$85-million deal means Allen will sleep well in Seattle
By wire services
Published July 6, 2005
SEATTLE - The SuperSonics and All-Star guard Ray Allen have agreed to a five-year, $85-million contract extension, his agent, Lon Babby, said Tuesday.
Allen cannot sign the deal until the free agent signing period begins on July 22, but Babby said Allen intends on signing at the first available moment.
Allen earned about $14-million last season while averaging a career-high 23.9 points a game last season - 10th best in the NBA - as Seattle shocked the league by winning 52 games and the Northwest Division title.
NUGGETS: Denver signed first-round draft pick Julius Hodge, a guard from North Carolina State, and Linas Kleiza, a forward from Missouri acquired in a draft day deal, to multiyear contracts.
WNBA: Sheryl Swoopes scored 22 points as visiting Houston rallied to beat Detroit 75-66 for the Comets' fifth straight victory. ... Penny Taylor scored a game-high 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting, and visiting Phoenix broke a season-high five-game losing streak in a 76-69 victory over San Antonio.
HORSE RACING: Jockeys still criticalTwo jockeys were in critical condition after spills at separate Texas tracks during the weekend.
Casey Lambert broke his jaw and multiple ribs, and suffered a punctured lung in a three-horse fall in Grand Prairie during Monday's final race. Akili Gray was in critical condition with head injuries after he was thrown during a Saturday race in Fredericksburg.
TENNIS: Dent advances at NewportTop-seeded Taylor Dent powered his way into the second round of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, R.I., with a 7-6 (3), 6-4 victory over Amer Delic.
SWEDISH OPEN: French Open champions Rafael Nadal, Carlos Moya and Juan Carlos Ferrero moved into the second round in Bastad, Sweden, putting eight Spanish players in the final 16.
SWISS OPEN: Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko dropped out of the tournament in Gstaad, Switzerland, after injuring his wrist during his first-round match against Armenia's Sargis Sargsian. ET CETERACOLLEGE FOOTBALL: Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer dismissed redshirt senior D.J. Walton from the team after Walton was arrested for armed robbery.
DIVING: The World Underwater Federation confirmed Patrick Musimu's no-limit, free diving world record. The Belgian reached a depth of 687.6 feet on June 30 on Egypt's Red Sea coast - beating the previous mark of 561 feet, set in 2004.
TRACK AND FIELD: Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia broke her own world record in the women's pole vault, clearing 16 feet, 2 inches at the Athletissima Grand Prix meet in Lausanne, Switzerland.
MOTORSPORTS: David Coulthard signed a one-year contract with Formula One's Red Bull Racing.