Trump interview with ESPN unlikely

An ESPN executive says the network has been in contact with the White House about interviewing President Donald Trump during the College Football Playoff championship game Monday night, but indications are it will not happen.

Stephanie Druley, ESPN senior vice president for events and studio programs, says she does not “get the sense” Trump will speak with ESPN announcers during the broadcast of the Alabama-Georgia game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Trump criticized ESPN in October in response to “SportsCenter” host Jemelle Hill tweeting the president was a “white supremacist.”

Druley says requesting an interview with Trump is not an attempt to reconcile past issues the White House has had with ESPN. She says anytime a president attends a sporting event the network is covering it wants to speak with the president.

NBA

CARLISLE BLASTS LAVAR BALL » Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle responded angrily Sunday after LaVar Ball’s claim that the Los Angeles Lakers no longer want to play for coach Luke Walton.

Ball, the outspoken father of Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball, made his latest outlandish statement to ESPN for a story published Sunday. He said Walton is too young to coach and “has no control” of the team — comments that Walton said didn’t bother him, but ones that clearly angered some of his NBA coaching colleagues.

Carlisle, the National Basketball Coaches Association president, called the article “a disgrace” and LaVar Ball’s words an “ignorant distraction.”

“ESPN is an NBA partner, and they’ve been a great one,” Carlisle said. “Part of that partnership is the coaches do a lot of things to help them with access, interviews, all those kinds of things, and in exchange for that, they should back up the coaches. Printing an article where the father of an NBA player has an opinion that’s printed as anything legitimate erodes trust. It erodes the trust that we built with ESPN, and our coaches are upset.

“Luke Walton does not deserve that,” Carlisle added.

The Lakers were playing host to Atlanta on Sunday night, going into the game on a nine-game losing streak. At the team’s morning shootaround, Walton said he is certain that he has the support of the Lakers’ front office and that he was mostly concerned that Lonzo Ball could be adversely affected by his father’s comments.

NFL

BILLS PLAYER ACCUSED OF RACIAL SLURS » Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Yannick Ngakoue says Buffalo Bills guard Richie Incognito used “weak racists slurs” during their playoff game Sunday.

Ngakoue voiced his complaint on Twitter, calling out Incognito by his No. 64 jersey.

Ngakoue wrote: “Great win today! And 64, you goin have to come harder than some weak racist slurs. I’m proud of my African heritage, as are 70% of the other Black players in this league. (hash)Iaintjonathanmartin!”

An NFL investigation found that Incognito and two Miami Dolphins teammates engaged in persistent harassment directed at fellow offensive lineman Jonathan Martin, who left the team in the middle of the 2013 season. Incognito was suspended for the final eight games and sat out the 2014 season before joining the Bills.

Figure skating

U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM ANNOUNCED » Two-time national champion Nathan Chen, veteran Adam Rippon and rising star Vincent Zhou have been selected to represent the United States at the Pyeongchang Olympics next month.

A U.S. Figure Skating Committee on Sunday chose 2016 U.S. champ Rippon, who came in fourth at the national championships on Saturday night, instead of second-place finisher Ross Miner. The committee takes into consideration a number of criteria, including overall performance for the season.

Hockey

BLUE JACKETS WIN SHOOTOUT » Josh Anderson scored the deciding goal in the eighth round of the shootout, lifting the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers.

Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky stopped Jared McCann’s attempt to secure the win for the Blue Jackets, who also got goals from Artemi Panarin and Jack Johnson in the tiebreaker. Aleksander Barkov and Mike Matheson scored in the shootout for Florida. MONSTERS LOSE AT IOWA » The Monsters fell behind, 2-0, after two periods, and lost at Iowa, 4-1.

Blake Siebenaler scored the lone goal for Cleveland (10-17-3).