African basketball league set to go
The inaugural African basketball league will take place in Rwanda in May after a delay of more than a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The new date for the 12-team tournament was announced Monday by the NBA and FIBA, who co-run the event. The Basketball Africa League will start May 16 with the final on May 30.
The BAL is the NBA’s first collaboration to operate a league outside North America. It was scheduled to tip off last March, just as the pandemic reached Africa.
The games will now all take place at the Kigali Arena in the Rwandan capital. They were due to be spread across seven countries, with Egypt, Senegal, Nigeria, Angola, Morocco and Tunisia hosting the early stages of the tournament and Rwanda staging a Final Four.
The format has also been changed, with teams now divided into three groups of four. Eight teams will qualify for the playoffs, which will be single-elimination games.
The league’s first season will feature the national champions from Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia. Another six teams from Algeria, Cameroon, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique and Rwanda came through qualifying in 2019. MLB: Rougned Odor, the Rangers’ starting second baseman the past seven seasons, has been told he won’t be on the opening day roster after switching to third base this spring, the team said Monday. President of baseball operations Jon Daniels said the Rangers don’t have an everyday role for Odor. The 27-year-old infielder has two more seasons and $24.6 million left on his six-year contract, and a $3 million buyout for a $13.5 million team option in 2023 . ... Randy Dobnak’s road to the major leagues was so far off the traditional path he even chauffeured some ride-share customers along the way. The Twins delivered the overachieving right-hander another big-time moment in the form of a $9.25 million, five-year contract that includes three club options and could be worth $29.75 million over eight seasons.
NBA: Free-agent guard Jeff Teague is signing with the Bucks, according to ESPN. Teague, 32, was waived by the Magic after the team got him as part of a deal with the Celtics at Thursday’s trade deadline. He joined the Celtics this past offseason on a one-year deal. Teague, who made an All-Star team with the Hawks in 2014-15, made 34 appearances for the Celtics this season, starting five games and averaging 6.9 points, 2.1 assists and 1.7 rebounds. NFL: Former Browns coach Hue Jackson said owner Jimmy Haslam gave him a contract extension midway through a winless 2017 season and that he was lied to from the start about the team’s rebuilding plans. During a wide-ranging radio interview Monday with ESPN 850, Jackson said the Browns’ efforts to improve while he was with them were flawed by philosophical differences. Jackson said he was never told by either Haslam or then-general manager Sashi Brown that the Browns were in a roster teardown or else he wouldn’t have accepted the job. He was the Bengals’ offensive coordinator before being hired in Cleveland, where he went 0-16 in his second season and 3-36-1 over two-plus seasons before being fired.