Good Morning! Today is Monday, June 30. Here’s what happened over the weekend in the world of sports.

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

We’ll ease into this busy Monday with a few NBA trades: The Charlotte Hornets are sending Jusuf Nurkic to the Jazz for guard Collin Sexton. Not too notable, but it helps out both rebuilding teams. Get ready for this one, though: the Chicago Bulls traded Lonzo Ball to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Isaac Okoro. By most people’s understanding, Chicago is sending an oft-injured but popular and talented player away for a more expensive, worse option. So that makes sense…

A couple of guys re-signed with their teams ahead of free agency. First I’ll sneak a hockey note into this basketball news dump– playoff hero Sam Bennett is re-signing with the Florida Panthers. Back to basketball– big men Naz Reid and Julius Randle each got paid by the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Rockets agreed to extend Jabari Smith Jr. for five more seasons. James Harden negotiated a two-year deal to stay with the Los Angeles Clippers. And most notably, LeBron James opted in for another season with the Los Angeles Lakers. As is the new standard with LeBron, it’s unclear if he’s happy in LA, if this will be his final season, or if everything is just business as usual.

Two others are leaving their current teams. Center DeAndre Ayton agreed to a buyout with Portland and has suddenly become one of the more notable free agents this summer. And Raptors president Masai Ujiri, one of the more respected front office minds in basketball, has been let go by new ownership. Keep an eye on Toronto’s competitiveness going forward.

And the final news from the hoops corner of the world concerns free agent Malik Beasley. The sharpshooter is under federal investigation for betting on NBA games. For so many reasons, this is not a good headline.

The sports world lost two enormous figures over the weekend. Pirates legend Dave Parker passed away on Saturday, just a few weeks before he was set to be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. And horse trainer D. Wayne Lukas, winner of 15 Triple Crown races, passed away this weekend at the age of 89. Two legends, well-respected and admired by many. They’ll be missed.

Congratulations to Matthew Schaefer, the first overall pick in this year’s NHL Draft. The young defenseman will join the New York Islanders. My favorite pick of the weekend, however, was made by the other New York team– in the sixth round, the Rangers selected Evan Passmore. Pretty clear scouting report on that guy.

Finally, longtime Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes has found a new team… the San Francisco Giants. Going to be a little weird seeing the 11-year veteran wearing the uniform of what used to be his biggest rival.

MLB

I switched up the order of things because there was just so much news this weekend. But as always, there was plenty of on-field action, too. Here’s what stood out on the baseball diamond:

• The Pittsburgh Pirates scored 30 runs this weekend in a sweep of the New York Mets. Things are not going well in Queens- the Mets have lost 13 of their last 16 games.

• Meanwhile, the Marlins are heating up! Miami has won seven games in a row and are 9-0 in their last nine road games. I still couldn’t name more than six players on their team, but that’s an impressive streak!

• Each of the main players from this winter’s blockbuster trade between the Cubs and Astros hit a home run when facing each other on Saturday. Cam Smith, Kyle Tucker, and Isaac Paredes all went yard against their former teams. You could say the deal is working out for both sides.

• Tarik Skubal remains the best pitcher in baseball. The Tigers ace struck out 13 batters in seven shutout innings last night, leading Detroit to a 3-0 win against Minnesota.

• But the best performance of the weekend came way back on Friday. Sonny Gray delivered an 89-pitch complete-game shutout. The Maddux, as it’s commonly referred to, was even more dominant because Gray allowed just one hit and struck out 11. Thanks to Gray’s stellar outing, the Cardinals won that game– they followed it up with two more wins and a sweep of the Guardians.

TRIVIA: James Wood was intentionally walked four times yesterday against the Angels. Can you name the last player this happened to in an MLB game?

SOCCER

The USA beat Costa Rica on penalties last night to advance to the semifinals of the Gold Cup! "Penalties are my thing," said goalkeeper Matt Freese. The US will take on Guatemala on Wednesday in St. Louis.

TODAY’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

MLB:

• Reds @ Red Sox, 7:10 PM

  • Chase Burns vs Garrett Crochet… get ready for some Ks

• Giants @ Diamondbacks, 9:40 PM on FS1

WIMBLEDON: Just started an hour ago! Go check out the most prestigious tennis tournament of the year on the ESPN/Disney/+ family of networks

TRIVIA ANSWER: Barry Bonds, on September 22, 2004

“Sometimes I sleep. I like to play PS5. And I like to eat,” –new Portland Trail Blazer Yang Hansen