Dallas Mavericks center Daniel Gafford suffered a right knee sprain and will be reevaluated within two weeks, the team announced Tuesday.

It's the latest blow to a decimated Mavericks' frontcourt that includes injuries to newly acquired center Anthony Davis, Dereck Lively II and Dwight Powell.

Gafford was injured early in Monday's overtime loss to the Sacramento Kings. He left the game after playing 10 minutes.

Following the shocking trade last week that sent franchise superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in return for Davis, general manager Nico Harrison talked about his vision for the Davis-led Mavericks, including a massive frontcourt that featured multiple big men playing together.

It appears that Dallas will have to wait at least a few weeks before seeing that vision fully realized. Lively went down because of a stress fracture in his right foot last month and was expected to be sidelined two to three months. Davis was expected to sit out multiple weeks because of a left adductor strain, sources told ESPN earlier this week.

Powell, a Mavericks veteran, is dealing with a hip injury and has no clear timeline to return.

Second-year player Olivier-Maxence Prosper took over at center in Monday's loss after Gafford's injury and played 34 minutes. P.J. Washington, who has been dealing with an ankle injury, could also get time as a small-ball center when he returns.

The Mavericks entered Tuesday night at No. 8 in the Western Conference.

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- No team wants to the turn the page on 2024 more than the Chicago White Sox. After setting a modern-day record for losses (121) in a single season, the organization is hoping to take huge steps in a rebuilding plan that began late in 2023.

"I do think we're going to win more games than we did last year," GM Chris Getz said as pitchers and catchers reported for spring training on Tuesday. "Unfortunately, there are going to be some growing pains along the way that at times are going to challenge your emotions, but that's part of the development of some of these players."

The White Sox boast six players in ESPN's Kiley McDaniel's top 100 prospects. Acquiring them over the past few years -- for players such as Dylan Cease, Erick Fedde, Lance Lynn and others -- hurt the team's big league chances, leading to that headline-making 41-win year. But the organization's hope is those dark days give way to brighter ones as the prospects, many of whom are on the mound, make it to the major leagues.

"To have a spring training where a top ranked farm system is represented well in major league camps, it's going to be enjoyable to see some of these younger players get some major league experience," Getz said. "Going through a year like we did in 2024, most importantly, it just provided a lot of clarity for a lot of people, including myself. We had a lot of work to do, a lot more changes that needed to be made and we were able to accomplish a lot of that this off season and that started with hiring Will Venable."

Chicago's new manager comes highly decorated, having worked in Boston, in Chicago and most recently with the Rangers under Bruce Bochy. He'll be tasked with bringing along a young group of highly touted pitchers such as lefties Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith to go with shortstop prospect Colson Montgomery. Another pitcher, lefty prospect Ky Bush, will undergo Tommy John surgery on Wednesday, according to Getz, but that isn't dampening his optimism for his young group.

"We need to be patient and it's hard to do in professional sports because we've got so many competitors out there on the field on a daily basis, but I do think there's going to be plenty of exciting stories, and a lot of that has to do with the talent that's going to work their way to the major leagues this season," Getz stated. "I would say the majority of our roster has to earn their opportunities."

The White Sox likely aren't done dealing away talent, as center fielder Luis Robert Jr., outfielder Andrew Benintendi and first baseman Andrew Vaughn could be moved this year. All need to perform in the first half of the season if Getz wants to continue to load up on young talent. His hope is the struggles and lessons of 2024 will make the successes in the future feel that much better, while the organization is simply hoping to make positive headlines despite staring at another potential 100-loss season.

"Going through a year like we did last year, there was a lot to learn, a lot of painful moments that you had to endure that I think is only going to make us stronger," Getz said.

In other developments Tuesday, the White Sox agreed to terms on a one-year, $1.95 million deal with outfielder Michael Taylor, a source told ESPN, confirming news first reported by FanSided.

Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed to terms on a new one-year contract that will bring the three-time National League Cy Young Award winner back to the team for an 18th season, a source told ESPN's Alden Gonzalez on Tuesday.

Kershaw was at the Dodgers' spring training site at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona.

The deal, which is pending a physical, is expected to become official by Wednesday and will guarantee Kershaw somewhere between $5 million and $10 million in 2025, a source told ESPN. If Kershaw's prior contract is any indication, the deal will also include a multitude of performance bonuses.

Kershaw, who turns 37 in March, is expected back at some point around June, a source told ESPN. He had foot and knee surgeries in November after he was limited to just seven games last season. He made his season debut July 25 and pitched 30 innings before reporting damage to his toe, which turned out to be a ruptured plantar plate and arthritis in his left foot.

He didn't pitch in the postseason, finishing 2024 with a 2-2 record and a 4.50 ERA.

He has been a mainstay in the Dodgers' rotation, spending his entire career in Los Angeles, and is just 32 strikeouts of becoming the 20th pitcher in MLB history to reach 3,000 for his career.

Over 17 seasons, Kershaw has established himself as one of the most monumental figures in the franchise's illustrious history. He won three Cy Young Awards and an MVP, made 10 All-Star teams, became the team's career leader in strikeouts and accumulated the second-most wins (212) in team history.

"He kind of epitomizes how to compete, what it means to be a Dodger ever since I've been here," said Dodgers backup catcher Austin Barnes, Kershaw's teammate for the past 10 years. "He kind of sets the tone for everything, just the way he works and carries himself."

The Dodgers enter spring training with the possibility of six starting pitchers: two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell; Yoshinobu Yamamoto; Tyler Glasnow; Roki Sasaki; and Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May, both of whom are returning from injury.

Shohei Ohtani, who didn't pitch last season after elbow surgery, could be back on the mound by the second month of the season.

Kershaw's return could give manager Dave Roberts the luxury of an extra arm, which he hasn't had in past seasons, and the packed pitching staff also could allow him to limit Kershaw's pitch count.

He pitched on one-year contracts in 2022 and 2023 before signing an incentive-laden $5 million deal for 2024 that included a 2025 option for $5 million, which he declined. With incentives, he earned $7.5 million in 2024.

Kershaw has a career record of 212-94 with a 2.50 ERA in 432 games (429 starts). His 15 career shutouts are the most among active pitchers.

Field Level Media contributed to this report.

TAMPA, Fla. -- New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday that he didn't like hearing the criticism of his team levied by Los Angeles Dodgers players after they beat the Yankees in last year's World Series and hoped to "handle things with a little more class" if New York could win its first championship since 2009.

Dodgers utility man Chris Taylor and former reliever Joe Kelly disparaged the Yankees -- whose sloppy fifth inning in Game 5 ultimately led to a series-clinching loss -- with Kelly calling their shoddy defense and baserunning "well-known" on his podcast and Taylor saying the Yankees "s--- down their leg" on teammate Mookie Betts' podcast.

"The reality is we didn't play our best in the series and they won, so they had that right to say whatever," Boone said. "Hopefully, we're in that position next year and handle things with a little more class. But the reality is it's a great team, it's a great organization with a lot of great people that I happen to know and respect, too. So a few people sounding off isn't necessarily how I would want to draw it up."

Boone pointed out that the Dodgers' stars -- Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Clayton Kershaw -- did not publicly roast the Yankees and that "sometimes you're coming off ... winning the world championship and some guys are more inclined to spout off and be a little more colorful than others -- and that's their right. They won. And again, hopefully we're in that position and do things a little better."

Yankees pitchers and catchers reported to spring training Tuesday to begin the season after their first World Series appearance since beating Philadelphia in 2009. After losing star outfielder Juan Soto in free agency to the New York Mets, the Yankees guaranteed the third-most money to free agents this winter, $238.4 million, adding left-hander Max Fried and first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. They also traded for closer Devin Williams and center fielder Cody Bellinger.

"There's no running from the fact of losing a player like Juan Soto," Boone said, "and we all saw how important he was to our club last year, and we did a lot to try and keep him here. I think everyone understands how much we wanted him back. That being said, there's a lot of ways to build a great team, and I think the moves that we've made this offseason give us that chance."

The key, Boone said, was not losing the hunger he saw early last season.

"You can have a great situation, a great culture, a great closeness about your team, a great professionalism about your team," Boone said. "I think sometimes the separators where a team that's good can be great, a team that's great can be a champion, is that hunger that is not a given even with the best of people and the best of teams. There's no question in my mind. Last year we had that edge, we had a hunger maybe in part due to coming off the season in which we didn't make the postseason for the people that experienced that here. I think that showed itself very early in camp, but we got to work at that. That's not a given."

Among other issues addressed by Boone:

• "There have been some talks" on a contract extension, the eighth-year manager said. New York picked up an option for 2025 on Boone, who is 603-429 and has led New York to the postseason six of his seven years.

• Right-handed reliever Jake Cousins, who over the final two months of last season was among the Yankees' best relievers, was shut down because of a forearm strain. The hope, Boone said, was for him to begin throwing again next week, though his absence "could leak into Opening Day."

• Top prospect Jasson Dominguez is the leading candidate to take over in left field, with Bellinger in center and Aaron Judge shifting from center to right field. Dominguez sat out a large chunk of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery and struggled in 67 plate appearances. "I'd love for him to secure [the left-field job] and grab it," Boone said, adding that he expects "that he will."

• The Yankees' third-base job is wide open as spring training begins, Boone said. With last year's third baseman, Jazz Chisholm Jr., shifting to second base, the Yankees will try veteran DJ LeMahieu and utilityman Oswaldo Cabrera at third. They are not expected to pursue free agent third baseman Alex Bregman and have not been aggressive yet in pursuit of St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado, who is available via trade.

• Boone said he spoke with right-hander Marcus Stroman, whom the Yankees spent the winter trying to trade after Fried's signing pushed him out of New York's rotation. "It's maybe a little bit of an awkward situation just with all the noise around it this winter," Boone said, "but I'm comfortable with where he is in his focus and his physical preparation coming in."

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Five years ago, Mookie Betts stood in the middle of a clubhouse here and introduced himself to new Los Angeles Dodgers teammates by basically telling them they needed to master the details in February if they wanted to hoist the trophy in October.

On Tuesday, at the unofficial start of a season in which the Dodgers will face immense expectations, Betts relayed a similar message.

"We can't keep thinking about being champions again," Betts said on the day many of the Dodgers' players underwent their preseason physical exams. "We haven't even played Game 1. We have to take care of spring training, and then when Game 1 comes, then Game 1 comes. But we can't keep talking about the World Series."

It wasn't long ago that the Dodgers resembled something like a Greek tragedy -- continually fielding star-studded rosters and dominating regular seasons, only to absorb massive disappointment in the playoffs. That all changed last fall, when one of the Dodgers' most injury-ravaged rosters overcame the deep San Diego Padres, dispatched the plucky New York Mets and made quick work of the sloppy New York Yankees to capture the franchise's first title since 2020 -- and its first in a full season since 1988.

The Dodgers followed by doubling down on what was already one of the most decorated rosters in baseball history, guaranteeing close to $400 million to nine players: Blake Snell, Tanner Scott, Teoscar Hernandez, Michael Conforto, Kirby Yates, Hyeseong Kim, Roki Sasaki, Enrique Hernandez and Clayton Kershaw, the latter expected to be official by Wednesday.

The Dodgers' competitive balance tax payroll for 2025 projects to be in the neighborhood of $385 million, according to Spotrac, about $65 million more than the second-place Mets. Through it all, they've become the target of complaints about the state of the sport. Owners have held up the Dodgers' financial capabilities in their push for a salary cap. Fans have bemoaned their use of deferrals -- most notably with Shohei Ohtani, who earmarked $680 million for his retirement -- to get deals done. Executives have chastised the Sasaki recruitment process, believing his signing with the Dodgers to be an inevitability.

"People are always going to find something to complain about," Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said. "We're just trying to take care of our business and put ourselves in a good spot to make the postseason."

Major League Baseball has not had a repeat champion since the Yankees won their third in a row in 2000, but the Dodgers have a good chance. Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA, which runs thousands of simulations to project win totals for the upcoming season, has the Dodgers at 104 victories in 2025, at least 11 more than any other team.

The reasons are obvious. The Dodgers' rotation -- featuring Snell, Sasaki, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and, eventually, Ohtani and Kershaw -- is among the best in the sport at full strength. Their lineup -- with Ohtani, Betts, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez, Muncy, Will Smith, Conforto and Tommy Edman making up eight spots, possibly in that order -- is one of the fiercest in history. And their bullpen, already a strength, has added Scott and Yates to a group featuring Michael Kopech, Blake Treinen, Evan Phillips and Alex Vesia, among others. If dynasties are still possible in an unpredictable sport with an ever-expanding postseason field, the Dodgers seem primed to become one. But it's not something their players want to publicly embrace.

Their own playoff failures have taught them that.

"The thing about this sport is, it doesn't matter what kind of roster you have -- time after time, teams have shown that you get into the playoffs, anything can happen," Muncy said. "You look at the Diamondbacks a couple years ago, they made it to the World Series with [84] wins. And technically, they improved last year -- they had 89 wins -- and they didn't even make the playoffs.

"It's one of those things where, all you have to do is get into the postseason and anything can happen in this sport. You can have the best player in the world in this sport, and he can't always take over like in other sports, where if you have the best player on the court in the NBA, he's going to take over a game for the most part. It's not so much that way in baseball. That's why it's always a unique challenge trying to get to the World Series."

And so, Dodgers players spent a lot of their time Tuesday dismissing questions about dynasty-building and chasing the all-time regular-season wins record -- 116, set by the 1906 Chicago Cubs and the 2001 Seattle Mariners -- and instead talked about the importance of maintaining their edge.

The Dodgers won't host their first full-squad workout until Saturday, but the majority of their infielders -- minus Freeman, who is back in L.A. going through the final stages of rehabilitating his surgically repaired right ankle -- have spent the better part of the past two weeks taking ground balls at Camelback Ranch. The same can be said for the majority of their pitchers, who have started their throwing programs early in anticipation of a regular season that will begin March 18 from Japan.

Muncy has taken that as a sign that this team is "hungrier than ever."

"We didn't win last year because we were talking about the World Series every day," Betts said. "I think we won last year because we talked about the task at hand. I think we have to continue to talk about the task at hand and not worry about the end goal. We have an end goal, of course, but you have to take steppingstones to get there and not worry about getting there. We'll get there when we get there."

Fin Smith produced an inspired second-half display at Twickenham to turn the tide in England's favour over France.

Smith, on his first Test start, began slowly before creating two late tries.

He changed the direction of attack to clip the ball wide for Northampton Saints team-mate Tommy Freeman to gather and score, before timing his pass for Elliot Daly to glide through the French defence in the penultimate minute.

Smith's conversion handed England victory and he was named player of the match to stake his claim for the number 10 jersey.

Marcus Smith, who started at fly-half in the opening round defeat by Ireland, had a solid game from full-back but will be targeting a return to his preferred position.

It remains to be seen whether Farrell considers Marcus Smith as an option at fly-half or elsewhere but Fin Smith has certainly boosted his chances.

In the Scottish capital, Finn Russell was denied the chance to impose himself on Ireland and strengthen his claim to the Lions' 10 shirt which he wore in South Africa in 2021, after colliding with team-mate Darcy Graham in the first half.

His opposite number Sam Prendergast ended the game with the player-of-the-match award after a balanced and controlled display.

The 21-year-old, on his fifth cap, fired an excellent long pass for Calvin Nash to score the opening try and kicked 12 points from the tee.

Former Scotland captain Johnnie Beattie told BBC Rugby Union Weekly: "He is 21 years old and is only going to get better.

"He needs game time to mature and grow in confidence but in terms of raw material, with his kicking game and his ability to take time on the ball and choose the right option, his distribution was excellent."

BBC rugby union correspondent Chris Jones added: "The 10 is a really interesting debate. It is still Finn Russell's shirt from 2021 because he finished the third Test.

"He didn't get a chance against Ireland to show what he can do but knowing Finn, he will have a blinder against England at Twickenham and cement himself.

"But then there is Fin Smith, Sam Prendergast, Jack Crowley and Marcus Smith, whether he goes at 10 or as more of a floating outside back."

Ineos has blamed "cost-saving measures" across its business for an alleged "breach" of its sponsorship of New Zealand Rugby (NZR), a move that has led to legal action from the governing body.

The British petrochemical firm, which co-owns Manchester United as part of its sport portfolio, has walked away early from its sponsorship deal of NZR.

In 2021 Ineos, which is chaired by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, agreed to become performance partner of NZR from 2022 to 2027.

The deal included Ineos branding on the back of playing shorts and on the front of training jerseys for the nation's teams, including three-time World Cup winners the All Blacks and six-time women's world champions the Black Ferns.

In a statement on Tuesday, NZR said Ineos had "failed to pay the first instalment of the 2025 sponsorship fee, confirming its decision to exit our six-year agreement".

It added: "Having learned of Ineos' decision to walk away three years early, we have moved to protect the interests of New Zealand Rugby and the wider game.

"We have been left with no option but to launch legal proceedings to protect our commercial position."

Ineos says it has contributed more than 30m US dollars (24m) to the rugby teams in recent years.

Citing the struggling chemicals industry in Europe because of "high energy taxes and extreme carbon taxes", Ineos said in a statement: "We have had to implement cost-saving measures across the business.

"We sought to reach a sensible agreement with the All Blacks to adjust our sponsorship in light of these challenges.

"Unfortunately, rather than working towards a managed solution, New Zealand Rugby has chosen to pursue legal action. We remain in ongoing discussion."

NZR rugby added it was "actively pursuing new commercial opportunities and global interest in the All Blacks and other teams in black remains high".

Warren Gatland has left his role as Wales head coach during the Six Nations after a record 14 successive Test match defeats.

Gatland, 61, was contracted until the 2027 World Cup but has departed by mutual consent, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) confirmed.

Cardiff head coach Matt Sherratt will take over as interim head coach for the remaining three games of the Six Nations.

WRU chief executive Abi Tierney said both parties had agreed an immediate change was "in the best interests" of the Wales squad.

In a statement, Gatland said: "I would like to thank the WRU board for the faith shown in me after a tough campaign throughout 2024 and affording me the time and resource to try to turn things around for this 2025 tournament.

"We have worked hard, we have a talented young squad that is developing and have been desperate to turn potential into results but now is the right time for a change.

"I've reached the end of this particular chapter, but remain grateful to all those in Wales who have supported me, the players who have played for me and all those around me, especially my management team, who have contributed to what we have achieved over the years."

No announcement has been made on the rest of the current coaching team.

The WRU are due to hold a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, which you will be able to follow live on the BBC Sport website from 15:00 GMT.