SPORTS BRIEFS

Ex-Warriors player doesn’t want 2017 championship ring

Matt Barnes capped his 14-year NBA career in storybook fashion. After being put on waivers by the Sacramento Kings, he was picked up by the Golden State Warriors for the stretch run and was part of the 2017 team that defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals. But Barnes doesn’t consider himself an NBA champion.

In fact, he never even picked up his championship ring.

On his “All the Smoke” podcast last week, Barnes revealed the ring is still sitting in the office of Golden State vice president of communications Raymond Ridder.

“I came in when (Kevin Durant) went down, playing a consistent 20-25 minutes. The game KD comes back, I get hurt maybe a week before the playoffs and I’m out of it,” Barnes said. “I got a free ride, I got a free ring.”

NY governor says pro teams can resume training

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says teams in his state can return to their facilities for training after a pause of more than two months.

“Starting today, all the New York professional sports leagues will be able to begin training camps,” the Democratic governor said during a news conference Sunday.

The New York City area was one of the hardest-hit parts of the U.S. by the coronavirus pandemic, but COVID-19 deaths and new infections in the state have been trending downward. .

Sutton, Hall of Fame basketball coach, dies at 84

Eddie Sutton waited so long to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He couldn’t hang on long enough to make it to the ceremony.

The man who led three teams to the Final Four and was the first coach to take four schools to the NCAA Tournament, died Saturday. He was 84.

Sutton’s family said in a statement he died of natural causes at home in the Tulsa, Oklahoma, area, surrounded by his three sons and their families. His wife, Patsy, died in 2013.