Morant receives 8-game suspension for gun incident
Ja Morant will be back with the Memphis Grizzlies next week, after the NBA handed the All-Star guard an eight-game suspension without pay Wednesday and said his displaying a firearm at a club in suburban Denver earlier this month was “conduct detrimental to the league.”
Morant missed his sixth consecutive game when the Grizzlies played in Miami on Wednesday night. He will miss the next two games — at San Antonio on Friday and home against the Warriors on Saturday — then be eligible to return on Monday when Memphis plays
Dallas, though he is not expected to play that night.
The games he already missed will count toward the suspension, and Morant will forfeit about $669,000 in salary.
Rodgers to join Jets after deal with Pack
Aaron Rodgers said he intends to play for the New York Jets in 2023 after 18 seasons in Green Bay, and the four-time NFL MVP quarterback is waiting for the Packers to trade him.
The 39-year-old Rodgers, speaking during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on YouTube and Sirius XM, said he believes the Packers want to move on and make 2020 firstround draft pick Jordan Love their starting quarterback.
“At this point, as I sit here, I think since Friday I've made it clear that my intention was to play and my intention was to play for the New York Jets,” said Rodgers, a Cal product. “I haven't been holding anything up at this point. It's been compensation the Packers are trying to get for me, kind of digging their heels in.”
• In other NFL news, the Dallas Cowboys released running back Ezekiel Elliott, ending a seven-season run for a two-time rushing champion who never regained the form of his dominant early years.
Owner and general manager Jerry Jones said the decision was mutual to let the 27-year-old Elliott pursue another team in free agency and give the Cowboys more financial flexibility in building a roster.
While Elliott finished with 12 rushing touchdowns in a second consecutive playoff season for the Cowboys in 2022, his overall production never matched the value of a $90 million, six-year extension he signed to end a preseason-long holdout in 2019.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers agreed to a $8.5 million, oneyear contract with quarterback Baker Mayfield. Mayfield, the
No. 1 overall pick by Cleveland in 2018, joins his third team since last July. He gets an opportunity to compete with Kyle Trask to replace Tom Brady.
The Philadelphia Eagles have informed five-time Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay that he will be released.
Tennis: Frances Tiafoe defeated 10th-seeded Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-4 to reach the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Calif. The 14thseeded American will play No. 5 Daniil Medvedev, who beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 7-5. On the women's side, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka defeated sixth-seeded Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.