SPORTS HEADLINES

MLB owners have proposed a salary cap for the first time since baseball’s 1994-95 strike

Major League Baseball owners made their long-expected salary cap proposal to the players’ association on Thursday, a system the union has vowed never to accept, setting the sides on course for a confrontation that threatens the 2027 season and perhaps beyond. Baseball owners haven’t proposed a firm cap since 1994. Their effort prompted a 7 1/2-month strike that forced the cancellation of the World Series for the first time in 90 years. The proposal would cap spending in 2027 at $245.3 million, with a salary floor of $171.2 million.

NBA’s board of governors passes anti-tanking changes to draft lottery

The NBA has approved sweeping changes to the draft lottery that will strip the teams with the worst records from receiving the best odds of winning the No. 1 pick. The changes were approved Thursday in large part to crack down on tanking. A vote by the league’s Board of Governors made the plan official for the next three seasons. The plan will be evaluated again before 2030. Starting with next year’s lottery, the 16 participating teams will all get somewhere between one and three lottery balls.

NBA Finals will show if the Knicks were a great team or just benefited from good fortune

GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP) — The New York Knicks are on a historic playoff run. They still need to win one more round to go down as an all-time great team. If they can get four more wins — and get them quickly — they would take their place among the NBA’s dominant postseason powerhouses. If they fall to Oklahoma City or San Antonio in the NBA Finals, they risk being remembered as a team that feasted on a weak East, that won a bunch of games right up until the ones that mattered most. They need to prove they were a great team, not just one that had good fortune.

Patrick Mahomes takes a big step forward on his repaired knee, joining Chiefs for voluntary workouts

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes is still targeting Week 1 for his return from a serious knee injury with the Kansas City Chiefs. The two-time MVP has taken an important step in his recovery from torn ligaments by participating in voluntary workouts this week. On Thursday, Mahomes did individual work and 7-on-7 drills while reporters watched, wearing a brace on his knee. He hasn’t been cleared for full-team drills yet. Chiefs coach Andy Reid is being cautious about setting a timeline for that step, but Mahomes is hopeful for a return to games by Sept. 14, when the Chiefs open against Denver on Monday night.

Claude Lemieux, the feisty four-time Stanley Cup champion for Avalanche, Devils and Habs, dies at 60

Four-time Stanley Cup champion Claude Lemieux has died. He was 60. The NHL Alumni Association announced Lemieux’s death in a social media post. A cause of death was not immediately available. Lemieux was the Montreal Canadiens’ torch bearer prior to Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final on Monday night. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP with New Jersey in 1995. Lemieux had become an agent in the years since his lengthy playing career ended and represented Carolina’s Frederik Andersen and Detroit’s Moritz Seider among more than a dozen clients in the NHL.

French Open stunner: No. 1 Jannik Sinner struggles with dizziness during heat wave in 2nd-round loss

PARIS (AP) — Top-ranked Jannik Sinner is out in the French Open second round. Sinner struggled with dizziness and wasted a chance to serve for the match in a 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1 loss to 56th-ranked opponent Juan Manuel Cerundolo. Sinner was on a 30-match winning streak and was an overwhelming favorite to complete a career Grand Slam. Sinner bent over on the clay court in apparent exhaustion multiple times. He attempted to cool himself with a hand-held fan on changeovers and put bags of ice around his neck. The temperature rose to 32 C (90 F).

Policy shaper Cody Campbell asks college sports leaders to give bipartisan fix-it bill a chance

An architect of the Senate bill that proposes to solve problems engulfing college sports says he heard the criticism right away, along with conversations of breakaway conferences, collective bargaining and ever-spiraling spending. Cody Campbell’s response to that talk: You broke it; we’re trying to fix it. The billionaire head of the Texas Tech board of regents says the bill is the best, maybe last, chance to solve problems that have been brewing since college sports began their billion-dollar metamorphosis. He says he thinks the legislation proposed by Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell is anything but perfect but better than anything he’s seen.

Kyle Busch had pneumonia for ‘days to weeks,’ according to his death certificate

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Kyle Busch died from hemorrhagic shock and disseminated intravascular coagulation after complications from bacterial pneumonia led to sepsis, his death certificate says. The former NASCAR star was 41 when he died last week. Busch had pneumonia symptoms for “days to weeks” before sepsis set in. Busch was cremated in Mooresville, North Carolina. Busch was a two-time Cup Series champion with a record 234 wins across NASCAR’s top three series. He was preparing for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway when the family announced he would not be competing due to a “severe illness.” No public memorial arrangements have been announced.

More women are watching the NHL’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. There are many reasons why

Viewership is up significantly in the NHL’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, and women are the primary driver. ESPN and TNT are reporting increases of 101% and 66%, with a handful of factors contributing to the audience growth. The success of the 4 Nations Face-Off last year and the Olympics in February, the quality of play, an increase in Gen Z talent and the fervor around “Heated Rivalry” and “Off Campus” have combined to bring more women to tune into hockey this season and postseason.

Celebrini and Crosby score as Canada beats US to advance to semifinals of ice hockey worlds

FRIBOURG, Switzerland (AP) — Macklin Celebrini scored again and Jet Greaves stopped 34 shots as Canada beat the United States 4-0 to advance to the semifinals at the ice hockey world championship. In the latest edition of their fierce rivalry, Canada’s quarterfinal victory ended the Americans’ quest to retain the trophy that they had won for the first time since 1933. The two teams met for the first time since the final at the Milan Cortina Olympics three months ago, when the Americans prevailed 2-1 in overtime to take the gold medal. Celebrini scored his sixth goal at the worlds, Sidney Crosby netted his first, and Dylan Holloway and Connor Brown also scored. Mark Scheifele had two assists.