DURANT, NETS STILL TANGLE
Kevin Durant has again told Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai that he wants to be traded, reiterating a request he first made nearly six weeks ago, a person with knowledge of the matter confirmed Monday night.
Durant also told Tsai that he has concerns about the Nets’ direction under coach Steve Nash and general manager Sean Marks, said the person.
“Our front office and coaching staff have my support,” Tsai tweeted Monday night. “We will make decisions in the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets.”
This is the latest phase of a saga that began June 30, when Durant told the Nets he wanted a trade just as this summer’s free agent period was beginning. Durant isn’t a free agent; he has four years and $198 million remaining on his contract with the Nets, who will undoubtedly demand a haul of players and draft picks in any trade agreement for the 12-time All-Star, four-time scoring champion, three-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time NBA champion.
Durant has spent three seasons with Brooklyn, not playing in the first of those years while he recovered from a torn Achilles. He averaged 29.9 points in 55 games last season, after leading the U.S. to Olympic gold at the Tokyo Games last summer.
College football
A day after Oklahoma assistant head football coach Cale Gundy announced his resignation, the school said that Gundy uttered a racially charged word multiple times during a film session last week.
Gundy, who had been with the program as an assistant since 1999, announced his resignation in a social media post late Sunday, and the school confirmed it with a statement shortly thereafter.
“Coach Gundy resigned from the program because he knows what he did was wrong,” first-year Sooners coach Brent Venables said. “He chose to read aloud to his players, not once but multiple times, a racially charged word that is objectionable to everyone, and does not reflect the attitude and values of our university or our football program. This is not acceptable. Period.”
Gundy apologized in his post and explained his resignation. He said he noticed a player was distracted while he was supposed to be taking notes, so he picked up the athlete’s iPad and read aloud the words on the screen. He acknowledged that he said a word that he “should never — under any circumstance — have uttered,” and said he was “horrified” when he realized what he had done.
Venables said L’Damian Washington, who had been an offensive analyst, will coach receivers on an interim basis.
Tennis
Serena Williams earned her first win in more than a year by beating Nuria Parrizas-Diaz 6-3, 6-4 at the National Bank Open.
It’s just the second tournament of the season for the 40-year-old Williams, who returned to competition at Wimbledon just over a month ago. The 23-time Grand Slam champion fell in the first round to Harmony
in three sets there.
Tan NHL
The Boston Bruins are getting the gang back together, signing captain Patrice Bergeron and center David Krejci — both members of their 2011 Stanley Cup championship team — to one-year deals.
Bergeron is fourth on the Original Six franchise’s alltime scoring list with 982 points, and Krejci is ninth with 730.
The Bruins also announced a one-year deal for forward Pavel Zacha with a cap hit of $3.5 million.
• The Arizona Coyotes signed restricted free agent forward Lawson Crouse toa five-year contract. The 6foot-4, 215-pound forward signed hours before a arbitration hearing.
WNBA
Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi will miss the remainder of the season with a quadriceps strain.
Taurasi missed the last two games with the injury and the team announced that the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer will not be available as the Mercury fight for a 10th straight playoff appearance.
Taurasi averaged 16.7 points and 3.9 assists this season, her 17th in the WNBA.
• Marina Mabrey scored a career-high 31 points, Teaira McCowan had 16 points and nine rebounds, and the Dallas Wings beat the New York Liberty 86-77 to clinch a playoff berth.
Also
Brooke Seay of San Diego shot a 4-under 68 at Chambers Bay Golf Course in Washington to stand two shots off the lead in a tie for fifth place after the first round of the USGA Women’s Amateur Championship. Alice Ziyi Zhao of China leads at 6 under.
• Ninth-seeded Katie Codd of Carlsbad moved into the third-round of the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s National Championships with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Kelsey Phillips of Excelsior, Minn., at Barnes Tennis Center.
• Argentina defender Marcos Senesi signed with Bournemouth two days after the newly promoted club made a winning start in the English Premier League.