Off the wire

BASKETBALL

Kanter joints Trail Blazers

Center Enes Kanter has joined the Portland Trail Blazers. Kanter was waived by the New York Knicks along with Wesley Matthews after the trade deadline last week. Kanter announced Wednesday on Twitter that he had signed with the Blazers for the rest of the season. Kanter was once a starter for the Knicks but fell out of the rotation when the team — with the worst record in the league — turned its focus to younger players. The Knicks could not find a deal for Kanter before the deadline. The center from Turkey came to the Knicks from Oklahoma City in the Carmelo Anthony trade in September 2017 and averaged 14 points and 10.8 rebounds in 115 games over two seasons. He had become frustrated after first losing his starting spot and then any spot at all in recent weeks.

Embiid fined $25K

Joel Embiid has been fined $25,000 by the NBA for public criticism of referees that included profanity. The penalty was announced Wednesday by Kiki VanDeWeghe, the NBA’s executive vice president of basketball operations. Embiid’s comments came at the end of his postgame interview after Philadelphia’s 112-109 home loss to Boston on Tuesday.

BASEBALL Nola, Phillies sign deal

Aaron Nola has agreed to a multiyear contract extension with the Philadelphia Phillies, the team announced Wednesday. Nola will sign a four-year, $45 million deal, according to a league source, effectively covering his three seasons of arbitration eligibility and one year of free agency. The contract includes a team option for the 2023 season, in which Nola will turn 30. The 25-year-old ace had been seeking a $6.75 million salary this season, while the Phillies countered with a $4.5 million offer. The sides were scheduled to go to an arbitration hearing today. Nola emerged as an elite starter last season, posting a 2.37 ERA in 33 starts for the Phillies. He struck out 224 in 2121/3 innings and finished third in the majors with 0.975 walks/hits per innings pitched. He also finished third in the National League Cy Young voting, behind the New York Mets’ Jacob deGrom and two-time winner Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals.

Royals sign Diekman

The Kansas City Royals signed veteran reliever Jake Diekman to a $2.25 million, one-year contract on Wednesday that includes a mutual option for the 2020 season with a $500,000 buyout. The Royals made room on the 40-man roster by placing right-hander Jesse Hahn on the 60-day injured list. Hahn is still recovering from Tommy John surgery and is not expected before opening day. Diekman, 32, spent last season with the Rangers and Diamondbacks, making 71 appearances with a career-worst 4.73 ERA. But he’s shown shutdown ability during a seven-year career that included a stop in Philadelphia, going 14-15 with a 3.75 ERA. The Royals’ bullpen was a mess all last season, and there are plenty of jobs up for grabs this spring training. Kevin McCarthy and Wily Peralta are the only safe bets to make the team.

Cards’ Wainwright healthy

Adam Wainwright said Wednesday after the St. Louis Cardinals’ first workout in Jupiter, Fla., that he is healthy and excited to play again. Wainwright had minor elbow surgery after the 2017 season and was just 2-4 with a 4.46 ERA last year, appearing in only eight regular-season games. His average fastball velocity dropped 1 mph to 89.75 mph, down from 92 mph in 2013, when he went 19-9 and helped the Cardinals reach the World Series. “I’m excited to play baseball again without having to flinch every time I throw a ball,” Wainwright said. Coming off a $97.5 million, five-year contract that paid $19.5 million last season, the 37-year-old right-hander agreed to a $2 million, one-year contract that allows him to earn $8 million in performance bonuses as a starting pitcher, $3 million for relief appearances and $4 million more for games finished. Wainwright is scheduled to throw his first bullpen session today.

Ellsbury late to show

New York Yankees outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury didn’t suit up for a game last season because of a variety of injuries. This year he won’t even make it to spring training on time. Manager Aaron Boone disclosed toward the end of his spring kickoff news conference Wednesday that Ellsbury, 35, whose string of injuries began early in the spring last year, wouldn’t arrive in Tampa until sometime in March. “Some issues he had with his plantar fasciitis that kind of crept up as he was going through his rehab this winter slowed him a little bit,” Boone said. “We feel he’s making really good progress but he’ll stay in Arizona [where Ellsbury lives] for at least the next couple of weeks.”

Cubs’ network details

The Chicago Cubs and Sinclair Broadcast Group are launching a regional sports network in 2020 that will be the team’s exclusive TV home. The Cubs said Wednesday the Marquee Sports Network will carry live game broadcasts and pregame and postgame coverage. Cubs games will be in one place, instead of split between two broadcast stations. The Cubs signed five-year contracts with WGN and WLS in 2014 ahead of plans for the network launch in 2020. Sinclair President and CEO Chris Ripley told the Chi- cago Tribune that negotiations are underway to sign up cable and satellite providers and streaming services for the network. Crane Kenney, the Cubs’ president of business operations, expressed confidence fans will have many ways to watch, saying the team expects “to have more distribution with the new network than we have today.” At least nine other major league teams or their owners have equity stakes in regional sports networks, including YES (Yankees), NESN (Red Sox), MASN (Orioles, Nationals), NBC Sports Bay Area (Giants), NBC Sports Philadelphia (Phillies), SportsNet New York (Mets), Fox Sports San Diego (Padres) and Spectrum SportsNet LA (Dodgers). In addition, the Toronto Blue Jays are owned by Rogers Communications Inc., the parent company of Sportsnet.

GOLF

Garcia apologizes again

Sergio Garcia apologized in a statement and in person to the players in his group when he damaged five greens at the Saudi International. He apologized in a social media post and in an interview at his locker Wednesday at Riviera. “I’m sure I’m going to hear it throughout the year,” Garcia told The Associated Press in his first interview since he was disqualified Feb. 2 for the damage he did to five greens out of frustration early in the third round. “My job is to make sure I deal with it the best way possible, and show them that I can grow, that I can move forward and I can be who I am in the right way,” he said. “I want to face my mistakes head on. My job is to go out there and enjoy my game and show everyone that no matter what, I can be the best behaved guy in the classroom. … I just hope I can maintain their respect.” The Genesis Open in Los Angeles is his first event since he lost his head early in the third round at the Saudi International, which he attributed to a personal issue that put him in a bad frame of mind at the start of the week and greens at Royal Greens in Saudi Arabia that were new, grainy and slow.

BOXING

Joshua coming to America

The Anthony Joshua roadshow is finally heading to the United States. The world heavyweight champion will make his American boxing debut when he defends his WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO titles against Jarrell Miller at Madison Square Garden in New York on June 1. His 22 professional fights have all taken place in Britain. He won them all, 21 by knockout. His last five fights have been in stadiums, with nearly 400,000 spectators attending in total. The most high profile was against Wladimir Klitschko in front of 90,000 spectators at Wembley Stadium in April 2017. Miller is also undefeated after winning 23 of his 24 fights.