Stern’s NBA reign will end in 2014
NBA: Commissioner David Stern will retire on Feb. 1, 2014, 30 years after he took charge of the league. He will be replaced by Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver.
The announcement came at an NBA Board of Governors meeting Thursday.
Stern told owners during their two days of meetings of his plans, and the board unanimously decided Silver would be his successor.
“I decided that things are in great shape and there’s an organization in place that will ultimately be led by Adam that is totally prepared to take it to the next level,” Stern said.
Stern, who turned 70 last month, became commissioner on Feb. 1, 1984. He has been the NBA’s longest-serving commissioner, establishing the league’s brand around the world, presiding over team expansion and overseeing the establishment of the WNBA and the NBA Development League.
• Warriors exercise option on Thompson: The Golden State Warriors exercised their third-year option on shooting guard Klay Thompson.
The announcement will keep the former Washington State star with the Warriors through the 2013-14 season.
The 22-year-old played in all 66 games last season.
He averaged 12.5 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 24 minutes to earn first-team All-Rookie honors.
• Grizzlies sale to Pera’s group approved: The NBA Board of Governors approved Michael Heisley’s sale of the Memphis Grizzlies to a group headed up by a California technology entrepreneur. The sale still must be finalized, and the Grizzlies said in a statement that is expected soon.
Woods three shots back of Matteson in Malaysia
Golf: Tiger Woods birdied five holes on the back nine in his first trip back to Malaysia since winning the 1999 World Cup to end the day three strokes behind first-round leader Troy Matteson at the CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur.
Matteson made eight birdies in a bogey-free 8-under-par 63 for a one-stroke lead over fellow Americans Jeff Overton, Brian Harman and Robert Garrigus.
• Park has first-round lead: Inbee Park of South Korea shot a 7-under 65 to take a two-stroke lead over local favorite and top-ranked Yani Tseng after the first round of the Taiwan Championship in Yang Mei.
Graduation rates improve in football, basketball
Colleges: The latest figures from the NCAA show that football and men’s basketball players are graduating in record numbers.
The annual Graduation Success Rate figures show both sports hit an all-time high based on the one-year measurement of freshmen who enrolled in 2005-06.
All quiet as deadline for full NHL season nears
Hockey: The NHL’s deadline for playing a full, 82-game season arrived with no new discussions between the league and its locked-out players.
Without a new collective bargaining agreement that would end the league’s lockout of players on its 40th day, the NHL vowed to cut the season short. An announcement officially taking a full schedule out of play wasn’t immediately planned.
Major money-making events such as the upcoming outdoor Winter Classic and the All-Star game could soon be in peril, too.
Lolo Jones selected to American bobsled team
Miscellany: Lolo Jones agreed to try bobsledding because she needed something to take her mind off the rigors of her Olympic track season.
Three weeks later, she’s got a spot on the national team.
Jones, a two-time Olympic hurdler, was one of 24 athletes selected to the U.S. bobsled team. She’s one of six women’s push athletes selected, a group that also includes Olympic sprinting gold medalist Tianna Madison.
• Serena Williams beats No. 1 Azarenka: Serena Williams extended her dominance over the top-ranked tennis player in the world, defeating Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 6-4 at the WTA Championships in Istanbul.
Despite the loss, Azarenka can secure the No. 1 position with another victory in the round-robin tournament, which features the top eight players.
• Mathieu among 4 ex-LSU football players arrested: Police in Baton Rouge, La., say they arrested four former LSU football players, including one-time Heisman Trophy finalist Tyrann Mathieu, after finding them with marijuana at Mathieu’s apartment.
Mathieu had been dismissed from the Tigers in August for failing a drug test.
• Associates of former Cowboys linebacker sentenced: Two business associates of former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Eugene Lockhart Jr. have been sentenced to prison in a $20 million mortgage scam.
A federal judge in Dallas sentenced William Randolph Tisdale Jr. on Wednesday to 10 years for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. Hubert Jones III of Garland must serve nearly five years in prison for wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud.
Lockhart pleaded guilty to wire fraud in August 2011 and awaits sentencing. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
• Official amends complaint against Auriemma: A security official has amended her employee discrimination complaint against Olympic women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma and USA Basketball. Kelly Hardwick had filed the lawsuit in June, alleging that she was being kept off the security detail at the London Olympics after spurning sexual advances from Auriemma. But in an amended complaint, Hardwick alleges she was subjected to a hostile work environment in London.