Weekend Sports Recap

The NBA’s free agency period opened with a flurry over the weekend, and the biggest news came Sunday evening from LeBron James.
The King’s representatives announced quietly via Twitter that James had agreed to a four-year deal worth $154 million with the Los Angeles Lakers, confirming most of the speculation about where the 33-year-old star would land. It is the second time the three-time NBA champion has left the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are essentially his hometown team (he’s from Akron).
Other NBA stars were less inclined to call the movers: Chris Paul is staying with the Houston Rockets, Paul George with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant with the Golden State Warriors.

WORLD CUP:
Favorites continued to take a tumble over the weekend. Sunday saw host Russia upset Spain on penalty kicks, while Croatia beat Denmark the same way. On Saturday, two of the world’s biggest stars saw their championship hopes end. Argentina, led by Lionel Messi, fell 4-3 to France and it wasn’t really that close. Portugal, home of Ronaldo, lost 2-1 to Uruguay.

GOLF:
Francesco Molinari shot an 8-under-62 on Sunday to win the Quicken Loans National by eight strokes. That equals the biggest victory margin on the PGA Tour this season. He finished at 21-under 259 to set the tournament record. Tiger Woods shot 66, his best round in more than five years, and finished tied for fourth, though he was still 10 shots behind Molinari. … David Toms won the U.S. Senior Open.

ELSEWHERE:
Kyle Busch out dueled Kyle Larson at Chicagoland Speedway to win the Overton’s 400 for his fifth victory in the Monster Energy Cup Series this season. … The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox played three lopsided games over the weekend and the Yankees won the first and last. Aaron Hicks hit three of New York’s six home runs Sunday night in an 11-1 victory. The two are tied atop the American League East. … The Cleveland Indians beat the Oakland A’s 15-3, collecting 20 hits and a club record 11 doubles. … Matt Kemp homered and drove in four runs as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies 6-4.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman