UNHAPPY J.R. SMITH, CAVALIERS PART WAYS
CLEVELAND» J.R. Smith’s bumpybut-never-boring stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers is over.
The team said Tuesday that the disgruntled forward, who had requested to be traded earlier this season, “will no longer be with team as the organization works with J.R. and his representation regarding his future.”
The Cavaliers will try to trade Smith. He will make $14.7 million this season, and $3.8 million of his $15.6 million salary for next season is guaranteed.
For now, the 33-year-old Smith is without a team and that seems to suit him just fine. He has been dismayed with his reduced role as the Cavaliers rebuild in their first season since LeBron James left for the second time as a free agent.
Venus Williams settles suit over fatal crash.
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA.
Tennis star Venus Williams has settled a wrongful death lawsuit related to a fatal car crash in Florida, court records show.
Palm Beach County court records show that the case was closed Friday. Terms of the agreement between Williams and the estate of Jerome Barson, 78, weren’t included in the documents.
PGA going to Japan.
TOKYO» The PGA Tour will hold its first official tournament in Japan. And the main sponsor of next year’s event, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, is describing it as a kind of “moonshot” for golf in his country. Maezawa should know.
The founder of the Japanese fashion website Zozotown, Maezawa was announced earlier this year as the first commercial passenger to attempt a flight around the moon.
UFC champ speaking out.
UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is probably the best-known Muslim athlete in Russia, and he’s rapidly becoming a leading conservative voice at home.
When a National Guardsman was killed while apparently trying to break up a fight outside an establishment variously described as a cafe and nightclub early Sunday morning, Nurmagomedov called for a crackdown on the local nightlife in his mostly-Muslim home region of Dagestan.
USA Basketball reveals World Cup roster.
COLORADO SPRINGS
» USA Basketball has picked the 12 players who will compete in the next two-game round of qualifying for the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
Most of the picks are coming from the G League — Joel Berry II, Reggie Hearn, Scotty Hopson, John Jenkins, DeAndre Liggins, Chasson Randle, Cameron Reynolds, Richard Solomon and Travis Trice. NBA free agents Eric Moreland, Jarnell Stokes and Tyler Zeller were also chosen for the roster.
Sprinter Levine banned for four years for doping.
LONDON» British sprinter Nigel Levine, who has won world and European championship medals, has been banned for four years for doping.
The U.K. Anti-Doping agency says Levine tested positive in an out-ofcompetition test last year for the banned substance clenbuterol, which can be used to burn fat.
“Field of Dreams” driver gets probation.
DUBUQUE, IOWA
» Austin Pape of Dyersville, Iowa, accused of driving onto and damaging the eastern Iowa baseball field made famous by the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams” must serve two to five years of probation.
Singh settles suit.
Vijay Singh has settled his lawsuit against the PGA Tour over the way it investigated his use of deer antler spray. The settlement ends five years of litigation, less than a week before the case was to go to trial in New York.Terms of the settlement announced Tuesday were not disclosed.