Two-time All-Star forward Antawn Jamison re-signed with the Washington Wizards yesterday, agreeing to a four-year, $50 million contract.
“I just signed. We got it out of the way,” Jamison told The Associated Press.
The contract clears the way for the team to focus on its other major free agent: three-time All-Star Gilbert Arenas. Arenas has said he would not return unless the team also re-signed Jamison.
Jamison arrived in Washington yesterday to sign the contract and the Wizards will hold a news conference for him today.
“There wasn't any doubt in my mind that I'd be back,” said Jamison, 32, who has been a strong locker-room leader during his four seasons with the Wizards.
He has averaged at least 19.6 points and 7.6 rebounds each year since his arrival in Washington in 2004.
MORE NBA
Golden State point guard Baron Davis elected to become a free agent, opting out of the final year of his contract with the Warriors in a surprise move.
Davis had until last night to decide whether to turn down his $17.8 million contract for next season, the final year of a six-year deal. The Warriors didn't expect him to opt out of the deal despite little progress in the parties' long-term contract negotiation.
The Los Angeles Lakers have given qualifying offers to restricted free agents Sasha Vujacic and Ronny Turiaf. As restricted free agents, Vujacic and Turiaf may sign an offer sheet with any team, but the Lakers would have the right to match.
Los Angeles Clippers forward Elton Brand told ESPN.com he is opting out of the final year of his contract to become an unrestricted free agent. The Los Angeles Times reported earlier in the day that Brand's teammate, Corey Maggette, filed the paperwork to opt out of his deal.
HORSE RACING
Mike Iavarone, the co-owner of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown, told ESPN's Jeannine Edwards that his patience with trainer Rick Dutrow is growing thin. Citing Dutrow's handling of last Wednesday's revelation of a drug overage in one of his horses, and then Dutrow's news conference Friday when he was quoted as saying what Iavarone thought were “some offensive things,” Iavarone told Edwards the trainer is now “on a short leash.”
SPORTS AND COURTS
Georgia Tech cornerback Jerrard Tarrant has been charged with rape and has been suspended from the football team. The alleged victim said she was raped at an on-campus dormitory April 25 and reported the incident to police that morning, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
New England Patriots defensive back Willie Andrews is being held without bail after allegedly pointing a handgun at his girlfriend's head. A spokesman for the Bristol County district attorney said Andrews was arrested yesterday morning after the alleged incident, which occurred when Andrews returned home at about 1 a.m. local time and an argument began between him and his girlfriend.
GOLF
Two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal failed to qualify for the British Open when he made bogey on the third hole of a playoff. Darren Clarke also failed to earn a spot at Royal Birkdale in the 36-hole qualifier for European Tour players at Sunningdale, England. Simon Wakefield and Ariel Canete were co-medalists at 133 to lead 18 players who qualified.
In Dearborn, Mich., former PGA Championship winners Davis Love III and Rich Beem qualified for the British Open, but Steve Elkington, winner of the 1995 PGA Championship, bogeyed his final two holes and fell short. Jeff Overton won the first North American qualifying section at the TPC of Michigan, shooting a 14-under 130 over 36 holes.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
USD women's coach Cindy Fisher has received a multiyear contract extension. Fisher's Toreros won the West Coast Conference Tournament and earned an NCAA Tournament berth last season.
Indiana University's president told the NCAA infractions committee that the hiring of ousted men's coach Kelvin Sampson was “a risk that should not have been taken.”
Michael McRobbie told the committee during a private session June 14 that Sampson had betrayed the school's trust in violating NCAA regulations on telephone calls to recruits. The text of McRobbie's statement was released yesterday by the university.
Alcorn State hired former Tennessee player Tonya Edwards as its women's coach. Edwards spent the past two seasons as an assistant at Detroit-Mercy.
OLYMPICS
Brenda Villa and Heather Petri will lead the U.S. women's water polo team, and Tony Azevedo and Ryan Bailey head the men's squad at the Beijing Olympics. Those four, all three-time Olympians, were on the 13-player teams announced yesterday. The women will go into the Games ranked No. 1 and the men's team is ranked ninth internationally.
SOCCER
Spain's 1-0 victory over Germany in the European Championship final got a 3.1 overnight rating on ABC. Sunday's match was the first Euro final televised on U.S. network television.
Real Madrid's Robinho could be coach Luis Felipe Scolari's next major signing at Chelsea, according to media reports.
NHL
The Buffalo Sabres rewarded Paul Gaustad for his hard-hitting style, re-signing the blue-collar center to a four-year, $9.2 million contract.
The Sharks re-signed forward Jody Shelley to a two-year contract, keeping their top enforcer in San Jose after acquiring him in a trade last season.
BOXING
Danny Perez, a San Diego welterweight who in 1999 was the last fighter to score a knockdown against Antonio Margarito, will face Rita Rubalcaba of Tijuana in the scheduled 10-round main event of a July 24 card at 4th and B, a downtown venue.
Both Perez and Rubalcaba have held welterweight rankings in the top 10, according to promoter Bobby DePhilippis.
Margarito, of Tijuana, is preparing to challenge Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on July 26 for Cotto's welterweight championship. Emilio Bojorquez, a former Mexico Olympian from Tijuana who has been campaigning successfully as a pro, is to box on the July 24 program.
MISCELLANY
West Virginia University President Mike Garrison said in a deposition that former football coach Rich Rodriguez was “very distraught” in a private meeting the night before he resigned and accepted the top job at Michigan, complaining about harsh public reaction to a lost shot at a national championship . . . The Tennessee Titans signed starting right tackle David Stewart to a multiyear contract extension.
– FROM NEWS SERVICES
