CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr wants NBA officials to call more traveling violations.

Kerr received a technical foul in the third quarter of the Warriors' 119-101 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night after becoming irate when what he viewed as an obvious travel wasn't called. Kerr pointed to the crowd, where some fans were screaming for a traveling call.

"I don't understand why we are not teaching our officials to call travel in this league," Kerr said. "They do a great job and work their tails off and communicate well, but I see five or six travels a game that aren't called."

Kerr said his team is just as guilty as the rest.

After watching film, the coach said he saw his team travel four times in Saturday night's loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. None of them were called.

"You know it's a problem when there are like a hundred fans in the stands and every coach on the sideline when I'm watching film and everyone is [signaling for a travel call]," Kerr said. "Everyone is seeing it, so we are clearly not teaching as a league our officials to look at the feet."

This isn't the first time Kerr -- a former NBA guard -- has criticized officials for inconsistent enforcement of traveling violations. He said he has expressed his thoughts to the league and that things need to change "for the good of the game."

"The entire game is based on footwork," Kerr said. "We need to enforce traveling violations and we are not doing it and I don't understand why. ... These [officials] are awesome. They do a great job, and they have a million things to watch, but footwork is the entire basis of the game and we need to call traveling. It will be a much better game if we clean it up."

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 51 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Houston Rockets 137-128 on Monday night for their 50th win of the season.

Gilgeous-Alexander reached 50 points for the fourth time this season, all in the past seven weeks. No other player in the NBA has more than one, according to ESPN Research. The NBA's scoring leader finished with at least 40 for the ninth time in 2024-25. He made 18 of 30 field goals, went 5-of-9 on 3-pointers and hit all 10 of his free throws.

Gilgeous-Alexander, who reached 50 points on a putback with just under three minutes left to give Oklahoma City a 132-120 advantage, had never scored 50 in a game in his career before this stretch. It's the shortest span for a player to record his first four career 50-point games in NBA history, according to ESPN Research.

"It becomes -- you can say it's not as exciting as the first one, but it's more like getting lost in the process of just competing and playing the game you love," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "And then wherever that takes you, it takes you."

Gilgeous-Alexander logged his 17th career game with 20 points in the paint and 10 made free throws, the most by any guard since 1997-98 -- and a mark that surpassed LeBron James for the seventh most by any player over that span.

His scoring binges have helped Oklahoma City roll to a Western Conference-leading 50-11 record. The Thunder are 3-1 when he scores at least 50 points.

"Whether it's 50, whether it's 27, whether it's 17 -- as long as we win, I have fun with it," he said. "It's a fun night."

Gilgeous-Alexander played 397 career games before reaching the 50-point mark. His first time hitting the milestone was a career-high 54-point outburst in a win over Utah on Jan. 22. He then scored 52 on Jan. 29 in a loss to Golden State and 50 in a home win over Phoenix on Feb. 5.

"I just think he's got an unbelievable pace to him right now," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. "Where he's finding his stuff, he's attacking and really hitting the gas on some plays, and then there's other plays where he's just letting the defense tell him what to do and moving it to his teammates and it's allowing for the rest of the team to play really well at the same time as him. So, he deserves a lot of credit."

From the outset against the Rockets, it appeared this might be a special night when Gilgeous-Alexander scored 20 points in the first quarter. He said he took over because the team got off to a rough start. Even with his scoring spree, Houston led 31-30 at the end of the period.

"I tried to be a little bit more aggressive once we kind of got out to that [slow] start there, like kind of lift us a little bit," he said. "I tried to be aggressive, be assertive."

He had 28 points by halftime and 45 going into the fourth quarter. His six points in the final period were vital in helping the Thunder hang on and become the fastest in franchise history to reach the 50-win mark (61 games). The Thunder/SuperSonics franchise's previous fastest mark was 64 games in the 1995-96 season.

"I just think you play the game to win," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "Like, you don't play the game to score a bunch of points. You don't play the game to get a bunch of rebounds or assists or steals. ... You don't play for anything besides to win, and that's what it's all about."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

DALLAS -- Kyrie Irving suffered a left knee sprain Monday night and shot free throws for the Mavericks -- with tears rolling down his cheeks -- before leaving the floor in obvious pain late in the first quarter of Dallas' 122-98 loss to the Sacramento Kings.

Irving was fouled by DeMar DeRozan on a drive to the basket and his right foot landed on the foot of the Kings' Jonas Valanciunas. He lost his balance and then landed awkwardly on his left leg, and his knee appeared to hyperextend before he fell to the floor.

The Mavericks provided no postgame updates on the nature of Irving's injury.

"Just unlucky," coach Jason Kidd said. "I hope that he's healthy, that it's not serious."

After he was hurt, Irving grabbed his leg and remained on the floor for multiple minutes. Injured forward Anthony Davis was among those helping Irving to the locker room before Kidd spoke to Irving, who then returned to take two free throws. After converting both to pull Dallas within 23-18, Irving was helped into the tunnel, and the Mavs quickly ruled him out for the rest of the night.

"That's just who, I mean, Kai's a tough guy," Kidd said. "I asked him as they were taking him off the court, 'Are you good if you leave without shooting? You're ruled out.' So they took him to the free-throw line, and he shot the free throws and then we got him out."

Irving's decision to shoot free throws was reminiscent of the late Kobe Bryant, who made two game-tying foul shots for the Los Angeles Lakers after tearing his Achilles tendon late in the fourth quarter of a victory over Golden State on April 12, 2013.

A nine-time All-Star, Irving came in averaging 25.0 points per game and has become Dallas' primary outside shooting threat following the trade of superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 1.

The Mavericks were already playing without Davis -- who left his only game for Dallas on Feb. 8 with a groin injury after being acquired for Doncic -- as well as Daniel Gafford, Dereck Lively II and P.J. Washington Jr.

Dallas also lost reserve guard Jaden Hardy in the third period to a right ankle sprain and finished with nine players.

"It seems every time we get close to getting somebody back, someone goes down," Kidd said. "Tonight, both Hardy and Kai go down. So, we're running out of bodies here."

Atlanta Braves starting catcher Sean Murphy will miss the start of the season with a rib injury.

The one-time All-Star and Gold Glove winner is expected to be sidelined for four to six weeks with a cracked rib on his left side, the team said Monday.

Top prospect Drake Baldwin is a candidate to replace Murphy behind the plate for Opening Day at San Diego on March 27.

Murphy, 30, struggled last season after an abdominal strain on Opening Day and batted .193 with 10 homers and 25 RBIs in 72 games with the Braves in 2024. He is a career .233 hitter with 77 homers and 240 RBIs in 510 games with the then-Oakland Athletics (2019-22) and the Braves.

The Braves declined Travis d'Arnaud's $8 million option during the offseason, clearing the path for Murphy to be the No. 1 catcher. D'Arnaud signed with the Los Angeles Angels.

Chadwick Tromp is the only other catcher on the Atlanta 40-man roster. He hit .250 in 19 games in 2024.

Murphy made the National League All-Star team in 2023 and collected a Gold Glove at catcher with the Athletics in 2021.

Field Level Media and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Mike Moustakas will retire with Kansas City after spending 13 years in the majors and winning the World Series with the Royals in 2015.

The Royals announced Moustakas' retirement Monday. The 36-year-old infielder will sign a one-day contract with his first big league team on May 31, and he will be honored before Kansas City's home game against Detroit that day.

Moustakas hit .247 with 215 homers and 683 RBIs in 1,427 games, also playing for Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Colorado and the Los Angeles Angels. The three-time All-Star appeared in his last major league game with the Angels on Sept. 30, 2023.

Moustakas was the No. 2 pick in the 2007 amateur draft. He broke into the majors with Kansas City in 2011.

He became a key performer for the Royals during a memorable stretch for the franchise. He hit .284 with 22 homers and 82 RBIs in 147 games in 2015, helping the team win the AL Central. Then he drove in eight runs in the postseason as the Royals won the World Series for the first time since 1985.

Moustakas bashed a career-high 38 homers for Kansas City in 2017. He set a career best with 95 RBIs while playing for the Royals and Brewers in 2018.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The Houston Astros are planning to play Jose Altuve mostly in left field this season, manager Joe Espada told the Houston Chronicle on Monday.

A nine-time All-Star, three-time batting champion and the 2017 AL MVP, Altuve has played all but two of his 1,767 major league games at second base. He won the Gold Glove in 2015, and in 2020, he led the American League with the fewest errors, with four.

"Right now the plan is for him to play the majority of his games in left field," Espada said, adding that moving Altuve "back and forth is something that I am going to avoid."

The idea of moving Altuve to left was first broached when the team was looking to keep third baseman Alex Bregman, who wound up signing with the Boston Red Sox. If Bregman had returned to Houston, it might have forced newly acquired Isaac Paredes to shift to second base and Altuve to the outfield.

"Whatever I have to do for [Bregman] to stay, I'm willing to do it," Altuve said at the team's FanFest in January.

TAMPA, Fla. -- New York Yankees starting pitcher Luis Gil has been diagnosed with a high-grade lat strain in his right shoulder and will be out at least a couple of months.

Manager Aaron Boone did not disclose a specific timeline, but he said before Monday's spring training game against Pittsburgh that Gil won't throw for at least six weeks, after which he would need to fully build back up again.

Gil's injury likely means Marcus Stroman -- who entered camp seemingly as the odd man out in the rotation but also said he had no interest in going to the bullpen -- will open the season as the team's fifth starter. The Yankees also have veteran starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco in camp as a non-roster invitee, in addition to young starters Will Warren and Brent Headrick on their 40-man roster.

"You know these things are going to unfortunately come and pop up," Boone said. "They do at different times of the year. Hopefully, overall, you can stay fairly healthy, but unfortunately these things are inevitable, and that's why ... every team tries to build in some depth. We feel like we're in a good spot with who we have. It's part of it."

Gil, the reigning American League Rookie of the Year, experienced shoulder tightness during a bullpen session on Friday and underwent an MRI over the weekend that revealed the strain, though Boone said he still needs to undergo further examination. The hope is that Gil, 26, would return at some point in the first half, but that is unknown at the moment. Fellow starter Clarke Schmidt had a similar lat strain last year and missed about three and a half months, from late May to early September.

For optimism, the Yankees can look to last spring. Their ace, Gerrit Cole, missed the first two and a half months with nerve irritation and edema in his pitching elbow, but the rest of the rotation stepped up in his absence, posting a 3.47 ERA through the end of June and ultimately playing a big part in the Yankees winning the AL East. Now Cole, Stroman, Schmidt, Carlos Rodon and newcomer Max Fried must step up in similar fashion.

"It sucks, man; I don't even know what to say to put it into words," Stroman said after his Grapefruit League start against the Atlanta Braves on Sunday, which saw him allow four runs and record eight outs. "He was a huge part of this team last year. Incredible, incredible season, and we're going to need him. We're going to need him at some point in order to go where we want."

Gil spent most of the 2022 and 2023 seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery, then won a spot in the rotation the follow spring and put together a sensational 2024, going 15-7 with a 3.50 ERA in 151 innings. Gil walked 12.1% of the hitters he faced, by far the most among those with at least 150 innings, but he also compiled 171 strikeouts.

Most notable, though, was a significant workload bump for a pitcher who hadn't previously reached 110 innings in pro ball and wound up pitching for a team that reached the World Series. Boone said it was "tough to say" whether that innings jump triggered injury.

"It's pitching," Boone added. "Different things crop up. It's why we put so much value in what these guys do in their throwing programs and when they start, and we're methodical in how they go about it. I feel like we've started to turn a corner there, but it's certainly one of the things that is troubling in our game."

The last time we saw Giancarlo Stanton on a baseball field, he was putting together a historic postseason, blasting seven home runs in the New York Yankees' 14 playoff games. Four months later, one of several questions surrounding the defending American League champions this spring: When will we see him in the batter's box again?

On Saturday, the Yankees announced Stanton will begin the season on the injured list with elbow injuries. Stanton was already doubtful for Opening Day when he reported to spring training in Tampa having not swung a bat in weeks because of pain in both of his elbows. A week later, the slugger left camp for New York and hasn't returned.

Manager Aaron Boone said Stanton's reason for leaving the team is "personal in nature" and not related to his elbow issues. Before departing Tampa, Stanton did not engage in baseball activities; he was seen going through conditioning drills with trainers while his teammates completed full-squad workouts.

"He has some downtime right now to get things right," Aaron Judge told reporters last week. "I want a healthy G in the middle of the season."

A year ago, Stanton, coming off a humbling 2023 season, reported to spring training with less muscle after altering his workout plan to stay on the field. He rebounded by hitting 27 home runs with a .773 OPS in 114 games. Most importantly, he continued his playoff prowess, fueling the Yankees' offense in October along with Juan Soto.

This year, Stanton is a variable in the Yankees' calculations for offsetting Soto's departure. With Opening Day late this month, he won't be a factor to begin the season. Ultimately, his presence is more important to the Yankees in October than in April. But it's an ominous start.

Here are five more questions from Yankees camp:

Who's on third?

The Yankees upgraded their roster in several ways after Soto chose to sign with the Mets, bolstering strengths and filling glaring holes throughout the roster. Acquiring a third baseman, however, was a priority left unchecked.

With Jazz Chisholm Jr. shifting to second base to replace departed free agent Gleyber Torres, the Yankees' top options at third base are DJ LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera, Oswald Peraza and Jorbit Vivas. Entering camp, a platoon between LeMahieu and Cabrera was the likely solution. But that was before LeMahieu, coming off a nightmare 2024 campaign, tweaked his calf in his Grapefruit League debut Saturday.

LeMahieu, who took two at-bats before leaving the game, will be shut down from baseball activities for an unknown period. Chances are he won't be ready for the start of the season. This past year, the 2020 American League batting champion was one of the least productive players in the majors, recording -1.6 bWAR in just 67 games before finishing the season on the IL. He has two years and $30 million remaining on his six-year, $90 million contract.

If LeMahieu misses time, the platoon likely becomes one between Cabrera and Peraza. Cabrera, a switch-hitter, would start against right-handed pitchers, with Peraza getting starts against lefties.

Cabrera, who turned 26 on Saturday, posted a 1.3 bWAR season in 2024, slashing .247/.296/.365 with eight home runs in 108 games. He played every position but catcher and center field. Peraza, meanwhile, is a former top prospect still looking to find his footing at the highest level a year after a shoulder injury sidelined him for most of spring training. The 24-year-old Venezuelan has a .216/.297/.315 slash line in 74 career games.

But acquiring a third baseman remains a possibility between now and the July trade deadline. This past season, the Yankees traded for Jon Berti the day before Opening Day.

Which leads to Nolan Arenado. The St. Louis Cardinals, in the nascent stages of a rebuild, have made the eight-time All-Star available very publicly for months, but the Yankees have not been aggressive pursuers. Arenado, who turns 34 in April and is coming off his worst major league season, is owed $74 million through 2027, with the Colorado Rockies on the hook to pay $5 million in each of the next two years.

The Cardinals would certainly need to eat some of the money to facilitate a trade. It's likely to happen at some point in 2025 -- they agreed to a deal with the Houston Astros in December, only for Arenado, who has a full no-trade clause, to block the trade. Maybe it'll be with the Yankees, who signed Arenado's good friend and former Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt in December. But the Yankees are rolling with what they have for now.

Who's leading off?

It took the Yankees until the middle of August this past season to find stability in the leadoff spot in front of Soto and Aaron Judge. The player who provided that stability, Torres, isn't on the roster anymore, leaving the role vacant once again.

There are three obvious options: Chisholm, Anthony Volpe and Jasson Dominguez. If handedness is a significant factor -- and Boone has said he prefers to split lefties and righties -- then the left-handed-hitting Chisholm and switch-hitting Dominguez might have an edge on Volpe, after Boone revealed Judge, a right-handed hitter, will move back to second in the batting order this season.

Chisholm boasts great speed, considerable pop and experience in the role, but his .311 career on-base percentage is low for a leadoff man. Dominguez possesses elite power-speed potential, but he's a rookie with just 100 major league plate appearances under his belt.

Volpe was the team's leadoff hitter from early April to the start of July but was moved down after he struggled mightily in the role. Now in his third season, the Yankees are hopeful the shortstop found his stroke in October -- he batted .286 with an .815 OPS in the postseason -- and will carry that success into a breakout 2025 season. If he does, he could be the answer.

"I just want to take care of the strike zone a lot more," said Volpe, a Gold Glove winner in 2023 who slashed .243/.293/.364 in 160 games this past season. "When I do that, I feel like I can impact the ball a lot better and just take my natural, normal swing, which I feel like plays.

"But when I get too big or too outside the strike zone, no one hits those pitches. So I think just going through two full seasons, seeing all the pitchers, how they want to attack me, you build a pretty good database and I think being able to tap back on those things and use the things I've learned and things I'm working on, I'm really excited."

Can Jasson Dominguez handle left field?

There is no questioning Dominguez's talent. One of the most hyped prospects in recent memory, Dominguez's combination of power and speed shined in the minors once he signed with the Yankees out of the Dominican Republic in July of 2019. This offseason, after two brief September stints in the majors the past two seasons, the Yankees deemed Dominguez ready to be their every-day left fielder. But his defense is a concern.

The Yankees called up Dominguez last September to compete with Alex Verdugo for playing time in left. Verdugo was one of the least productive every-day players in baseball in 2024. But Dominguez's shoddy defense prompted the Yankees to stick with Verdugo in the postseason because Verdugo was at least reliable with the glove.

Fast forward to March and Verdugo remains a free agent while Dominguez takes a crash course in learning the position. The top prospect arrived in Tampa early to work on his defense in left after starting 237 minor league games in center field and just 58 in left. Grapefruit League games have provided more teaching moments.

Dominguez lost a ball in the sun in his second exhibition game of the spring. In his fourth, he misjudged a hard-hit ball at the wall. The play was not routine. But every chance Dominguez has will be scrutinized until he proves he isn't a liability. The Yankees believe he has the athleticism and work ethic to make it work, and they're going to give him the opportunity.

"There's no reason he shouldn't be able to handle left field," Boone told reporters. "And we do like what we've seen these first couple of weeks."

What's going to happen with Marcus Stroman?

For a few weeks, Stroman's insistence on remaining a starting pitcher -- and not pitching out of the bullpen -- made for some awkwardness. Stroman is a prideful veteran, a two-time All-Star with a 3.72 career ERA over 10 seasons who has proven doubters wrong with his 5-foot-7 frame. And if he needed any extra motivation, he must log 140 innings this season to activate an $18 million player option for 2026.

The Yankees, though, had five other pitchers projected to populate their starting rotation ahead of him.

Those quandaries tend to sort themselves out over the course of spring training's six weeks, and this one might have over the weekend. Luis Gil, one of those five projected starters, had his bullpen session cut short Friday after feeling tightness in his right shoulder and was sent for an MRI on Saturday. On Monday, Boone announced that Gil suffered a high-grade lat strain and will be shut down for at least six weeks, a deflating development for the talented right-hander that opens a door for Stroman.

A year ago, Gil was on the other end of an injury development when Gerrit Cole, coming off a Cy Young season, was shut down with an elbow injury in mid-March. That paved the way for Gil to break camp on the Opening Day roster, capitalize on the opportunity and win the Rookie of the Year Award.

This time, Stroman would be the next in line to claim an empty rotation spot -- if the Yankees choose to keep him. The Yankees had been looking to trade Stroman -- and his $18.5 million salary -- going back to the offseason.

Now, it looks like he'll remain in pinstripes and get his chance to start -- at least to begin the season.

Who's the backup catcher?

Buried in the Yankees' transaction frenzy in December were two moves that dented the organization's catching depth.

First, on Dec. 11, the Yankees traded catcher Carlos Narvaez, who made his major league debut in July, to the Boston Red Sox for a minor league pitcher and international bonus pool money. Nine days later, they traded catcher Jose Trevino, an All-Star in 2022 who lost his starting job to Austin Wells this past summer, to the Cincinnati Reds for reliever Fernando Cruz and catcher Alex Jackson. Trevino was the sixth catcher the Yankees have traded since the end of the 2023 season. The moves have left New York without a clear backup to Wells.

The group of candidates includes Jackson, a former first-round pick and plus defender -- who was also one of the least productive hitters in the majors this past season. There's Ben Rice, who logged just one inning at catcher in the majors as a rookie this past season. And there's J.C. Escarra, a 29-year-old journeyman still looking to make his MLB debut. Prospect Rafael Flores has turned heads in camp after posting an .875 OPS with 21 home runs between High-A and Double-A this past season, but he'll go back to the minors for more seasoning.

The Yankees are high on Rice's potential. They value his power, plate discipline and makeup. Those attributes and his positional versatility -- Rice, who said he gained 10 pounds of muscle over the offseason, started 41 games at first base in 2024 -- could give him the edge if the Yankees determine he is ready to regularly catch at the highest level. Rice could also see time at designated hitter during Stanton's absence. If it's not Rice, Escarra, a former Uber driver and high school substitute teacher who spent two years playing independent ball before standing out in Double-A and Triple-A this past season, could make his breakthrough.

Tuaina Taii Tualima, a flanker with Australian Super League side ACT Brumbies, has been diagnosed with dengue fever.

The 27-year-old caught the mosquito-borne disease during a team trip to Fiji in February, when he made his debut for the club against Fijian Drua.

However, Tualima was unable to participate in the second game of the tour after falling ill.

"The affected player has been diagnosed early and is receiving medical input from the team doctor and an infectious disease specialist," a statement from the Brumbies said.

Dengue fever is transmitted by infected mosquitos.

The Fijian government announced an outbreak of the disease in early February, when more than 200 cases had been recorded.

Though most people recover from dengue fever within seven to 14 days, it can on rare occasions be deadly.

The club have not announced an expected return date for Tualima.

Formerly of Queensland Reds, Tualima joined ACT Brumbies from Melbourne Rebels in 2024.

PHOENIX -- A brutal season for the Phoenix Suns hit a low Sunday night with a humiliating 116-98 home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

"We didn't play up to our standards at all," All-Star forward Kevin Durant said. "We embarrassed the fans and we embarrassed ourselves the way we played. I want us to be better."

Phoenix lost for the 11th time in 14 games and fell to 28-33 for the season. The team is four games behind the Dallas Mavericks for the final spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament and will need a minor miracle over the final 21 games of the season just to have a chance at the postseason.

It's far from the situation that the Suns expected back in October. They started the season with championship aspirations with a highly-paid and accomplished roster that includes Durant, four-time All-Star Devin Booker and three-time All-Star Bradley Beal.

But after an encouraging 8-1 start to the season, the Suns have a 20-31 record since Nov. 13. Injuries haven't helped, but the Suns were at full strength Sunday night and still were routed in their own building.

"We've got to go on a run, but it's got to start," coach Mike Budenholzer said. "There's no doubt that the standings, the circumstances that we're in, there's an awareness and we've got to do something to change it."

Phoenix actually led 51-49 at halftime Sunday, but Minnesota rallied for an 83-72 lead heading into the fourth.

That's when things really went south for the Suns, who didn't appear to be giving much effort in the final minutes. They had nine turnovers in the fourth quarter, including several that led directly to easy Minnesota baskets. Beal was called for a flagrant foul 1 when he pushed Anthony Edwards on a dunk attempt.

Scattered boos were heard from the home crowd in the final minutes.

The Timberwolves -- led by Edwards' 44 points -- were the far superior team. Julius Randle returned after sitting out more than a month because of a groin injury and had 20 points. Donte DiVincenzo torched the Suns for eight 3-pointers and the Phoenix defense appeared to have little interest in guarding him at times.

Minnesota was the team that swept Phoenix out of the playoffs last season in the first round. The Timberwolves have won all three regular-season meetings this season.

"When adversity hits, we start floating a little as a team," Durant said. "That's tough to deal with it."

Phoenix tied a season high with 22 turnovers and gave up a season-high 40 points off those turnovers. Durant, Booker and Beal combined for 14 of the turnovers.

"That's why we lost," Durant said. "Forty points off turnovers, tough to overcome that. They didn't overpower us on the glass, we just gave them the ball."