7:40 p.m.
Zaza Pachulia is signing a one-year , $2.4 million contract with the Detroit Pistons.
A person familiar with the terms confirmed the deal to The Associated Press on Sunday. The person confirmed it on terms of anonymity because the Pistons had not announced the signing.
Pachulia was with the Golden State Warriors in each of the last two seasons, winning championships both years and starting 127 of a possible 164 regular-season games. Detroit becomes the sixth team for the 34-year-old center, a career 6.9-point-per-game scorer. The Pistons waived center Eric Moreland earlier Sunday, presumably the precursor to the Pachulia signing.
– Reporting by AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in Las Vegas.
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5:10 p.m.
Brook Lopez has agreed to a one-year, $3.5 million contract with the Milwaukee Bucks.
A person familiar with the negotiations confirmed the terms to The Associated Press on Sunday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been announced by the Bucks.
The 30-year-old Lopez is going into his 11th NBA season. He averaged 13 points per game last season for the Los Angeles Lakers, and has averaged 17.9 points over his career.
– Reporting by AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in Las Vegas.
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2 p.m.
Zach LaVine is staying with the Chicago Bulls, after the team matched a four-year, $80 million offer sheet that he got from the Sacramento Kings.
The Bulls made the announcement Sunday , two days after the Kings and LaVine agreed to the offer terms. LaVine was a restricted free agent, which meant the Bulls had right of first refusal. It was expected that the Bulls would match, and now they have.
LaVine has missed 91 of a possible 162 games over the past two seasons because of injuries, and the Bulls will have some language in this contract protecting them if his surgically repaired left knee remains problematic. He appeared in only 24 games for the Bulls last season, averaging 16.7 points on 38 percent shooting.
”Zach showed a relentless work ethic in rehabbing his ACL injury to return to the court, and he has a visible passion for the game of basketball,” Bulls vice president of basketball operations John Paxson said.
”We know that those attributes, along with his honed skills , will make him an impact player in this league for years to come. We’re thrilled to keep Zach on this Bulls team moving forward.”
The Bulls acquired LaVine a year ago, as part of the trade that sent Jimmy Butler from Chicago to Minnesota.
”We’re excited now that we get to keep him,” Paxson said.
The Pittsburgh Penguins battled back to force overtime and picked up a win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, who still got the point they needed to clinch a playoff spot for the second straight season.
The Penguins answered every Columbus goal in regulation before Phil Kessel scored 1:06 into overtime to get the 5-4 victory in a tight game before an amped-up sellout crowd.
”We were resilient tonight,” Kessel said. ”We’ve been here before.”
Columbus entered the game needing one point in the standings and earned that when it forced the overtime. They’ll go to the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time in franchise history.
”It’s a little bittersweet because it’s Pittsburgh, and you don’t want to lose to them,” Columbus coach John Tortorella said. ”But in the big picture for our team, for our guys , I am really happy for them.”
The Penguins and Blue Jackets are second and third place, respectively, in the Metropolitan Division with playoff positioning not likely to be settled until this weekend.
Columbus is tied with New Jersey – which beat Toronto on Thursday – with 97 points, but the Blue Jackets hold the tiebreaker.
Conor Sheary tied the game at 12:16 in the third period to set up the overtime winner by Kessel, whose shot from the left circle was his second goal of the game and 33rd of the season.
Patric Hornqvist and Kris Letang also scored, and Matt Murray had 26 saves for Pittsburgh, which completed a 4-0 season sweep of Columbus.
”We have such great leadership,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. ”These guys , they play their best when the stakes are high. They’ve proven it time and time again.”
Zach Werenski, Matt Calvert, Boone Jenner and Cam Atkinson scored for Columbus, and Sergei Bobrovsky had 38 saves.
Werenski put the Blue Jackets up 1-0 five minutes into the game when he gathered a centering pass from Pierre Luc-Dubois and backhanded the puck between Murray and the near post. Kessel went top shelf over Bobrovsky on a power play to tie it at the halfway point of the first period.
A few minutes later, Calvert danced around Penguins defenseman Olli Maata and lifted a shot over Murray’s shoulder . Hornqvist knotted it again at 15:35 when he batted a bouncing puck past Bobrovsky’s glove.
The Blue Jackets scored on a power play in the second period when Jenner connected from the slot off a sweet centering pass from Thomas Vanek.
Early in the third period, Pittsburgh tied the score yet again when Letang clanged one in off the top bar from the right circle. Atkinson made it 4-3 when he poked a shot in from the doorstep 8:25 into the third.
Sheary tied the score again with a shot that Bobrovsky deflected with his glove.
”We showed a lot of character there, finding ways to hold on and get back into it,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said.
”They’re a team that really builds on leads , especially at home, so we did a good job of finding ways to get ourselves back in it and even it up pretty quick.”
NOTES: Pierre-Luc Dubois tied Zach Werenski’s rookie single-season point record with 47 and pushed his point streak to a career-high eight games. … Artemi Panarin, with assists on two of the goals, also has a five-game point streak. He has a franchise-record 82 points this season. … Hornqvist has four goals in the past four games. … Columbus defenseman Markus Nutivaara missed his second game with an upper-body injury. … Columbus F Josh Anderson returned after missing 17 games with a knee injury. … Pittsburgh F Derick Brassard missed his fourth game with a lower-body injury.
UP NEXT
Pittsburgh: Hosts Ottawa on Friday night to finish regular season.
Columbus: Ends regular season on Saturday night at Nashville.
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