Sacramento Signs Top Pick Grant

The Sacramento Kings have signed first-round draft pick Brian Grant to a contract, the NBA team announced Sunday.

The Kings did not disclose terms of the contract, but the Sacramento Bee reported Grant was signing a 13-year, $29.33 million pact. The newspaper reported the final season’s salary of $3.7 million would not be guaranteed until Grant remains in the league a seventh season.

Grant, a 6-foot-9, 254-pound forward who played for Xavier University in Cincinnati, was the eighth selection in the NBA draft.

During a telephone news conference after the draft last June, Grant said he planned to ask for a contract worth $2.50, “enough for a Dr Pepper and a bag of chips.”

Motor sports

Terry Labonte led 112 of the final 120 laps to win the Slick 50 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

It wasn’t much of a contest after the halfway point of the 312-lap race for Labonte, who earned his third victory of the season, a career best. Most of the leaders fell back into the pack and Labonte went a lap up on all but two drivers--runner-up Mark Martin and pole-starter Sterling Marlin.

Dale Earnhardt, who clinched his record-tying seventh Winston Cup championship a week earlier with a victory at Rockingham, N.C., was knocked out early because of engine trouble.

Tennis

Germany’s Boris Becker defeated Croatia’s Goran Ivanisevic, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), to win the Stockholm Open for the fourth time.

Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic overcame a slight cold and defeated Croatia’s Iva Majoli, 6-2, 6-4, to win the $400,000 Nokia Grand Prix in Essen, Germany.

Alberto Berasategui defeated Francisco Clavet, 6-3, 6-4, in an all-Spanish final at the Santiago Hellmann’s Cup in Santiago, Chile.

Hockey

NHL players, performing in a game situation in North America for the first time since the league lockout began Oct. 1, played a charity exhibition match before 2,400 in Sarnia, Canada.

Dino Ciccarelli and Shawn Burr of the Detroit Red Wings organized the game in which the NHL Superstars beat the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League, 12-8.

Ciccarelli said $30,000 to $50,000 would be raised, after expenses, including $10,000 for one-night insurance coverage for the players.

Jari Kurri of the Kings scored the second goal as league leader Jokerit of Helsinki downed TuTo of Turku, 3-1, in the Finnish hockey league. Kurri also had an assist.

Miscellany

Cuba overcame Brazil and its home crowd of more than 20,000 in Sao Paulo, 15-2, 15-10, 15-5, to win the Women’s World Volleyball Championship. The U.S. team lost to Germany, 16-14, 15-9, 13-15, 15-10, to finish sixth.

Yugoslavia lost out to Greece as host nation for the 1998 men’s basketball World Championship, the international basketball organizing body announced.