D10 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22 , 2020
the possibility of tampering,
scuttling the deal and leading
Bogdanovic to explore other
options. The Bucks pivoted to
spreading their money around on
multiple role players, re-signing
Pat Connaughton and adding D.J.
Augustin from the Orlando Magic
and Bobby Portis from the New
York Knicks. They also parted
ways with Ersan Ilyasova and
watched Matthews leave for the
Lakers.
Missing out on Bogdanovic
looks like a major hit for
Milwaukee, which desperately
needed a high-level shooter to
step in alongside newly acquired
Jrue Holiday in its backcourt and
to help pitch Giannis
Antetokounmpo on signing a
supermax extension. The back-to-
back MVP has until Dec. 21 to
decide whether he will re-sign on
a five-year deal that could be
worth close to $250 million.
The Lakers were hardly the
only winners. The Miami Heat
retained its core pieces, the
Toronto Raptors re-signed Fred
VanVleet, the Philadelphia 76ers
rebalanced their roster, the Trail
Blazers and Utah Jazz made some
nice pickups, and the Oklahoma
City Thunder made an endless
series of trades that landed
untold draft picks for use in its
rebuilding effort. Still, the Lakers
have dodged any monumental
shifts of power that could
threaten their status as the early
favorites to repeat.
[email protected]Denver moved quickly to sign
JaMychal Green as a replacement,
but he lacks Grant’s athleticism
and upside. But with stars in
Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray
on a roster that appeared on the
cusp of challenging the Lakers,
the Nuggets can’t afford to let a
talent such as Grant walk out the
door after dealing away Malik
Beasley at last year’s trade
deadline.
The Clippers were the NBA’s
deepest team on paper last year,
but the first 24 hours of free
agency put them on the defensive.
The losses of Harrell and Green
thinned out the frontcourt
rotation, and they have limited
avenues to acquire difference-
makers. New coach Tyronn Lue
will need to hope that more help
is on the way, and the Clippers are
banking on Luke Kennard, a
shooting guard who arrived from
the Pistons, being an upgrade
over Landry Shamet, who was
sent to the Brooklyn Nets.
No top contender had a worse
week than the Bucks, whose plans
to assemble perhaps the league’s
best starting five took a major hit
when a sign-and-trade with the
Sacramento Kings for Bogdan
Bogdanovic fell apart amid
accusations of tampering. Sign-
and-trade deals aren’t allowed
until free agency has opened, and
the teams reportedly had agreed
to send Bogdanovic to Milwaukee
on Monday.
The NBA planned to
investigate the negotiations forCeltics and reunite with his
former college coach, Brad
Stevens, in what was one of that
summer’s biggest gets of free
agency. Unfortunately, Hayward
suffered a gruesome leg injury in
his Boston debut, missed the rest
of the season and watched as
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown
ascended, diminishing his
offensive role.
The Celtics hoped that
Hayward would pick up his player
option to remain in Boston and
chase a title or that they would be
able to work out a sign-and-trade
agreement to recoup some assets.
Instead, it appears they will lose
the all-star wing for nothing after
Kyrie Irving and Al Horford
departed as free agents last year.
Boston did its best to rally by
signing center Tristan Thompson,
a 29-year-old center known for
his defense and rebounding, to a
team-friendly two-year contract
worth $19 million after trading
backup center Enes Kanter to the
Portland Trail Blazers. Thompson
will help address the Celtics’ lack
of size, which was their biggest
deficiency, but his offensive game
is limited.
The Nuggets also took a hit to
their rotation after their shocking
run to the Western Conference
finals. Jerami Grant, a versatile
forward, left Denver for the
Detroit Pistons on a three-year,
$60 million contract. Reports
indicate the Nuggets weren’t
outbid but that Grant simply
wanted a larger role.More than
$1 billion in
contracts were
handed out during
the first 24 hours
of NBA free
agency, yet it’s
difficult to make the case that any
of the top contenders narrowed
the gap on the Los Angeles
Lakers. Indeed, free agency’s
major early theme is that the rich
got richer as several major
challengers stumbled out of the
gates while trying to chase down
the defending champions.
The Lakers have performed
like chess masters. Guard Rajon
Rondo sought more money and
found it with a two-year deal from
the Atlanta Hawks, so the Lakers
traded for Dennis Schroder as his
replacement before free agency
even opened. Danny Green, a
shooter and defensive specialist,
had to be sent out in the Schroder
deal, and the Lakers quickly
landed Wesley Matthews, a
plausible replacement at a
quarter of Green’s price.
Then Montrezl Harrell
encountered a lack of interest
after an underwhelming
postseason, leading the Lakers to
swoop in and poach the energetic
center from the Los Angeles
Clippers. In one fell swoop
orchestrated by Harrell’s agent —
Rich Paul, LeBron James’s
longtime friend and business
partner — the Lakers landed a
major upgrade for the outgoing
Dwight Howard and robbed the
Clippers of a player whose
fearlessness had helped define
their culture before Kawhi
Leonard’s arrival. The Lakers’
gambit left Clippers guard Patrick
Beverley with no recourse but to
deploy profane emoji on Twitter.
While the Lakers still need to
re-sign Anthony Davis, they
rewarded Kentavious Caldwell-
Pope, another Paul client, for a
strong playoff run with a three-
year deal worth $40 million. All
told, their rotation looks to be
upgraded from last season’s, and
they still have a trade chip in Kyle
Kuzma. The same can’t be said of
the Boston Celtics, Denver
Nuggets, Clippers and Milwaukee
Bucks, four teams that should
figure prominently in the 2021
title chase.
After an impressive run to the
Eastern Conference finals, the
Celtics watched Saturday as
Gordon Hayward departed for
the Charlotte Hornets on a four-
year, $120 million deal. In 2017,
Hayward agreed to join the
Contenders still chasing Lakers as the rich get richer
On
the NBA
BEN
GOLLIVER
MARK J. TERRILL/ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Lakers signed center Montrezl Harrell — a major upgrade from the departing Dwight Howard.ASSOCIATED PRESSFred VanVleet bet on himself. It
paid off.
Gordon Hayward, meanwhile,
is heading to a new home.
VanVleet agreed Saturday to a
four-year, $85 million contract to
remain with the Toronto Raptors,
a person with direct knowledge of
the discussions said on the condi-
tion of anonymity because the
contract remains unsigned. The
fourth year of the contract is at
VanVleet’s option.
The Charlotte Hornets have
wanted Hayward for years. On
Saturday, they finally landed him,
according to Priority Sports, the
agency that represents the veteran
forward. H ayward, 30, i s expected
to s ign a four-year contract worth
$120 million. ESPN first reported
the agreement.
VanVleet, 26, an undrafted
guard from Wichita State, has
played a huge role in the Raptors’
recent successes, most important-
ly their run to the 2019 NBA cham-
pionship. He has set career bests
in scoring by wide margins in each
of the past three seasons, with that
number rising to 17.6 points per
game this past season.
Hayward turned down a
$34 million option for this season
with Boston, and the Celtics were
in talks with other teams o n po-
tential sign-and-trade deals.
Instead, it appears the Celtics
are seeing Hayward walk away as
a free agent.
Hayward agreed to a four-year
offer sheet worth about $63 mil-
lion with the Hornets in 2014, a
deal that was matched by the Utah
Jazz — Hayward’s original team.
Hayward left the Jazz for Boston
in 2017, saw his first season with
the Celtics end on opening night of
the 2017-18 season when he suf-
fered a horrible lower leg injury,
then averaged 14.0 points per
game the following two seasons.
l CELTICS: Forward Tristan
Thompson, 29, reportedly agreed
to a two-year, $19 million contract
to join Boston, ending his nine-
year stint with the Cleveland Cav-
aliers during which he averaged
9.4 points and 8.7 rebounds.
l TRAIL BLAZERS: Forward
Carmelo Anthony, 36, reportedly
is coming back for an 18th season,
agreeing to a one-year deal to
remain with Portland. Anthony
ranks 15th on the NBA’s all-timescoring list with 26,446 points.
l HAWKS: Guard Rajon Ron-
do, 34, a greed to a two-year deal
with Atlanta, a person with knowl-
edge of the negotiations said. The
Hawks also agreed with guard
Kris Dunn, 26, on a two-year con-
tract worth $10 million.
l NUGGETS: Forward Paul
Millsap, 35, reportedly is staying
with Denver on a one-year deal
worth around $10 million.
l HEAT: Miami agreed to a
two-year deal starting at $5.9 mil-
lion for this season with guard
Avery Bradley, 29, agent Charles
Briscoe said. The second year of
that deal is at the Heat’s option.
Bradley spent last season with the
Los Angeles Lakers.
Also, forward Moe Harkless, 27,
reportedly agreed t o a $3.6 million
contract for one season. He spent
last season with the Los Angeles
Clippers and New York Knicks.
l BUCKS: P riority Sports an-
nounced that forward Bobby Por-
tis, 25, who averaged 10.1 points
last season for New York, agreed to
a deal with Milwaukee. Also,
guard D.J. Augustin, 33, reported-
ly agreed to a three-year contract.
l 76ERS: Center Dwight How-
ard, 34, became the first an-
nounced free agent signing of this
offseason, completing his one-
year, $2.6 million deal with Phila-
delphia.
l SUNS: Forward Jae Crowder,
30, reportedly agreed t o a three-
year deal w orth nearly $30 million
to join Phoenix. He played for
Miami l ast season.
l MAGIC: Guard Michael Cart-
er-Williams, 29, reportedly is re-
turning to Orlando on a two-year
contract.
l MAVERICKS: Forward Wes-
ley Iwundu, 25, agreed on a two-
year deal with Dallas after spend-
ing t hree seasons in Orlando.
l TRADE: T revor Ariza is on the
move again, going to the Okla-
homa City Thunder from the De-
troit Pistons along with Justin
Jackson from Dallas in a t hree-
team trade c ompleted late Friday.
Also in the deal, the Mavericks
sent Delon Wright to the Pistons
for James Johnson.
Ariza, 35, was sent from the
Portland Trail Blazers to the Hous-
ton Rockets two days before the
draft, then shipped to the Pistons
on draft night Wednesday.
O klahoma City also will get
draft compensation in the deal.NBA NOTESRaptors keep VanVleet;
Hornets land Hayward
finishing with a 30-foot birdie
putt.
Burgoon had five birdies in a
six-hole stretch on the back nine —
the exception was a bogey on the
14th, playing straight into a strong
wind along the water — to over-
come a rough start and get into the
final group.
Emiliano Grillo had a 65 and
was four shots behind, while Kev-
in Kisner (66) and Kyle Stanley
(68) were five back.
Streb began his round with a
quick hook and escaped trouble
with par. From the left side of the
second fairway, 123 yards to a back
pin and facing the wind, he left it
on the front of the green and had
to two-putt from 75 feet. He came
up well short of the green on the
par-3 third and had to get up-and-
down from 65 feet, making an
eight-foot par putt.
“It wasn’t the greatest start but
got out of there with a bunch of
pars and tried to find some consis-
tency and it got better,” Streb said.
It never felt easy, but he wasn’t
losing any ground. He made his
first birdie with a sand wedge to
three feet on No. 8, and the rest of
the round was relatively stress-
free except for two more two-putts
from 50 feet or longer.
l LPGA TOUR: Sei Young Kim
answered Ally McDonald’s ace
with a late birdie run to open a
five-stroke lead in the Pelican
Women’s Championship in Bel-
leair, Fla., the South Korean’s first
event since she won the Women’s
PGA a month and half ago.
The second-ranked Kim shot a
6-under 64, birdieing Nos. 14-17, to
get to 14-under 196 at Pelican Golf
Club.
“She made a hole-in-one,” Kim
said. “I got a little bit pressure, but
I try to focus on my game.”
McDonald shot a 68. She had
the hole-in-one on the par-3 12th
and birdied the par-5 14th to get
close to Kim. The American
dropped a stroke on the par-4
16th.
Stephanie Meadow was third at
8 under after a 68 in the first-year
tournament originally set for the
same week as the PGA Champion-
ship in May.ASSOCIATED PRESSRobert Streb kept his game
from coming undone over the first
hour Saturday and then pieced
together enough birdies for a
3 -under-par 67 to build a three-
shot lead going into the final
round of the RSM Classic in St. Si-
mons Island, Ga.
Streb came from five shots be-
hind when he won at Sea Island six
years ago, his only PGA Tour title.
This time, he has a lead over Zach
Johnson (65) and Bronson Bur-
goon (67).
Streb was at 17-under 195.
Camilo Villegas pulled within
one shot of the lead going to the
back nine of the Seaside course
until a two-shot swing at the
10th cost him momentum. Streb
hit his approach to eight feet for
birdie. Villegas was just on the
fringe 15 feet away, ran it by five
feet and missed that to fall three
shots back.
Villegas added a bogey on the
13th, didn’t make a birdie on the
back nine and had to settle for a 70.
He was five shots behind as he
tries to win for the first time since
five years and following a summer
in which his 2-year-old daughter
died of tumors on her brain and
spine.
Streb had to earn his full PGA
Tour card back a year ago and then
missed the PGA Tour postseason
for the third straight year. He kept
his status because of the pandem-
ic-shortened year, and a victory
Sunday would give him an exemp-
tion through August 2023.
Even so, he knows from experi-
ence not to look too far ahead.
It was in 2014 when Streb closed
with a 63 to make up a five-shot
deficit before he won a three-man
playoff. Six players were within
five shots of the lead going into
Sunday.
Even with no spectators and
only limited corporate clients al-
lowed, Johnson will feel an entire
community behind him. He lives
at Sea Island, and no resident has
won this event. Winless since the
2015 British Open at St. Andrews,
Johnson rallied late with three
birdies over his last five holes,
GOLF ROUNDUP
Streb up by three shots
as he seeks second win
BY JAKE RUSSELL
AND SCOTT ALLENIn the first big move since
WJFK (106.7 FM) and WTEM
(980 AM) became partners in a
radio station swap this month,
three well-known figures were
laid off from their roles at the
Team 980: hosts Rick “Doc”
Walker and Scott Linn and pro-
gram director Chris Johnson.
There are no immediate plans
for additional layoffs, though
nothing has been finalized. The
Athletic was the first to report
the layoffs.
At 980, Walker hosted “Doc &
Galdi” with Al Galdi, and Linn
worked with Brian Mitchell and
Steve Czaban on their shows
from noon to 7 p.m. Johnson will
continue to produce Washing-
ton Football Team game broad-
casts as an independent con-
tractor for WTEM as he has
since 2018.
Walker, who worked at the
station for 27 years, said he holds
no ill will over the move and will
continue to give his thoughts on
the Washington Football Team
during and after games.
“Why would I have hard feel-
ings? They gave me an opportu-
nity,” Walker said Friday in a
phone interview. “Everything
that happens in life is an oppor-
tunity. I loved what I was doing,
loved working with Al and doing
all that. But that might have been
hindering me from something
even bigger and better, and you
don’t know that until you’re put
in a position to have to figure it
out.”
The former Washington tight
end said he will remember the
“friendships” and “brotherhood”
he formed at the station fondly,
especially with those who work
behind the scenes.
Linn, who had been with
WTEM since 1993, said he is
“overwhelmed, humbled and
honored” by the support he has
received since he announced his
departure from the station onTwitter. He will continue to host
the “Linn Murray Solly” podcast
on Patreon and has “lots of ideas
pending” for his next move.
“If I told you you could do
something you loved for 27 years
with people you liked and loved,
you’d be like, ‘Sign me up,’ ” Linn
said in a phone interview.
This month, Entercom and
Urban One made a swap involv-
ing six stations across four mar-
kets. The move, which had been
in the works since July but was
announced Nov. 5, netted Enter-
com the Team 980, a competitor
of 106.7 the Fan, which Entercom
already owned. WTEM’s FM sta-
tion, 95.9, was not included in
the swap, and there is no plan for
Entercom to air WTEM content
on an FM station.
The underperforming 980 was
a throw-in in the deal for Urban
One, which purchased the sta-
tion from Washington Football
Team owner Daniel Snyder in- Urban One CEO Alfred
Liggins had described WTEM as
“breaking even or slightly losing
a little” in revenue.
Employees at 980 were in-
formed of the deal a few hours
before it was announced via
news release but weren’t told
anything regarding their job sta-
tus over the past two weeks. A
Zoom conference call was held
Friday night to update staff
members on where things stand
with the new arrangement. The
staff will eventually share floor
space at the Fan, whose studios
are three blocks from Nationals
Park.
Monday marks the beginning
of an operating lease agreement
until Entercom’s acquisition of
980 is finalized in early 2021.
Entercom plans to continue to
run 106.7 and 980 as live and
local sports stations independ-
ent of each other without any
nationally syndicated shows in
the daily lineups.
An announcement about up-
dated lineups for both stations is
expected by the end of the year.
In the meantime, the Fan will
continue to feature “The Sports
Junkies” in the mornings, Grant
Paulsen and Danny Rouhier mid-
day, and Pete Medhurst as the
primary fill-in host in the after-noon drive slot, as has been the
case since Chad Dukes was fired
in October.
With Walker out at 980, Galdi
will host a solo show from 9 a.m.
to noon after “The Kevin Shee-
han Show,” followed by shows
hosted by Mitchell and Czaban.
Starting Monday, hosts on one
station will be able to promote
upcoming game broadcasts or
discuss newsworthy content
from the other station, but shows
booking hosts from the other
station is unlikely.
Competing stations owned by
the same company are rare but
not unheard-of. Entercom owns
multiple sports stations in the
Miami, San Francisco, Buffalo,
Houston and Kansas City, Mo.,
markets, among others.
Entercom now owns the D.C.
radio broadcast rights to the
Washington Football Team, the
Washington Nationals, the
Washington Capitals, Maryland
basketball and football, George-
town basketball and Virginia
Tech football.
[email protected]
[email protected]Longtime Team 980 hosts Walker and Linn laid o≠
Deal uniting AM station,
106.7 the Fan also costs
program director his jobKATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST
“ Why would I have hard feelings?” Rick “Doc” Walker said Friday. “They gave me an opportunity.”