NEW YORK -- Kyrie Irving will not play in the Brooklyn Nets' first matchup against his former team, the Boston Celtics, the team announced Friday night. Irving will miss the Nets' next three games, which include road matchups against the Knicks, the Cleveland Cavaliers and, finally, the Celtics on Wednesday.

Irving has already missed Brooklyn's past four games with a right shoulder impingement, which he suffered against the Utah Jazz on Nov. 12. Coach Kenny Atkinson said Irving "gutted out" the Nets' game against the Nuggets two days later but was in pain.

Atkinson said this week that Irving has yet to participate in a practice since tweaking his shoulder. Irving, who is still unable to shoot comfortably, is undergoing daily treatment.

"I don't think it's something he can play through right now," Atkinson said after practice Thursday. "The shoulder is a sensitive spot, especially for a point guard -- you're like a quarterback."

Atkinson said he would like to see Irving, 27, go through practice pain free before he returns to the court. At the moment, Atkinson said that both pain tolerance and range of motion are issues for the point guard.

"He's got to get to the point where he feels like -- and we feel like -- he can play. We're just not at that point right now," Atkinson said Thursday.

Irving has a history of not playing against his former teams. Since leaving the Cavaliers after the 2016-17 season, he has played in Cleveland only once.

"It is always a show when Kyrie plays," Nets center DeAndre Jordan told ESPN. "I am pretty sure that some fans will miss him [in Boston]. Some fans have other thoughts."

The Nets face the Celtics again Nov. 29 at Barclays Center.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Minutes after the end of an NBA game, the Utah Jazz's home arena was evacuated because of a suspicious package.

Most fans had already left the building Friday night when players, coaches and reporters were instructed to leave Vivint Smart Home Arena following Utah's 113-109 victory over the Golden State Warriors.

Not long after both coaches finished answering postgame questions from the media, a spokesman for the Jazz told reporters to head outside because of a suspicious package. Outside the arena, reporters were instructed by security to leave the premises.

Players immediately headed for the exits to get in their cars or the Warriors' team bus. Jazz center Rudy Gobert was still in his uniform as he left.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Anthony Davis hit a season-high four 3-pointers, including a clutch four-point play with less than 3 minutes to go, in the Los Angeles Lakers' 130-127 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday. And the team is urging Davis to let it fly even more often from the outside.

"We want him to take more 3s," said LeBron James after Davis went 4-for-7 from 3-point range against the Thunder. "Teams are playing off of him, and he's too damn good of a shooter not to shoot them. And he's been doing that the last couple games."

Davis was coming off a 3-for-5 night from deep against Oklahoma City on Tuesday. Before the 7-for-12 outburst the past two games, Davis was just 8-for-32 from 3 on the season.

Entering Friday, Lakers coach Frank Vogel wanted to push Davis' limitations as a stretch big, challenging him to get 12 3-pointers up against the Thunder.

"Coach told me to stop hesitating," Davis said. "When I hesitate, I'm going to come up short or [have] a bad miss. I feel like if I'm open I'm going to shoot it. No hesitation. And seems to go in a lot more when I'm not hesitating."

Davis credited Rajon Rondo and Lakers assistant coach Mike Penberthy, who was known as a marksman in his playing days, for getting his shot back on track with extra work hoisting game-simulated shots after practice this week.

"He's already a matchup problem for anybody in the league," Rondo said. "When he's stretching the floor with the 5s, with his 3-point shot, the sky's the limit for our offense. We're going to continue to get better at putting points on the board."

Indeed, L.A. stroked a season-high 17 3-pointers against the Thunder, connecting on 54.8% of its 31 attempts.

None was bigger than Davis' four-point play with 2:36 remaining in the fourth quarter, when he received a James dish in the corner and then absorbed a foul from Steven Adams as he let the shot go.

"I was just spacing," Davis said of the play. "[James] wanted me to space and bring [Kyle Kuzma] in the pick-and-roll. ... I knew if he threw it I was going to shoot it. I was able to shoot it and get the bounce."

Davis had another four-point play in the third quarter. In 479 career games coming into Friday, he had yet to convert a four-point play, according to Second Spectrum. He now has two in 480 career games.

His shot was even more locked in from the free throw line. Davis went 11-for-11 from the line, including going 4-for-4 in the final 10 seconds to ice the win. It was the sixth time this season he was perfect from the charity stripe.

Davis, who also set a Lakers record by going 26-for-27 from the line in a game this season, said his free throw routine in practice is to make at least 24-for-25 to finish his shooting practice. If he hits 23 or fewer, it's back to the line to take 25 all over again until he gets to 24.

"There's no one like him in the NBA," Vogel said. "That's how unique it is. And the amount of the ways he impacts the game, both at the basket and shooting the 3-ball -- four 3s, two 4-point plays tonight -- and elite defense all over the place. It's something special."

The Lakers' offensive outburst came at the expense of their defense, allowing a 5-10 Thunder team to score 127 points on 52.7 percent shooting, but the disparity is something they're aware of.

"We've got to play better defense," Lakers guard Danny Green said bluntly.

But with a league-best 13-2 record and their prize offseason acquisition in Davis continuing to show off his game, there isn't much to gripe about in Laker Land.

"Our job's to go out on the floor and perform and win ballgames," Davis said. "As long as we keep doing that there's really not too much anyone can say."

Major League Baseball officials investigating whether the Houston Astros cheated over the past three seasons by electronically stealing signs have asked players associated with the organization what they know about a range of alleged sign-stealing techniques, sources familiar with the conversations told ESPN on Friday.

Players have been asked about "buzzing," via the use of Band-Aid-like wearable stickers; furtive earpieces; pitch-picking algorithms; and other potential methods of sign-stealing, the sources said. Accusations about the extent of the alleged wrongdoing have streamed into commissioner Rob Manfred's office from officials of other teams, the sources said. MLB officials are endeavoring to separate fact from fiction, the sources told ESPN, and the league has not concluded whether any such methods actually have been used.

Players who might have violated league rules have been told by MLB officials they can expect leniency in exchange for answering questions truthfully. But members of the Astros' front office and coaching staff could face significant punishment upon the investigation's conclusion if they're found to have cheated, the sources said. The league has requested to search the phones of certain members of the Astros' front office, the sources said.

Major League Baseball's biggest scandal in years began this month when former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers told The Athletic that the 2017 World Series-winning team he was a member of used video from a live camera feed to steal a catcher's signs, and that someone in the dugout would hit a trash can to communicate the pitch type to batters in real time. Stealing signs through electronic means is against MLB rules, and the story prompted an MLB investigation that Manfred said this week will be "as thorough as humanly possible" and will also encompass the 2018 and 2019 teams. The inquiry, the sources told ESPN, includes examining a wide swath of sign-stealing theories.

Skepticism about the Astros' motivations and tactics dates back years and has contributed to the accusations against the Astros -- most of which have been delivered without supporting evidence. Players nevertheless have been asked if they know about the Astros relaying signs through earpieces, decoding signs with an algorithm or even using wearable technology embedded in Band-Aid-like items or worn in shoes that could signal pitches electronically.

The league is hoping to determine both the depth of the Astros' alleged transgressions as well as how high knowledge of them went in the organization, the sources told ESPN. Kevin Goldstein, a special assistant to Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow, sent an email to scouts in 2017 inquiring about them spying on opposing dugouts using video cameras.

MLB declined comment through a spokesman.

Investigators' conversations with players have followed those with Astros front-office employees as well as on-field staff, including current Astros manager AJ Hinch, former bench coach and current Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora and former designated hitter and current New York Mets manager Carlos Beltran, the sources told ESPN. A number of current Astros players have not spoken with investigators yet but are expected to talk in the near future, the sources said. Multiple players no longer in baseball have refused to cooperate with the investigation, according to sources familiar with their decision.

Sign-stealing, long considered an art in baseball, has entered a far more complicated moral and ethical space with the alleged use of technology. The illegality, Manfred said this week, is clear: After the Red Sox were disciplined for using an Apple Watch to relay signs in September 2017, MLB threatened significant penalty for teams that parlayed technology into an advantage. He reinforced that notion following the 2018 postseason, during which an Astros baseball-operations employee was removed from the camera well in two playoff series for pointing a cellphone camera toward opponents' dugouts. MLB instituted new rules that included an audit on in-stadium cameras, an eight-second delay on in-house video feeds and other restrictions meant to preclude cheating.

The outrage among opposing teams, simmering for years, boiled upon Fiers' statements, the sources said. At this week's owners meetings in Arlington, Texas, multiple team owners and presidents told ESPN they hoped Manfred would levy heavy sanctions on the Astros if they're found to have cheated -- which could include individual suspensions for executives, losses of draft picks and international bonus slots, and a fine in excess of the maximum $2 million the league has applied for past infractions -- to deter others who might see the value in cheating.

The wariness toward the Astros has manifested itself across the game in unique ways. One American League starter, according to sources familiar with his routine, asked if he could pitch a game with his catcher not giving standard, between-the-legs signs. The pitcher instead wanted to communicate what he intended to throw with a series of jersey pulls, hat tugs, head shakes and glove placements. During this year's World Series, in which Washington defeated Houston in seven games, the Nationals came armed with five unique sign sequences for pitchers, ready to change them at any time, because they feared the Astros had a new method to steal them, sources said.

Jim Brown and Walter Payton are unanimous choices at running back for the NFL's All-Time Team.

As part of its celebration of its centennial season, the league announced the first portion of the squad Friday night. A 26-member panel is selecting the team.

Also chosen were two coaches, Paul Brown and Bill Belichick. Eight more coaches will be selected over the next month.

Joining Brown and Payton in the backfield are fellow Hall of Famers Emmitt Smith, the career rushing leader; Marion Motley; Barry Sanders; Steve Van Buren; Gale Sayers; Earl Campbell; Lenny Moore; O.J. Simpson; Eric Dickerson; and Dutch Clark.

"It is cool to be with the legend himself," Smith said of joining Brown on the squad. "The man who inspired so many other players to come from behind him. He paved the way for many of us, his passing the torch to Walter and so many others. He set the standard pretty high."

One hundred players will make the team.

LOS ANGELES -- Canelo Alvarez shot back Friday at statements made by his most recent opponent, Sergey Kovalev, who suggested he took the Nov. 2 title bout against Alvarez for the paycheck despite a grueling schedule.

Alvarez scored an 11th-round knockout to grab Kovalev's light heavyweight world title at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Kovalev, who took the fight with Alvarez after defeating Anthony Yarde on Aug. 24, said recently that having two training camps so close together took a toll on his conditioning, causing him to have doubts about his chances against Alvarez.

Alvarez responded Friday by calling Kovalev a "bad boxer," saying that weight "has nothing to do with it."

"He's a bad loser," Alvarez told ESPN Deportes' A Los Golpes. "Weight is not an excuse. All fighters have to battle to make weight."

Alvarez also took issue with what he considered unfair criticism, including claims that his fights are fixed, but he conceded that it's all part of the business.

"The media takes things out of context," Alvarez said. "If you study boxing, you can give your point of view and know what you're talking about. There was no reason for that to bother me."

Alvarez has fought Gennady Golovkin twice, winning their second fight by majority decision after the first ended in a draw, and said he has no desire to see GGG inside the ring again.

"I don't want to fight with him. He doesn't mean anything to me anymore," Alvarez said. "I gave him 24 rounds, and that's that."

As for a potential rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr., who on Thursday night teased coming out of retirement in 2020, Alvarez said he has taken the only loss on his record to heart.

"I've imagined fighting him again, but more than a loss, that fight was a lesson," Alvarez said of his majority decision defeat to Mayweather in 2013. "I would love to [fight him again], and hopefully we can."

Boston Celtics point guard Kemba Walker has been diagnosed with concussion-like symptoms after being stretchered from the court late in the second quarter of Friday night's game in Denver. He was transported to the hospital for further evaluation, the team announced.

Walker ran head-first into the abdomen area of teammate Semi Ojeleye and immediately went to the ground. Early indications are that Walker did not suffer a significant injury in the collision, sources tell ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Walker grimaced in pain as he went down and play was stopped as medical personnel from both teams tended to the star guard who was on the floor for several minutes.

Walker's teammates gathered around as did Nuggets players. A brace was placed around his neck to stabilize the area and he was strapped to a backboard before being placed onto a gurney and wheeled off the court.

Walker entered the game averaging a team-leading 22.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 4.8 assists in his first season with Boston.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Perth Scorchers have signed Chris Jordan, the England seamer, to complete their squad for this season's Big Bash.

Jordan, who was England's standout bowler in their T20I series in New Zealand, has previously had stints at Adelaide Strikers and Sydney Thunder, and joins compatriot Liam Livingstone in the squad. Both players will be available for the full season.

"Playing in Perth can be quite hostile [as an opposition player]," Jordan said. "Obviously it's a sea of orange and everyone is rooting for the Scorchers.

"I know from experience when the opposition hit a boundary in the stadium there's no noise, but when the Scorchers are up and about and doing well everyone's backing them to the hills… I'm looking forward to having some of that on my side.

"When the opportunity for Perth came up it was as pretty hard one to turn down, I know from playing against them how competitive they are, how successful they are so I'm really looking forward to joining such a great franchise."

Adam Voges said that Jordan provided an "all-round package" thanks to his brilliance in the field and lower-order hitting.

"We're really excited to have Chris on board," he said. "He's got great experience in T20 cricket and will do a terrific job with ball, particularly his skills at the death.

"He also provides the all-round package with athleticism in the field and strong batting skills which will be great for the fans. Chris is very professional and will fit in well in the Scorchers set-up. I haven't heard a bad word about him.

"We have a dynamic squad that covers all bases really well, some fresh faces and fan favourites returning… it's a squad that will be entertaining to watch."

The Scorchers will start the season without two of their fast bowlers, with Jason Behrendorff out for the season and Andrew Tye expected to miss most of the tournament with an elbow injury.

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will defend his title against Dominick Reyes on Feb. 8 in Houston, UFC president Dana White told ESPN.

The 205-pound championship fight will headline the UFC's pay-per-view event, which does not yet have an official number, inside Toyota Center. In the co-main event, women's flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko (18-3) will face No. 1 contender Katlyn Chookagian (13-2).

For Jones (25-1), it will mark his 15th appearance in a UFC title fight. Widely considered the greatest fighter of all time, Jones defended his title twice in 2019, via decision victories over Thiago Santos and Anthony Smith. The only loss of Jones' storied career came via disqualification in 2009, meaning he has never legitimately been defeated in competition.

Jones, who fights out of JacksonWink MMA in Albuquerque, New Mexico, announced earlier this month on social media that he intended to face Reyes, stating "[I'm] beating his ass next."

Reyes (12-0) is an undefeated contender out of Southern California. He has earned a title shot by compiling a 6-0 record in the UFC, including a first-round knockout over former middleweight champion Chris Weidman in October.

Reyes, 29, has been fighting professionally since 2014. He has recorded finishes in nine of his 12 wins, including seven knockouts.

The Feb. 8 pay-per-view does not have a number because the UFC has not officially announced its schedule for the first quarter in 2020. The promotion is considering adding a pay-per-view event in January.