BASKETBALL
Delle Donne leads WNBA voting
Elena Delle Donne once again led the WNBA All-Star voting. She hopes she'll be able to play in the game this season. The league's leading scorer missed her first two All-Star games because of a concussion her rookie year and a recurrence of Lyme disease last season. "I definitely look forward to playing next weekend," Delle Donne said in a phone interview Tuesday. "It feels amazing and is an incredible honor that the fans voted for me. Unfortunately, I've had to miss the last two All-Star Games." Chicago's star, who led the voting with just over 18,000 votes, will be joined on the Eastern Conference team by Indiana's Tamika Catchings, who will be playing in a record 10th All-Star Game. New York's Tina Charles is the third member of the front court in the east. Atlanta's Angel McCoughtry and Shoni Schimmel will start in the backcourt. Schimmel became just the third reserve to start an All-Star Game last season and she went on to win MVP honors. She's only started twice this season and is averaging just 14 minutes a game. Tulsa guard Skylar Diggins leads the West All-Stars. Diggins, who tore her ACL a few weeks ago and will miss the game, is joined by Minnesota's Seimone Augustus in the backcourt. Diggins' replacement will be chosen by WNBA president Laurel J. Richie. Brittney Griner and Candice Dupree of Phoenix and Maya Moore of Minnesota will start in the front court. The reserves will be announced next Tuesday and the game will be played in Connecticut at the Mohegan Sun on July 25.
• The Boston Celtics acquired forward Perry Jones III from the Oklahoma City Thunder along with a second-round draft pick and cash. The Celtics will send the Thunder a conditional second-round pick. Boston gets the 2019 second-rounder Oklahoma City had acquired from the Detroit Pistons. Jones, a 6-foot-11 forward, played 43 games last season and averaged 4.3 points and 1.8 rebounds in 14.7 minutes a game. In a three-game stretch early last season with Kevin Durant out with an injury, Jones averaged 22.7 points and 5.0 rebounds and shot 52 percent. He then injured his knee and was out for 13 games. He never regained his form, and did not play in most of the games after the All-Star break. He was the 28th pick in the 2012 draft.
• Deron Williams has joined his hometown Mavericks after Brooklyn bought out the contract the point guard signed when he spurned Dallas to stay with the Nets three years ago. Williams, who grew up in the Dallas suburb of The Colony, signed a two-year, $10 million deal Tuesday. He has a player option in the second year. Dallas had a deal with Williams on Friday and had to wait for him to clear waivers. It was a boost for the Mavericks soon after free agent center DeAndre Jordan reneged on a deal to sign with them.
• The Sacramento Kings have signed forwards Luc Mbah a Moute and Omri Casspi as they continue a busy week of finalizing free agent contacts. The team tweeted out the signings Tuesday. Casspi and the Kings reached an agreement on a $6 million, two-year deal last week. Terms of Mbah a Moute's contract were not immediately known.
• The Chicago Bulls say they have signed forward Mike Dunleavy Jr. and backup guard Aaron Brooks. Dunleavy, who turns 35 in September, got a three-year, $14 million contract. He averaged 9.4 points in 63 games -- all starts -- and shot 41 percent from three-point range for Chicago last season. In the playoffs, he averaged 10.9 points and shot 48 percent from beyond the arc. The 30-year-old Brooks averaged 11.6 points for the Bulls last season.
• The Utah Jazz have signed German center Tibor Pleiss to a multiyear deal. The 25-year-old Pleiss was drafted by the New Jersey Nets in 2010 with the No. 31 pick. The 7-foot-3, 262-pounder was traded to the Atlanta Hawks and Oklahoma City Thunder, but played for FC Barcelona of the Liga ACB in Spain last season. He averaged 5.7 points, 3.8 rebounds and shot 62.3 percent. Pleiss is a member of the German national team.
HOCKEY
Devils, Gelinas reach 2-year deal
The New Jersey Devils have re-signed defenseman Eric Gelinas to a two-year, $3.15 million contract. Devils General Manager Ray Shero announced the signing on Tuesday. The team had maintained its rights to the restricted free agent by making a qualifying offer late last month. Gelinas led all New Jersey defensemen with six goals, playing in a career-high 61 games last season. He finished tied for third among all NHL rookie defensemen with seven goals and 22 assists in 60 appearances the previous season.
TENNIS
Isner upset at Hall of Fame
Top-seeded and two-time champion John Isner was upset in the opening round of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, R.I., by Rajeev Ram 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (8). The 18th-ranked Isner won the title on Newport's grass in 2011 and 2012. The 161st-ranked Ram, who won the tournament in 2009, closed the match with a forehand winner after Isner slipped on the wet grass with a light rain falling.
• Third-seeded Barbora Strycova beat Grace Min of the United States 6-4, 6-2 to reach the second round of the Swedish Open in Bastad, Sweden. It was Strycova's fifth appearance at Bastad and the Czech player next faces Russia's Evgeniya Rodina. Four days after winning her sixth Wimbledon title, top-ranked Serena Williams takes on Ysaline Bonaventure of Belgium in the first round today, while second-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia faces Lara Arruabarrena of Spain in the second round.
HORSE RACING
Pharoah settles in, starts training for Haskell
DEL MAR, Calif. — American Pharoah arrived at Del Mar Race Track on Tuesday to begin training for next month’s Haskell Invitational in New Jersey.
The first Triple Crown winner in 37 years even accomplished another rarity on his journey down from Santa Anita — avoiding summer traffic on the Los Angeles-area freeways.
“Well, we did leave at 4 a.m.,” said Jimmy Barnes, trainer Bob Baffert’s chief assistant.
American Pharaoh made the roughly 100-mile journey early in the morning, settled in and then jogged around the track in a morning workout that drew a large media contingent.
“It’s like having a rock star here,” said Joe Harper, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club CEO. “Otherwise we wouldn’t have 14 cameras here.”
American Pharoah isn’t expected to race at Del Mar, with its summer season starting on Thursday. Instead, the 3-year-old colt will train at the seaside oval in preparation for the Haskell on Aug. 2 at Monmouth Park. He’ll return to Del Mar after the Haskell.
Del Mar hopes Baffert, who arrives on Thursday, will add the track’s $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 30 to the itinerary of the first horse in 37 years to win the Triple Crown.
“Those are all Bob’s decisions,” Barnes said. “But I wouldn’t think so.”
It’s not expected that American Pharaoh will compete against older horses until October’s Breeder’s Cup.
But like the estimated 2,000 other horses boarded at Del Mar, American Pharoah is enjoying the beach life.
“The horses love it down here,” Barnes said, as he distributed peeled baby carrots to American Pharoah. “It’s a little cooler.”
American Pharoah is familiar with Del Mar, after winning its Grade I Del Mar Futurity for 2-year-olds last year.
“I remember saying to Bob, ‘That is a really good looking horse,’ ” Harper said. “Bob said, ‘It could be the one.’ It was the one, all right.”
Fans can watch American Pharoah train each morning, with three of the sessions being timed workouts.
“It’s terrific that he is here and it really is special,” Harper said.
Sports on 07/15/2015