Sports shorts Three to enter hockey HOF

Willie O’Ree didn’t know he had broken the NHL’s color barrier when he made his debut in 1958. Martin Brodeur couldn’t see the three Stanley Cup titles and jaw-dropping career ahead when he played his first game in goal for the New Jersey Devils in 1992 and, a year later, Gary Bettman didn’t know he would end up growing the league by leaps and bounds over the next 25 years as its commissioner.

All three will go into the Hockey Hall of Fame together as the headliners of a trailblazing class of 2018 that also includes diminutive forward Martin St. Louis, four-time gold-medal-winning Canadian women’s national team star Jayna Hefford and Russian Alexander Yakushev.

O’Ree was the first black player in the NHL, Bettman has overseen the league’s expansion into a multibillion-dollar industry and Brodeur piled up the most wins and shutouts of any goaltender in NHL history.

“This is an exciting class to be around because everyone has tried to take their game to the next level,” Bettman said Tuesday. team had announced the swap.

Both players are entering the final season of their contracts.

The 34-year-old Gortat is a durable, screensetting big man who has played 12 years in the NBA, the past five with Washington. He averaged 8.4 points and 7.6 rebounds last season, his lowest numbers since 2009-10, when he was with the Orlando Magic. The Wizards finished eighth in the Eastern Conference and lost in the first round of the playoffs to No. 1 seed Toronto.

Rivers, who turns 26 in August, averaged a career-best 15.1 points and four assists last season while playing for his father, Doc, the Clippers’ coach.

A body has been found at a New Jersey home where New York Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins lives.

The Bergen County prosecutor’s office says it is investigating a death at the house in Fair Lawn, about 10 miles north of MetLife Stadium. Property records show Jenkins has lived at the house the last two years.

The prosecutor’s office says the dead man isn’t the house’s owner. His identity wasn’t immediately released. The office didn’t say where Jenkins was when the death occurred.

A spokesman for the Giants says the team is monitoring the situation but didn’t comment further. He was drafted in the second round by the St. Louis Rams in 2012.