San Francisco Chronicle

Basketball’s Hall of Fame to delay ceremony until ’21

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Basketball Hall of Fame chairman Jerry Colangelo told ESPN on Wednesday that the enshrineme­nt ceremony for Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan and five others will be delayed until 2021 because of the coronaviru­s pandemic.

The ceremony was to have taken place in Springfiel­d, Mass., on Aug. 29. Colangelo told ESPN that the event will be moved to the spring of 2021.

Colangelo did not respond to a request for comment from the Associated Press. There was no immediate announceme­nt from the Hall of Fame about the rescheduli­ng plan.

“We’re definitely canceling,” Colangelo told ESPN. “It’s going to have to be the first quarter of next year. We’ll meet in a couple of weeks and look at the options of how and when and where.” Baseball: Major League Baseball’s players appeared likely to propose increasing the number of regularsea­son games this year while holding to their demand for full prorated salaries, people familiar with their deliberati­ons told the AP.

A day after MLB proposed a sliding scale of salary slashing for a pandemicde­layed season in ballparks without fans, the union held a conference call that included its executive board, player representa­tives and alternate player representa­tives, the people said.

It was unclear when the union will respond to MLB’s plan, the people said. Soccer: The National Women’s Soccer League intends to start a 25game tournament featuring its nine teams on June 27 in two Utah stadiums — Zions Bank and Rio Tinto — that will be kept clear of fans to protect players from COVID19.

Games are to be televised and streamed by CBS and its online and broadcast affiliates, with a champion to be crowned July 26.

Players can opt out of the tournament, and several players from last summer’s Women’s World Cupchampio­n U.S. team are expected to do so.

Basketball: The WNBA’s Dallas Wings traded former Cal standout Kristine Anigwe and a thirdround draft pick to the Los Angeles Sparks for a secondroun­d pick.

Anigwe averaged 2.4 points and 2.4 rebounds per game as a rookie last season.

Kentucky transfer Johnny Juzang, a guard, can play for UCLA this winter, beginning the 202021 season as a sophomore.

Motor sports: Rain forced the postponeme­nt of the NASCAR Cup Series’ Alsco Uniforms 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., until Thursday. The race is scheduled to be shown on FS1 beginning at 4 p.m.

NHL: Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman says he is keeping head coach Jeff Blashill despite the team’s leaguewors­t 17495 record this season.

Obituary: Former Atlanta catcher Biff Pocoroba, who played in the 1978 AllStar Game and was a backup on the Braves team that won the NL West title in 1982, died Sunday at age 66 in the Atlanta suburb of Snellville. No cause of death was given.

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