Sports in brief

Published 8:08 am Thursday, June 22, 2017

FOOTBALL

Travis Jonsen is latest Ducks QB to transfer — Quarterback Travis Jonsen has decided to transfer from Oregon to Riverside (Calif.) City College, according to a CSNNW report. Despite reopening the competition during spring practice, first-year coach Willie Taggart has now lost both Jonsen and redshirt freshman Terry Wilson, who is transferring to Garden City (Kansas) Community College. The Ducks will have three quarterbacks — sophomore starter Justin Herbert, true freshman Braxton Burmeister and senior Taylor Alie — on the roster entering summer workouts. Jonsen was a four-star recruit in the 2015 class who took some first-team reps during the spring. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound redshirt sophomore struggled in the spring game opposite Herbert’s impressive performance (327 passing yards, three touchdowns). Also transferring is offensive lineman Valentino Daltoso, a redshirt freshman who is headed to California. There, he will reunite with Cal offensive line coach Steve Greatwood, who originally recruited Daltoso to Oregon. On the recruiting front, the Ducks received a verbal commitment from four-star wide receiver Warren Thompson of Seffner, Florida, on Monday, a day after landing offensive lineman Christopher Randazzo of Chino Hills, California. With eight four-star recruits and 13 total nonbinding commitments, Oregon’s class is now ranked No. 6 by 247Sports behind Ohio State, Miami, LSU, Penn State and Texas.

BASKETBALL

Howard shipped to Charlotte — The Atlanta Hawks sent Dwight Howard and the No. 31 overall pick in Thursday’s NBA draft to Charlotte for center Miles Plumlee, shooting guard Marco Belinelli and the 41st pick, getting the deal completed late Tuesday night. Howard, an eight-time All-Star and three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, will be playing for his third team in three seasons following a disappointing one-year return to his Atlanta hometown. Howard signed a three-year, $70.5 million deal with Atlanta and then sat out the fourth quarter in two of six playoff games in the Hawks’ first-round loss to Washington.

Lakers send Russell, Mozgov to Brooklyn — The Los Angeles Lakers undid two of their previous regime’s most significant moves Tuesday, while improving their position for a big free agency haul next summer. As general manager Rob Pelinka and president of basketball operations Magic Johnson began negotiations with the Indiana Pacers to try to land Paul George in a trade, the Lakers sent D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov to the Brooklyn Nets and cleared more than $22 million in salary cap space for the summer of 2018. That summer has been the Lakers’ target for overhauling their roster through a talented free-agent class with ties to Los Angeles. That class will include George, who is from Palmdale, California, LeBron James, who has a home in Brentwood and business relationships in Los Angeles, and Russell Westbrook, a Los Angeles native who starred at UCLA.

SOCCER

DiCicco, who coached U.S. to World Cup win, dies — Tony DiCicco, who coached the U.S. women’s soccer team to pioneering victories in 1996, at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and in 1999, at the World Cup, died Monday at his home in Wethersfield, Connecticut. He was 68. The cause was cancer, his family said. DiCicco coached with a calm demeanor and was popular with his players because he welcomed their suggestions and maintained an ebullient approach. He was the goalkeepers coach for the women’s national team when it won the inaugural women’s World Cup in 1991, and he became head coach in 1994. In 2001, he played a key role in the start of women’s professional soccer in the United States, becoming the chief operating officer, and later the commissioner, of the short-lived Women’s United Soccer Association.

See Page B6 for a full obituary on Tony DiCicco.

GOLF

Mickelson, caddie splitting after 25 years — Phil Mickelson and his caddie are parting ways after 25 years of one of the most famous player-caddie relationships on the PGA Tour. Mickelson and Jim “Bones” Mackay say the decision to split was mutual and not based on an incident. Mackay, who is not retiring, is the only full-time caddie Mickelson has had in a career that has brought him 45 victories worldwide, five majors and a spot in the World Golf Hall of Fame. Mickelson says his brother Tim Mickelson will caddie for him the rest of the year. Mickelson did not play the U.S. Open to attend his daughter’s high school graduation in California. Mackay was at Erin Hills scouting the golf course in case Mickelson was able to make it in time.

— From wire reports