Baseball

Giants to retire Barry Bonds’ No. 25 jersey — Home run king Barry Bonds will have his No. 25 jersey retired this August by the San Francisco Giants when his former Pittsburgh Pirates are in town. The Giants announced Tuesday they would hold a ceremony to honor the former slugger and seven-time National League MVP on Aug. 11. He will become the 12th player from the New York or San Francisco Giants to have his number retired. Bonds, now 53 and an adviser in the club’s front office, broke Hank Aaron’s home run record with No. 756 on Aug. 7, 2007. He finished his 22-year big league career that season with 762 homers and under a cloud of steroids allegations. In July 2015, Bonds said he had a huge “weight lifted” when federal prosecutors dropped what was left of their criminal case against him after a nearly decadelong steroids prosecution. He was on 56.4 percent of Hall of Fame ballots for the 2018 class. He drew 36.2 percent in his initial appearance of 2013.

Basketball

NBA fines Lakers $50,000 for tampering violation — The NBA has fined the Los Angeles Lakers $50,000 for tampering as a result of public comments made by Magic Johnson about Milwaukee Bucks’ star Giannis Antetokounmpo, the league announced Tuesday. In an interview with ESPN.com, Johnson, the Lakers president of basketball operations, praised Antetokounmpo’s game, saying that he will bring “Milwaukee a championship one day.” NBA rules prohibit front office executives from commenting publicly about players under contract with other teams. The team was fined $500,000 — the largest tampering fine in NBA history — after general manager Rob Pelinka and Paul George’s agent Aaron Mintz had an improper conversation. Mintz also represents Lakers forward Julius Randle. That fine came after the NBA warned the Lakers about this sort of behavior following Johnson’s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show. When asked if he would speak to George during the offseason, Johnson said he would because the two men know one another.

Football

Patriots CB denies off-field misconduct — Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler says he did not miss a curfew or do anything off the field that would have hurt New England’s chances of winning the Super Bowl before he was benched for the game. In a statement released Tuesday on Twitter and Instagram, Butler said reports of misconduct off the field are “ridiculous.” He said he visited with family every night while in Minneapolis. He adds, “I never attended any concert, missed curfew, or participated in any of the ridiculous activities being reported. They are not only false, but hurtful to me and my family.” Before the Super Bowl, Butler was on the field for 98 percent of the Patriots’ defensive snaps and started 17 of their 18 games. But he made it on the field for only one special teams play on Sunday as the Philadelphia Eagles racked up 538 yards of offense, including 374 yards passing, and won 41-33. Patriots coach Bill Belichick has not explained why Butler was benched.

— From wire reports