Sports shorts Oklahoma star heading to NBA

Oklahoma star Trae Young is leaving for the NBA after a standout freshman season that ended with him leading the nation in scoring and assists.

The 6-foot-2 guard averaged 27.4 points and 8.7 assists this season, and many projections have him going early in the first round of the June 21 draft. He announced the move on Twitter and posted the reasons for his decision on ESPN early Tuesday, saying he was ready to put in the work needed to play in the NBA.

“I know there will be doubts again as I prepare for the draft. I don’t pretend to be ready to play in the NBA today, but I am determined to do what I’ve always done: invest in the work to prepare for the league and the incredible challenges it presents,” he wrote.

Young grabbed headlines early in the season when he scored 43 points against Oregon on Nov. 26 and less than a month later tied the NCAA record with 22 assists against Northwestern State. He later scored at least 40 points three times in a six-game span.

No more Mo Bamba for Texas.

The freshman forward said Tuesday he will leave Texas for the NBA after one season of dominant rebounding and record-setting shot blocking. In a short statement, Bamba called his one season with the Longhorns “incredibly rewarding.”

Texas pretty much knew this was coming. Bamba was ranked among the top recruits in the country when he signed with the Longhorns and was considered a likely one-anddone college player.

Still, Texas hoped to make the most out of their young star from New York City. Texas had finished last in the Big 12 in 2016-17 and the arrival of the 6-foot-11 forward with a 7-9 wing span was supposed to anchor a Longhorns revival in coach Shaka Smart’s third season.

Bamba averaged 12.9 points and 10.5 rebounds. He also set a school record for blocks in a season with 111 in 30 games as Texas went 19-15.

The dismantling of Iowa’s underperforming roster began Tuesday, as reserves Brady Ellingson and Ahmad Wagner announced that they were leaving the program.

The school says Ellingson, a redshirt junior, will graduate in May and seek to play a year as a graduate transfer at another school, while Wagner says he wants to give football a shot after three seasons playing basketball for the Hawkeyes. He hasn’t decided whether to stay at Iowa or play football at another school.

The NBA has fined Gerald Green of the Houston Rockets $25,000 for shoving an opponent and Marcus Morris of the Boston Celtics $15,000 for verbally abusing an official.

The punishments were announced Tuesday by Kiki VanDeWeghe, the league’s executive vice president for basketball operations.

Green’s fine stems from a scuffle involving him, teammate Chris Paul and Minnesota’s Gorgui Dieng in the Rockets’ 129-120 win over the Timberwolves on Sunday night.