Newsmakers
Free agent NBA player Sean May faces a summer of uncertainty as an unrestricted free agent after four years of seemingly never-ending knee and weight issues in Charlotte. The Bobcats decided on Tuesday not to make a one-year qualifying offer of $3.7 million to May, who has appeared in only 82 of a possible 328 games since being the 13th pick in the 2005 draft. Plagued first by chronic knee pain that led to microfracture surgery, May struggled to get into proper playing shape last season for coach Larry Brown, who refused to play the 6-foot-9 power forward for long stretches until he lost weight.
Retiring Cornerback Fernando Bryant, a former first-round draft pick who played 10 NFL seasons with the Jaguars, Lions and Steelers, is retiring. Bryant started 109 of the 112 NFL games he played, making seven interceptions and recovering nine fumbles. Bryant, from Alabama, was the No. 26 overall pick by Jacksonville in 1999 and played five seasons with the Jaguars before signing with the Lions as a free agent in 2004.
Signed Offensive tackle Max Starks has signed a four-year contract that keeps him with the Pittsburgh Steelers through the 2012 season and frees up several million dollars in salary cap room for the team. Starks, the starting left tackle, was designated as the Steelers’ franchise player on Feb. 20 – less than three weeks after they won the Super Bowl – and he initially accepted a 2009 salary of $8.45 million. By agreeing to the new contract, Starks no longer carries the franchise player tag.
Out Top-ranked cyclist Alejandro Valverde’s team says the Spanish rider will not compete in the Tour de France because of a doping ban in Italy. The Caisse d’Epargne team said that Valverde met with his lawyers and was told he would have no recourse against the ban before the three-week Tour starts in Monaco on July 4. The race dips into Italy on July 21.
Leaving The Seattle Sounders FC will be without defender Tyrone Marshall after he was called away by the Jamaican national team for the upcoming CONCACAF Gold Cup. The Sounders said Tuesday that Marshall will leave July 1 to train with the Jamaican team in Los Angeles, before the team plays Canada on July 3. The tournament concludes July 26.