West Ham forward Lucas Paqueta cleared of spot-fixing charges

West Ham forward Lucas Paqueta has been cleared of alleged spot-fixing after being accused of deliberately receiving yellow cards to influence betting markets.

The English Football Association confirmed Thursday that an independent panel had found the charges unproven.

“Lucas Paqueta denied the charges against him, and the Regulatory Commission found them to be not proven following a hearing,” the FA said in a statement.

The ruling brings to an end a long-running case against the Brazil international, who was charged in May 2024.

The FA had claimed the 27-year-old Paqueta intentionally sought to be booked in four separate games — against Leicester, Aston Villa, Leeds and Bournemouth between November 2022 and August 2023 “in order for one or more persons to profit from betting.”

Blackstone Chambers, representing Paqueta, said it was understood to be the longest case in FA history.

Paqueta was charged with breaches of FA Rule E5 related to the integrity of matches and competitions.

The rule states a participant “shall not, directly or indirectly, seek to influence for an improper purpose the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of, or occurrence in or in connection with, a football match or competition.”

The panel did uphold two charges against Paqueta for failing to answer questions and provide information to the FA’s investigation. The governing body said it would determine an appropriate sanction at the earliest opportunity.

Full reasons for the verdict have not yet been published.

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Bengals expected to sign tight end Noah Fant

CINCINNATI — Tight end Noah Fant is expected to sign with the Cincinnati Bengals.

The team has not announced the signing, but coach Zac Taylor said before Thursday’s practice, “We potentially have a good signing there,” when asked about reports of a deal. ESPN reported the sides were working on a one-year contract.

“You’ve got a player that’s really a plus player in both the run and the pass. At the point of attack blocking, back side of blocking. Protection, can help you. Also really explosive as a receiver,” Taylor said about Fant. “Great size, great explosiveness, really good hands. Tough to bring down. We really feel good about where our tight end room will be.”

Fant visited the Bengals last week after being released by the Seattle Seahawks on July 20. He had 48 receptions for 500 yards and a touchdown in 14 games last season. Fant also visited New Orleans and Miami after his trip to Cincinnati.

The addition of Fant will give quarterback Joe Burrow a solid tight end duo. Mike Gesicki is expected to be the starter.

Fant will be going into his seventh season. He was a first-round pick by the Denver Broncos in 2019 and spent three seasons there before going to Seattle.

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Brooke Henderson riding ‘strange’ summer into Women’s Open in Wales

Brooke Henderson can’t help but laugh. This year, she knows, has been “weird.”

The Canadian wunderkind is set to tee it up at the AIG Women’s Open this week, the final major of the LPGA Tour season, without her usual summertime fire — results-wise — but with plenty of belief that she’s closer than ever to putting all the pieces together for the final four months of the 2025 campaign. 

“It’s been really strange,” Henderson told Sportsnet of her season. “But golf, and life, has a lot of ups and downs. I feel closer now than I have in a long time.” 

Henderson remains Canada’s top-ranked female golfer and is, in fact, the only one inside the top 300. But she sits at No. 46 in the world — a number she hasn’t slid to since 2015 when she first turned professional. With August around the corner, the native of Smiths Falls, Ont., hasn’t notched a top-10 finish in a stroke-play event yet (technically she finished tied for ninth at the T-Mobile Match Play in April) and has been a non-factor at the previous four majors, having missed the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open and finishing tied for 44th, 36th and 31st at the Chevron Championship, KPMG Women’s PGA and Amundi Evian Championship, respectively. Henderson also comes in having missed the cut at the AIG Women’s Open the last two seasons. 

Alas, Henderson — who is feeling refreshed mentally and physically after a two-week summertime break at home in Canada — comes to Royal Porthcawl in Wales, a first-time Women’s Open venue, knowing exactly what she needs to do to kickstart a successful final third of her year. 

“It’s always a big adjustment coming over here, but I feel like having played in a lot of British Open’s now and seeing the different style of courses and just learning those shots from year-to-year, we’re in a better spot than we ever have been,” Henderson said. 

Statistically, Henderson — who has made her last four cuts in a row and has notched three top-20s in her last seven starts — has actually had a solid year. It certainly hasn’t been her best, but she is on the positive side of the strokes-gained ledger in basically everything except, somewhat shockingly, ball striking. 

A year ago, she was 42nd in strokes gained: approach, and this year she sits 114th in the same stat. Henderson was 56th on Tour in driving accuracy last year and is up to an impressive 10th this year — but she has not been able to convert on the opportunities she keeps giving herself.

“For my career, ball-striking has been a huge strength of mine. So, when it hasn’t been quite as strong, definitely this year but last year a little as well, it changes your game a lot and changes how you look at a lot of things,” Henderson admitted. “Your confidence can dwindle pretty easily when you’re not feeling as confident over a shot as you’re used to. Ball striking is physical, obviously, but it creeps into your mental game. It’s all connected, but it’s been a focus point, especially the last few months and I’m making a lot of progress.” 

This week at Royal Porthcawl — which has hosted three Senior British Open competitions, most recently in 2023 — Henderson said she knows there will be plenty of variables that could interfere with the ball-striking stats with humps, bumps, and hidden linksy hollows abound on the layout founded in 1891. Henderson said, while speaking with Sportsnet, she was adjacent to the chipping green at the club and said “you wouldn’t believe” how many of her fellow players were also practicing there.  

“Everybody knows you’re going to have to depend on the short game this week,” Henderson said. 

Henderson is, however, not the only LPGA Tour mega-star without a win in 2025. World No. 1 Nelly Korda is somehow still searching for her first trophy tilt of the season, a season of parity. The LPGA Tour has had 20 tournaments this season and 21 winners (there was one team event) — something that has never happened before. 

Lydia Ko, who won the HSBC Women’s World Championship in March, is the defending champion, while Minjee Lee — who won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June — is gunning for the career grand slam. But the shocking favourite this week is 21-year-old Lottie Woad, who is making her major-championship debut as a pro. Woad is on a summertime heater, having finished tied for third at the Evian Championship before winning the KPMG Women’s Irish Open by six shots — both while still an amateur. She turned professional last week and went on to win the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open, just the third golfer in history to win in their first LPGA Tour start as an LPGA Tour member. 

Henderson is no stranger to having racked up some serious accomplishments at the beginning of her career either, but she’s in a matured-enough state to know what she needs to do, now, to return to the successful stretch everyone is used to seeing. 

“It does feel like it’s been a while that we’ve been saying it’s trending and it’s coming — but it is. I just have to keep going. I just have to try to piece it all together with that good four-days-in-a-row. And just building confidence,” Henderson said. “Coming over here, I don’t have the best track record but I’m trying to be confident, trying to hit the shots I need to and I’m hoping for a solid week here. It would do a lot of good for a lot of reasons — the goal is obviously to play all four days, but to play all four days really solidly.”

TEENAGE TRIUMPH

Henderson is not the only Canadian in the field this week. 

Anna Huang, who is just 16, was the medallist at the AIG Women’s Open final qualifier Monday. She topped a field of 107 gunning for the final 17 spots in the final major of the year. 

Huang, of Vancouver, plays on the Ladies European Tour and turned professional at the beginning of the year. 

“I played in the U.S. Open this year, so this will be my second major championship,” Huang said. “I learned a lot from that week, and bringing more patience into this week will be really helpful.”

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Examining Blue Jays’ asset base as trade deadline draws closer

BALTIMORE – Four days to the deadline and the trade market is still taking shape, especially on the pitching side. Four notable position players – Josh Naylor, Ryan McMahon, Amed Rosario and Randal Grichuk – have already changed hands, as has reliever Gregory Soto, but among starters, the most significant transaction to this point is Seth Lugo reportedly agreeing to an extension with the Kansas City Royals, taking him out of play.

That should only make a commodity executives involved in trade talks described as scarce even more challenging to acquire, simultaneously complicating attempts to frame prices based on the first burst of trades. Prospect deals always carry an element of beauty in the eye of the beholder, and for teams to act early, they have to see something they like.

Markets are also more limited for position players since a buying team needs to have a specific need, with the target player offering a clear upgrade. Every contender, on the other hand, can improve on the pitching side, which is why sellers tend to fare better when moving arms.

Still, notable for the Toronto Blue Jays and other contenders looking for improvements is that in the returns for the players mentioned above, pitching prospects were the prime currency spent by buying clubs.

Naylor, for instance, fetched the Arizona Diamondbacks two arms from the Mariners, righty Ashton Izzi, ranked as Seattle’s No. 13 prospect by Baseball America, and lefty Brandyn Garcia, ranked 19^th.

The Yankees sent lefty Griffin Herring, their No. 17 prospect according to BA, and righty Josh Grosz, both A-ball starters, to the Colorado Rockies for McMahon, while righty Clayton Beeter, their No. 23 who’s been roughed up in two big-league outings this season, and 18-year-old outfielder Browm Martínez went to Washington for Rosario.

Baltimore got righty Wellington Aracena, the Mets’ No. 28 prospect per Baseball America who’s touched 101 m.p.h., and 26-year-old double-A righty Cameron Foster. And the Royals sent Arizona righty reliever Andrew Hoffmann, who has three big-league outings, for Grichuk.

The Soto deal may be the best comp thus far for the Blue Jays, who are seeking to address their bullpen and add starting pitching in some form. With all that in mind, here’s a look at their asset base as decision time creeps closer:

Headliners

The Blue Jays’ farm system is much improved from a year ago and in the words of one rival scout, “has a lot of inventory,” but it still is not as stocked as that of fellow contenders such as the Dodgers, Red Sox, Tigers, Cubs, Mariners and Brewers. That means they aren’t likely to be a seller’s first choice when it comes to the bigger names being bandied about. Still, the progress of two of their crown jewels, shortstop Arjun Nimmala, up to No. 42 in Baseball America’s mid-season rankings, and right-hander Trey Yesavage, now No. 62, give them a couple of headliners around which to build a potential package if they decide to do some big-game deadline hunting.

Former top-100 prospect Ricky Tiedemann, the lefty recuperating from reconstructive elbow surgery, is another high-end but off-peak possibility. Whether the Blue Jays would part with them depends on the potential impact and amount of control on a returning player – at the 2021 deadline, they sent then top-100 prospects Auston Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson to the Twins for a season-and-a-half of Jose Berrios – and, of course, on how other teams value the trio. With pitching prices still muddied by the number of bubble teams yet to pick a lane and the trial-ballooning of controllable arms to see if they can find a grand-slam deal, the true intentions of buying and selling teams remain tough to read.

Young pitching

As noted, pitching is always strong currency and in Baseball America’s mid-season update, 16 of the Blue Jays’ top-30 prospects were pitchers. Five of them – Yesavage, Tiedemann, Khal Stephen, Gage Stanifer and Johnny King – are in their top 10 and six more (Kendry Rojas, Landen Maroudis, Jake Bloss, Juaron Watts-Brown, Ryan Jennings and Brandon Barriera) were in the 11-20 range. Caveat this with one team’s prospect is another’s suspect, but relative to the pricing thus far, that should give the Blue Jays plenty to work with. Now, Tiedemann, Maroudis, Bloss and Barriera are at various stages of recovery post-reconstructive elbow surgery, so valuing them fairly is difficult both ways. The Blue Jays will, obviously, need to weigh how much they can sacrifice here without depleting their stock of arms too far – productive farm systems depend on volume – but some rival clubs have targeted this group of players, underlining the appeal here.

MLB-ready options

This is an area of depth, perhaps even of surplus, that the Blue Jays can use to tempt selling clubs searching for players who can immediately, or in the very near future, step onto a big-league roster. The outfield portfolio, in particular, is deep, with Joey Loperfido, Alan Roden and Jonatan Clase, three players who are either in and have been in the majors this season, and Yohendrick Pinango and R.J. Schreck – like Loperfido, acquired at last year’s deadline sell-off – making progress at triple-A Buffalo. In the infield, Will Wagner and Leo Jimenez are both currently in the majors in part-time roles, while Josh Kasevich, a gifted defender who’d been making strides at the plate with triple-A Buffalo before a stress reaction in his back and fractured right wrist sidelined him this spring, has resumed playing in the Florida Complex League. And though the Blue Jays will be loath to sacrifice from their pitching depth in this player grouping, Lazardo Estrada and Adam Macko might interest some clubs, as well.

Wild card

Once viewed as the Blue Jays’ best position-player prospect, Orelvis Martinez has lost the top-100 prospect status he had seemed to cement last season with a strong opening at Buffalo, derailed by his 80-game suspension for violating baseball’s performance-enhancing drug policy. This season, he’s gone further backwards, batting .193/.291/.369 with 11 homers in 78 games, still doesn’t have a position in the field and will be out of options next year, limiting his runway. Still, he possesses tremendous raw power, a rare commodity that’s always in demand, and is only 23, which makes him an interesting wild card for a seller with playing time for young players.

On-the-rise

Centre-fielder Victor Arias (promoted from high-A Vancouver to double-A New Hampshire), catcher Edward Duran (low-A Dunedin to Vancouver) and infielder/outfielder Sam Shaw (Dunedin to Vancouver) are among the players bumped up a level after the all-star break, following strong opening halves of the season. Their progress is important not only because it raises their own value, but also creates opportunity for subtraction elsewhere in the system.

Financial flexibility

For some selling clubs, clearing payroll is as much, if not more of a priority than getting the best possible prospect back, creating opportunity for teams capable of taking on money. The Blue Jays can absorb dollars, an asset they used twice during the off-season in deals with Cleveland, first getting Andres Gimenez and later adding international bonus pool room by taking on Myles Straw, and during previous deadlines. That’s especially notable since FanGraphs’ RosterResource projects their payroll at $278 million for Competitive Balance Tax purposes, a mere $3 million away from the third luxury-tax threshold. After ducking under the CBT line last year, the Blue Jays are currently in for a 20 per cent hit on all overages above $241 million, with an additional 12 per cent surcharge on overages from $20 million to $40 million. Overages of $40 million to $60 million – the third threshold – face a 42.5 per cent surcharge with the first pick in next year’s draft moved back 10 spots. None of that will stand in the Blue Jays’ way, a major advantage at this time of year.

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Raptors Notebook: What’s next for Masai Ujiri and Toronto’s front office search?

Masai Ujiri and Kawhi Leonard together again.

If that doesn’t give Toronto Raptors fans a bad case of FOMO, I’m not sure what would.

It’s not on an NBA court, though. The former Raptors president — still a strange phrase even a month after the club fired Ujiri with one year left on his contract — and the MVP of the 2019 NBA Finals will reunite in Kigali, Rwanda, as part of Ujiri’s Giants of Africa festival that tips off Saturday.

Leonard is part of a battery of stars drawn from the ranks of the WNBA, NBA, international soccer, media and entertainment to celebrate Ujiri’s mission to help African youth through basketball, a project now in its 22^nd summer.

For the second time, the GOA format — which previously involved hosting a moving series of basketball camps across different countries — will instead involve an Olympics style, single-destination festival, bringing together 320 boys and girls from 20 African countries for skill development sessions, a tournament, cultural and educational programing, all culminating with a concert on Aug. 2. 

Leonard will be making his first GOA appearance and will act as a mentor to campers, help open a new basketball court — GOA has helped build nearly 40 across Africa — and host a skills clinic in one of Kigali’s most underserved neighbourhoods.

“This time we’ve invited more people, more NBA players, more artists, it’s going to be big, it’s going to be cool,” said Ujiri in an interview with me while he was still with the Raptors.

When I was in Las Vegas for Summer League, the first questions anyone from other organizations or other NBA media had for me centred around Ujiri: why MLSE president Keith Pelley decided to let him go and what Ujiri will do next.

The first part has been well-covered, but the latter not as much.

The short answer to that is: whatever he wants.

He had one year left on a five-year deal that averaged around $15 million per season, and coming off the most successful run in Raptors history, he was able to negotiate some significant long-term incentives that track the increase in the franchise’s value. He won’t need to work anytime soon, and I will be very surprised if he takes a job in the NBA this season.

Longer term? He would be an attractive candidate to head an expansion team, which is now firmly on the NBA’s radar, or could be an intriguing choice to run the NBA’s proposed addition of an NBA-sanctioned league in Europe. In the meantime, Ujiri would be an obvious candidate for leadership roles as they open across the NBA, with some league insiders keeping an eye on the Miami Heat, given that Heat president Pat Riley recently turned 80.

But for now, Ujiri won’t have a problem keeping busy.

In addition to the work his foundation has been doing for the past two decades in Africa, he’s developed some significant business interests there, in addition to being a minor investor in BAL, the Basketball Africa League. 

The GOA Festival coincides with the opening of Zaria Court, a sports entertainment urban development brand where Ujiri is one of the lead investors. The flagship location is in the heart of Kigali’s ‘Sports City,’ which is home to the newly constructed national soccer stadium and a new NBA-quality arena. Zaria Court features an 80-room hotel, a pair of five-a-side soccer pitches, a basketball court that doubles as a concert venue, a health and fitness centre and other amenities.

It’s a format Ujiri hopes to replicate across Africa, and something he sees as a logical complement to the work GOA does: utilizing sports to galvanize African talent, investment and growth in a continent that Ujiri sees as having limitless potential, given the surge in Africa’s middle class.

“It’s more about — and this sounds stupid to say — but it’s more about actually doing it to have it, than making money,” he told me. “I have money, I’ve made money. But in Africa, we don’t understand sports as a business. They see sports as recreation and competition. We get ready for Olympics, and we have physical education in schools, you know? But we don’t see sports as a business, but we have the remarkable talent, we have the artists, the chefs … we have everything we need to do anything we want to do, to fill up any arena.”

But for Ujiri, it starts with empowering generations of youth: “I always say Africa’s biggest jewel is the talent of the youth,” he said in a recent interview with the Associated Press. “One out of every four people in the world are going to be Africans by the year 2050, and the median age is 20. We should be investing in the continent.”

Raptors president search

There hasn’t been a lot of talk around MLSE’s search for a new president to replace Ujiri, though a number of league insiders I have spoken with believe that the team’s general manager, Bobby Webster, is the leading candidate for the role. “Bobby’s to lose” was a line I heard around Las Vegas, though how much of that was informed speculation and how much was deductive reasoning — Webster is a well-liked and well-respected executive both within the MLSE and across the NBA, so why mess with it? — was hard to discern.

Webster is interested in the job, which is the first step. Moving Webster up a peg to president explains why one source said that the names they had heard that the search — led by CAA Executive Search — had reached out to were some lower-tier executives, most of whom would make more sense as additions to the Raptors front office’s overall horsepower working for someone like Webster rather than in a team president role.

But there are some candidates with long and varied NBA experience, also. One name that MLSE has done background work on is Chicago Bulls general manager Marc Eversley, a Brampton native who was an assistant general manager with the Raptors under Bryan Colangelo before stints in Philadelphia, Washington and now Chicago.

Eversley is a board member with Canada Basketball and has a long-standing relationship with Webster and the experience to undertake some of the duties of a team president, even if Webster was president by title. Eversley was a key figure in the Raptors drafting DeMar DeRozan. One source said that Eversley’s ties to the Raptors and Canadian basketball were intriguing, in addition to his background with multiple NBA teams. Indiana Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan is also on MLSE’s radar.

Former Raptors head coach and current Detroit Pistons executive Dwane Casey has thrown his hat in the ring and has met with MLSE president Keith Pelley, per sources. I’m told another NBA figure of note Pelley has met with is former Sacramento Kings general manager Monte McNair. The 2022-23 NBA executive of the year was let go by the Kings in April after leading Sacramento to one of its most successful runs in franchise history.

But an interesting name to watch is Kevin Pritchard, the long-time Indiana Pacers president who led the club to the NBA Finals this past June and the Eastern Conference Finals in 2024. One league insider suggested to me that the Pacers executive is MLSE’s preferred choice, although lateral moves when executives are under contract with other teams are often harder to execute than when there is a promotion.

Raptors off-season never ends

After a highly successful stint at the Las Vegas Summer League — the baby Raptors were undefeated and had the league’s best defence and best point differential before losing to the Kings in the semifinals — there has been some brief downtime, but things will ramp up again soon.

The Raptors’ younger core trained in Toronto for most of May, in addition to heading to Austin, Texas, where Jamal Shead hosted a group of 10 players, along with coaches and training staff, for a four-day training camp in his hometown before Summer League.

The veterans were also in Las Vegas for a mini-camp. The next step is a team-wide mini-camp in Madrid during the first week of August. The Raptors held a similar gathering last summer on Spain’s southern coast in Fuengirola, working out of the NBPA’s European training facility. This time around, the Raptors will be training at the leading-edge facilities enjoyed by one of the richest clubs in European sports, Real Madrid.

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Lottie Woad wins Women’s Scottish Open in her pro debut

IRVINE, Scotland — Lottie Woad tapped in one final birdie, plucked the ball out of the cup and gave a simple wave to the crowd as if she had done this before. The English star made it look easy on Sunday when she won the Women’s Scottish Open in her professional debut.

Woad never flinched when Hyo Joo Kim made a charge on a windy day at Dundonald Links, closing with a 4-under 68 for a three-shot victory.

Woad is the second player in three years to win on the LPGA Tour in her pro debut, following Rose Zhang in the Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National in 2023.

Woad finished at 21-under 267 and earned $300,000.

“I think it’s quite hard to do that, but very special to win in my first event,” Woad said. “Everyone was chasing me today, and managed to maintain the lead and played really nicely down the stretch and hit a lot of good shots.”

Kim had opened with four birdies in seven holes, and when the South Korean added birdies on the 11th and 12th, she shared the lead with Woad.

Woad was unflappable, making birdie on the 13th and 14th holes to regain control and dropping only one shot late in her round. She finished with a three-quarter wedge over a winding burn to 2 feet for birdie and a reserved celebration.

Her victory is certain to get everyone’s attention in women’s golf. Woad was the No. 1 amateur in the women’s ranking when she won the Women’s Irish Open on the Ladies European Tour three weeks ago. Then, she finished one shot out of a playoff in the Evian Championship in France, an LPGA major.

That gave her enough points for an LPGA card, so the 21-year-old decided to forgo her final year at Florida State and turn pro. Now she has an LPGA title — the Women’s Scottish Open is co-sanctioned with the LET — as she heads south for Royal Porthcawl in Wales for the final major of the year in the Women’s British Open.

Nelly Korda, who played the opening three rounds with Woad, ran off four straight birdies on the front nine until missing some putts that stalled her momentum. She shot 71 and finished eight shots behind, leaving the American winless this year after a seven-win season in 2024.

Julia Lopez Ramirez closed with a 65 and tied for third with Sei Young Kim (73), earning the Spaniard one of three spots available in the Women’s British Open next week. The other spots went to Paula Reto of South Africa and Mary Liu of China.

Woad first made a name for herself when she won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last year with birdies on three of the last four holes. She said that was more pressure than she felt in her pro debut.

“I think Augusta, that was the biggest tournament I played in at the time and was kind of my big win,” Woad said. “So definitely felt the pressure of it more there, and I felt like all those experiences helped me with this.”

The only difference this week was getting paid for it. Along with winning the Women’s Irish Open, Woad tied for 31st in the U.S. Women’s Open this year and tied for 10th in the Women’s British Open at St. Andrews last summer.

She heads to Wales, hopeful of keeping the momentum.

“It’s been pretty good, yeah. I don’t really know how to describe it,” Woad said. “Just been shooting low scores, which is always nice.”

The LPGA Tour now has had a different winner in all 19 tournaments this year, the longest stretch of no multiple winners in its 75-year history.

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Report: Bulls sign head coach Billy Donovan to multi-year extension

As the Chicago Bulls look to turn the page, they’ll opt for some stability on their bench.

The Bulls have reportedly agreed to a multi-year contract extension with head coach Billy Donovan, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Sunday.

The exact terms of the extension were not reported.

According to Charania, the Bulls and Donovan’s camp had begun negotiating the extension at the end of last season.

Over his five seasons in Chicago, Donovan has a 195-205 record but has led the Bulls to the playoffs only once, losing in the first round to the Milwaukee Bucks in 2022.

Prior to joining the Bulls, Donovan spent five seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder, leading them to a 243-157 record with five straight post-season appearances.

Donovan is one of only eight current NBA head coaches with at least 800 regular-season games under his belt. He’s also the only current head coach enshrined in the Hall of Fame as a coach after being selected as part of the Class of 2025.

The New York Knicks had previously pursued Donovan this off-season before settling on Mike Brown.

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Raptors Notebook: What’s next for Masai Ujiri and Toronto’s front office search?

Masai Ujiri and Kawhi Leonard together again.

If that doesn’t give Toronto Raptors fans a bad case of FOMO, I’m not sure what would.

It’s not on an NBA court, though. The former Raptors president — still a strange phrase even a month after the club fired Ujiri with one year left on his contract — and the MVP of the 2019 NBA Finals will reunite in Kigali, Rwanda, as part of Ujiri’s Giants of Africa festival that tips off Saturday.

Leonard is part of a battery of stars drawn from the ranks of the WNBA, NBA, international soccer, media and entertainment to celebrate Ujiri’s mission to help African youth through basketball, a project now in its 22^nd summer.

For the second time, the GOA format — which previously involved hosting a moving series of basketball camps across different countries — will instead involve an Olympics style, single-destination festival, bringing together 320 boys and girls from 20 African countries for skill development sessions, a tournament, cultural and educational programing, all culminating with a concert on Aug. 2. 

Leonard will be making his first GOA appearance and will act as a mentor to campers, help open a new basketball court — GOA has helped build nearly 40 across Africa — and host a skills clinic in one of Kigali’s most underserved neighbourhoods.

“This time we’ve invited more people, more NBA players, more artists, it’s going to be big, it’s going to be cool,” said Ujiri in an interview with me while he was still with the Raptors.

When I was in Las Vegas for Summer League, the first questions anyone from other organizations or other NBA media had for me centred around Ujiri: why MLSE president Keith Pelley decided to let him go and what Ujiri will do next.

The first part has been well-covered, but the latter not as much.

The short answer to that is: whatever he wants.

He had one year left on a five-year deal that averaged around $15 million per season, and coming off the most successful run in Raptors history, he was able to negotiate some significant long-term incentives that track the increase in the franchise’s value. He won’t need to work anytime soon, and I will be very surprised if he takes a job in the NBA this season.

Longer term? He would be an attractive candidate to head an expansion team, which is now firmly on the NBA’s radar, or could be an intriguing choice to run the NBA’s proposed addition of an NBA-sanctioned league in Europe. In the meantime, Ujiri would be an obvious candidate for leadership roles as they open across the NBA, with some league insiders keeping an eye on the Miami Heat, given that Heat president Pat Riley recently turned 80.

But for now, Ujiri won’t have a problem keeping busy.

In addition to the work his foundation has been doing for the past two decades in Africa, he’s developed some significant business interests there, in addition to being a minor investor in BAL, the Basketball Africa League. 

The GOA Festival coincides with the opening of Zaria Court, a sports entertainment urban development brand where Ujiri is one of the lead investors. The flagship location is in the heart of Kigali’s ‘Sports City,’ which is home to the newly constructed national soccer stadium and a new NBA-quality arena. Zaria Court features an 80-room hotel, a pair of five-a-side soccer pitches, a basketball court that doubles as a concert venue, a health and fitness centre and other amenities.

It’s a format Ujiri hopes to replicate across Africa, and something he sees as a logical complement to the work GOA does: utilizing sports to galvanize African talent, investment and growth in a continent that Ujiri sees as having limitless potential, given the surge in Africa’s middle class.

“It’s more about — and this sounds stupid to say — but it’s more about actually doing it to have it, than making money,” he told me. “I have money, I’ve made money. But in Africa, we don’t understand sports as a business. They see sports as recreation and competition. We get ready for Olympics, and we have physical education in schools, you know? But we don’t see sports as a business, but we have the remarkable talent, we have the artists, the chefs … we have everything we need to do anything we want to do, to fill up any arena.”

But for Ujiri, it starts with empowering generations of youth: “I always say Africa’s biggest jewel is the talent of the youth,” he said in a recent interview with the Associated Press. “One out of every four people in the world are going to be Africans by the year 2050, and the median age is 20. We should be investing in the continent.”

Raptors president search

There hasn’t been a lot of talk around MLSE’s search for a new president to replace Ujiri, though a number of league insiders I have spoken with believe that the team’s general manager, Bobby Webster, is the leading candidate for the role. “Bobby’s to lose” was a line I heard around Las Vegas, though how much of that was informed speculation and how much was deductive reasoning — Webster is a well-liked and well-respected executive both within the MLSE and across the NBA, so why mess with it? — was hard to discern.

Webster is interested in the job, which is the first step. Moving Webster up a peg to president explains why one source said that the names they had heard that the search — led by CAA Executive Search — had reached out to were some lower-tier executives, most of whom would make more sense as additions to the Raptors front office’s overall horsepower working for someone like Webster rather than in a team president role.

But there are some candidates with long and varied NBA experience, also. One name that MLSE has done background work on is Chicago Bulls general manager Marc Eversley, a Brampton native who was an assistant general manager with the Raptors under Bryan Colangelo before stints in Philadelphia, Washington and now Chicago.

Eversley is a board member with Canada Basketball and has a long-standing relationship with Webster and the experience to undertake some of the duties of a team president, even if Webster was president by title. Eversley was a key figure in the Raptors drafting DeMar DeRozan. One source said that Eversley’s ties to the Raptors and Canadian basketball were intriguing, in addition to his background with multiple NBA teams. Indiana Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan is also on MLSE’s radar.

Former Raptors head coach and current Detroit Pistons executive Dwane Casey has thrown his hat in the ring and has met with MLSE president Keith Pelley, per sources. I’m told another NBA figure of note Pelley has met with is former Sacramento Kings general manager Monte McNair. The 2022-23 NBA executive of the year was let go by the Kings in April after leading Sacramento to one of its most successful runs in franchise history.

But an interesting name to watch is Kevin Pritchard, the long-time Indiana Pacers president who led the club to the NBA Finals this past June and the Eastern Conference Finals in 2024. One league insider suggested to me that the Pacers executive is MLSE’s preferred choice, although lateral moves when executives are under contract with other teams are often harder to execute than when there is a promotion.

Raptors off-season never ends

After a highly successful stint at the Las Vegas Summer League — the baby Raptors were undefeated and had the league’s best defence and best point differential before losing to the Kings in the semifinals — there has been some brief downtime, but things will ramp up again soon.

The Raptors’ younger core trained in Toronto for most of May, in addition to heading to Austin, Texas, where Jamal Shead hosted a group of 10 players, along with coaches and training staff, for a four-day training camp in his hometown before Summer League.

The veterans were also in Las Vegas for a mini-camp. The next step is a team-wide mini-camp in Madrid during the first week of August. The Raptors held a similar gathering last summer on Spain’s southern coast in Fuengirola, working out of the NBPA’s European training facility. This time around, the Raptors will be training at the leading-edge facilities enjoyed by one of the richest clubs in European sports, Real Madrid.

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Canada finalizes coaching staff for 2026 world juniors

After two disappointing finishes at the world juniors, Team Canada is opting for some experience behind the bench in hopes of reclaiming some glory.

Canada has finalized the coaching and support staff around recently appointed head coach Dale Hunter for the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship in Minnesota in December, Hockey Canada announced Saturday.

Joining the London Knights head coach will be associate coach Misha Donskov, assistant coaches Brad Lauer (Spokane Chiefs, WHL) and Gardiner MacDougall (Moncton Wildcats, QMJHL), goaltending coach Dan De Palma (Kamloops Blazers, WHL) and video coach Ethan O’Rourke (Kingston Frontenacs, OHL).

They’ll also receive additional help from James Emery, Hockey Canada’s director of performance analysis.

“We are thrilled to officially welcome Misha, Brad, Gardiner, Dan and Ethan to the coaching staff for the World Juniors,” said Alan Millar, general manager of Hockey Canada’s program of excellence. “Each coach brings a winning pedigree at the National Hockey League, Canadian Hockey League and IIHF levels. We believe this is an exceptionally well-rounded staff that will provide our players with an opportunity to be successful in Minnesota.”

It will be Dale Hunter’s second time as head coach of the squad, as he also coached the team to a gold medal at the 2020 tournament. 

As head coach and part-owner of the OHL’s Knights, Hunter has won five OHL titles and led the franchise to three Memorial Cup championships — in 2005, 2016 and 2025. He’s only the second coach in Canadian Hockey League history to have more than 1,000 wins to his credit, joining Ottawa 67’s legend Brian Kilrea.

Donskov, meanwhile, has held multiple roles within Hockey Canada since being appointed in late June. Beyond serving as the vice president of hockey operations, Donskov is a head coach for the men’s national team at the world championships and will serve as an assistant for both the world juniors and the Olympic team.

Lauer, a native of Humboldt, Sask., led the Chiefs to the Ed Chynoweth Cup final in his first year as head coach this past season. He had previously coached the Edmonton Oil Kings for four years and was an assistant coach at the NHL level with the Winnipeg Jets, Tampa Bay Lightning, Anaheim Ducks and Ottawa Senators.

MacDougall, from Bedeque, P.E.I., won the Gilles-Courteau Trophy as QMJHL champions in his first year behind the bench this past season. He had previously served as head coach for the University of New Brunswick men’s hockey team, guiding them to a perfect 43-0 record in the 2023-24 season. He had spent 24 seasons behind the Reds’ bench before heading to Moncton.

De Palma has served as the Blazers’ goaltending coach for 19 seasons and is an experienced contributor with Canada’s junior teams, helping the side to gold medals at the U18 world championships in 2024 and 2025, as well as a gold medal at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup.

O’Rourke has been part of Canada’s coaching staff twice as video coach, at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup and at the 2024 U17 Hockey Challenge.

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Lottie Woad keeps two-shot lead at Scottish Open, nearing win in pro debut on LPGA Tour

IRVINE, Scotland — Lottie Woad had four birdies in a six-hole stretch around the turn and posted a 5-under 67 on Saturday to maintain her two-shot lead in the Women’s Scottish Open as she closes in on victory in her professional debut.

Woad has such control of her game at Dundonald Links that she went 33 consecutive holes without a bogey until dropping a shot on the 15th.

Her lead was down to one shot, but the 21-year-old from England responded with a short wedge she played perfectly on the 17th, leaving her an 8-foot birdie putt she converted. A closing par put her at 17-under 199.

Nanna Koerstz Madsen of Denmark, who caught Woad early with an eagle on the par-5 third hole, fell behind after Woad’s birdie streak. But the Dane rallied with three straight birdies and a couple of par saves for a 67.

She was two shots behind, along with Sei Young Kim (66), who made a long eagle putt on the 14th and got up-and-down for birdie on the par-5 closing hole to get within two shots.

Nelly Korda played bogey-free, but the American managed only two birdies on another relatively calm day by Scottish standards. Her 70 left her five shots behind Woad, who already has had a golden summer in Europe.

Woad, who won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2024 and rose to No. 1 in the women’s amateur ranking that year, won the Irish Women’s Open three weeks ago on the Ladies European Tour.

Then she missed the playoff by one shot in the Evian Championship. But her tie for third in the LPGA major earned her a tour card, and she decided to skip her senior year at Florida State and turn pro. And now she has a chance to win in her debut.

“That’s the aim, to shoot as low as possible and keep giving myself chances,” Woad said. “If someone shoots lights out, fair enough. I’m excited for the opportunity. I’ve got the experience and I’ll try to use that.”

Kim has 12 titles on the LPGA, including the Women’s PGA Championship in 2020 at Aronimink, though she is coming up on five years since her last win. She will be in the final group Sunday with Woad and Madsen.

Korda, meanwhile, has a lot of ground to make up if she wants to end her surprising drought. She won seven times last season on the LPGA and still has yet to win this year.

“Wasn’t hitting it probably as good as I was the first two days,” Korda said. “I made some really good par saves and just didn’t really capitalize on some of my good shots. But that’s golf. That’s OK. I still have tomorrow.”

Woad will try to match Rose Zhang by winning on the LPGA in her pro debut. Zhang did that at Liberty National two years ago in the Mizuho Americas Open.

The Women’s Scottish Open is co-sanctioned by the LPGA and the LET.

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Canada’s Leathead wins high-diving silver at World Aquatics Championship

The first world championship medal of Simone Leathead’s career was not what she expected, but she’s grateful for it.

The 22-year-old from Montreal captured silver in the high diving competition at the World Aquatics Championships on Saturday after the outdoor event had been delayed due to weather.

“My first thought is that I’m very proud of myself,” said Leathead after the medal ceremony. “The competition wasn’t easy, and I’m not used to diving competitions that last three days. 

“I’m really proud of having been able to dive the way I did, when it really counted. And my mother was in the stands, which made it even better.”

Leathead amassed a total of 314.50 points over six dives for the first podium of her career.

Australia’s Rhiannan Iffland (359.25) won her fifth world title in the event. Maya Kelly (310.00) of the United States took bronze.

Coach Stéphane Lapointe was not surprised that Leathead won Canada’s first medal at these world championships.

“Simone has always worked extremely hard,” said Lapointe. “For us, the world championships are like the Olympics. In her last six international competitions, Simone has finished on the podium five times. 

“She’s one of the best in the world, which she demonstrated today. It’s a wonderful reward for all her hard work and her talent.”

Molly Carlson, who is from Thunder Bay, Ont., but resides in Montréal, finished ninth with 271.90 points.

After her first four of six dives in the 20-metre platform finals, Leathead held provisional tenth place, while Carlson was second. After the fifth round, Carlson was still in second place, only 24.35 points behind Iffland, while Leathead had climbed to fourth.

The athletes’ sixth and final attempts completely shook up the standings: Leathead moved into second place with a dive worth 90.00 points, while Carlson slipped into ninth after receiving her lowest score of the competition (39.90).

Lapointe praised Carlson’s resilience, despite the fact that her final dive may have cost her the podium.

“Molly lifted her arms, and she paid dearly for it (in points). But I’m very proud of her. Just last month, she had an accident in Italy (Carlson slipped before executing a dive),” said Lapointe of Carlson, who won silver at the 2023 and 2024 world championships. “But despite that, she showed up here ready to give it her all.

“For Molly, being here put a lot of pressure on her, so I’m proud of the fact that she took part in the competition. It’s a bit of a tough time for her, but she’ll come back even stronger.”

The final two rounds of the men’s 27-metre high diving competition will take place on Sunday. After four dives, Quebec City’s Michael Foisy (307.60) holds provisional 15th place, 144.70 points behind Constantin Popovici of Romania, who leads the standings.

In the women’s one-metre springboard event on Saturday, neither Calgary’s Margo Erlam nor Sonya Palkhivala of Pointe-Claire, Que., secured a spot in the finals by finishing in the top twelve. Erlam (234.65) finished 17th in the preliminaries, while Palkhivala (218.75) finished 24th.

In the mixed team competition, Canada’s Carson Paul, Katelyn Fung, Amélie-Laura Jasmin, and Matt Cullen placed tenth with a score of 349.20. The Chinese team won the event with 466.25 points. The Canadian team got off to a slow start, placing 21st after the first dive, but later moved up in the standings.

Calgary’s Tazman Abramowicz will be the only Canadian to compete in the men’s one-meter springboard event on Sunday.

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Around the CFL: Tiger-Cats look like a Grey Cup contender

Bo Levi Mitchell needed just one word to describe the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ latest win.

“Gritty,” the quarterback said of his Ticats, which is exactly how residents of Steeltown want their team to play football.

The 2025 version of the Ticats, fresh off its fourth win in a row in Ottawa last week, appears very much capable of becoming a beloved squad for a long-suffering football city.

Grey Cup-less since 1999 (by far the CFL’s longest active streak), the Ticats (4-2) seem to be able to win in many different ways this season.

Football coaches love when all three units of a team contribute to victory — and that’s how things went down Sunday night in the nation’s capital.

Special teams? Kicker Marc Liegghio booted three more field goals to extend his streak to 30 consecutive makes.

Defence? The Ticats held the Redblacks out of the end zone, as Ottawa was forced to settle for five field goals in a 30-15 Hamilton win.

Offence? Mitchell, 35, threw for 327 yards, including yet another deep touchdown pass to top free-agent acquisition Kenny Lawler, who leads the league with eight receiving majors. Lawler just might be the early favourite for the CFL’s most outstanding player award, though Mitchell could be in the mix to win it for a third time.

“Hats off to the defence, man,” Mitchell said. “It’s so fun to play football when your defence plays the way they’re playing right now and they have every game.

“… Just a hell of a performance from those guys. It’s inspiring the offence. We’re not having to be overly aggressive, I think that’s the thing. We’re trying to take what’s there and be smart. We have big-play potential so when it’s there, we take it.”

It was there when Mitchell hit Lawler for a 41-yard touchdown pass over the top of a depleted Redblacks secondary in the first quarter. And it was there again in the third quarter when Mitchell found Kiondre Smith for a 63-yard snag, setting up another touchdown.

That’s not to say Mitchell was perfect. He misfired on a few throws, including one that nearly went for a pick-six by Adarius Pickett, only to be chased down by Lawler early in the fourth quarter. Hamilton’s defence made another stand after the big play, holding the Redblacks to a field goal to cut the Ticats’ lead to 20-15.

Mitchell and Co. then responded with a textbook 70-yard TD drive to all but seal the home-and-home sweep.

This fast start is critical for a Ticats team that has made a habit of falling behind in the standings early in recent years (0-4 in 2022, 0-3 in 2023, 0-5 in 2025).

“It’s been huge,” Tiger-Cats defensive back Destin Talbert, who had two interceptions Sunday, said of the start. “Like I mentioned, I love getting any win. Having four right now and getting off to a good start for the first six games is really good. I’m glad we could do that for the whole city.”

The city also is getting an up-close look at a wonderful quarterback redemption story. Written off by some after losing his starting job in Calgary and then suffering through an injury-plagued first season with the Ticats in 2023, Mitchell started heading back in the right direction last year when he was named the East’s top player — albeit in a non-playoff season.

This season, Mitchell leads the league with 1,812 passing yards and has an excellent 12-2 touchdown-to-interception ratio. On Sunday, he overtook Tracy Ham for 10th on the CFL’s all-time passing list with 40,835 yards. Doug Flutie, with 41,355 yards, is next in his sights.

“When you pass a guy, everybody congratulates myself but there’s a lot that goes into it,” Mitchell said. “It’s making sure you look back at the guys like Tracy Ham and what that guy did. What Doug Flutie did, trying to chase him now. Just continue to look back at the legends that played this game. Been so many great quarterbacks, so many great players in general. Just to climb that list and be a part of 10 of the top guys of all time is very, very special.”

This Ticats team might be special, too. A three-game road trip continues Sunday in B.C. and concludes next week in Edmonton before the Ticats come home for Hamilton’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander day on Aug. 7 against the Lions.

At least one current champion will be in the Hammer that day. Based on the way the Ticats are playing, perhaps the team can join SGA in making 2025 one of the best all-time years for Hamilton sports.

More QB woes

While Mitchell and Calgary Stampeders counterpart Vernon Adams Jr. are two of the feel-good stories of the league this year, overall, it’s been a rough campaign for quarterbacks.

After a series of injuries earlier this year, once again health is a concern heading into Week 8.

Montreal Alouettes QB Davis Alexander re-injured his hamstring last week and is now considered week-to-week. McLeod Bethel-Thompson starts in his absence on Thursday in Calgary.

Elsewhere, Toronto Argonauts QB Chad Kelly has been deemed week-to-week by the team, per 3 Down Nation. He has been out since fracturing his leg in last year’s CFL East final. Nick Arbuckle will remain the starter Saturday against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

The Blue Bombers, meanwhile, got better news on QB Zach Collaros, who was knocked out of last week’s loss to Calgary when his helmet appeared to bounce off the turf after he was hit by Clarence Hicks.

Collaros was back taking first-team reps this week and should start against Toronto.

Meanwhile, the Ottawa Redblacks will monitor Dru Brown over the bye week after he was forced out of last week’s loss to the Tiger-Cats with an apparent head injury.

Tiger-Cats defensive back DaShaun Amos was assessed a 25-yard penalty for roughing the passer on the play.

Finally, the Edmonton Elks are making a QB switch — but not because of injury. Struggling starter Tre Ford and Cody Fajardo split first-team reps this week ahead of their Friday road game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders before the team named Fajardo the starter Thursday.

Week 8 schedule

Thursday, Jan. 24: Montreal Alouettes (4-2) at Calgary Stampeders (5-1), 9 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. MT
Friday, Jan. 25: Edmonton Elks (1-4) at Saskatchewan Roughriders (5-1), 9 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CST
Saturday, Jan. 26: Winnipeg Blue Bombers (3-2) at Toronto Argonauts (1-5), 7 p.m. ET
Sunday, Jan. 27: Hamilton Tiger-Cats (4-2) at B.C. Lions (3-4), 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT

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