The Sports Report: Liz Cambage leaves the Sparks

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Liz Cambage wasn’t just about what she could bring to the court. The increased media and fan attention were also on Derek Fisher’s mind when the former Sparks coach and general manager signed the controversial four-time All-Star.

“Is it going to be great?” Fisher asked on the team’s preseason media day. “Or is it going to implode?”

It didn’t take an entire season to answer the latter.

Cambage, Fisher’s prized free agent signing who vocally declared that L.A. had always been her ultimate WNBA playing destination, abruptly left the Sparks on Tuesday as the team announced a “contract divorce.” The Sparks (12-15) play at Phoenix on Thursday, a game that’s critical for postseason seeding with the ninth-place Mercury (12-16) only half a game out of playoff position.

“I have to respect what she wants,” said interim coach Fred Williams, whose relationship with Cambage began in 2018 when she played for the Williams-coached Dallas Wings. “Once a person gives you that verbally what she wants, you have to listen because it could be something else, could be something that’s not related to basketball.”

“It is with support that we share Liz Cambage’s decision to terminate her contract with the organization,” Sparks managing partner Eric Holoman said in a statement. “We want what’s best for Liz and have agreed to part ways amicably. The Sparks remain excited about our core group and are focused on our run towards a 2022 playoff berth.”

Cambage was averaging 13 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 25 appearances and 24 starts for the sixth-place Sparks with less than three weeks remaining in the regular season. It’s the 30-year-old’s second-lowest scoring season of her WNBA career, trailing only her rookie year when she averaged 11.5 points a game in 2011 for the Tulsa Shock.

DODGERS

From Steve Henson: Josiah Gray and Keibert Ruiz, the über prospects the Dodgers traded a year ago to acquire Max Scherzer and Trea Turner, were the Washington Nationals’ battery Tuesday night.

Watching them toil for the last-place Nationals in an 8-3 win over the Dodgers, the questions were obvious although the answers are not. At least not yet.

Which team won the deal? Or was it a wash?

Gray has been touched for a staggering 42 home runs in 167 2/3 career innings. Mookie Betts greeted him with a 404-foot blast to center field in the first inning Tuesday — the 14th time in 18 starts this season Gray has surrendered a home run — and Cody Bellinger hit a soaring drive to right on the first pitch of the fifth inning.

Betts thwarted a Nationals’ scoring threat in the fifth when he threw out Victor Robles at the plate on Josh Bell’s two-out single, but defense hurt the Dodgers in the eighth. The inning began with second baseman Gavin Lux making a throwing error, and Luis García homered against reliever Garrett Cleavinger with two out to give Washington a 4-3 lead.

Cleavinger was called up from triple-A before the game to give what manager Dave Roberts called “a fresh arm.” Roberts stayed with him in the ninth, but the Nationals scored four insurance runs.

ANGELS

The Angels’ Shohei Ohtani fanned on three pitches during his first at-bat against the Royals on Tuesday night.

His next at-bat set the tone for the rest of the game.

The do-everything All-Star sent the third pitch of that at-bat 420 feet to straightaway center field, giving Los Angeles the early lead. The Angels piled on from there, getting a bases-loaded double from Luis Rengifo and a late home run from Max Stassi, while Jose Suarez and their bullpen dominated Kansas City in a 6-0 victory.

“We lean on him a lot,” Angels interim manager Phil Nevin said of Ohtani, who showed no lingering affects from a foul ball he took off his thigh Monday night. “He hit that ball 110 miles an hour and it barely got out. This is a big park.”

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Appeal by citizens’ group dismissed in lawsuit over Angel Stadium sale

GALAXY

From Kevin Baxter: Shortly before kickoff of the Galaxy-Atlanta United game on Sunday, a plane was scheduled to circle Dignity Health Sports Park towing a banner calling for the ouster of Galaxy president Chris Klein.

The plane was grounded just before takeoff, so the message was never delivered. Klein then got a further reprieve when the Galaxy beat Atlanta to move back into playoff position by the narrowest of margins with 13 games left in the MLS season, relieving some of the pressure from the MLS executive who occupies the league’s hottest seat.

The Galaxy are in the midst of the worst slump in the franchise’s storied history, one that has produced more losses than wins and a lone playoff berth since 2016. One win isn’t likely to placate the supporters who paid for the banner.

“What you get judged on ultimately is the results of the first team,” Klein said. “I understand that. I take responsibility for that.”

What he hasn’t been able to do is change that.

RAMS

From Gary Klein: During his decorated career with the Seattle Seahawks, six-time All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner learned to easily make adjustments on the field.

So, a helmetless Wagner looked completely comfortable Tuesday in the middle of the Rams defense with a walkie-talkie in hand.

Wagner, accustomed to one-way, in-helmet radio communication to relay defensive signals, had looked forward to rare two-way conversation via the walkie-talkie. But his efforts to respond to coordinator Raheem Morris’ “trash talk” proved fruitless, Wagner said.

“I tried — they cut that portion out,” Wagner joked after a practice that was essentially a two-hour walk-through. “They must have knew I was going to say something back. I tried to hold the button and I didn’t get no static back.”

Wagner, 32, is expected to provide clear communication, experience and playmaking ability for a defense that aims to help the Rams repeat as Super Bowl champion.

CHARGERS

From Jeff Miller: He could see the potential in all that mass and all those muscles, the physical promises so pronounced that the kid’s high school coach begged his father to let him play.

Robert Wimberly knew Khalil Mack could fit in at Liberty University right away and maybe, if things went well, with two more years of development be ready for a larger football program.

Then a Liberty assistant, Wimberly was the only college coach who showed interest in Mack, a prospect left on the periphery because of a high school career that covered a single season.

The staff at Florida said Mack couldn’t play in the Southeastern Conference. Miami’s coaches expressed similar doubts about his Atlantic Coast Conference chances. Others questioned whether Mack was explosive enough or flexible enough.

A sport that values so highly what it can see on tape lacked sufficient evidence — just 12 games? — on Mack.

But Wimberly had seen enough of his 140 stops during that one fall at Westwood High to appreciate that, as a linebacker, he played with something all defensive coaches believe they can build upon: a solid base.

UCLA and USC

From J. Brady McCollough: Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren on Tuesday morning made his first public comments since the conference approved the admission of USC and UCLA starting in 2024, putting an end to the schools’ near-century-old relationship with what’s now the Pac-12.

Here are five takeaways from Warren’s 45-minute news conference to kick off Big Ten football media days in Indianapolis:

THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1920 — Resolute defeats Shamrock IV of Britain to defend the America’s Cup title for the United States.

1937 — The United States wins the Davis Cup by beating Britain four matches to one.

1954 — Chick Harbart beats Walter Burkemo 4 and 3 in the final round to win the PGA championship.

1969 — Betsy Rawls wins the LPGA championship by four strokes over Sue Berning and Carol Mann.

1973 — The Miami Dolphins beat the College All-Stars 14-3 in Chicago.

1986 — Greg LeMond becomes the first American to win the Tour de France. LeMond’s teammate, Bernard Hinault of France, finishes second.

1986 — Pat Bradley sinks a 12-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to defeat hard-charging Japanese veteran Ayako Okamoto in the LPGA-du Maurier tournament. Bradley birdied five of the first six holes and finishes at 6-under 66 for a 72-hole total of 276.

1986 — Speedskater Bonnie Blair sets a U.S. Olympic Festival record for total medals won with 16 and total golds with 10 by taking two titles.

1986 — Bobby Hillin Jr. becomes the youngest winner in the history of NASCAR stock car racing, surviving the Talladega 500 at Alabama International Motor Speedway. Hillin, 22, takes the lead from Tim Richmond eight laps from the end of the 188-lap event.

1987 — The Salt Lake Trappers, an independent team in the Pioneer League, have their record 29-game winning streak snapped with a 7-5 loss to Billings.

1992 — Patty Sheehan shoots a 1-over 72 for a two-stroke victory over Juli Inkster in their 18-hole playoff in the U.S. Women’s Open.

1993 — Reggie Lewis, the 27-year-old Boston Celtics star who collapsed during a playoff game on April 29 from a heart ailment, dies after a light workout at the team’s practice facility at Brandeis University.

1996 — Canada’s Donovan Bailey sets the world record to win the 100 meters in 9.84 seconds at the Summer Olympics. The Atlanta Games are later marred by the Centennial Olympic Park bombing that kills Alice Hawthorne, wounds 111 others.

2002 — John Ruiz retains the WBA heavyweight title he won from Evander Holyfield, this time getting off the canvas three times — all after low blows — and lasting long enough for Kirk Johnson to be disqualified.

2005 — Grant Hackett bumps off one of swimmimg’s most enduring world records, eclipsing Ian Thorpe’s mark in the 800-meter freestyle. The 6-foot-6 Hackett claims his second gold and third medal of the World Swimming Championships with a time of 7:38.65, breaking the mark set four years earlier by his countryman Thorpe.

2006 — Floyd Landis’ stunning Tour de France victory just four days earlier is thrown into question when he tests positive for high levels of testosterone during the race.

2008 — Carlos Sastre wins the Tour de France in one of the closest finishes in the 105-year-old race. The third Spaniard in a row to win cycling’s premier event, Sastre holds his 65-second lead over Cadel Evans of Australia. As in the last two years, this year’s Tour is plagued by doping.

2013 — Candace Parker scores a record 23 points to lead the West to a 102-98 win over the East and earn MVP honors in the WNBA All-Star game.

2013 — Hunter Mahan withdraws from the RBC Canadian Open after his wife went into labor. Mahan, the tournament leader at 13 under after 36 holes, had yet to tee off for the third round.

2014 — Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali wins the Tour de France, becoming the first Italian to win cycling’s greatest race in 16 years. Nibali is the sixth rider to win all three Grand Tours — France, Italy and Spain— and is the first Italian to win the Tour de France since Marco Pantani in 1998.

2014 — Martina Hingis leads Washington to its fourth straight World TeamTennis title and fifth in six years, beating Olga Govortsova 5-2 in singles in the Kastles’ 25-13 victory over the Springfield Lasers.

2015 — The Arizona Cardinals hire Jen Welter to coach inside linebackers through their upcoming training camp and preseason. The Cardinals say Welter is believed to be the first woman to hold a coaching position of any kind in the NFL.

2019 — Israel qualifies for their first European Baseball Championship.

2021 — Four-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles withdraws from the women’s team final at the Tokyo Games citing needs to focus on her mental health.

Compiled by the Associated Press

And finally

Donovan Bailey sets the world record in the 100 meters at the 1996 Olympics. Watch and listen here.