BASKETBALL

The Phoenix Suns have signed two-time All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas to a 10-day contract.

The 35-year-old hasn’t played in the NBA since 2022 but recently appeared in four games with the Salt Lake City Stars in the NBA G League, averaging 32.5 points per game.

The Suns, who announced the contract on Wednesday, are searching for some scoring punch off the bench as they make their postseason push. Thomas played 46 games with the Suns during the 2014-15 season, averaging 15.2 points per game.

Thomas has a career scoring averaging of 17.7 points in 550 career games with the Kings, Suns, Celtics, Cavaliers, Lakers, Nuggets, Wizards, Pelicans, Mavericks and Hornets. He played parts of three seasons with Boston.

• Cleveland Cavaliers Coach J.B. Bickerstaff revealed he received threats from gamblers last season and reported it to the NBA.

While being asked about sports gambling following comments made by Indiana All-Star Tyrese Haliburton, who said he sometimes feels like a “prop,” Bickerstaff said gamblers contacted him.

“They got my telephone number and were sending me crazy messages about where I live and my kids and all that stuff,” Bickerstaff said before the Cavs hosted the Miami Heat. “So it is a dangerous game and a fine line that we’re walking for sure.”

Bickerstaff said he told security and that the gambler was located.

“No charges,” Bickerstaff said. “But they found him.”

HOCKEY

AHL: After years of feeling alienated by the NHL and campaigning to diversify the sport, Akim Aliu is getting another shot at playing pro hockey, this time with the San Jose Sharks’ minor league affiliate.

Sharks GM Mike Grier informed reporters at the league’s GM meetings in Florida that he offered Aliu a tryout contract with the American Hockey League’s San Jose Barracuda for the remainder of the season.

The 34-year-old Aliu, who plays defense, confirmed the tryout by text to The Associated Press, saying his flight had just landed in California.

Aliu last played professionally at the end of the 2019-20 season with Litvinov HC in the Czech Republic’s top league and finished with one goal and two assists in three games. He was born in Nigeria to mixed-race parents and then lived in Ukraine before his family eventually settled in the Toronto suburbs, where he picked up hockey.

Aliu is a journeyman minor leaguer who is best known for confronting racism in hockey. He came to prominence by making two life-altering social media posts in November 2019, which led to Bill Peters’ abrupt resignation as coach of the Calgary Flames.

Aliu revealed Peters bullied and directed racist slurs at him when the two were in the minors a decade earlier. Peters resigned days later, and Aliu’s revelations led to the NHL instituting a personal conduct policy in a bid to eradicate racism in what’s traditionally been a white-dominated sport.

The altercation with Peters, and being the target of a hazing incident while in junior hockey, led Aliu to believe his career was stunted because NHL teams had labeled him a troublemaker.

Aliu, who was selected in the second round of the 2007 draft by Chicago, spent a majority of his 13 seasons jumping from one minor league team to another. He appeared in just seven NHL games with the Flames split over two seasons.

PWHL: Toronto scored power-play goals a little less than five minutes apart to top Boston 2-1 at Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto.

Sidney Morin scored a power-play goal at 11:21 of the first period to give Boston a 1-0 lead.

Renata Fast tied the game at 2:14 of the third and Natalie Spooner put Toronto ahead at 7:05 of the third.

TENNIS

MIAMI OPEN: Andy Murray won another lengthy match with Matteo Berrettini, who appeared weary and leaned on his racket to keep his balance during Murray’s 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.

Playing his first match on the ATP Tour this season, Berrettini was serving with Murray leading 5-2 in the second set when he seemed to become dizzy, resting his racket on the court to hold himself up. He was visited by a medical attendant, who checked his blood pressure before play continued.

Berrettini left the court after dropping that set but was able to finish the match, which last 2 hours, 49 minutes.

It was a rematch of Murray’s 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (10-6) victory that lasted more than 4 1/2 hours in the first round of the 2023 Australian Open.

Elsewhere on the first full day of the tournament, Sloane Stephens celebrated her 31st birthday by beating Angelique Kerber 6-2, 6-3 in a matchup of past U.S. Open women’s champions. Also, Donna Vekic outlasted Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 2-6, 6-2; and Americans Danielle Collins and Shelby Rogers advanced with three-set victories.

Men’s winners included Denis Shapovalov, who beat Luciano Darderi 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-4; and Martin Damm Jr., who outlasted China’s Zhang Zhizhen 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3).

SOCCER

PARIS OLYMPICS: The United States women’s soccer team will face Germany and Australia at the Paris Olympics when incoming coach Emma Hayes looks to get off to a flying start in the job.

The draw for the men’s and women’s soccer tournaments were held at a ceremony in Saint-Denis.

The record four-time gold-medalist was drawn against fifth-ranked Germany and World Cup semifinalist Australia in Group B. Those teams will be joined by either Morocco or Zambia from the African Football Confederation.

Hayes takes up her role as U.S. head coach in May after finishing the season with Chelsea, where she is challenging for a quadruple of trophies in her final year. She has already won 14 major trophies at Chelsea, including six Women’s Super League titles.

The U.S. hasn’t won Olympic gold since 2012 and is coming off a disappointing Women’s World Cup last year when it suffered its earliest exit from the tournament after being knocked out by Sweden on penalties in the round of 16.

The U.S. men’s team will face France at the Paris Games after being drawn in the same group as the host nation.

The U.S. is competing at the Games for the first time since Beijing in 2008 and faces a potentially daunting task after being drawn alongside France, coached by soccer great Thierry Henry, in Group A.

Also in the group are New Zealand and the winner of a playoff between teams from the Asian and the African confederations.

The soccer tournament will begin two days before the Opening Ceremony of the Games on July 24, with the women’s final concluding the event on Aug. 10.
It is the first time the women’s final will conclude the soccer tournament.

EURO 2024: Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer has been ruled out of the team’s friendlies against France and the Netherlands because of a thigh injury.

The Bayern Munich goalkeeper left the team camp with a muscle fiber tear in his left adductor sustained in training that morning, the German soccer federation said.

It does not say how long Neuer will miss. Bayern plays Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga on March 30, and it faces Arsenal in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on April 9.

MLS: The Portland Timbers acquired Uruguayan forward Jonathan Rodriguez from Liga MX team Club America through 2026 with a club option for another year, the Timbers announced.

Rodriguez has 21 goals and seven assists in 65 appearances across all competitions over the past two seasons with Club America.

Rodriguez had nine goals and three assists in 24 matches last year in Club America’s Apertura championship run.

Rodriguez will join the Timbers as a designated player pending a physical and receipt of his transfer certificate and visa.