TORONTO — Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo said Monday “it’s likely” that free-agent forward Chris Bosh will leave the Raptors.
Colangelo told radio station Fan590 in Toronto that the Raptors still hope to keep the all-star forward, but if Bosh does want to leave, he will try to work a sign- and-trade arrangement that could help both sides.
“As we look at Chris as a potential free agent, our own free agent, wanting to re-sign him, I still have that intention and desire,” Colangelo said. “But it’s becoming more and more clear that that’s not going to happen. Now we need to decide what the best way is to come out of this.”
Colangelo confirmed that Bosh did not exercise his option for next season, making him a free agent. He joins the class that will include LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
• Newsday reported that Knicks officials will make a desperate jaunt to Los Angeles on Wednesday night to attempt to lock up Joe Johnson, who has told confidants he would embrace reuniting with Mike D’Antoni in New York, so they can then arrive in suburban Akron, Ohio, on Thursday with a sudden roster upgrade that — they hope — will put them right back in contention for James.
• Wade has given the Heat his “wish list” of potential targets he wants team president Pat Riley to pursue when free agency opens at 12:01 a.m. Thursday. Landing the services of James and either A’mare Stoudemire or Bosh would be the beginning of the kind of championship makeover Wade seeks this summer, The Miami Herald reported.
Footnotes.
The Boston Bruins gave a one-year contract extension to 42-year-old forward Mark Recchi, the NHL’s oldest active player under contract. Recchi had 18 goals and 25 assists last season, plus a team-leading six goals as well as four assists in 13 playoff games.
• Former Jamaican track star Raymond Stewart, who coached banished American sprinter Jerome Young and other Olympic medalists, has been kicked out of the sport for life for obtaining performance-enhancing drugs for his athletes.
• The United States defeated the Dominican Republic 10-1 to improve to 6-0 in group play at the world softball championships in Caracas, Venezuela. Jennie Finch was the winning pitcher for the defending champions, who will face the Czech Republic today in the final group match for the U.S.
• Kenny Perry will donate $2,000 for every birdie he makes at next month’s Greenbrier Classic in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., to the families hurt by the worst U.S. coal mine disaster in 40 years.
• The U.S. Olympic Committee intends to maintain its partnership with BP, hoping the company that provides about $15 million in sponsorship funding through 2012 can find “as quick a solution as possible” to the crisis in the Gulf.
• Las Vegas race-car driver Alexander Djordjevic, 37, was killed when his Porsche slid off a curvy, mountain highway that had been closed to traffic for a sanctioned against-the-clock race in Virginia City, Nev.
The Associated Press
