Celtics reach three-year deal with Pierce
Paul Pierce, the Celtics captain whose prolific but occasionally troubled career put him on the trading blocks last summer, signed a three-year, $59 million contract extension on Monday that would keep him in Boston through the 2010-11 season.
Pierce is scheduled to make about $31.5 million over the next two years, including a player option for 2007-08. The extension adds three years and $59 million after that, a basketball official told the Associated Press, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the terms.
Pierce is the eighth-leading scorer in Celtics history. Last season, he led the team in scoring 63 times, in rebounds 26 times and in assists 31 times.
•Ronald Dupree agreed to a two-year contract with the Detroit Pistons.
•Fred Whitfield was hired as the new president and chief operating officer of Bobcats Sports & Entertainment, the company that owns the Bobcats, the WNBA’s Charlotte Sting and the teams’ home arena in downtown Charlotte.
Baseball
Schrage to coach Irish
Evansville baseball coach Dave Schrage took over the Notre Dame program, replacing Paul Mainieri.
The Irish job opened up when Mainieri left for LSU after guiding Notre Dame for 12 seasons, including a 45-16-1 record and a fifth straight Big East title last season.
Soccer
D.C. leads All-Stars
English Premier League champion Chelsea will meet a heavily United team of MLS All-Stars next month.
D.C. United, that is.
Midfielder Freddy Adu and defenders Josh Gros and Bobby Boswell were added to the MLS All-Star roster, giving United seven players on the 18-man team that will face Chelsea on Aug. 5. D.C. forward Alecko Eskandarian was a commissioner’s pick, while goalkeeper Troy Perkins, midfielder Christian Gomez and forward Jaime Moreno were part of the “First XI” players selected last week.
Also added to the MLS team were Colorado midfielder Pablo Mastroeni and Dallas forward Brian Ching, members of the U.S. World Cup team. Colorado goalkeeper Joe Cannon, FC Dallas midfielder Ronnie O’Brien also were chosen.
Miscellany
Garon re-signs
Los Angeles goalie Mathieu Garon accepted his qualifying offer and signed a one-year deal worth $1.216 million to stay with the Kings.
The Kings also announced that they signed forward Tim Jackman to a one-year contract.
•Keith LeClair, 40, the second-winningest baseball coach in East Carolina history, died after a five-year battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease, school officials said.
•Dr. James Nicholas, whose work on sports injuries included four operations on Joe Namath’s knees, has died of colon cancer at age 85, Lenox Hill Hospital (Scarsdale, N.Y.) said.
•Christian Cantwell won the shot put at the Madrid Athletics Meeting to lead an American sweep in the event in Madrid, Spain.