MIKE DIAMOND

India and China have cleared two needle-free options for COVID-19 vaccinations.

Kenny Atkinson has decided not to become the coach of the Charlotte Hornets.

A person with knowledge of the decision says Darvin Ham has accepted an offer to be the next head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Charlotte Hornets have begun their search for a head coach, asking permission to speak with several candidates, said a person familiar with the situation.

COVID-19 vaccines still offer strong protection against severe illness and death, but Moderna and Pfizer are testing combination shots as a possible new kind of booster.

Members of the recently formed Hockey Diversity Alliance are sharing their painful experiences in launching a campaign to eradicate racism in the NHL.

The Portland Trail Blazers went into damage-control mode while introducing Chauncey Billups as their new head coach.

Most of the company's employees did not receive annual bonuses last year after it lost $636 million in 2019 because of the grounding of the 737 MAX by the Federal Aviation Administration, The Seattle Times reported. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)SEATTLE – Boeing Co. has said it will dole out annual performance bonuses next month to most employees despite losing $12 billion over the last year during the coronavirus pandemic. Most of the company's employees did not receive annual bonuses last year after it lost $636 million in 2019 because of the grounding of the 737 MAX by the Federal Aviation Administration, The Seattle Times reported. The company's bonuses were previously paid out based on profits. AdBoeing said it shed 14,000 company jobs in Washington state, leaving the company with 56,908 jobs in the state.

So, when VanDerveer tied the late Hall of Famer as winningest women's coaches in history with 1,098 victories Sunday night, Dec. 13, 2020, she quickly credited Summitt for helping her get there. “If I tied this record with her, she helped me do it, because of playing against her teams. And consider what VanDerveer's win total could be: She took a year away from Stanford to coach the 1996 Olympic team. Her drive, consistency and passion are the foundations for success,” said Tucker, who also played for VanDerveer at Ohio State. With a young, talented team currently, VanDerveer would like nothing more than to bring home another title before she's through.

HOUSTON – James Harden practiced with the Houston Rockets on Monday for the first time this season after missing the early part of camp while talk swirls that he wants out. Coach Stephen Silas said he spoke with the superstar Monday, but they talked strictly basketball and neither addressed a possible trade. He’s bringing up good points.”So far asking Harden anything hasn’t been an option — the Beard hasn’t spoken to reporters since reporting to camp. Silas said that Harden will make his preseason debut Tuesday night when the Rockets host the Spurs. Silas, in his first year in Houston after taking over for Mike D’Antoni, has said he expects Harden to be “all in” this season.

FILE - In this Aug. 2, 2020, file photo, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich reacts during the first half of the team's NBA basketball game against the Memphis Grizzlies in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. For NBA coaches, masks are required this season. Suit jackets or sport coats will not be required but coaches wont be able to wear the short-sleeved shirts that most donned for games in the bubble, either. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, Pool, File)MIAMI – For NBA coaches, masks are required this season. “That’s why I continued to wear masks during the playoffs, during the finals, even when we were not required to wear them during our media sessions,” Spoelstra told The Associated Press. The league, with limited exceptions, also will require coaches to wear masks “at all times” inside their team facility, while traveling and during practices.

HOUSTON – James Harden hasn’t reported to Houston Rockets camp and coach Stephen Silas said Monday that he didn’t know when the All-Star guard would arrive. The Rockets had their second workout of training camp on Monday and afterward the new coach addressed the absence of the disgruntled star who reportedly wants to be traded. “As far as timetable, there’s no timetable as far as I know,” Silas told reporters when asked when Harden would arrive. We’re just trying to work piece by piece.”The Rockets are intent on keeping Harden as the centerpiece of their team. Silas isn’t sure why the eight-time All-Star and 2018 MVP is not at camp and wouldn’t speculate about the motivation for his absence.

“Obviously, I’m not the easiest guy to understand,” Westbrook said. Westbrook was at practice on Saturday with the Wizards, the team that sent former No. “I’m here in Washington,” Westbrook replied. “I’m all about trying to do things the right way, regardless of if anybody likes it or not,” Westbrook said. “My thing is making sure that I’m doing the right thing for the right people and impacting as many people as possible.”___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

FILE - This is a July 26, 2019, file photo showing Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey during an NBA basketball news conference, in Houston. Rockets general manager Daryl Morey is stepping down on his own accord, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)HOUSTON – Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey is stepping down on his own accord, a little over a year after sparking a rift between the NBA and Chinese government. Fertitta added that Morey is helping him through the transition and they'll promote vice president of basketball operations Rafael Stone to general manager. Morey worked as Houston's assistant general manager for one season under Carroll Dawson before he retired after the 2007 season and Morey was promoted to his job.

Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week. MOVIES— “Enola Holmes”: It’s somewhat fitting that “Stranger Things” breakout Millie Bobby Brown gets her first starring role in a Netflix film, “Enola Holmes,” coming to the streamer Wednesday. — The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival was supposed to take place in June in Tennessee but was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. This week, though, the festival is launching Virtual ROO-ALITY, a three-night live broadcast featuring new performances as well as content from the Bonnaroo archive. The two-hour film will be available at 7 p.m. EDT Tuesday at pbs.org/frontline and on YouTube at 9 p.m. EDT.

Instead, they suffered another early playoff exit and must find a coach after Mike D’Antoni told them he wouldn’t return after he and management couldn’t agree on a new contract. The Rockets went all in on their small lineup when they traded center Clint Capela to Atlanta in February. So that’s on us.”Along with Westbrook’s struggles, the Rockets were also slowed against the Lakers because of the absence of Danuel House. But the Rockets can’t worry about what might have been, and Harden is already looking ahead. The 31-year-old is focused on trying to lead the Rockets to their first championship since they won back-to-back titles in 1994-95.

The person with knowledge of those talks spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the team had yet to announce anything publicly. It was not totally unexpected; the Rockets and D’Antoni couldn’t agree on an extension last year, meaning he was coaching this season with no guarantee of his future in Houston. “We’ve got a great organization, great city, great fans, team’s great,” D’Antonio said. “Mike has done some unbelievable things here,” Rockets star James Harden said Saturday night, making clear that he would have liked to have seen D’Antoni come back. Houston’s other star, guard Russell Westbrook, also raved about the type of person D’Antoni is and said he enjoyed his lone season playing under him.

James scored 29 points and the Lakers wrapped up their first trip to the Western Conference finals since 2010 by topping the Houston Rockets 119-96 on Saturday night in Game 5 at Walt Disney World. Kyle Kuzma scored 17 points, Markieff Morris had 16, Danny Green added 14 and Anthony Davis finished with 13 for the top-seeded Lakers. James is going to the conference finals for the 11th time overall — six with Cleveland, four with Miami and now with the Lakers. The Lakers scored the next 15 points, and the lead was 95-69 going into the final quarter. Lakers: Los Angeles went seven years without a conference-final appearance from 1991 through 1998, the team's longest drought before this 10-year run.

Los Angeles Lakers' Anthony Davis (3) and P.J. James had 16 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists for the Lakers, who outrebounded the Rockets 52-26. Russell Westbrook had 25 points and James Harden had 21 for the Rockets, who got 19 from Eric Gordon and 14 from Austin Rivers. It was 57-41 Lakers at the break, meaning Houston had scored 79 points in its last 48 minutes of basketball. Rockets: Houston is one of the franchises that has overcome a 3-1 deficit, doing so against the Clippers in the second round of the 2015 playoffs.

Rondo had 21 points and nine assists as the Lakers broke open a close game in the final period. He scored eight straight points during a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter that put the Lakers ahead for good. Rondo assisted on a layup by James that put the Lakers ahead with about 10 minutes remaining. Rondo then hit a 3-pointer to give the Lakers an 89-85 advantage, their largest lead to that point. The Lakers blew a 21-point lead in Game 2 but outscored Houston by 10 in the fourth quarter to win 117-109.

The winner moves on to Game 1 of a West semifinal series against the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night. The Rockets had a six-point lead with the ball with 4:01 left in Game 6, a perfect chance to close out the game and the series. Thats it.Jimmy Butler had a playoff career-high 40 points for the Heat in their 115-104 win in Game 1. It was the second time since March 2 that Antetokounmpo played more than 30 minutes and scored less than 20 points. The Bucks have won two consecutive series after dropping Game 1s, rallying to beat Orlando this season and Boston last season.

If that wasnt enough, the quality of play is so good that its almost like the NBA hadnt stopped playing for 4-1/2 months. In all honestly, its better than I was expecting ... talking about all the teams in general, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. So, you see some of the talents these guys have are coming out.The numbers inside the bubble are ridiculous. Try 36 points again, 18 rebounds and eight assists in the Bucks loss to Houston on Sunday night. The Rockets beat the Mavs 153-149 in overtime Friday and then tried 61 3-pointers to tie an NBA regulation-game record Sunday.

Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show Starring Jennifer Lopez And Shakira picked up four nominations, including outstanding variety special (live). It was not clear if Lopez and Shakira were specifically nominated, though past halftime singers, including Beyonc, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, have earned Emmy nominations as performers. For their work on Watchmen, they scored a second Emmy nomination for outstanding music composition for a limited series, movie or special. They earned nominations as producers for outstanding documentary or nonfiction special and as writers for outstanding writing for a nonfiction program. Jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington, who composed music for the Michelle Obama documentary Becoming, picked up a nomination for outstanding music composition for a documentary series of special.

Popovich was not serving as head coach for the game against the Milwaukee Bucks. It is unclear if Popovich will wear a mask for the entirety of the Spurs time at Disney. Popovich was the coach who spoke in the teams pregame news conference and followed NBA rules by wearing a mask in that availability. GIANNIS' FOULSBucks star and reigning NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo had five first-half fouls in his team's scrimmage opener against San Antonio. The last time a player had five first-half fouls in an NBA game that counted was Dec. 7, 2013, when Utah's Mike Harris did it against Sacramento.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. LeBron James keeps hearing the same questions. The NBA is a few weeks from playoff mode, and James -- just like normal has himself and the Los Angeles Lakers squarely in the mix to compete for championship. Kobe Bryant, who was the third-leading scorer in NBA history until James passed him on Jan. 25, died in a helicopter crash the following day. They are a part of this family.Lakers coach Frank Vogel has seen playoff-season James three times before never liking how those experiences went. This time, Vogel is genuinely and understandably eager to see James at playoff time.

Harden came to Disney earlier this week, satisfied his league-mandated quarantine requirements and got cleared to participate. Harden has been working out, but said Thursday was his first time playing actual 5-on-5, contact-laden basketball in more than a month. He looked good, Houston coach Mike DAntoni said. But Harden arrived fully ready, in DAntonis eyes, showing that whatever regimen he was following had paid off. If Harden played in seven of the eight games and went completely scoreless in each, he would still finish ahead of Beal.

FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2019, file photo, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich talks with the media during NBA basketball media day in San Antonio. And for the San Antonio coach, a couple days of lockdown at Walt Disney World brought back the memories of doolie life. Lockdown at Walt Disney World, he said, reminded him of those days. But two days, anybody can do that, the San Antonio coach said Saturday. The NBA restart will be about raising awareness on social issues and combating racism, and Popovich wants to be a big part of that conversation.

If the four-month NBA shutdown had a silver lining, its that a lot of ailing players got well. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)Practice facilities in the NBA have been open for a couple of months, with one major element missing from them. That changes starting Thursday, when the first handful of teams at the Disney complex will be permitted to have full-fledged practices again. Most NBA coaches DAntoni, Budenholzer, Dallas Rick Carlisle and more are going into this believing that plans have to be flexible. And, you know, were looking forward to wrapping this up and getting on that plane.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports