Antetokounmpo scores $100M
The Milwaukee Bucks agreed to a contract extension with Giannis Antetokounmpo, locking up one of the most versatile players in the NBA.
The Bucks announced the deal with the forward yesterday, and two people familiar with the agreement told The Associated Press that it was worth four years and $100 million. Yahoo Sports first reported details of the extension.
Antetokounmpo averaged 16.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists last season, his third in the league.
The Bucks see Antetokounmpo and forward Jabari
Parker as the building blocks of an emerging franchise. The deal ensures Antetokounmpo will be under contract in 2018, when the team is scheduled open a new downtown arena.
Antetokounmpo has improved steadily since being drafted in the first round of the 2013 draft with the 15th overall pick, considered a project out of Greece. . . .
The New York Knicks re-signed forward Lou Amundson but did not disclose terms of the contract.
Amundson, who has played for 10 teams in the NBA in 10 seasons, appeared in 70 games over the last two seasons with New York. He averaged 1.8 points and 1.7 rebounds over seven minutes a game last season.
Olympics: Putin on hacks
President Vladimir Putin said the hack of Olympic athletes’ data has cast a spotlight on a “hypocritical” decision to bar Russian athletes from the Rio Paralympics.
Putin spoke as the hackers’ group known as Fancy Bears, which the World Anti-Doping Agency said was linked to Russia, unloaded another package of Olympic athletes’ data. The athletes had permission from sports or anti-doping bodies to use medications that would otherwise be banned.
Putin says that while “we don’t approve of the hackers’ action, it has helped reveal that people, who took part in the Olympics and looked absolutely healthy, had taken banned medicines giving them an edge in competition.” . . .
Fifteen of the 558 athletes in the U.S. delegation at the Rio Olympics, or slightly less than 3 percent, had therapeutic-use exemptions in force during the Games.
Misc.: Gators QB out
Florida, the No. 19 team in The Associated Press’ college football poll, will be without quarterback
Luke Del Rio as it begins a stretch of seven consecutive Southeastern Conference games. Coach Jim
McElwain officially ruled Del Rio out because of a knee injury.
Del Rio injured his left knee Saturday on a low hit by North Texas defensive end Josh Wheeler, who was flagged for a personal foul. McElwain, who clearly thought the play was dirty, screamed at the Mean Green sideline and had to be restrained by officials and then his players. . . .
Struggling to compete with the English Premier League and the Spanish Liga, Italian soccer federation president Carlo Tavecchio wants to reduce Serie A from 20 to 18 clubs. Tavecchio tells Rai state radio that a reduction would increase the overall skill level of the league and attract a bigger fan base with more competitive matches.