11:06 AM ET SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The San Francisco 49ers are making George Kittle the highest-paid tight end in NFL history. By a lot. The Niners and Kittle agreed to a five-year, $75 million contract on Thursday, league sources confirmed to ESPN. The deal was first reported by Barstool Sports, which reports Kittle received
2:07 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN For New Orleans Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson, it’s time to turn the page to next season and focus on getting better — with his game and his body. “I’ll talk to my coaches and see what I need to do better from their point of view,” Williamson said Thursday morning.
6:18 PM ET Associated Press Robert Ryland, the first Black professional tennis player and later a coach to such stars as Arthur Ashe and Serena and Venus Williams, has died. He was 100. Ryland died Aug. 2 at his stepson’s home in Provincetown, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, his wife, Nancy Ingersoll, confirmed to The New
5:07 PM ET Associated Press CLEVELAND — Indians pitcher Zach Plesac feels he and teammate Mike Clevinger have been unfairly portrayed as “bad people” in the aftermath of the pitchers being quarantined by the team for violating COVID-19 protocols last weekend in Chicago. Plesac said he posted a six-minute video on his Instagram page Thursday
6:55 AM ET NFL NationESPN As 2020 NFL training camps move from strength and conditioning work to padded practice over the next week, the competition for starting jobs will heat up across the league. There will be a maximum of 14 padded practices per team and, with no preseason games due to the coronavirus pandemic,
6:26 PM BST Hosting rights for the next two men’s and women’s Rugby World Cups will be awarded within the same process as World Rugby attempt to build on the success of Japan 2019, the governing body announced on Thursday. The announcement means the 2025 and 2029 women’s and 2027 and 2021 men’s World Cup
4:29 PM ET Associated Press LEXINGTON, Ky. — Serena Williams came back and won the last four games to beat her older sister, Venus, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a hard-hitting, back-and-forth, second-round matchup at the Top Seed Open on Thursday. It was the 31st meeting of their careers — 22 1/2 years after the first.
1:41 PM ET Steve KimESPN For two years, IBF lightweight titlist Teofimo Lopez Jr. and his outspoken father, Teofimo Lopez Sr., have been asking for a fight against unified champion Vasiliy Lomachenko. After extensive negotiations and public comments regarding an impasse, a deal was finally reached on Wednesday night and the two will fight on
2:31 AM IST English cricket has received a significant boost with the news that Australia are set to confirm their limited-overs tour in September. Confirmation of the tour, which will see the sides play three ODIs and three T20Is, means England’s men’s team should be able to fulfil all 18 international fixtures which were scheduled
4:11 PM BST All 12 top-flight clubs will take a stand against racism with different gestures as Premiership Rugby committed itself to making the sport more diverse and inclusive, on Wednesday. Harlequins, Leicester and Wasps players will take a knee to support the “Black Lives Matter” movement when the Premiership season resumes this weekend. 1
2:51 PM ET Associated Press GREENSBORO, N.C. — Harold Varner III tied his career low round with an 8-under 62 to grab the early lead at the Wyndham Championship on Thursday. Varner was three shots in front of Wesley Bryan and Brian Harman among the early starters at the Sedgefield Country Club. Varner had eight
1:49 PM ET More than seven out of 10 sports fans support teams and athletes speaking out on issues of social justice and racial equality, according to an online survey of 837 sports fans conducted for ESPN. Of the 71% of fans who supported athletes speaking out, 44% strongly supported it. Nearly half of the
2:24 PM ET Montreal Canadiens coach Claude Julien was admitted to a Toronto hospital after experiencing chest pains following his team’s game on Wednesday night. Montreal GM Marc Bergevin said he does not believe the issue is related to COVID-19, but Julien was undergoing tests on Thursday. “He’s for sure in really good hands,” Bergevin
1:27 PM ET Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, a four-time Kentucky Derby winner, is recovering after recently testing positive for COVID-19. His condition was disclosed in a tweet posted by grandson Brady Wayne Lukas. “Wayne recently tested positive for COVID-19 and has since been isolating at home and
1:09 PM ET Associated Press Five lower-level tennis tournaments in the United States in September have been called off because of the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. Tennis Association — which plans to hold the U.S. Open and another tournament in New York starting Aug. 20 — announced Thursday the cancellations of all ITF World Tennis
8:18 AM ET It was Sept. 11, 2017, a beautiful day in the Cleveland suburb of Valley View, and fire chief Ken Papesh was anxiously awaiting a visitor. UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier was headed to the firehouse to interview heavyweight champ — and part-time firefighter/paramedic — Stipe Miocic for the FS1 show “In
7:10 AM ET NBA Insiders Thursday is the biggest day of the NBA restart, as we reach the conclusion of the red-hot Western Conference play-in battle. The Portland Trail Blazers, Memphis Grizzlies, San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns will all be in action, and only two will advance to face off on Saturday. We asked
7:25 AM ET Associated Press NEWPORT, Wales — French golfer Alex Levy has been withdrawn from the Celtic Classic, which started on Thursday. Levy came into contact with a friend who has since tested positive for the coronavirus, the European Tour said in a statement. The contact occurred while Levy was at home in France