OAKLAND: Kevin Durant wanted to look NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry in the eye, meet Klay Thompson face to face, and find out for himself whether they truly wanted him as a teammate.
The All-Star shooting tandem made it clear during a meeting last weekend that he would be a perfect fit with the Warriors.
“When I met these guys, I felt as comfortable as I’ve ever felt. It was organic, it was authentic, it was real,” Durant said. “It was feelings I couldn’t ignore.”
Splash! Golden State had a superstar cast.
The Warriors formally announced the signing of the seven-time All-Star and four-time scoring champion on Thursday and introduced him with fanfare during a news conference at the team’s downtown Oakland practice facility, where screens read, “WELCOME KD TO DUB NATION.”
So, what’s next? Seventy-four wins and a title? Golden State’s record-setting season with the best wins total ever of 73 ended without back-to-back championships.
“I haven’t made the decision yet, but he might start,” NBA Coach of the Year Steve Kerr joked, sitting next to a smiling Durant. “We lost in the Finals. We want to get better. We want to be better. You can’t do any better than adding KD to the current crew.”
Kerr won’t change his team’s style with the addition of Durant, whom the coach will count on as a “brilliant passer” and someone who can cut and do it all.
“We’ve got as many or more playmakers on the floor as anybody,” said Kerr, already planning his training camp strategy on the court and how to prepare his players for even further scrutiny.
Durant might be able to match his coach’s wit, too.
When asked about Thompson being part of the pitch meeting, Durant quipped about receiving a text message from him: “I didn’t know he had a phone.”
Of Warriors assistant coach Ron Adams, a former member of the Thunder staff, he said, “Ron Adams was the only reason I came.” They shared a big hug before Thursday’s festivities.
The Warriors — who rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Thunder in a thrilling seven-game Western Conference Finals before losing the finals in seven games to Cleveland — signed Durant to a two-year contract worth more than $54 million. There is a player option after the first year.
Not that Durant plans to skip town after one season. He’s here to win a championship.
“You never expect to get this much better,” general manager Bob Myers said. “I’ve admired Kevin as a basketball fan. ... I’m just excited to watch you play. I’m honored you’re here, I’m honored you chose us. It’s a wonderful feeling.”
Durant even spoke to Hall of Famer Jerry West along the way to help him weigh his choice.
“I know it’s Jerry West and I know he’s the ‘Logo,’ and you’re expecting a sexier conversation, but it was more so about the team and how I could fit in and how great the coaching staff was,” Durant said.
Still, Durant went to bed Sunday “torn” and still uncertain about his choice, and he told his father and representatives he needed a night to sleep on it. Then he woke up first thing Monday with more clarity.
He knew it would have been “easy to go back to something you’re comfortable with.” This, he said, is the harder route — “It was time for me to try something new, try a new challenge. No better place to do it than here.”
Former teammate Russell Westbrook took it hard.
“That call to Oklahoma City was the hardest thing I’ve had to do in my life. Tears were shed. I trusted my gut,” Durant said. “We live in this superhero comic book world where either you’re a villain or you’re a superhero if you’re in this position, and I know that, and I know I haven’t changed as a person.
“I don’t treat people any differently because I made the decision to play basketball in another city. I understand the fans in Oklahoma City and basketball fans around the world are, I guess, upset. But like I said, I made the decision based upon what I wanted to do and how I felt, and it’s the best decision for me, so I can’t really control how you feel.”
Ultimately for Durant, having fun for however many years he has left playing basketball is the plan.
“I just want to enjoy every single day of it.”
The Phoenix Suns say they have signed all three of their draft picks and the trio will participate in the Las Vegas Summer League.
The three are No. 4 overall pick Dragan Bender of Croatia, No. 8 overall pick Marquese Chriss of Washington and second-round pick Tyler Ulis of Kentucky, the 34th choice overall.
The 7-foot-1 Bender and 6-10 Chriss are just 18 years old. Both will be groomed to play the “stretch-forward” role, a power forward who can shoot from the perimeter.
The 5-10 Ulis has a shot at being the Suns’ third point guard behind Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight.
Portland Trail Blazers have agreed to a two-year contract with free agent center Festus Ezeli worth $15 million.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday night because the deal hadn’t been announced by the team. It was first reported by Yahoo Sports.
His agent, David Mondress, did not immediately respond to messages left by the AP seeking comment.
Ezeli, a 6-foot-11 native of Nigeria, was drafted with the 30th pick in the 2012 draft by the Golden State Warriors. Last season he averaged 7.0 points and 5.6 rebounds in 64 games, including 13 starts.
Ezeli missed 31 games this season after having arthroscopic surgery in February to remove debris from his left knee.
The Blazers announced earlier Thursday they had acquired guard Shabazz Napier in a trade with the Orlando Magic for cash considerations.
The Los Angeles Lakers have formally announced their signings of veteran Luol Deng and second-round pick Ivica Zubac, along with the re-signing of guard Jordan Clarkson.
The Lakers on Thursday also confirmed their acquisition of guard Jose Calderon and two second-round picks from the Chicago Bulls in exchange for the rights to forward Ater Majok.
Deng agreed to a four-year, $72 million to join the rebuilding Lakers. The 12-year NBA veteran spent the past two seasons in Miami.
Clarkson got a four-year, $50 million deal to return to Los Angeles. The smooth combo guard has been a rare bright spot in the two worst seasons in franchise history.
The Lakers didn’t confirm the re-signing of guard Marcelo Huertas, who announced on Instagram he had agreed to a two-year deal.
7 p.m.
The Milwaukee Bucks have acquired guard Matthew Dellavedova in a sign-and-trade with Cleveland.
Dellavedova has career averages of 5.7 points, 1.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 215 games over three seasons with Cleveland. He is coming off a season with career-bests of 7.5 points, 4.4 assists and 2.1 rebounds while helping the Cavaliers win the NBA championship.
As part of the deal announced Thursday, the Bucks will send the rights to Albert Miralles to the Cavaliers. Miralles, who currently plays in the Spanish League, had his draft rights sent to Milwaukee in a December 2011 deal that sent Keyon Dooling to Boston.
Splash! Kevin Durant finalizes two-year deal with Warriors
Splash! Kevin Durant finalizes two-year deal with Warriors

Leclerc tops final red-flagged practice at Silverstone

- The Monegasque driver was quickest in one minute and 25.498 seconds to outpace Piastri
- Verstappen was third for Red Bull ahead of Lando Norris in the second McLaren
SILVERSTONE, UK: Charles Leclerc confirmed Ferrari’s competitive renaissance by clocking the fastest lap ahead of championship leader Oscar Piastri of McLaren in Saturday’s third and final practice at the British Grand Prix.
In an incident-filled and closely-contested session, punctuated by red flag interventions, the Monegasque driver was quickest in one minute and 25.498 seconds to outpace Piastri by 0.068 seconds.
Four-time champion Max Verstappen was third for Red Bull ahead of Lando Norris in the second McLaren, a revived Yuki Tsunoda in the second Red Bull and British rookie Ollie Bearman of Haas.
Leclerc was the third different driver to top the times in the three practice sessions following Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Norris on Friday.
Alex Albon was seventh for Williams ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and the RB rookies Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson.
Seven-time champion Hamilton, who had been among the front-runners for Ferrari, was on a fast flying lap in the closing minutes when he was forced to abort his lap because of the first of two late red flags.
Both incidents were caused by incidents that required the track to be cleared. In the second Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto crashed, but was unhurt.
The start of the session was delayed by 10 minutes to clear some minor debris before the two Alpines and both Aston Martins initiated the fray.
On a grey and cool day, with rain threatening the drivers jostled for top spot as Leclerc reported rain at Copse corner.
The track was clearly ramping up and delivering faster lap times as Leclerc demonstrated again by outpacing Piastri by half a tenth before a late red flag, to clear a broken winglet from the circuit at Stowe, paused the action.
Hamilton had been on a flying lap at the time and was given no chance to run again as the final four minutes began, after a restart, before another red flag ended the action.
This time it came when Sauber’s Bortoleto lost control at Becketts where he snapped on entry and broke his car’s suspension and front wing.
In a separate incident Ollie Bearman lost his Haas and hit the barriers as he headed back to the pits.
In a tight session, the top three were separated by less than one-tenth of a second and the top 14 by less than one-tenth.
Family and football unite to bid Diogo Jota farewell

- Football stars joined family and friends at the funeral in his hometown of Gondomar
- Liverpool Virgil van Dijk bore a garlanded wreath of red flowers in the form of a Liverpool shirt bearing Jota’s number 20
GONDOMAR, Portugal: Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jota and his brother were laid to rest on Saturday in their hometown, just days after the pair died in a car crash that shocked the football world.
Jota, 28, and Andre Silva, 25, were killed on Thursday after their vehicle veered off a motorway in northwestern Spain and became engulfed in flames, a week after the Portugal forward had got married.
Just hours before the accident, Jota had posted a video of his June 22 wedding to partner Rute Cardoso, with whom he shared three children.
Football stars joined family and friends at the funeral in his hometown of Gondomar, near Porto and conducted by the bishop of Porto.
A number of teammates from the national side, including Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Danilo Pereira and Joao Felix, as well as coach Roberto Martinez attended, though national skipper Cristiano Ronaldo was not present.
Liverpool Virgil van Dijk bore a garlanded wreath of red flowers in the form of a Liverpool shirt bearing Jota’s number 20.
Friday evening had seen Van Dijk, several players including Liverpool’s Uruguay international Darwin Nunez and Liverpool coach Arne Slot meet with Jota’s family and attend a wake for the deceased brothers.
Among those who came to offer their condolences were a childhood friend, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, Jota’s agent Jorge Mendes and Porto club president Andre Villas-Boas.
Jota formerly played with Porto.
“Football is truly in mourning. Diogo was an icon of the talent Portuguese football represents,” said football federation chief Pedro Proenca.
Close family and friends including the parents paid their respects at Friday’s wake first, with the grandfather aided by two others to help him enter the chapel.
Friday night, British rock band Oasis played their song “Live Forever” in tribute to Jota at a concert in Cardiff marking a return to touring after 16 years.
Mourners arrived carrying wreaths of flowers, some sobbing audibly, before the wake was opened to members of the public.
The death of the Portugal international and his brother has triggered an outpouring of emotion in football, and beyond.
Liverpool opened a book of condolences and lowered flags to half-mast, with dozens of supporters laying a sea of flowers, balloons, Jota shirts, and scarves with the message “Rest in peace Diogo Jota,” outside Anfield.
At the Diogo Jota football academy, close to Gondomar SC where the ex-Porto and Atletico Madrid player took his first steps in the game, well-wishers created a memorial with flowers, scarves, candles and shirts.
“Thank you, Diogo Jota,” read a child’s handwritten message.
Pedro Neves, who was friends with Jota at school in Gondomar, said he “will remember him as someone who was very friendly, very courteous, who loved everyone, who always had a smile on his face.”
“He left us too young, it’s not fair. But that’s how life is sometimes,” Neves, 31, told AFP.
Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, who brought Jota to the Reds in 2020, has said he was “heartbroken” while the club spoke of an “unimaginable loss.”
Slot, who succeeded Klopp last year at Anfield, said everyone associated with the club owed it to Jota to “stand together and be there for one another.”
Jota was remembered at the Club World Cup in the United States on Friday, with a one-minute silence held at the quarter-final between Brazil’s Fluminense and Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal in Orlando.
A minute’s silence was similarly held at women’s Euro 25 matches.
Portuguese and UK media reported Jota was driving to the northern Spanish port of Santander to take a ferry to England where Liverpool were due to start training on Friday, avoiding a flight on medical advice after a recent lung operation.
Liverpool’s Egyptian striker Mohamed Salah said the death of his teammate had left him “frightened” to return to the club as the Premier League champions postponed the return of some players for pre-season training.
Al-Dafrawy lights up Riyadh with stunning first-round submission at PFL MENA 2

- Saudi Arabia’s Hattan Al-Saif once again thrilled local fans with a second-round TKO over Nour Al-Fliti in their atomweight amateur bout
RIYADH: The 2024 PFL MENA welterweight champion, Omar Al-Dafrawy, delivered another show-stopping performance in front of a roaring Saudi crowd on Thursday night when he secured a spectacular first-round submission win over Italy’s Daniele Miceli.
Miceli wasted no time shooting for an early takedown, but Al-Dafrawy turned the tables with a textbook triangle choke. Miceli tried to power out, but the Egyptian champion tightened the hold and forced the tap just 1:15 into the fight.
Speaking exclusively to Arab News after his victory in the PFL MENA Riyadh main event, held at The Green Halls, Al-Dafrawy declared: “The plan is to fight the PFL Europe champion of 2024, so if he’s ready to come down here and grace the land, I’ll show.”
This was the third triangle choke on Al-Dafrawy’s record. He said: “I think I am probably the biggest superstar in the Arab World right now, whether you like it or not. No one has the skill set that I have. No one is as eager as I am. I took six fighters on short notice in the last PFL MENA in Jeddah, six fighters, all of them over 15 wins.”
Describing himself as “dangerous,” he added: “I’m getting the respect that I deserve where I go, so there’s no reason that I don’t rise to the occasion.”
Al-Dafrawy said he challenged any fighter, Arabian or international, in his bid to become “the best in the world.”
In the co-main event, 2024 PFL Welterweight runner-up Mohammad Alaqraa piled on relentless pressure to earn a dominant unanimous decision victory over Omar Hussein. Judges scored the contest 30-27 across the board to advance Alaqraa advances to the welterweight tournament semifinals.
Elsewhere on the card, Saudi Arabia’s own Hattan Al-Saif (4-0 amateur) once again thrilled local fans with a second-round TKO over Nour Al-Fliti in their atomweight amateur bout. Al-Saif overwhelmed Al-Fliti with knees and kicks before the session was waved off due to injury in round two.

In an action-packed bout, Mohamed Zarey dug deep to defeat Ayman Galal by unanimous decision and punch his ticket to the welterweight semifinals. Zarey survived an early barrage to claim the biggest win of his PFL career and will now face Alaqraa.
On the bantamweight side, Xavier Alaoui leaned on his wrestling to shut down Ziad Ayman with a 30-27 sweep on the scorecards, moving into the next round. Mokhtar Benkaci needed just 57 seconds to dispatch Marcel Adur with a left hook to the body for a first-round TKO.
Badreddine Diani outpointed Ahmed Abdelbast Darwish in a closely contested three-round battle, earning a unanimous nod and advancing to face Amir Fazli, who himself scored a knockout over Rostem Akman in round two of their quarterfinal.
In another bantamweight thriller, Nawras Abzakh displayed power and precision, stopping Ali Yazbeck with ground and pound in the second round to move one step closer to a PFL belt. Islam Youssef, stepping in at short notice, delivered a spectacular flying knee knockout to Benyamin Ghahreman with five seconds left in round two.
Kicking off the night, Abdelrahman Alhyasat remained undefeated by submitting Anthony Zeidan with a rear naked choke in round two of their lightweight bout.
The PFL MENA semifinals are now set, promising even more fireworks as regional champions pursue title glory.
Coach Ivanizevic slams Tsitsipas after early Wimbledon exit

- Stefanos Tsitsipas was forced to retire from his Wimbledon first-round match while trailing to French qualifier Valentin Royer
- ‘He wants to but he doesn’t do anything. All ‘I want, I want’, but I don’t see that progress… I was shocked’
Goran Ivanizevic gave a scathing assessment of Stefanos Tsitsipas, saying he has “never seen a more unprepared player” in his life following the Greek world number 26’s opening round exit at Wimbledon.
Tsitsipas, the 2021 French Open and 2023 Australian Open runner-up, was forced to retire from his Wimbledon first-round match while trailing 6-3 6-2 to French qualifier Valentin Royer on Monday due to a back injury.
The 26-year-old, who said he had no answers to his ongoing fitness problems after his elimination, appointed Croatian Ivanizevic as his coach in May after a string of disappointing results at the Grand Slams.
Tsitsipas, a former world number three, has reached only one quarter-final in his last nine Grand Slam tournaments.
“It’s simple and it’s not simple. I’ve talked to him a lot of times. If he solves some things outside of tennis, then he has a chance and he’ll return to where he belongs, because he’s too good a player to be out of the top 10,” Ivanizevic told Serbian network Sport Klub after Tsitsipas’ exit.
“He wants to but he doesn’t do anything. All ‘I want, I want’, but I don’t see that progress... I was shocked, I have never seen a more unprepared player in my life. With this knee, I am three times more fit than him. This is really bad.”
Ivanizevic, who won Wimbledon as a player in 2001, helped Novak Djokovic claim nine of his 24 Grand Slam titles before leaving his team in March last year. He then had a short stint with Kazakh world number 11 Elena Rybakina this season.
Doug Ghim clings to one-shot lead at John Deere Classic

- Ghim, a 29-year-old Illinois native, is hoping to land his maiden PGA Tour victory in his home state
- The round of the day belonged to defending champion Davis Thompson, whose bogey-free 63 catapulted him to 11 under
SILVIS, Illinois: Doug Ghim shot a 3-under par 68 and held onto a one-stroke lead over Max Homa and a group of contenders at the John Deere Classic on Friday in Silvis, Illinois
Homa is part of a five-way tie for second after also posting a 68 late Friday afternoon at TPC Deere Run. He matched Ghim at 12 under with a birdie at the par-5 17th hole, but after finding a bunker off the 18th tee he failed to save par and dropped back a shot.
Ghim, a 29-year-old Illinois native, is hoping to land his maiden PGA Tour victory in his home state.
“They couldn’t make it today but I’m anticipating family coming (Saturday), and I’m excited about that,” Ghim said.
Ghim made an eagle for the second straight round, holing out from 179 yards away at the par-4 15th.
“I guess holing out two days in a row is always nice,” he said. “It’s been couple years since I think I holed out from the fairway. To get two back-to- back days is a great.”
He reached 13 under for the tournament with back-to-back birdies at Nos. 4-5, but Ghim bogeyed his closing hole, No. 9.
Homa entered the week an abysmal No. 122 in the FedEx Cup standings amid a disappointing season, but now he’s in the mix for his first win since 2023.
“I don’t think really much changes” on the weekend, Homa said. “I mean, just play the golf course. You’re going to have to shoot really low. If you went out there and tried to do something specific, I’m not so sure that is going to work. Somebody can go out there and shoot 11-under out there and jump everybody.
“So just go do what we did today and play another round of golf. Just keep waiting until the back nine on Sunday basically.”
The round of the day belonged to defending champion Davis Thompson, whose bogey-free 63 catapulted him to 11 under. Tied with Homa and Thompson are Brian Campbell (66), David Lipsky (67) and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo (66).
“(On Thursday) I hit a lot of great putts early but they were just burning the edges,” said Thompson, who made four birdies on each nine Friday. “Then I was able to make a few on the back nine (Thursday) and just ride that momentum into today.”
Colombia’s Camilo Villegas (66) and Si Woo Kim of South Korea (67) are part of a group at 10 under as the second round finished up late Friday.
Rickie Fowler dropped four shots in a four-hole span on his back nine, with two bogeys and a double bogey, but he birdied No. 17 to finish up a 1-over 72 and get to 5 under, which wound up being the cut line at the end of the day.
Notable names who missed the cut included Tom Kim of South Korea (4 under), Australian Jason Day (2 under), J.T. Poston (1 under) and Canadian Adam Hadwin (2 over).