Boston and the U.S. Olympic Committee severed ties after a board teleconference Monday, ending an effort that was troubled nearly from the moment it started.
The decision throws the bid process — and hopes that the U.S. will host another Olympics — into flux. Only seven weeks remain before cities have to be officially nominated to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.
USOC CEO Scott Blackmun said the federation wants to stay in the race. If so, Los Angeles would be the likely choice. Blackmun said the bid leaders still felt Boston could deliver a great Olympics.
“They also recognize, however, that we are out of time if the USOC is going to be able to consider a bid from another city,” Blackmun said. “As a result, we have reached a mutual agreement to withdraw Boston’s bid.”
The Boston bid soured within days of its beginning in January, beset by poor communication and an active opposition group that kept public support low. It also failed to get the support of key politicians.
BASKETBALL
Cleveland trades 2 to Portland
• The Cleveland Cavaliers have traded forward Mike Miller and center Brendan Haywood to the Portland Trail Blazers to create salary-cap room and save luxury-tax money. The Cavs have been shopping Haywood’s expiring $10.5 million contract for weeks and worked out a deal with the Blazers, who will also get two second-round picks from Cleveland. Both teams confirmed the trade Monday. The Blazers are expected to cut Haywood, who barely played for Cleveland last season, before his contract becomes guaranteed Saturday. Miller was signed last summer, bringing playoff experience and three-point shooting to the Cavs, but he was hardly used in the playoffs. Haywood, a 13-year NBA veteran, has averaged 6.8 points and six rebounds per game during stints with Washington, Dallas, Charlotte and Cleveland. Miller, a 15-year veteran, has averaged 11.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists with stops in Orlando, Memphis, Minnesota, Washington, Miami and Cleveland. The moves will allow the Cavs to create trade exceptions for $10.5 million and $2.85 million to sign players. The Blazers were able to absorb the contracts of both players because the team is under the salary cap. Miller, whose $2.8 million salary next season is guaranteed, will reportedly seek a buyout and become a free agent.
• The Golden State Warriors have completed the trade sending twotime All-Star forward David Lee to the Boston Celtics for Gerald Wallace and Chris Babb, the teams said Monday. They agreed to the trade July 7, but Boston needed time to sort out other moves in free agency before acquiring Lee. “His proven skill set and experience on a championship team will add valuable depth to our frontcourt and a veteran presence to our locker room,” Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge said in a statement. Lee was an All-Star in 2010 with New York and 2013 with Golden State. But he injured his left hamstring in the final preseason game in October and his role diminished with the emergence of Draymond Green, the runner-up for defensive player of the year. Lee played the fewest minutes of his career and averaged just 7.9 points per game last season for the NBA champion Warriors, who were looking to trade Lee to limit the team’s luxury tax hit next season. Lee is due about $15.4 million in the final year of his contract, while Wallace is owed about $10 million next season. Wallace, a 6-7 forward who was an All-Star in 2010 with Charlotte, played sparingly for the Celtics last season. He averaged 1.1 points and 8.9 minutes in 32 games last season. Both were career lows, as were his totals for the season of 11 assists, 57 rebounds and 286 minutes.
• The Chicago Sky have traded center Sylvia Fowles to the Minnesota Lynx as part of a three-team WNBA deal. The Sky on Monday acquired Erika De Souza from Atlanta and also give the Lynx their second-round pick in next year’s draft. The Dream get Damiris Dantas, Reshanda Gray and Minnesota’s first-round pick next season. Fowles sat out the first half of the year after requesting a trade from Chicago in the offseason. Without Fowles, the Sky (11-6) are second in the Eastern Conference. Minnesota (12-4) leads the West but has been hit by injuries the last week. Seimone Augustus is out most likely until mid-August with a knee injury. Lindsay Whalen hurt her eye, ending her streak of 106 consecutive starts.
TENNIS
Roddick to play one more
Retirement couldn’t stop Andy Roddick from one last chance to play doubles with his friend Mardy Fish in this week’s Atlanta Open. Roddick is returning to help escort Fish into his retirement. Roddick, 32, said Atlanta served as the “bookends” of his career. It’s where he won his first tour title in 2001 and his last in 2012. He retired in 2012 and being back, if only for a week, left him feeling “awkward.” “I feel like the kid who’s too old to go back to the high school dance,” Roddick said Monday before beating Frances Tiafoe, 17, a top young American player 6-3, 6-4 in a singles exhibition. Roddick and Fish are a wild-card entry in the doubles draw and play later in the week. Fish, who won the Atlanta tournament in 2010-2011, recently announced he will retire after the U.S. Open.
• Horacio Zeballos of Argentina beat Russian teenager Andrey Rublev 6-4, 7-6 (1) at the Swiss Open in Gstaad to earn a second-round match against top-seeded David Goffin of Belgium. Zeballos took the only break point he needed in the first set against his 17-year-old, wild-card opponent. After exchanging service breaks in the second, Zeballos cruised through the tiebreaker. The 14th-ranked Goffin was elevated to top seed when French Open champion Stan Wawrinka withdrew from his home event last week. Defending champion Pablo Andujar of Spain will face Dusan Lajovic in the second round of the clay-court event after the Serb beat French qualifier Calvin Hemery 7-5, 6-2. Federico Delbonis of Argentina beat Swiss wild card Marco Chiudinelli 6-4, 6-2, and Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan beat Frenchman Maxime Teixeira 6-0, 6-4.
• Florian Mayer rallied to beat qualifier Albert Montanes 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the opening round of the Hamburg (Germany) Open on Monday. Mayer is a wild-card entry into the clay-court event and is coming back after a long-term groin injury. In other action, Jerzy Janowicz beat qualifier Taro Daniel 6-4, 6-3 and Albert Ramos-Vinolas edged Nicolas Almagro 6-4, 7-6 (3). Almagro wasted a set point in the second. Lucas Pouille beat Inigo Cervantes 7-6 (2), 6-4 in a match between two qualifiers. Rafael Nadal is the top-seeded player in the tournament and will open his campaign against Fernando Verdasco on Tuesday.
SOCCER
National team sees two retire
Midfielders Shannon Boxx and Lauren Holiday will retire from the U.S. women’s national team following a victory tour to celebrate the Women’s World Cup title. Both players had previously voiced their intention to step down from the team. U.S. Soccer said Monday that Boxx, 38, will also retire immediately from the NWSL’s Chicago Red Stars. Both players were on the roster for the U.S. team that won the World Cup earlier this month with a 5-2 victory in the final against Japan. A center midfielder, Boxx has 27 goals in 191 international appearances. She joined the team in 2003 and was named to the World Cup roster that year despite having not yet earned a cap with the team. She has battled Lupus and Sjogren’s syndrome, an immune disorder, for the past several years, and left the U.S. team last season for the birth of her daughter, Zoe. She and her family live in Oregon. Boxx has played for the Red Stars since the team’s first season in 2013. Holiday, 27, has said she wants to focus on having a family. She is married to Jrue Holiday, who plays for the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans. Holiday has 24 goals in 130 appearances with the national team, which she joined in 2007 after playing at UCLA. She scored in the first half of the World Cup final against Japan. Holiday will finish out the season with her NWSL team, FC Kansas City.