the conference.
Thursday’s win came in the first game of a stretch in which the Hawks play seven of eight contests at home. Atlanta will play 16 of its final 26 regular-season games in its own arena.
Young scored 25 points in the second half on Thursday. Murray finished with 19 points while John Collins added 16, Onyeka Okongwu collected 11 points and 11 rebounds, and Clint Capela pulled down 17 rebounds in the victory, which snapped a two-game losing streak for the Hawks.
Atlanta had a 19-point lead midway through the third quarter but endured a sloppy final 18 minutes, eventually relying on Young and defense down the stretch.
Both Atlanta and Phoenix used only nine players Thursday as the teams awaited the completion of trades. Atlanta will be bolstered on Saturday by the addition of Garrison Mathews and Bruno Fernando, acquired in a deal with the Houston Rockets, and Saddiq Bey, garnered in a trade with the Detroit Pistons.
Saturday’s game will be the second of a road back-to-back for the Spurs, who are three contests into their season-long nine-game trip. San Antonio saw its losing streak extend to a season-high-tying 11 games with a 138-131, double-overtime setback in Detroit on Friday.
San Antonio was playing its first game since acquiring Devonte’ Graham from the New Orleans Pelicans and Khem Birch from the Toronto Raptors. Graham flourished just hours after joining San Antonio, scoring a season-high 31 points, the most ever by a Spurs’ player in his debut.
Zach Collins added 29 points and Malaki Branham had 27, both career highs, with Keita Bates-Diop contributing 15 points in the defeat. Collins also had 11 rebounds and Stanley Johnson 10.
The Spurs played on Friday without starters Keldon Johnson (ankle), Tre Jones (foot), and Jeremy Sochan (back).
Popovich said he couldn’t have asked for anything more from his makeshift lineup.
The Indiana Pacers will try to pull out of a lengthy tailspin on Saturday night when they visit the Washington Wizards for the second half of a back-to-back set.
The Pacers dropped their third straight decision and their 14th in the past 16 games when they fell 117-104 to the Phoenix Suns on Friday in Indianapolis. Indiana trailed for the duration and was down by as many as 26 points in the fourth quarter, unable to overcome poor shooting from the floor.
Indiana’s 36-of-85 performance from the floor (42.4 percent) resulted in the Pacers scoring less than their season-long average of 114.4 points per game for a sixth consecutive contest.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said he believes defensive woes are causing the team’s inconsistent scoring.
Mathurin scored a team-high 22 points off the bench on Friday.
Washington enters Saturday’s contest fresh off ending its own three-game skid with a 118-104 victory over the visiting Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday.
Kristaps Porzingis scored 36 points in the win, Bradley Beal recorded 17 points and 10 assists, and Deni Avdija contributed 20 points and 13 rebounds.
The victory came with Kyle Kuzma sidelined for a second consecutive game while recovering from an ankle injury. Kuzma told reporters on Friday he has “to make sure I’m 100 (percent) to finish the season strong.”
Kuzma will be sidelined again on Saturday, but Monte Morris is due to return from a back injury. Otherwise, Washington’s roster is stable after a chaotic week around the league at the trade deadline.
The Wizards moved Rui Hachimura to the Los Angeles Lakers for Kendrick Nunn on Jan. 23 but otherwise stood firm on their squad.
Prior to the three-game skid with losses to the Portland Trail Blazers, Brooklyn Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington had won six straight. The Wizards have climbed to 10th place in the Eastern Conference, good for the last play-in spot if the regular season ended on Friday.
Indiana’s dramatic slide, which began on Jan. 11, has relegated the Pacers to 12th place in the Eastern Conference heading into the Saturday matchup. All-Star Tyrese Haliburton was absent from the lineup for 10 games during that stretch due to knee and elbow injuries, and the Pacers lost nine of those contests.
Haliburton, the NBA leader in assists at 10.3 per game, returned to action on Feb. 2, but the Pacers are 1-4 with him back in the lineup.
The Saturday matchup will be the last of the regular season between the Pacers and Wizards, with Indiana having won two of the previous three meetings.
* More than half of Saturday’s 14 games start before 7 p.m. ET, including two airing on ABC and ESPN+ as well as one featuring NHL scoring leader Connor McDavid looking to extend his overall and road point streak to 15 and 17 contests, respectively.
* Saturday also marks Dustin Brown Night at Crypto.com Arena, with the Kings set to unveil a statue of their former captain and retire his No. 23 in a pre-game ceremony.
* Evgeni Malkin (463-737—1,200) collected two assists Friday and became just the fourth active player to reach the 1,200-point milestone.
* Vladimir Tarasenko found the back of the net in the opening three minutes of his Rangers debut and joined a short list of players to accomplish the feat with the club.
SATURDAY HIGHLIGHTED BY LIGHTNING-STARS, CAPITALS-BRUINS ON ABC, ESPN+ Saturday’s slate features two matinees airing on ABC and ESPN+, with the Lightning (33-16-2, 68 points) squaring off against the Central Division-leading Stars (30-13-10, 70 points) at American Airlines Center followed by the Capitals (27-20-6, 60 points) vying for a victory versus the League-leading Bruins (39-7-5, 83 points) at TD Garden.
* A total of 21 players who dressed at least one game in the 2020 Final remain with Tampa Bay or Dallas (min. 1 GP in 2022-23): Zach Bogosian, Erik Cernak, Anthony Cirelli, Victor Hedman, Alex Killorn, Nikita Kucherov, Pat Maroon, Brayden Point, Mikhail Sergachev, Steven Stamkos and Andrei Vasilevskiy for the visitors as well as Jamie Benn, Denis Gurianov, Joel Hanley, Miro Heiskanen, Roope Hintz, Joel Kiviranta, Esa Lindell, Jake Oettinger, Joe Pavelski and Tyler Seguin for the hosts. Lightning forward Corey Perry appeared in all six contests with the Stars, which included scoring the double-overtime winner in Game 5.
* Boston can become the fastest team in League history to reach 40 wins in a season, eclipsing the current mark set by the 2015-16 Capitals (40-9-4 in 53 GP). Eight players who dressed at least one game with Washington during that campaign remain with the team (min. 1 GP in 2022-23): Nicklas Backstrom, John Carlson, Marcus Johansson, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov, T.J. Oshie, Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson.
ROAD TO 2023 STADIUM SERIES CONTINUES FOR HURRICANES The Hurricanes (34-9-8, 76 points) return to action when they put the NHL’s longest active win streak on the line (7-0-0 since Jan. 19) against the Rangers (30-14-8, 68 points) – winners of four straight. Saturday is one of Carolina’s three games remaining on the schedule before it faces Washington in the 2023 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series at Carter-Finley Stadium on Feb. 18.
* Sebastian Aho (Rauma, Finland) enters Saturday on a six-game goal streak and sits one contest shy of matching the second-longest stretch in franchise history (Ray Ferraro: 7 GP in 1988-89 w/ HFD). Should he find the back of the net in the 2023 Stadium Series, he would become just the fourth Finnish-born player to score in an outdoor game following Kasperi Kapanen (2023 Winter Classic w/ PIT), Rasmus Ristolainen (2018 Winter Classic w/ BUF) and Erik Haula (2016 Stadium Series w/ MIN).
* Everything you need to know about the League’s 28th franchise to appear in an outdoor game can be found in our latest #NHLStats Pack as well as our Interactive Information Guide.
LOS ANGELES SET TO HONOR BROWN BY UNVEILING STATUE, RETIRING HIS No. 23
* Brown will become the third former Kings player to have a standalone statue outside the venue at Star Plaza, joining Wayne Gretzky and Luc Robitaille. The area is also home to a statue of longtime team broadcaster Bob Miller as well as the Los Angeles Kings Monument, which features Brown alongside other past-and-present franchise icons.
* Brown’s franchise-record games played total included 1,158 with current Los Angeles captain Anze Kopitar, which marks the third most by a pair of NHL teammates. Brown, Kopitar and Jonathan Quick contested 15 seasons together dating to when the latter debuted in 2007-08, tied for the second highest total by a trio of teammates in League history.
MALKIN REACHES MILESTONE WITH 1,200TH CAREER POINT Evgeni Malkin (0-2—2) assisted on two of six Pittsburgh goals to reach 1,200 career points, while Pierre-Olivier Joseph (2-1—3) put up a three-point performance as the Penguins (26-16-9, 61 points) claimed a victory in Anaheim and leapfrogged the idle Capitals (27-20-6, 60 points) for the first Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.
*Malkin (463-737—1,200 in 1,032 GP) became the third player in Penguins history to reach the 1,200-point milestone, joining Mario Lemieux (690-1,033—1,723 in 915 GP) and teammate Sidney Crosby (541-930—1,471 in 1,159 GP). He also became the fourth active player to reach the mark.
*Joseph became the third Penguins defenseman in the past 30 years to record multiple three-point games before age 24. The others: Kris Letang (4 GP) and Ryan Whitney (2 GP).
TARASENKO TALLIES IN RANGERS DEBUT AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN In his team debut in front of the Blueshirts faithful, Vladimir Tarasenko (1-0—1) wasted no time in finding the back of the net, needing just 2:49 to score the first of his club’s six goals en route to a Rangers victory at Madison Square Garden.
* Tarasenko, who was acquired by New York from St. Louis on Feb. 9, became the first Rangers player to score in his team debut since Braden Schneider (1-0—1 on Jan. 13, 2022).
* Adam Fox (0-1—1), who became just the fifth defenseman to reach the 50-point mark this season (10-40—50 in 52 GP), recorded his third straight campaign with 40-plus assists and became the fourth blueliner in Rangers history to achieve the feat, joining Brian Leetch (4x), Brad Park (4x) and James Patrick (3x).
GOALTENDERS HIGHLIGHTED IN FRIDAY’S #NHLSTATS: LIVE UPDATES The latest edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates featured noteworthy performances from Toronto’s Ilya Samsonov and Chicago’s Jaxson Stauber, who both backstopped their teams to victory Friday:
* Stauber made 23 saves to help the Blackhawks earn their sixth multi-goal comeback win of the season, tied with the Canucks, Devils and Ducks for the most among all teams. He became the first goaltender in franchise history to earn a win in each of his first three NHL games.
*Samsonov turned aside all 30 shots he faced to help the Maple Leafs defeat the Blue Jackets in the first game of a back-to-back set between the two clubs. Toronto (32-13-8, 72 points), which bolstered its lead over Tampa Bay (33-16-2, 68 points) for second place in the Atlantic Division, will host Columbus at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.
The Golden State Warriors get an opportunity to congratulate the NBA’s new scoring king, welcome back an old friend and take a glance at the new-look Los Angeles Lakers all at the same time when the Pacific Division rivals meet Saturday night in San Francisco.
The head-to-head is the second of the season between teams separated by three wins in the current duel for lower-end playoff spots or play-in berths in the Western Conference, but the first since LeBron James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the No. 1 spot on the all-time scoring list.
James had 31 points when the Lakers lost 123-109 in San Francisco in the second game of the season.
He scored 38 to break the scoring record on Tuesday night against Oklahoma City. His total stands at 38,390, three more than Abdul-Jabbar.
The 38-year-old James sat out Thursday’s 115-106 home loss to the Milwaukee Bucks with a sore ankle, but likely will return against the Warriors as the Lakers quickly attempt to fold new players into a run at the playoffs over the final 26 games of the regular season.
The Lakers added D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt and Mo Bamba at the trade deadline, having already picked up Rui Hachimura earlier.
Surely, the club didn’t make the type of impact the Phoenix Suns accomplished with the acquisition of Kevin Durant, but Los Angeles coach Darvin Ham assured the goal remains the same: to win a championship.
That would include the Warriors, the defending champs who brought back a key contributor to their 2022 title run when they reacquired Gary Payton II from the Portland Trail Blazers in a four-team deal that saw Golden State send James Wiseman to the Detroit Pistons.
Payton left the Warriors in the offseason for a more lucrative offer from the Trail Blazers. But after having core-muscle surgery and missing the first 35 games of the season, then averaging just 4.1 in 15 games, Portland was willing to cash him in for five second-round picks and Atlanta Hawks export Kevin Knox.
Payton joins a Warriors team that has won its last four home games.
Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole have led the way in the injury absence of Stephen Curry. Thompson had 12 3-pointers in a 42-point explosion in Golden State’s most recent home contest, a 141-114 win over Oklahoma City, and Poole had 38 in the Warriors’ last outing, a 125-112 loss at Portland on Wednesday night.
The Miami Heat will look to record a ninth straight win in their home state on Saturday night when they visit the Orlando Magic.
The Heat recorded eight of those victories in Miami, including a 110-105 decision against the Magic on Jan. 27.
Jimmy Butler, who scored 29 points in that game, converted an alley-oop pass from Gabe Vincent with three-tenths of a second remaining in the Heat’s 97-95 win over the visiting Houston Rockets on Friday.
Butler scored two points in each of the first three quarters before contributing 10 of the Heat’s final 13 points in the victory.
Herro collected 31 points, nine rebounds and eight assists on Friday. He made 5 of 10 attempts from beyond the arc, including a corner 3-pointer with 24 seconds left to give Miami a 93-91 lead.
Bam Adebayo recorded 20 points and nine rebounds versus the Rockets. He had 20 points, seven assists and six boards in the previous meeting with Orlando.
Vincent was inserted into the Heat’s starting lineup on Friday in place of Kyle Lowry, who has missed three straight games due to left knee soreness. Lowry also will sit out the Saturday game.
Injuries aside, Miami elected to stand pat at the NBA’s trade deadline. Coach Erik Spoelstra said the players didn’t appear fazed by the organization’s lack of movement during the Friday morning shootaround.
Orlando enters the Saturday clash with three wins in its past four games, including a 115-104 decision against the Western Conference-leading Denver Nuggets on Thursday.
Wendell Carter Jr. scored 19 points and reserve Cole Anthony collected 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists versus the Nuggets.
Anthony wasn’t shy about applauding the efforts of the Magic’s bench players, who combined for 56 points. Reserve big man Bol Bol matched Anthony with 17 points.
Anthony joined Franz Wagner and rookie Paolo Banchero in scoring 19 points apiece during the previous meeting with Miami.
Orlando’s Gary Harris is listed as questionable for the Saturday game because of right adductor soreness. He sat out on Thursday due to the injury.
