Month: February 2025

The Pittsburgh Pirates agreed to a one-year, $4 million contract with free agent outfielder Tommy Pham. Pham can earn an additional $250,000 through incentives.

Pham, 36, made his MLB debut in 2014 with the Cardinals. He hit a career-high 23 home runs in 2017 for the Cardinals, also hitting a career-best .306 that season. Pham will be joining his 10th MLB franchise– he also spent time with the Tampa Bay Rays, San Diego Padres, Cincinnati Reds, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and Arizona Diamondbacks ,where he appeared in the 2023 World Series when the Diamondbacks lost to the Texas Rangers.

Last season Pham spent time with the Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals, where the veteran outfielder hit .248/.305/.368 with nine home runs, 38 RBIs, and seven steals in 116 games. He also ranked in the 97th percentile in chase percentage and 86th percentile in squared-up percentage in 2024.

Pirates pitchers and catchers will report to spring training Feb. 12 in Bradenton, Fla. Full team workouts will start Feb. 18.

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The Miami Heat and Golden State Warriors have swapped forwards Jimmy Butler and Andrew Wiggins in a blockbuster trade that also involved the Detroit Pistons and Utah Jazz.

Butler — a six-time All-Star and five-time All-NBA selection — averaged 17 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game over 25 appearances this season for the Heat. He had requested a trade, and was suspended multiple times for conduct detrimental to the team in 2024-25. Butler, 35, declined his player option for 2025-26 and agreed to a two-year, $121 million contract with the Warriors.

Wiggins, an 11-year veteran, averaged 17.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game over 43 starts this season for the Warriors. The forward averaged 18.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per appearance through the first 749 games of his NBA career.  Wiggins, 29, is set to make $28.2 million in 2025-26 – his pact includes a player option for $30.1 million in 2026-27.

In addition to Wiggins, the Heat acquired forward Kyle Anderson and a Top-10 projected first-round pick from the Warriors, and also received forward P.J. Tucker from the Utah Jazz.  Anderson, 31, averaged 5.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game through 36 games this season for the Warriors. The 11-year veteran is under contract through 2026-27. Tucker, 39, averaged just 1.7 points over 31 appearances last season between the Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Clippers. The 14-year veteran is set to hit free agency this off-season.

The Pistons received guard Lindy Waters from the Warriors and guard Josh Richardson from the Heat, while the Warriors sent Dennis Schroder to the Jazz.  The 27-year old Waters averaged 5.5 points per game over 38 appearances this season for the Warriors; the four-year veteran also is set to hit free agency this off-season. Richardson, a 10-year veteran, averaged 4.0 points per game through just eight appearances this season for the Heat; the 31-year-old has been out of play due to a heel injury and wasn’t under contract past this season. Schroder, a 12-year veteran, averaged 14.4 points, 6.1 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game through 80 appearances between the Warriors and Brooklyn Nets; the 31-year-old also has an expiring contract.

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President Trump signed an executive order to ban transgender girls and women from competing on sports teams that match their gender identity. The measure, according to White House officials, is called the “No Men in Women’s Sports Executive Order.” Trump said from a podium at the White House, with dozens of women and girls standing behind him: “With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over.”  

Wednesday’s order — titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” — coincides with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and will involve how his administration will interpret Title IX, the law best known for its role in pursuing gender equity in athletics and preventing sexual harassment on campuses.  The order mandates that Title IX, the federal law banning sex discrimination in schools, be interpreted as prohibiting the participation of transgender girls and women in female sports. Those not in compliance jeopardize any federal funding they receive and could face legal action, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt adding at Wednesday’s press briefing: “The policy of this administration is that there are only two sexes — male and female. Pretty simple.”

The White House official said transgender female athletes can compete on co-ed or male teams, and have argued that transgender girls and women athletes have biological advantages that are unfair and unsafe for other girls and women: “This is about preserving women’s sports for women, and that if you are not a woman, you should absolutely have opportunities in sports, but the burden should not always be on women to accommodate that.”

The executive order follows a Republican measure that passed the House last month, known as the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” which would amend Title IX to recognize a person’s “sex” as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” Schools that allow “a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls” risk losing federal funding.

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Per a report on Wednesday from ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Milwaukee Bucks have traded Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson and a pick swap to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Kyle Kuzma, Patrick Baldwin Jr. and second-round draft pick compensation. The NBA trade deadline is set for Thursday at 3 p.m. ET.

Middleton spent the last 12 seasons in Milwaukee, inclduding the Bucks’ 2020-21 NBA championship run. He was averaging 12.6 points on 51.2% shooting from the field in 23 games this season—his lowest scoring average since 2013-14. Middleton has a $34 million player option for the 2025-26 season; if he activates that option, he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2026. The Bucks are now about $300,000 below the second apron after the trade.

Kuzma has spent the last four seasons with the Washington Wizards. In 32 games this season, Kuzma is averaging 15.2 points per contest while shooting 42% from the field and 28.1% from three-point range. Kuzma is under contract through the 2026-27 campaign.

Johnson, the No. 23 pick by Milwaukee in the 2024 NBA draft, has appeared in just seven games this season and scored a total of 20 points. He is averaging 13.7 points and 4.8 assists in 10 games for the G League Wisconsin Herd.

Baldwin, a first-round pick by the Golden State Warriors in 2022, has now been traded twice in his young career. Baldwin registered 2.1 points in 4.6 minutes per contest in 22 games for Washington this season.

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