The Sports Report: Not so fast, Angels fans. Arte Moreno is staying

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.

From Bill Shaikin and Mike DiGiovanna: On second thought, Arte Moreno decided not to sell the Angels.

On Monday, five months after putting the team up for sale, Moreno announced he would retain ownership. Potential buyers had been reviewing team finances and visiting the stadium, and initial bids were due next month.

“During this process, it became clear that we have unfinished business and feel we can make a positive impact on the future of the team and the fan experience,” Moreno said in a statement. “This offseason we committed to a franchise record player payroll and still want to accomplish our goal of bringing a World Series Championship back to our fans.”

In August, Moreno announced he had hired an investment bank, stopping short of unconditionally committing to a sale but saying the process should start. “Now is the time,” Moreno said in a statement then.

It is not unheard of for an owner to field bids, then decide not to sell because the bids had fallen short. In this case, with the Angels projected to sell for a record price for a Major League Baseball franchise — at least $2.5 billion — Moreno decided over the last week to simply call off the sale without taking any bids.

As the Angels fortified their roster this winter, Moreno is said to have become reinvigorated about retaining ownership, and as such his decision was not about how many potential buyers had materialized or what they might have bid.

More than half a dozen potential buyers had expressed interest, including Joe Lacob, owner of the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors; Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of the Los Angeles Times; and investors from Japan.

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LAKERS

From Dan Woike: The Lakers — the team whose trade aspirations have been dissected and discussed since the offseason — made a trade Monday, their fans collectively reacting in a singular way.

Finally.

The team sent a trio of second-round picks and guard Kendrick Nunn to Washington for Rui Hachimura, a 6-foot-8 hybrid forward who turns 25 in a couple of weeks.

Instead of starting trade season off with a blockbuster deal highlighted by either their 2027 or 2029 first-round picks, the Lakers struck a more sensible note in trading for the former lottery pick.

The deal, which became official Monday afternoon, required the Lakers to trade Chicago’s 2023 second, their own 2029 second and the worse of their or the Wizards’ 2028 second-round picks.

They addressed some obvious needs and better balanced their roster by swapping out a small guard for a big wing.

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CLIPPERS

From Andrew Greif: The point guard and the pupil sat next to one another on a padded section of the scorer’s table Sunday afternoon in Dallas, two minds trying to arrive at one vision for the final quarter of an eventual Clippers victory.

Expect more of the same in the future as coach Tyronn Lue, a former NBA point guard, entrusts wing Paul George with a new role of de facto point guard, a job he began in a Friday win in San Antonio and continued in Sunday’s victory against the Mavericks.

Two years after Lue challenged George and Kawhi Leonard to improve their playmaking and George carried it out through working with former assistant Chauncey Billups, George said that experience gave him comfort in recent days when coaches asked him to more directly initiate the offense after his return from a hamstring injury. The move comes with the team’s traditional point guards in flux: Reserve John Wall is out at least another week with an abdominal injury while longtime starter Reggie Jackson was moved to the bench two weeks ago, his ballhandling duties initially going to wing Terance Mann.

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NFL PLAYOFFS

From Sam Farmer: There figures to be high drama Sunday when San Francisco plays at Philadelphia in the NFC Championship Game.

But will it match the pyrotechnics of the first meeting between 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy and Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts?

The two faced each other in 2019 when Purdy was at Iowa State and Hurts at Oklahoma. The Sooners won 42-41 and the quarterbacks accounted for 11 touchdowns.

Hurts threw for three and ran for two. Purdy threw for five and ran for one.

The top-seeded Eagles, who obliterated the New York Giants on Saturday, opened as 2½-point favorites over the 49ers. The teams have not faced each other this season.

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Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy apologizes to camera operator for postgame incident

SUPER BOWL POLL

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NFL PLAYOFF RESULTS, SCHEDULE
All times Pacific
Conference championship
Sunday

NFC: San Francisco at Philadelphia, Noon, FOX, FOX Deportes
AFC: Cincinnati at Kansas City, 3:30 p.m., CBS, Paramount+

Super Bowl
Sunday, February 12
3:30 p.m., Fox

GALAXY

From Kevin Baxter: The Galaxy pulled the plug on another member of its vaunted French Connection on Monday, transferring winger Samuel Grandsir to Le Havre of the French second division.

In 2021, Greg Vanney’s first season as coach, the Galaxy acquired four players from French clubs. Only defender Séga Coulibaly remains. Midfielder Rayan Raveloson was transferred last August to French club Auxerre for a reported $1.78 million, winger — and designated player — Kévin Cabral was traded to the Colorado Rapids last month for $1 million in general allocation money and now
Grandsir, who has been looking for a way to return to France for the most of the winter, is going to Le Havre.

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THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1939 — Eddie Collins, Wee Willie Keeler and George Sisler are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1956 — Bob Pettit of the St. Louis Hawks captures the first of his NBA record four All-Star MVP awards. Pettit leads the West team with 20 points and 24 rebounds in a 108-94 win over the East.

1981 — Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders scores his 50th goal in the 50th game of the season in a 7-3 victory over the Quebec Nordiques.

1982 — Ray Wersching kicks a Super Bowl record-tying four field goals to help the San Francisco 49ers beat the Cincinnati Bengals 26-21.

1986 — Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders scores his 1,000th career point with an assist in a 7-5 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

1990 — Winston-Salem State basketball coach Clarence “Big House” Gaines wins his 800th career game, 79-70 over Livingstone.

1998 — The Denver Nuggets end their record-tying, single-season losing streak at 23 games, beating the Clippers 99-81.

1999 — David Duval shoots a 59 to match what is then the best round in PGA Tour history. Duval surges from seven strokes off the pace for a one-stroke victory over Steve Pate in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

2010 — Kelly Kulick becomes the first woman to win a PBA Tour title, beating Chris Barnes in the final of the 45th Tournament of Champions. Kulick outscores Barnes 265-195 to take home the $40,000 first prize and a two-year PBA Tour exemption.

2010 — Peyton Manning throws three touchdown passes and the Indianapolis Colts rally from an 11-point, first-half deficit to beat the New York Jets 30-17 in the AFC championship game.

2010 — The New Orleans Saints make it to their first Super Bowl after battering Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings 31-28 in overtime on Garrett Hartley’s 40-yard field goal.

2012 — Playing his 1,000th match, four-time Australian Open champion Roger Federer advances to his ninth straight semifinal at Melbourne Park with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 win over Juan Martin del Potro. Federer is the seventh man to reach the 1,000 match milestone.

2014 — Carmelo Anthony scores a career-high and franchise-record 62 points, most at the current Madison Square Garden, and the New York Knicks beat the Charlotte Bobcats 125-96.

2015 — Ashley Wagner wins her third U.S. figure skating title, easily beating defending champ Gracie Gold.

2016 — Denver cornerback Bradley Roby picks off Tom Brady’s pass on a 2-point try with 12 seconds left to preserve a 20-18 victory for the Broncos over the New England Patriots in the AFC title game.

2016 — Cam Newton throws two touchdowns and runs for two others, and Carolina’s big-play defense stifles Arizona’s top-ranked offense in a 49-15 romp for the NFC championship.

2018 — Former US Olympic team doctor Larry Nassar found guilty of molesting over 150 girls, sentenced up to 175 years in prison

Compiled by the Associated Press

And finally

Carmelo Anthony scores 62 points. Watch and listen here.