Newsmakers

Retired Barcelona captain Carles Puyol reluctantly retired from soccer, his right knee no longer able to endure the demands of defending after a 15-season career that included 21 trophies. The 36-year-old made 593 appearances and led the Blaugrana to six Spanish league championships, three UEFA Champions League titles and two Copa del Rey championships.

Agreed The Cleveland Browns have agreed to contract terms with free agent wide receiver Miles Austin, insurance in case Pro Bowler Josh Gordon is suspended. A two-time Pro Bowler, Austin was released by the Dallas Cowboys in March in a salary-cap move. The 29-year-old played in just 11 games last season because of injuries.

Suspended The NHL has suspended Buffalo Sabres forward Zenon Konopka for 20 games after he tested positive for a banned substance. Konopka wouldn’t specify what the substance was except to say it was an ingredient found in an over-the-counter product.

Fined The NBA fined Clippers head coach Doc Rivers $25,000 for publicly criticizing the officiating in Los Angeles’ 105-104 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier this week. The Clippers believed the Thunder’s Reggie Jackson had knocked the ball out of bounds with 11.3 seconds remaining, but officials ruled it Oklahoma City ball. After going to replay, the call stood, and the Thunder rallied to win the game.

Joined Star forward Yevgeni Malkin will join Russia at the ice hockey world championship in Minsk after his Pittsburgh Penguins were eliminated from the NHL playoffs by the New York Rangers. The center had 23 goals and 49 assists in 60 games this season, and 14 points in 13 postseason games.

Moving The Pac-12 Conference is moving its league championship game to the San Francisco 49ers’ new stadium in Santa Clara for the next three years. Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott announced the plans at Levi’s Stadium. The first three conference championships had been held in the stadium of the division champion with the best conference record – Oregon in 2011, Stanford in 2012 and Arizona State last year.

Introduced Recently hired Stan Van Gundy expects the Detroit Pistons’ front office to be on the same page as the coaching staff. That shouldn’t be too much to ask, considering Van Gundy will be part of both. Van Gundy was formally introduced by the Pistons on Thursday as their coach and president of basketball operations.