Report: Wade, Bulls agree to a buyout

Dwayne Wade and the Bulls have reached a buyout of his contract, ESPN reported on Sept. 24.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported Wade gave back $8 million of his $23.8 million salary to reach the buyout agreement with the Bulls.

Wojnarowski also reported the Cavaliers, Heat and Spurs are the front runners to sign Wade.

NASCAR

BUSCH WINS IN NEW

HAMPSHIRE » Kyle Busch earned a berth in the second round of NASCAR’s playoffs with a dominant victory Sunday at New Hampshire Motorspeedway.

Busch slipped through smoke from a multi-car crash on the backstretch that knocked out Martin Truex Jr.’s run at a second straight win and won in the No. 18 Toyota for the third time this season.

Busch, who won from the pole, put together a complete effort and joined Truex in the next round of the playoffs. The field is cut from 16 drivers to 12 following next week’s race at Dover International Speedway.

Truex, who won the playoff opener at Chicagoland, led 112 laps early until he was caught up in a wreck that ended his shot at a sixth win.

The playoff standings were shaken up in the wake of massive multicar wreck that sent playoff drivers Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick to the garage. Harvick’s car was hit by Austin Dillon on the last lap of the second stage.

Harvick spun and smoke billowed over the track, leaving drivers almost blinded to the traffic ahead. Busch, Harvick’s teammate at Stewart-Haas Racing, slammed into Harvick.

Truex backed up to straighten himself out and instead suffered left-rear damage when he smacked another car.

Kurt Busch will likely have to win next week at Dover to advance to the second round.

Baseball

JUDGE NEARS MCGWIRE’S

RECORD » Aaron Judge homered twice for the Yankees, increasing his AL-leading total to 48 in a loss to the Blue Jays Sept. 24.

The total is one shy of the major-league rookie record set by Mark McGwire in 1987. Judge has 11 home runs in September.

“It’s pretty special what he’s done at this point already,” manager Joe Girardi said. “It would be another nice little honor to have in his cap.”

WNBA

L.A. TAKES GAME 1 OF FINALS » Chelsea Gray got a sliver of daylight and let a 14-foot jumper fly — Game 1 of the WNBA Finals and what would have been a dubious piece of history for the Los Angeles Sparks hanging in the balance.

When it splashed through there may have been a few sighs of relief sprinkled in among those celebratory high fives.

Gray’s pull-up jumper with 2 seconds delivered an 85-84 victory on Sunday over the Minnesota Lynx in the kind of edge-of-your-seat finish that no one saw coming when the Sparks led 28-2 in the first quarter.

Gray scored a careerhigh 27 points and Candace Parker added 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Sparks, who joined their NFL brethren by sitting out the national anthem. The Sparks led 28-2 in the first quarter and 78-66 with five minutes to play, but gave it all back after a charge from the Lynx.

Golf

THOMAS WINS FEDEX

CUP » Xander Schauffele ended his rookie season by winning the Tour Championship. Justin Thomas ended the best season with the FedEx Cup.

Schauffele, a 23-yearold from San Diego who was worried about keeping his PGA Tour card just over three months ago, swirled in a 3-foot birdie putt on the final hole Sunday for a 2-under 68 and a one-shot victory over Thomas.

He became the first PGA Tour rookie to win the Tour Championship since it began in 1987.

Thomas never had more reason to celebrate finishing second. He capped off a season of five victories, including his first major at the PGA Championship, by claiming the FedEx Cup and the $10 million bonus.

It was the first time in eight years that two players celebrated at East Lake.

Tiger Woods won the FedEx Cup and Phil Mickelson won the Tour Championship in 2009.