Detroit – Free-agent center Ben Wallace is leaving the Detroit Pistons to sign with the Chicago Bulls, a person within the NBA said Monday.
The person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because NBA free agents can’t officially sign contracts until July 12, said the Pistons offered Wallace a four-year contract worth about $50 million. That would have made him the highest-paid player on the team next season with a salary of $11.5 million.
Messages were left Monday night for Wallace’s agent, Arn Tellem, and a call to Wallace’s home in suburban Detroit went unanswered.
But Wallace told The Detroit News that he will sign a four-year deal with the Bulls.
“I appreciate everything Detroit did for me and my family,” he told the newspaper Monday night. “They gave me an opportunity to make a name for myself, and we had an opportunity to win a championship together.”
NBA
Speedy will quickly fill Hawks’ needs
The Atlanta Hawks have reportedly reached agreement with veteran point guard Speedy Claxton, filling one of the team’s greatest needs.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on its website Monday that the deal is believed to be for four years and worth about $25 million.
The Milwaukee Bucks signed second-round draft pick David Noel to a multiyear contract.
NHL
Oilers get a package deal for Pronger
Star defenseman Chris Pronger was traded by the Edmonton Oilers to the Anaheim Ducks for right wing Joffrey Lupul, defenseman Ladislav Smid and three draft picks.
Pronger, the 2000 NHL MVP with St. Louis, led the Oilers to the Stanley Cup Finals last month. They fell just short of a championship, losing Game 7 to the Carolina Hurricanes.
After Edmonton’s surprising run was over, Pronger asked the team for a trade, citing personal reasons. His wife reportedly disliked living in Edmonton.
Anaheim jumped at the opportunity, sending its first-round pick in the 2007 draft, a 2008 second-round pick and a conditional draft choice to the Oilers along with Lupul and Smid.
The conditional draft pick will be sent to Edmonton if the Ducks make the Stanley Cup Finals next year.
Defenseman Brendan Witt agreed to terms on a three-year contract with the New York Islanders.
Forwards Mike Grier and Curtis Brown agreed to deals with the San Jose Sharks.
The deal will pay Grier $1,775,000 a year. Brown signed a $1.4 million, two-year deal.
Former Hurricanes defenseman Aaron Ward signed a two-year, $5.5 million deal with the New York Rangers.
The Atlanta Thrashers signed unrestricted free-agent centers Steve Rucchin and Glen Metropolit.
The Ottawa Senators re-signed restricted free-agent forward Jason Spezza to a two-year contract worth $9 million.
Veteran defenseman Teppo Numminen agreed to a one-year contract to stay with the Buffalo Sabres.
Defenseman Mark Eaton signed a two-year contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins after playing last season with the Nashville Predators.
Unrestricted free agent right wing Ryan VandenBussche was charged with assaulting three police officers during a late-night brawl and was subdued with a Taser gun and pepper spray in Turkey Point, Ontario.
He will be held in a Brantford jail until Thursday.
FOOTNOTES
Sports court turns down Karatantcheva
French Open quarterfinalist Sesil Karatantcheva lost her appeal of her two-year doping ban before the highest tribunal in international sports in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The 16-year-old Bulgarian contended she tested positive for the steroid nandrolone because she was pregnant and had been taking food supplements. The International Tennis Federation suspended Karatantcheva on Jan. 11.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said the drug was found “in a range that would make it very unlikely for the concentrations … to be consistent with the normal” levels of the substance at that stage of pregnancy.
Karatantcheva reached last year’s French Open quarters after beating Venus Williams in the third round. She tested positive after losing to Russia’s Elena Likhovtseva on May 31 in the quarterfinals.
Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor was sued by a man who said the NFL player brandished a gun and repeatedly hit him during a fight in June 2005.
Ryan Hill filed the suit on June 27 in Miami Dade Circuit Court and is seeking $15,000 in damages from Taylor.
Former cycling trainer Freddy Sergant was sentenced in Bordeaux, France, to four years in jail in a trial centered on a doping ring that supplied a cocktail of amphetamines, cocaine and heroin to riders in France and Belgium.
Sergant, a Belgian believed to be the key figure, also was fined more than $230,000. His wife, Monique, was given a one-year prison term.
