JAMAL CRAWFORD SIGNS TWO-YEAR DEAL WITH TIMBERWOLVES
LAS VEGAS» The Minnesota Timberwolves were in desperate need of a scorer off the bench. Jamal Crawford has made a living doing just that.
Crawford reached agreement with the Timberwolves on a two-year deal Saturday.
The cap-strapped Wolves only had the room exception left to use for the deal, worth about $4.2 million for the upcoming NBA season. The second year is a player option.
The 37-year-old Crawford averaged 12.3 points in 82 games for the Clippers last season. He was traded to Atlanta to help make room for Danilo Gallinari and reached a buyout agreement with the Hawks.
It continues an aggressive summer for the Timberwolves and president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau, who acquired three-time allstar Jimmy Butler in a trade with the Chicago Bulls, signed free-agent point guard Jeff Teague and veteran forward Taj Gibson to remake a roster that won just 31 games last season.
• The New York Knicks signed free-agent guard Tim Hardaway Jr. to a four-year, $71 million contract.
• Memphis Grizzlies rookie forward Ivan Rabb will miss the first three summer league games as he recovers from a sprained left ankle.
• Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid was fined $10,000 by the NBA for directing an obscenity at Lavar Ball on social media.
Embiid directed the obscenity at Ball, the father of Los Angeles Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball, in an Instagram Live video last week.
Busch wins Xfinity race.
SPARTA, KY.» Kyle Busch took the lead during a late caution and held on to win the rain-rescheduled 300-mile NASCAR Xfinity Series at Kentucky Speedway.
Busch, the Cup series regular starting the first of two races on the pole, led 70 laps to earn his second straight series victory at Kentucky. He also won from the pole a year ago.
Sun erases big deficit for victory. UNCASVILLE, CONN.» Jonquel Jones scored 22 points, Alyssa Thomas hit the go-ahead jumper with 36 seconds and the Connecticut Sun overcame a 22-point, second-half deficit to beat the Washington Mystics 96-92.
Thomas finished with 19 points to help Connecticut win its fourth straight game and move past Washington for the Eastern Conference lead.
Marinovich attempts comeback. Former NFL quarterback Todd Marinovich, less than one year after being arrested with drugs while naked, wants to play again and is attempting a comeback at age 48.
Sixteen years since he last played for the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League and after being released by the Los Angeles Raiders in 1993, Marinovich will don the uniform of the Socal Coyotes of the World Developmental Football League.
Marinovich, who served as an assistant coach with the Coyotes last season, said he is “superstoked” to be competing for the starting spot against 25-year-old Jacob Russell when practice begins Aug. 10 in Indio, Calif.
• Former Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers punter Max Runager died from a blood clot stemming from a recent injury, autopsy results reportedly show. Orangeburg County Chief Deputy Coroner Sean Fogle told The Times and Democrat that Runager’s injury — a fractured fibula, according to Max’s father, Geb — occurred at the Runager family home in May when Max tried to get up from a chair using a walker.
Footnotes. Louise Solheim, the wife of late Ping golf equipment founder Karsten Solheim, has died. She was 99. … Eli Tomac swept the 450 Class motos in the Southwick National for his third straight Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship event victory and fourth of the season.