Christian Pulisic has denied there is a rift between himself and AC Milan head coach Sérgio Conceição after reports emerged that he had demanded to leave the club should the Portuguese manager remain next season.

Italian media claimed on Thursday that Pulisic and midfielder Youssouf Fofana had irreparably fallen out with Conceição in the wake of Tuesday's disappointing exit from the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Feyenoord, with La Repubblica saying the United States forward would ask to exit unless Conceição was sacked before the 2025-26 campaign.

The report also claimed that Pulisic and Fofana were the most vocal in opposing Conceição's methods that had supposedly grated on several members of the squad despite the coach being appointed only on Dec. 30.

Milan shared a statement from Pulisic on X in response to the claims.

"I have never argued with the coach and I have never asked to leave," Pulisic said. "I am very happy at Milan and I want to continue wearing this shirt. Reading these lies is unacceptable, but let's all continue to remain united and fight together on the pitch, for the club and for our fans."

Multiple sources had told ESPN that the reports of a standoff had been greatly exaggerated, and that the team are united in their pursuit of qualifying for the Champions League again next season.

Pulisic was withdrawn after an hour of Milan's 1-1 draw with Feyenoord, the first player to be substituted despite leading the team in goal contributions in all competitions this term with 21. He has moved positions to right wing to accommodate Conceição's desire to play Rafael Leão on the left-hand side and loan signing João Félix through the middle, though sources said there had been no indication this had been the cause of any row.

Milan have struggled this season, with Paulo Fonseca fired after just half a campaign as the Rossoneri were eighth in Serie A with a game in hand on the teams ahead of them.

Conceição was brought in on a 2-year deal and made an almost immediate impact as they defeated fierce rivals Inter Milan to lift the Italian Supercoppa in January.

Their form in the league under the former FC Porto coach has seen the team move to seventh, though they still have a game in hand on fourth-placed Juventus, who are five points ahead.

Milan travel to Torino on Saturday in their next game as they continue their pursuit of a place in next year's elite European club competition.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and player directors Tiger Woods and Adam Scott are meeting with officials at the White House on Thursday, in what the tour hopes is another step in reunifying men's professional golf, sources told ESPN.

Monahan and Scott met with U.S. President Donald Trump on Feb. 4 in an effort to speed up the federal government's approval of the tour's proposed deal with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which plans to inject $1.5 billion into the tour's for-profit entity, PGA Tour Enterprises.

It wasn't immediately clear if Trump or PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan were attending Thursday's meetings in Washington.

The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the PIF announced they had reached a framework agreement to form an alliance on June 6, 2023. That deal expired at the end of 2023, but the sides continued to negotiate a potential deal over the past two years.

The PIF, Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, is financing the rival LIV Golf League.

The U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust division has been reviewing the PIF's proposed investment into PGA Tour Enterprises for the past several months to determine whether it violated federal antitrust laws.

U.S. lawmakers, including Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), have raised national security concerns, saying the deal would allow Saudi Arabia to sportswash its controversial human rights record.

At last week's Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines outside San Diego, Monahan told reporters that the meeting with Trump earlier this month was productive and was about "the reunification of the professional game on one tour, with all the best players on it."

"Everything is moving forward with pace, and I think there's a general -- when you look at all the parties involved -- there's a general enthusiasm for getting this done," Monahan said. "I think the meeting [with Trump] ultimately gets us one step closer to a deal being done, but there's a lot more work to do."

During Sunday's final round coverage of the Genesis, Woods told CBS that negotiations with the PIF are in a "very positive place right now."

"I think things are going to heal quickly," Woods said. "We're going to get this game going in the right direction. It's been heading in the wrong direction for a number of years, and the fans want all of us to play together -- all the top players playing together -- and we're going to make that happen."

The NBA has suspended Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis for 25 games for violating the league's anti-drug policy, the league announced Thursday, a ban that sidelines the 2021 champion for the majority of the remainder of the season.

Portis tested positive for the drug tramadol, a medication used to treat severe pain among adults. It is an instance that his representative, Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports, said was an accident.

"I am devastated for Bobby right now because he made an honest mistake and the ramifications of it are incredibly significant," Bartelstein told ESPN.

"Bobby unintentionally took a pain medication called tramadol, thinking he was taking a pain medication called Toradol. Toradol is an approved pain medication that he has used previously and that teams and players use for pain and inflammation at times. Tramadol, however, is not an approved pain medication and was just recently added to the banned substance list this past spring. The tramadol pill he took came from an assistant of his, with a valid prescription for the painkiller, which he mistakenly told Bobby was Toradol. This was, again, an honest mistake that was made because of the similarity in the names of the drugs and the fact they both serve a very similar purpose. Bobby was using this anti-inflammatory pain-reducing medication to deal with an elbow injury he had this past fall and believed he was taking Toradol to alleviate some pain in preparation for that night's game."

Portis will not appeal the suspension, Bartelstein said.

The suspension is a devastating blow to the Bucks, who are in fifth place in the Eastern Conference at 29-24 and now lose one of the NBA's premier sixth men. The Bucks have one open roster spot to make an immediate move while Portis will lose $2.85 million with the 25-game suspension.

Portis will be eligible to return on April 8 against the Minnesota Timberwolves -- with four games left in the regular season.

Portis has averaged 13.7 points and 8.3 rebounds in 46 games, ranking sixth in scoring and second in boards off the bench among NBA players. He has finished top 3 in voting for the Sixth Man of the Year award over the past two seasons, and he has totaled the second-most points for a reserve in the last three years.

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred shared some conflicting feelings about the big-spending Los Angeles Dodgers this week, praising the franchise's competitive spirit in one breath before addressing the financial disparity they have created in the next.

Players elsewhere around the league don't seem nearly as conflicted.

"Teams spending money is never bad for baseball and never bad for players. Ever. In any situation," Athletics slugger Brent Rooker said.

If Manfred is looking to find some sympathy from MLB's rank-and-file regarding his worry over the sport's financial health, it's probably not going to come from the guys on the field.

MLB is the only major professional sport in America that doesn't have a salary cap, though there are luxury tax penalties for passing certain spending thresholds. Last season, the Dodgers had a $353 million luxury tax payroll and had to pay a $103 million tax. The Athletics had the lowest luxury tax payroll at just under $84 million.

Los Angeles' spending didn't slow this offseason. The Dodgers signed two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell to a five-year, $182 million deal and made sizable investments in players like Teoscar Hernández, Michael Conforto, Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates and Roki Sasaki.

That came one year after the organization splurged on more than $1 billion in commitments to Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Los Angeles' spending has dwarfed all but a few franchises. Opposing players might be envious of those fat paychecks, but it's hard to find them complaining.

Even Manfred -- who said he has received emails from fans worried about competitive balance -- can't fault the Dodgers' approach.

"The Dodgers have gone out and done everything possible, always within the rules that currently exist, to put the best possible team on the field, and that's a great thing for the game," Manfred said Tuesday. "That type of competitive spirit is what people want to see."

Walker Buehler threw the final pitch of the 2024 season, recording the last out for the Dodgers in their World Series-clinching Game 5 victory. He signed a one-year, $21.05 million with the Boston Red Sox during the winter, but the right-hander isn't about to talk smack about his former employer.

"Teams spending money is never bad for baseball and never bad for players. Ever. In any situation."

Athletics slugger Brent Rooker

The 30-year-old knows exactly why players are flocking to Chavez Ravine.

"I don't think it's odd," he said. "It's a first-class organization and obviously coming off a huge World Series and, I think on top of that, you layer in that on a team right now where there's probably four or five Hall of Famers, I think it's an attractive place to play."

That doesn't mean there isn't some awe from players about the formidable roster that the Dodgers have built thanks to their deep pockets.

"I worked out with some guys that ended up signing with the Dodgers and was like, at a certain point, 'I didn't know they had room on the 40-man [roster],'" Red Sox pitcher Patrick Sandoval said.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are one of the teams trying to keep pace with the Dodgers in the National League West. They signed ace right-hander Corbin Burnes to a six-year, $210 million in December, but they are still projected to have a payroll that will be roughly half the size of the Dodgers.

"I don't think it's unfair at all," Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. "They're within the rules. They're doing what they have to do to get the best players on the field. When I was a kid, it was the Yankees, remember? George Steinbrenner was going crazy with his spending, and it yielded world championships. That's what we're all chasing."

Lovullo makes a good point about the Yankees. Baseball has had a long history of financial disparity, particularly since free agency started in the 1970s.

Even so, there haven't been many dynasties over the past 40 years. The Dodgers are trying to become the first team to win back-to-back World Series titles since Steinbrenner's Yankees had a three-peat from 1998 to 2000.

Third baseman Max Muncy is in his eighth season with the Dodgers and says a big payroll certainly helps to build a talented roster, but it doesn't mean much once the season starts. He points to 2023, when the Diamondbacks swept the Dodgers out of the postseason in the NL Division Series despite having a much smaller payroll.

"This sport is really tough," Muncy said. "It doesn't matter what kind of roster that you have. Time after time, teams have shown that you get into the playoffs and anything can happen."

TAMPA, Fla. -- The New York Yankees and manager Aaron Boone have agreed on a two-year contract extension that will run through the 2027 season, the team announced Thursday, on the eve of the club's Grapefruit League opener.

A major leaguer for 12 seasons, Boone is entering his eighth year as Yankees manager. He is one of three managers in franchise history to lead the Yankees to the postseason in six of his first seven years, joining Casey Stengel and Joe Torre. His .599 career win percentage ranks 10th all time and second among active managers behind Los Angeles Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts. He ranks seventh on the Yankees' all-time wins list.

The Yankees rebounded from an 82-win campaign without a playoff berth in 2023 to win the American League pennant last season for the organization's first trip to the World Series since 2009. Soon thereafter, the Yankees exercised the club option on Boone's contract for the 2025 season, and owner Hal Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman communicated their desire to extend Boone's deal.

Cashman reiterated the franchise's stance last week, declaring there would be a "feeding frenzy" among other clubs interested in hiring Boone if he were let go. He highlighted Boone's temperament managing in the New York market as a strength and signaled an extension was coming.

"I've been working through that, and Hal Steinbrenner has been working through that, with Aaron Boone," Cashman said. "Hopefully at some point, sooner than later we'll be able to officially cement something, but obviously I haven't gotten there yet. But just give us time."

They needed until Thursday.

Ireland's Jack Conan has predicted the team's back row will be under a "huge amount of pressure" to fill the void left by Caelan Doris' injury when they face Wales in the Six Nations on Saturday (14:15 GMT).

Simon Easterby's side have won their opening two games of the championship against England and Scotland, but they have been forced into changes for this weekend's trip to Cardiff with captain Doris and Ronan Kelleher both ruled out.

Doris, who has played in every one of Ireland's Test matches since the 2021 Six Nations, will miss out because of a knee injury sustained in training.

"How do you fill that role? It's very difficult," said Conan.

"He's played 42 in a row which is a testament to how professional he is, how durable he is, how consistent he's been as a player.

"There'll be a huge amount of pressure on the entirety of the back row, whoever is on the bench and the lads that are starting, to keep on pushing from where he left off because he's been unbelievable."

Conan, a 2021 British and Irish Lion, has performed well off the bench in the opening two games and will fill the jersey vacated by his Leinster team-mate Doris.

"We get on very well. We compete hard against each other and I think we've spurred each other on to be at a really good level," said the 32-year-old.

"He's someone who sets the standard for the rest of the back row and without him we're going to have to push on and make sure we're at that level."

Wales will be under the charge of interim head coach Matt Sherratt for the first time, having lost their past 14 Tests, a run dating back to the 2023 World Cup.

"I've no doubt it's been unbelievably tough for the Welsh lads," said Conan.

"They'll be galvanised by a new coach coming in, everything that's gone on the last few weeks.

"They're a nation that gets behind Welsh rugby incredibly well, and playing over there with the roof closed is going to be special."

Dan Sheehan will captain Ireland against Wales in Saturday's Six Nations game in Cardiff.

The hooker will lead the team for the first time with regular skipper Caelan Doris ruled out because of a knee injury.

Sheehan, 26, came off the bench in Ireland's wins over England and Scotland but replaces the injured Ronan Kelleher in a team showing seven changes from the win at Murrayfield.

Alongside Sheehan in the front row is Leinster tight-head prop Thomas Clarkson, who will make his first start after earning his debut in November, while loose-head prop Jack Boyle is set for his Test debut off the bench.

Jack Conan replaces Doris at number eight, while Joe McCarthy returns to the second row after recovering from the head injury that ruled him out of the first two games.

In the backline, Mack Hansen returns to the wing after missing the Scotland game while Garry Ringrose is named to start alongside Robbie Henshaw in midfield, with Bundee Aki dropping to the bench.

Jamie Osborne will make his Six Nations debut at full-back, replacing Hugo Keenan, with Sam Prendergast retained at fly-half after impressing in his away debut against Scotland.

Gus McCarthy and Cian Prendergast - Sam's brother - are also set to make their Six Nations debuts off the bench.

Ireland interim boss Simon Easterby says he has had no contact from the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) about replacing Warren Gatland as head coach.

Wales parted ways with Gatland last week, and while Matt Sherratt has taken interim charge, Easterby is thought to be one of the WRU's top targets.

However, Easterby - who lives in Wales and formerly captained and coached Scarlets - dismissed "speculation" around his future.

"I didn't really know that I had been linked, but of course there's been speculation and that's all it is: speculation," Easterby said after naming his team to face Wales in Saturday's Six Nations gam in Cardiff.

"I'm not in control of that. I love what I do here. I've been in this position with the team for a long time and I'm very fortunate with the people I get to work with, both management and players, and for me that's a dream job.

"Speculation is exactly that, it's speculation and it's not something I can control."

Former Ireland international Easterby began his coaching career with Scarlets before joining the Irish backroom team in 2014.

The Yorkshire-born 49-year-old has stepped up to lead the team this year while head coach Andy Farrell is seconded with the British and Irish Lions.

"Right now, this is my only focus and whatever happens in the future... in a year's time you could lose your job and we know in sport it's fairly fluid around people moving from thing to thing," added Easterby.

"Whatever's gone on, I've had no contact from the WRU, so for me it's all guns blazing towards Cardiff on Saturday and making sure me and the other coaches prepare the team in the right way. Whatever speculation goes on outside of that is outside of my control."

BOSTON -- What makes Team USA a team -- and not just a collection of All-Stars -- is having Jaccob Slavin on the roster.

That's not conjecture. That's what Team USA coach Mike Sullivan said when asked what the Carolina Hurricanes defenseman means to the men's national team at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Practically everything about Team USA is a spectacle. The way they win is a spectacle. Their personalities are spectacles upon spectacles. Even hearing the song "Free Bird" after each goal is a spectacle; the reaction it draws from Team USA's fans comes with the expectation that a bald eagle is going to soar throughout the arena to the backdrop of fireworks.

And while Slavin is the antithesis of that spectacle, what he does for the team is one of the main reasons the spectacle exists in the first place. Goals and those who score those goals receive the bulk of the attention. Goal prevention is not always guaranteed acclaim.

But this is what defines Slavin. It's also what could help America sit atop the hockey world with another win over Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off final (8 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+/Disney+).

"He's so underrated and he's honestly one of my favorite players to watch," Team USA defenseman Jake Sanderson said. "He just flies under the radar and makes great plays. He's so solid defensively and such a great skater. It's the sort of attribute I want in my game someday."

LEADING INTO THE TOURNAMENT, a big talking point was what Team USA's defensive structure would look like. While Connor Hellebuyck was long believed to be the starting goalie, there was a thought that whoever would be in front of America's goalies was going to give opponents fits.

The U.S. created a defensive corps featuring Brock Faber, Adam Fox, Charlie McAvoy, Zach Werenski, Noah Hanifin and Sanderson. Those six skaters are part of a larger wave of puck-moving defensemen who've helped define the NHL's newest glamour position.

It's a group that initially included the reigning Norris Trophy winner, Quinn Hughes, who was ruled out because of an injury.

But that also comes with the caveat that the rise of those puck-moving defensemen has led to defensive-minded defensemen receiving less attention.

Or to view it another way: The NHL's affinity for two-way quarterbacks has come at the cost of those shutdown defensemen. And if his Team USA teammates are quarterbacks for what they do in the offensive zone, that in turn makes Slavin a shutdown cornerback.

"Jaccob's a guy that, in my mind, is one of the best defenders and one of the best defending defensemen in the league," Sullivan said. "His size, his mobility, his reach, his ability to read plays, he closes on people, how strong he is in the battle areas. I don't know if there's a defenseman in the league who defends the rush more aggressively or better than Jaccob does."

MANY THINGS HAVE CONTRIBUTED to why Team USA has looked like the most consistently complete team throughout the 4 Nations tournament. One of those is a restrictive defensive structure that, if all else fails, can rely on Hellebuyck, one of the greatest goaltenders America has ever produced, to contain the situation.

Actually getting to that point against Team USA has been rare for opponents. Finland scored only once, as did Canada. The U.S. won both of those games, which made Monday's 2-1 loss to Sweden irrelevant because it had already qualified for the title game.

The most surprising part of Sweden's two goals? Slavin was on the ice for both.

Before that, he had logged more than 45 combined 5-on-5 and short-handed minutes without a goal being scored. He leads Team USA's skaters with an average ice time of 21:31 per game, while anchoring a penalty kill that hasn't allowed a power-play goal against.

"He's super tough to play against. I'm a D and I don't go against him a lot," Sweden and Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said. "The way he is in the way, the way he breaks pucks up and is such a great skater."

Much of what Slavin does is in the details, but there are times when it becomes large enough for all to see. That was the case in the win over Canada, when Colorado Avalanche superstar center and reigning Hart Trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon was speeding in for a zone entry, as he has done so often in his NHL career.

Just when it appeared MacKinnon found an opening, Slavin was right there -- forcing one of the game's most dangerous players to rethink his approach.

"Yeah, he's incredible defensively and does a lot of little things that are hard to notice," said Hanifin, who was teammates with Slavin for three seasons in Carolina. "Just his stick. He breaks up so many plays that are hard to break up.

"He's a great skater; he's always gapping up and limiting an opponent's time and space. He's one of the best in the game at it."

TEAM USA AND Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger said that he always knew that Slavin was underrated, but actually playing with him at the 4 Nations gave him a greater appreciation for what he does.

"He takes away stuff before it ever happens," Oettinger said. "It never has time to develop, and he just reads the game so well and is so smart. I'm sure those goalies in Carolina love playing for him."

Slavin does have an offensive presence. He has had seven seasons of more than 30 points, and is flirting with what would be an eighth season, with 20 points through 56 games this NHL season. In total, he's had 292 points in 721 career games. For comparison, Hughes has scored 392 points in just 412 games.

But another detail that speaks to Slavin's effectiveness is how he's low-risk for penalties, despite consistently playing in high-risk situations (for copious minutes) on a nightly basis.

The 30-year-old Slavin is averaging more than 22 minutes per game for his career, yet he has accrued only 94 total penalty minutes in those 721 games. Another comparison: Team USA forward Brady Tkachuk finished second in the NHL with 134 penalty minutes last season.

Sullivan explained that Team USA wanted to build the sort of well-rounded team that could thrive in whatever situation was presented.

By adding Slavin to its roster, Team USA has done more than thrive in all situations at the 4 Nations Face-Off. And now, he has put them in position to win it all.

"He's been a big part of our group's ability to be stingy defensively," Sullivan said. "He's a huge part of our penalty kill. He helps us at our net front. Those are the types of skill sets or complementary skill sets we were looking for when we were putting this group together.

"He may not be the guy that ends up on the scoring sheet or on ['SportsCenter'], he's just the guy that helps you win."