The Sports Report: Lakers ignore LeBron trade rumors and defeat Jazz

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

From Dan Woike: LeBron James wasn’t with the Lakers as they played their final game prior to the All-Star break.

In an alternate universe, maybe he’d be with the Golden State Warriors.

In this one? It just meant the Lakers and James were able to steal an extra day before the break.

Early Wednesday morning before the Lakers’ 138-122 win against the Utah Jazz, a story published by ESPN detailed attempts by the Warriors and Philadelphia 76ers to trigger trade discussions with the Lakers about James ahead of the deadline last week.

Sources not authorized to speak publicly confirmed the calls, which were strongly rebuffed.

The discussions about James’ availability came with his cryptic hourglass emoji post as the backdrop and his lack of patience around the deadline becoming a bit of an annual tradition with the Lakers.

That rival teams even felt there was a shot at acquiring James speaks to the unease around the Lakers following recent losses to Houston and Atlanta. His player option this summer, plus the potential for his son Bronny James to enter the draft, are looming factors that could create offseason drama.

Coach Darvin Ham said the Lakers’ focus remains internal.

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CLIPPERS

From Broderick Turner: The momentum the Clippers built from an impressive trip had started to fizzle as they headed toward the break.

And they were trying to find their groove again while playing their last game before Sunday’s All-Star Game without star Kawhi Leonard, who sat out Wednesday night against the Golden State Warriors because of a strained left adductor.

Leonard has missed just five games, his 24.1 points per game and 6.1 rebounds sorely missed against another worthy Western Conference foe in the Warriors.

But he had to be happy to see the Clippers overcome coach Tyronn Lue getting ejected in the fourth quarter and Paul George fouling out and rally for a 130-125 win over the Warriors at Chase Center.

“Yeah, great vibe,” said George, who had 24 points. “You want to be on vacation and feeling good about it. It’s definitely momentum going into the second half of the season. So, it’s great. We know we got our work cut out for the second half. But I thought we ended the first half on a good note.”

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DODGERS

From Jack Harris: The wounds from the Dodgers’ empty October are no longer fresh.

But even in the wake of a $1-billion offseason spending spree, and at the outset of a highly anticipated new campaign, the team’s latest postseason implosion still stings.

Four months later, the frustration from the Dodgers’ National League Division Series sweep by the Arizona Diamondbacks continues to linger.

“Absolutely not,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said when asked if the offseason additions of Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and others helped lessen the pain of that elimination — the second year in a row the Dodgers failed to advance.

“No matter what we do, someone can always bring up, ‘Well, the last couple years, they didn’t win,’ ” fellow superstar Mookie Betts added. “Well yeah, we didn’t. But we can’t really focus on that. We got to focus on the task going forward. On paper, we’re good. But we got to go play.”

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UCLA FOOTBALL

An expanded UCLA student section is marked on a graphic featuring the Rose Bowl stadium.

(Courtesy of UCLA Athletics)

From Ben Bolch: UCLA students soon will be encouraged to get behind their opponent.

Don’t expect them to be supportive in the least.

At least 1,000 Bruins students will be placed in the front rows of four sections directly behind the visiting team at the Rose Bowl next season as part of a seating reconfiguration designed to enhance the team’s home-field advantage, UCLA announced Wednesday.

School officials said this will make UCLA the only Big Ten team to have its students sitting directly behind the opponent.

“I am very excited that our student section is being moved,” UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers said. “This is going to be instrumental to our success at home this year.”

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LAFC

From Kevin Baxter: Eduard Atuesta is the only player on the current LAFC roster who was there for the franchise’s first game in 2018. But he hasn’t been with the team the whole time, and he need look no further than the shirt on his back to be reminded of what he missed.

There, above the crest on the left breast of the team’s warm-ups, is the bright white star LAFC earned by winning the MLS Cup 11 months after Atuesta left for Brazil. LAFC played in a second MLS Cup final last fall, two months before he came back.

So while Atuesta was there for the start, he wasn’t around for the team’s greatest triumphs. And that has given him something to play for in his return.

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GOLF

From Steve Galluzzo: Speaking to the media 20 hours before teeing it up in his first official PGA Tour event in 10 months, Tiger Woods expressed optimism about his health and his game.

Much has happened since he withdrew in the third round of the Masters in April citing plantar fasciitis — most of it off the golf course. Having severed his 27-year partnership with Nike in January, he has a new 3-wood, a new clothing line and a new attitude as he makes his second consecutive appearance in the Genesis Invitational.

“I had an absolute blast today,” the 48-year-old Woods said after Wednesday morning’s Pro-Am in which he played alongside Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Angels outfielder Aaron Hicks. “A lot of talking trash, telling stories … enjoying one another’s company. Considering what he does for a living and the pounding his body takes, you can see the enjoyment Josh has for the game and he asked the questions only fellow athletes can ask.”

Asked if the ankle fusion surgery he underwent two weeks after the 2023 Masters is causing him discomfort, the answer was an emphatic “no.”

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THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1932 — Eddie Eagen, as a member of the four-man U.S. bobsled team, wins a gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. He previously won a gold medal in boxing light heavyweight division at the 1920 Summer Games in Antwerp, Belgium.

1936 — Sonja Henie of Norway, wins her third consecutive Olympics figure skating gold medal in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

1953 — Tenley Albright becomes the first American woman to win a world figure skating title beating Germany’s Gundi Busch at the World Championships in Davos, Switzerland.

1964 — Ken Hubbs, the 22-year-old Chicago Cubs second baseman, dies when his private plane crashes in Utah. The 1962 NL Rookie of the Year had his pilot’s license for two weeks and was flying in bad weather.

1978 — Leon Spinks wins a 15-round split decision over Muhammad Ali to take the world heavyweight title at Las Vegas.

1994 — Freshman Ila Borders becomes the first woman to pitch in an NCAA or NAIA game. The left-hander pitches a complete-game for Southern California College, allowing five hits in the Vanguards’ 12-1 win over Claremont-Mudd.

1995 — Charlie Standish sets a PBA record by rolling three perfect games in the first round of the Peoria Open bowling tournament. Standish rolls the 300s in the second, fourth and sixth games of the six-game round and at one point has 23 consecutive strikes.

1998 — Dale Earnhardt takes the Daytona 500 on his 20th try and ends a 59-race winless streak on the day NASCAR begins celebrating its 50th anniversary.

2000 — Martin Brodeur becomes first goaltender in NHL history to get credit for a “game winning” goal as New Jersey wins, 4-2 over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers.

2002 — The worst judging scandal in Winter Olympics history is resolved, with Canadian pairs figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier declared co-gold medalists with the Russian winners.

2004 — Dale Earnhardt Jr. barrels past Tony Stewart to win the Daytona 500 on the same track that claimed his father’s life three years ago. Junior wins this race in his fifth try, the same race that bedeviled his later father for 19 years.

2010 — American Seth Wescott defends his Olympic title in Vancouver, British Columbia, overtaking Canada’s Mike Robertson to win the gold medal in the wild sport of men’s snowboardcross. Didier Defago wins the gold in the Olympic downhill and American Bode Miller breaks his personal streak of major championship mishaps by taking the bronze.

2014 — Renaud Lavillenie breaks Sergei Bubka’s 21-year-old indoor pole vault world record in Donetsk, Ukraine. Lavillenie clears the bar comfortably at 6.16 meters (20 feet, 2 1/2 inches) in Bubka’s home city, almost to the day the pole vault great cleared achieved 6.15 (20-2) on Feb. 21, 1993.

Compiled by the Associated Press