Thursday's Sports In Brief
NFL
NEW YORK (AP) Three-time All-Pro tight end Antonio Gates of San Diego will be suspended the first four games of the 2015 season along with New York Jets defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson and Dallas linebacker Rolando McClain for violating NFL drug policies.
Gates' suspension is over the league's ban on performance-enhancing drugs, while Richardson and McClain will be sidelined under the substance abuse policy.
Green Bay defensive end Datone Jones will have to sit out the season opener for a substance abuse violation. All the suspensions, announced by the league, are without pay.
All four players can participate in training camp and preseason games. Gates, Richardson and McClain can return to the active roster Oct. 5, the day after the Week 4 games.
NBA
MIAMI (AP) - After 12 years with the Miami Heat, Dwyane Wade needed a reminder of how much the franchise valued him.
Once he found out, any chance of him leaving vanished.
Wade accepted a $20 million, one-year deal to stay with the Heat next season, ending his latest foray into free agency and wrapping up a weeks-long saga that had him seriously wondering about leaving for the first time. A pair of conversations, first with Heat CEO Nick Arison and then another with managing general partner Micky Arison, reminded Wade of what he meant to the team and from there it was a matter of just making numbers work.
DALLAS (AP) - Free agent guard Wesley Matthews and the Mavericks have agreed on a four-year deal with financial terms that will depend on whether center DeAndre Jordan decides to join him in Dallas.
A person with knowledge of the deal says Matthews and the Mavericks reached an agreement in principle and will wait on the decision from Jordan, who is apparently choosing between the Mavericks and his original team, the Los Angeles Clippers.
Players can't sign until July 9.
Matthews, coming off a ruptured left Achilles tendon in March, turned downa four-year, $64 million offer from Sacramento. It is unclear if he will be ready to start the season, but the Mavericks targeted him as a potential replacement at shooting guard for Monta Ellis, who agreed to a $44 million, four-year deal with Indiana.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - When Damian Lillard agreed to a new maximum contract extension with the Trail Blazers, it may have been the beginning of a changing of the guard in Portland.
Lillard agreed to terms on a five-year contract worth more than $120 million, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press.
The full value of the contract could wind up ranging between $125 million and $129 million and won't be determined until the salary cap is established. That makes it the richest contract in league history for a guard.
The Blazers also agreed to a three-year, $20 million deal with forward Ed Davis, giving them some insurance if LaMarcus Aldridge chooses to leave as a free agent.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Wizards agreed to acquire forward Jared Dudley from the Milwaukee Bucks for a future second-round draft pick, according to a person familiar with the negotiations between the teams.
Earlier this week, Dudley decided to exercise his player option for a $4.25 million contract with Milwaukee next season, rather than become a free agent. The veteran forward averaged 7.2 points and 3.1 rebounds and made 38.5 percent of his 3-point attempts in 72 games last season, his first with the Bucks.
Dudley provides the Wizards with a player to help fill the void at the stretch-4 spot, because Paul Pierce opted out of his contract with Washington and agreed to a $10 million, three-year free-agent deal with the Los Angeles Clippers.
MILWAUKEE (AP) - As one of the most coveted big men on the free agent market, Greg Monroe had his choice of destinations. The big-market Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks wanted him. So did the Portland Trail Blazers.
In the end, Monroe wanted the best chance to reach the playoffs for the first time in his career. For the first time in a long time, the Milwaukee Bucks provided the surest bet on that front.
Monroe agreed to terms with the Bucks on a three-year deal worth $50 million, his agent David Falk said. The deal gives the 25-year-old Monroe a chance to become a free agent again after two years if he so chooses, and it also surrounds him with one of the best young rosters in the league as he chases that elusive playoff berth.
NHL
TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) - Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov was sentenced to three months in jail after pleading no contest to beating his wife after an argument at a Halloween party last year.
Voynov, 25, was also placed on probation for three years for misdemeanor corporal injury to a spouse. A felony domestic violence charge that alleged he caused great bodily injury was thrown out in exchange for the plea.
Voynov would not comment as he left Los Angeles County Superior Court holding his wife's hand. He must begin serving his jail term by July 14.
Authorities said the Russian Olympian struck and choked his wife in their Redondo Beach bedroom after a fight that began at a party attended by other Kings players. He allegedly pushed her into a TV that opened a cut over her eye requiring eight stitches.
NEW YORK (AP) - New York Rangers forward Martin St. Louis is retiring after 16 NHL seasons, seven All Star selections and one Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
St. Louis made the announcement roughly a month after helping the Rangers reach the Eastern Conference finals, where they lost to the Lightning in seven games. He had 21 goals and 31 assists this past regular season, but had one goal and six assists in 19 playoffs games.
St. Louis had 391 goals and 642 assists in 1,134 regular-season games with the Calgary Flames, Lightning and Rangers. He won the Stanley Cup with the Lightning in 2004 and the Art Ross Trophy twice (1994, 2013) as the league's top scorer. He also won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's Most Valuable Player, and the Lester B. Pearson Award as the NHL players association's Most Outstanding Player in 1994.
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) - Sochi Olympics shootout star T.J. Oshie was acquired by the Washington Capitals in a deal that sent Troy Brouwer to the St. Louis Blues.
Washington also will send AHL goalie Pheonix Copley and a third-round pick in next year's NHL draft to St. Louis.
Oshie had 19 goals and 36 in 72 games for the Blues last season, his seventh in the NHL, all with St. Louis. He is best known for scoring four times during a shootout to lead the United States to a victory against Russia at the 2014 Olympics.
Brouwer totaled 21 goals and 22 assists for Washington last season while appearing in all 82 games.