EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Looking into the rearview mirror at a season that went awry, several members of the Los Angeles Lakers spoke openly about the affect trade-deadline rumors surrounding the team's pursuit of Anthony Davis had on the locker room.

"At the trade deadline, everybody kind of lost themselves," guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said on Wednesday after his exit interview with coach Luke Walton and general manager Rob Pelinka. "That's all they were worried about.

"And I feel like after that, everybody kind of relaxed, calmed down and just started playing basketball and not worrying about the outside talk."

The Lakers went 9-15 from the time LeBron James publicly stated his interest in playing alongside Davis until the trade deadline passed, including a brutal 42-point loss at the Indiana Pacers with just days left before a deal would cease to be consummated.

The Lakers' dealings with the New Orleans Pelicans became a hot-button issue, not only for the players but for the front office. Following the deadline, Lakers team president Magic Johnson -- who stepped down from his post on Tuesday in a stunning turn of events -- told reporters that the Pelicans did not negotiate in good faith. Weeks later, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss called reports of robust trade packages offered by L.A. for Davis "fake news."

The uneasiness seemed to pull apart a roster that was not a natural fit to begin with, full of promising young prospects, veterans on one-year contracts and one of the game's biggest stars in James.

"It was annoying, I guess," said Lakers guard Josh Hart, looking back. "Nowadays, everything is about social media. So, we go on social media, everything's about trades, trade-deadline week, I guess. That's all it is. We see our names, each other's names. I guess that's a part that is amplified.

"Obviously, because we're in L.A., we've got Bron, AD did whatever AD did, so I think that amplified. ... So, I guess it was annoying. The media made it annoying. Social media made it annoying. But at the end of the day, there was no frustration with each other. No frustration between us and the front office. We were all a collective unit, and we tried to be professionals about it. We tried to control what we can control."

The Lakers showed some cohesiveness to finish the season out, going 6-4 in their last 10 games, but their postseason chances were long gone by then.

Point guard Rajon Rondo, one of the clear-cut leaders on the team, marveled at the turnaround.

"Believe it or not, the last couple weeks we've been on the road, every road game or road trip, we've been to dinner every city. Play a little bit of cards all the time throughout the road trip," Rondo said. "So, our bond got completely stronger. It's kind of crazy how it happened at the end of the year versus beginning."

Those late-season wins came with half the lineup out because of injuries. James, Hart, Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Tyson Chandler all had their seasons shut down prematurely because of health. To that end, the Lakers parted ways with athletic trainer Marco Nunez on Wednesday after the roster tallied more than 200 games missed because of injury all told during the ill-fated 2018-19 campaign.

Chandler said injuries took their toll as much as the Davis talks did.

"It was injuries and then the trade rumors," the center said. "I wouldn't be honest if I was sitting up here not saying the same; it was one of the huge factors in the season. The injuries were tough for us because we were already a young unit. ... Having those injuries and not being able to get used to one another I think really affected us."

Still, other players said all the trappings that came with the Lakers this season -- even the unfortunate things out of their control -- were worth it.

"I would say it's a lot of distractions, obviously. We're in the media every day, whether it's good or bad. But like I said, I think as long as you're close with teammates and the locker room's good, that's all that matters," Ball said. "The outside noise doesn't really mean too much. If whoever wants to come or is coming, I would say that. Stay close-knit, no matter what, through it all.

"Living out here and growing up here, I know how it is playing in L.A., so I wasn't surprised when I came in. But the fans love you as long as you're doing your job."

Center JaVale McGee, an impending free agent who declared his desire to re-up with the franchise and return for the 2019-20 season, said he could get used to life as a Laker.

"There's opportunities on and off the court here," McGee said. "We had the most TV games out of anybody, and they were coming from a losing season -- or we were coming from a losing season. That's just showing you how much spotlight and how much opportunity there is being with the Lakers, if you're winning or losing. It's just opportunity out of anything. Anyone who wouldn't want to take advantage of that opportunity just because their fear of the spotlight is childish."

LOS ANGELES -- The Golden State Warriors will begin their three-peat quest against an old rival in the LA Clippers, while the Denver Nuggets will look to prove they are legitimate challengers to the champs as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

The West playoff seeding was finalized late Wednesday night when Denver and the Portland Trail Blazers both completed stirring come-from-behind victories on the final night of the regular season. The Nuggets clinched the No. 2 seed with a 99-95 home victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves and sent the Houston Rockets down to the fourth seed in the process.

The Rockets, who could have been as high as the second seed, slid to fourth because of the Nuggets' victory and Portland's 136-131 home win over the Sacramento Kings. That means a Warriors-Rockets rematch could now potentially take place in the second round, after Golden State needed seven games to outlast Houston in the conference finals last postseason.

The Warriors will begin their title defense by renewing the rivalry with the Clippers. Of course, the No. 1 vs. No. 8 matchup lacks the sizzle of past Warriors-Clippers battles, with Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan all gone from Los Angeles. Still, the Warriors love putting on a show at Staples Center and are thrilled to have a short, in-state commute to Southern California. Golden State enters the series with a 17-3 record against the Clippers since Steve Kerr became head coach in 2014.

Now, the Warriors will start their latest postseason run with a new weapon to use in DeMarcus Cousins, who will get his first taste of the playoffs in his nine-year career.

While Clippers coach Doc Rivers admitted he would have liked to have avoided the two-time defending champs in the first round, the Clippers will look to continue to do what they have done most of this season -- exceed expectations by playing tough-nosed team basketball with a second unit powered by super sixth-man scorer Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell.

"We got our work cut out for us," Warriors All-Star Kevin Durant said. "I know it's a 1-8 series, but they got a lot of talent that know how to play in the playoffs. They got players that are ready for the playoffs, so we're looking forward to seeing what our game plan is, looking forward to preparing for this team. We'll see how it goes."

"They got an all-world scorer in Lou Williams, who can get it going at any time in the game from anywhere," Durant added. "You got [Danilo] Gallinari, who can do the same. And then you got wing players like [Landry] Shamet and Wilson Chandler, guys that can come in and give you some problems in the playoffs for a stretch, having another big like [Ivica] Zubac. So, they got a nice team, well-coached.

"They're going to definitely play us extremely hard from the start, and it's not going to be as easy as people think it is."

Added Clippers guard Patrick Beverley: "We've got nothing to lose. All the pressure is on them."

With the Warriors heavily favored over the Clippers, Golden State's second-round foe will be either the Rockets or the fifth-seeded Utah Jazz. For much of Wednesday night, it looked as if the Rockets would get the 2-seed, before the Nuggets and the Blazers made their comeback wins.

The Rockets and Jazz split their four meetings this season, but Houston enters the postseason with a red-hot reigning MVP James Harden, who has helped the Rockets win 20 of their past 24 games.

"He's been carrying this team for the second half of the season. He's been, I feel, like even better than last year," the Jazz's Rudy Gobert said about Harden. "It's going to be a good challenge for us."

The Nuggets will be making their first postseason appearance since coach George Karl's last season in 2012-13. Denver clinched the second seed with a game-ending 15-0 run against the Timberwolves. The Nuggets will face the San Antonio Spurs, who earned the seventh seed and avoided a first-round matchup with the Warriors by beating the Dallas Mavericks 105-94 at home in Dirk Nowitzki's final game Wednesday night, coupled with Oklahoma City's 127-116 win at the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Nuggets and Spurs split their season series this season and haven't faced each other in the postseason since 2007, when San Antonio knocked out Denver in the first round en route to a title. This will be DeMar DeRozan's first postseason with the Spurs.

Russell Westbrook helped Oklahoma City clinch the sixth seed and a meeting with the third-seeded Blazers on Wednesday with his 34th triple-double of the season. Westbrook's 15 points, 17 assists and 11 rebounds led the Thunder -- who were without Paul George (right shoulder) -- to victory over the Bucks.

Thunder coach Billy Donovan expects George to be ready for the postseason matchup against Portland, which needed a 28-point rally to clinch the third seed. Oklahoma City enters this matchup having swept the season series against Portland.

"Every time we've played them over the years, it's pretty much been a war -- physical, close games, chippy," Portland's Damian Lillard said after the final Blazers-Thunder meeting of the regular season.

The Blazers will seek playoff redemption after they were swept as the 3-seed last year by the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round.

ESPN's Nick Friedell, Malika Andrews and Baxter Holmes contributed to this report.

There were some thoughts heading into the 2019 season that we had seen the best of Jose Altuve. The consensus view after a 2018 season in which he hit .316 with 13 home runs and still finished 13th in the MVP voting: still an excellent player, but probably no longer an MVP candidate. Nobody on ESPN's panel picked him to win the award.

Not so fast, my friends. Altuve homered twice in the Astros' 8-6 win over the Yankees, including this Titanic blast off James Paxton:

Go ahead and watch all of this one! ?#TakeItBack pic.twitter.com/7hyKwWwj6L

— Houston Astros (@astros) April 11, 2019

Notes:

• Altuve became the first hitter to homer twice off Paxton in the same game.

• He homered four times in the three-game series as the Astros swept the Yankees.

• As Astros beat writer Chandler Rome tweeted, both home runs had exit velocities of 108 mph. Altuve had just five balls in play all last season of 108 mph or higher.

After hitting 24 home runs in both 2016 and 2017, Altuve didn't homer last season until his 26th game. Still, he was hitting .342/.407/.483 at the end of June, started his fourth straight All-Star Game and looked like a good bet to maybe win his fourth batting title. Somewhere in there, he hurt his knee. He hit .276 the final three months and we saw him limping around in the postseason. He even had to DH one game in the AL Championship Series.

If he can stay healthy, it looks like we still have MVP candidate Jose Altuve. That's huge for the Astros considering their offense scored 99 fewer runs in 2018 than in 2017.

As for the Yankees, they fell to 5-7. Paxton has dominated Houston in the past, but the Astros had a good plan against him, fouling off 26 pitches and running him out of the game after four innings and 95 pitches. Tommy Kahnle then served up a two-run homer to Carlos Correa.

New York rallied with four runs in the eighth and had the tying run on second with no outs but left him stranded, then Zack Britton allowed an insurance run in the bottom of the inning. The vaunted bullpen gave up nine runs in the series and Yankee starters haven't been going deep in games.

Glasnow half full: The Rays beat the White Sox 9-1 on a 38-degree day in Chicago behind Tyler Glasnow's career-high 11 strikeouts in six innings and Tommy Pham's first two home runs. According to Statcast, Glasnow became the first pitcher this season to face at least 20 batters and not allow a ball in play of 95-plus mph (it happened nine times in 2018). Check out his stuff:

.@TGlasnow's ERA entering this game was 0.82

It's now 0.53#RaysUp pic.twitter.com/qzEWIvxPqm

— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 10, 2019

Glasnow has started the season firing on all cylinders, continuing the buzz he created over the final two months of last season, when he looked good after coming over from the Pirates. He's 3-0 allowing just one run in 17 innings (an Alex Bregman home run) and has dominated with both his fastball and offspeed stuff. He has thrown the fastest pitch by a starter this season at 100.4 mph, but nine of his 11 strikeouts on Wednesday came with his curveball or slider. Most importantly, he's not walking batters, with just three against 21 strikeouts.

How good does that Chris Archer trade look now? Austin Meadows went 3-for-5 on Wednesday with his fourth home run and is now hitting .341/.420/.659. It's early, but it's possible that both Glasnow and Meadows will outperform Archer this season -- and the Rays have Glasnow under team control for five seasons and Meadows for six, while Archer is signed through 2021. The Rays also received pitcher Shane Baz, the Pirates' first-round pick in 2017.

It's the kind of trade that can push a small-market team like the Rays to the next level and the kind of trade that can potentially cripple a small-market franchise like the Pirates. To be fair, it's understandable why the Pirates made the deal. They hadn't been able to extract the most out of Glasnow's high-ceiling talent and had been using him out of the bullpen after he posted a 7.69 ERA as a starter in 2017. Meadows, meanwhile, had never put it all together and had injury issues throughout his minor league career.

Still, peak Archer had come in 2014 and 2015 and he has a 4.09 ERA since 2016. He's a good pitcher and will help the Pirates, but five years from now we might look at the deal as one of the key building blocks for the 2019-2024 Rays.

Hit Merrifield: Before Whit Merrifield came along, the most famous "Whit" in baseball was probably Walt Whitman, who once wrote, "I see great things in baseball. It's our game -- the American game. It will take them out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism."

(I guess he never envisioned domed stadiums or retractable-roof ballparks.)

Anyway, Merrifield extended his hitting streak to a Royals franchise record of 31 games, breaking a tie with George Brett with a perfect, two-out bunt single down the third-base line in the seventh that also tied the game, scoring Terrance Gore from third base.

Laying one down straight into the record books. pic.twitter.com/6IpvDIibmc

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) April 11, 2019

Since Merrifield's streak covers two seasons, there is some controversy about whether this "counts." It does. Think of Cal Ripken's stretch of consecutive games. Of course, we can still debate the merits of Merrifield's streak and how the debate will really turn heated if he keeps this thing going and starts approaching, say, 50 games in a row. That's a long way away, of course -- but I can already see all the old-timers screaming that Joe DiMaggio did it within a one season and Whit Merrifield is no Joe DiMaggio. (Go Whit Merrifield!)

The Royals game got really interesting in the ninth. First, Mitch Haniger homered with two outs off Brad Boxberger (Diamondbacks fans nod their heads) to give the Mariners the 6-5 lead and extend their season-opening streak to 14 games with a home run.

In the bottom of the inning, Gore doubled over the head of left fielder Domingo Santana with two outs. That doesn't happen every day! Gore entered the game with two hits in his major league career over six seasons, both singles, and he doubled and tripled in this game. Scott Servais then intentionally walked Merrifield, putting the winning run on base, certainly a questionable move. Gore and Merrifield then pulled off a double steal. Roenis Elias walked Billy Hamilton on a 3-2 breaking ball, but Adalberto Mondesi popped up to end it. The Mariners are 12-2.

(Is this a bad time to mention the Mets started 12-2 last year?)

Cardinals extend Matt Carpenter: The Cardinals announced the signing of the three-time All-Star to a two-year extension that covers 2020 and 2021 at a reported $18.5 million annual salary with a vesting option for 2022 if Carpenter accumulates 1,100 plate appearances in 2020-21, including at least 550 in 2021. Carpenter had already been signed through 2020, so this deal guarantees him another season in St. Louis beyond that and likely two unless he suffers some kind of significant injury.

Carpenter finished ninth in the MVP voting in 2018 after hitting .257/.374/.523 with 36 home runs, 42 doubles and 102 walks. Since his breakout season in 2013, only Mike Trout has scored more runs. Of course, with Paul Goldschmidt now signed through 2024, this locks Carpenter into third base through at least his age-35 season (and 36 in 2022). When the Cardinals acquired Goldschmidt, there were some concerns about Carpenter's ability to play third base, but he has always been adequate there with minus-3 defensive runs saved in his career there, including plus-6 in 76 games in 2018. He might slip to slightly below average in the next season or two, but I wouldn't foresee a defensive disaster over there. Looks like a good signing for a valuable player.

Random bad pitching factoid of the night: The Twins were leading the Mets 1-0 in the fifth inning when this happened with one out:

Single
Walk
Walk
Walk
(Andrew Vasquez replaces Jake Odorizzi)
Hit by pitch
Walk
Walk
(Trevor Hildenberger replaces Vasquez)
Walk
Single

The last time a team walked or hit seven consecutive batters was 1994, when Mariners starter Dave Fleming walked five Yankees in a row and reliever Jeff Nelson hit a batter and walked two more for eight in a row.

The Mets held on for the 9-6 win as Noah Syndergaard tired in the eighth and allowed three runs and then Mickey Callaway, not trusting the rest of his bullpen, was forced to use both Jeurys Familia and Edwin Diaz as they head to Atlanta on Thursday without an off day.

English No.1 triumphs in straight games
By ELLIE MAWSON

England’s World No.17 Declan James delivered a huge upset to reach the quarter-finals of the DPD Open Squash after he knocked out Egypt’s World No.8 Mohamed Abouelghar on day two of the PSA World Tour Gold tournament in Eindhoven.

England’s No.1 produced one of the biggest performances of his career to triumph in straight-games in just his second win over a top ten player after defeating Egypt’s Marwan ElShorbagy last month at the Citigold Wealth Management Canary Wharf Classic.

The two players last faced each other last month at the PSA World Championships in Chicago, where James took the Egyptian all the way to five-games before Abouelghar closed out to reach the second round.

James looked down and out in the opening stages of the first game as Abouelghar peppered the front wall with his artillery of shots to take a 10-5 lead. However, the tall Englishman soon grew into the game, capitalising on any loose shots that came from the racket of the Egyptian to take the first game on the tie-break.

The nerves appeared to continue to set in for Abouelghar as James took the lead in the second game with the Egyptian making a lot of errors to allow the Englishman to capitalise.

The 25-year-old James held numerous game balls in the second, but Abouelghar kept fighting back. However, James was able to get a handle on his nerves and close out on the tie-break to double his advantage.

World No.17 James then continued to keep the momentum fully in his favour as he closed out a 14-12, 12-10, 11-6 victory against just his second opponent in the top ten.

“I knew that I was playing well coming into this event,” said Nottingham-born James. “Me and my coach went back after Grasshopper and worked on a couple of things and it seems to have made a difference quickly which I’m really happy about.

“I knew I was playing well coming into the match, but I didn’t find my range in the first half of the first game. I was too loose on the backhand side and Mohamed is just lethal. Any loose ball then he will just punish you.

“In the second half I found my range and that allowed me to get back into the match. Even though I was down in that initial phase, I wasn’t too worried about the scoreboard I just wanted to find my range.

“I held myself together, a couple of nerves towards the end of the second, but I manged to convert. It’s only my second time beating a top ten player so I’m still learning, but I’m proud of myself and just want to do more this week.

“I’ve learned more about myself in the last couple of years and I’ve tried not to let bad losses get me down or exciting moments getting me too excited.

“You put yourself in a position of 2-0 against someone like Mohamed Abouelghar and I just tried to stay level headed and play good squash and make good decisions. The reason why I’m finding some form this week is that I’m making good decisions and keeping level-headed.

“I think I’m good enough to become a top ten player. I work hard off the court and for me the mental side is the important thing. It’s a battle in my mind really and I think that’s the difference for me and if I can get it right there then that’s the key to becoming a top ten player.”

James will now face Germany’s Simon Rösner for a place in the semi-finals, after he defeated talented Egyptian Mazen Hesham in straight-games.

The German didn’t put a foot wrong in the opening two games as he put Hesham, who defeated France’s Mathieu Castagnet yesterday, to the sword to take an early advantage. The Egyptian came back in the third, but it proved to be in vain as Rösner closed out on the tie-break.

“He is such a unique player,” said the 31-year-old German. “You don’t know what you are going to get so you can’t prepare really. Even though I was 2-0 up, I knew that he could come back at any time, so I just tried to be on my toes, and I think it was good for my confidence today.

“It’s amazing to have a tournament here, just to see all of those packages running around the belts is quite amazing and it’s a cool new venue.”

The other quarter-final match up will see World No.1 Ali Farag take on Colombia’s World No.7 Miguel Rodriguez after the Egyptian conquered England’s former World No.1 James Willstrop in straight-games to advance.

“I’m happy I got the win today,” said reigning World Champion Farag. “He came at me in the first and I guess he is more used to the court, but I’m glad I got that one in my favour because the mentality would have been different otherwise.

“It has been an amazing season, but I don’t want to stop here. There are a few tournaments left and I want to do well in them.”

Farag will face Rodriguez in the next round after he overcame skilful Englishman Daryl Selby in four-games.

Selby overturned multiple game balls to take the opener 16-14, before Rodriguez found his best shots over the course of the next three games to take the match, with some exhibition style rallies between the pair impressing the crowd.

“I really liked it and I’m happy with my performance,” said the Colombian afterwards. “In the first game, he played unbelievably well. He was patient, he was getting everything, and I had to come back stronger in the second.

“I tried to stop myself playing in exhibition mode, but that’s Selby’s fault! I think we had a little bit of fun in the second and third, but overall I think it was a good performance.”

In the women’s draw, World No.1 Raneem El Welily scrapped through to the quarter-finals after a five-game battle with England’s World No.22 Millie Tomlinson.

The two players had never met before on the PSA Tour, but the 26-year-old Englishwoman pushed the World No.1 all the way as El Welily was forced to call upon her big match experience to dig her out of trouble to claim a narrow 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-5 victory.

“She was really attacking,” said the 30-year-old Egyptian after the match. “Everything was going her way and in the nick all the time. It was a very tough match for my first round here but I’m happy to be through and survive the storm.

“I was just trying to manage the conditions. I’m very happy I took the lead in that fifth, she almost came back but I’m happy to finish it in the end.”

El Welily will now face United States No.1 Amanda Sobhy for a place in the semi-finals after she displayed a dominant performance to down England’s former World No.3 Alison Waters in straight-games.

Meanwhile the other quarter-final match in the top half of the draw will see England’s Sarah-Jane Perry battle against Egypt’s World No.3 Nour El Tayeb.

Perry avenged her defeat from a week ago at the Texas Open against former World No.1 Rachael Grinham in Eindhoven as she claimed a 3-1 victory, while El Tayeb was clinical to dispatch Belgium’s Nele Gilis in straight-games in the Dutch city.

“I was very prepared,” said 25-year-old El Tayeb following her win. “I knew that she could run and pick up everything, so I had to be ready for that. Mentally I was prepared for a hard match and I think I played very well and I’m very happy with my performance.

“The last tournament didn’t go as planned, but I think it was very emotional losing in the final of the World Championships, but not an excuse to go out in the first round at Black Ball. I made sure this time that I was ready and prepared for the first round here. It is a learning experience and I learned a lot from my first round loss at the last tournament and I’m ready not to make the same mistakes any time soon I hope.”

The second round continues on Thursday April 11 at 11:00 local time (UTC+2) and the action will be broadcast live on SQUASHTV (rest of world), Eurosport Player (Europe only) and the official Facebook page of the PSA World Tour (excluding Europe and Japan).

DPD Open 2019, DPD Hub, Eindhoven, Netherlands.

Men’s Round Two (Top-half):
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) bt James Willstrop (ENG) 3-0: 11-9, 11-5, 11-7 (28m)
[5] Miguel Rodriguez (COL) bt Daryl Selby (ENG) 3-1: 14-16, 11-5, 11-3, 11-7 (62m)
Declan James (ENG) bt [7] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) 3-0: 14-12, 12-10, 11-6 (42m)
[4] Simon Rösner (GER) bt Mazen Hesham (EGY) 3-0: 11-5, 11-4, 12-10 (34m)

Women’s Round Two (Top-half):
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) bt Millie Tomlinson (ENG) 3-2: 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-5 (45m)
Amanda Sobhy (USA) bt [7] Alison Waters (ENG) 3-0: 11-4, 11-6, 11-3 (24m)
[5] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) bt Rachael Grinham (AUS) 3-1: 11-4, 10-12, 11-7, 11-6 (35m)
[3] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt Nele Gilis (BEL) 3-0: 11-7, 11-5, 11-4 (26m)

Men’s Round Two (Bottom-half) April 11:
[3] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v Gregoire Marche (FRA)
Raphael Kandra (GER) v [6] Paul Coll (NZL)
[8] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) v Joel Makin (WAL)
Chris Simpson (ENG) v [2] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY)

Women’s Round Two (Bottom-half) April 11:
[4] Camille Serme (FRA) v Yathreb Adel (EGY)
Hollie Naughton (CAN) v [6] Laura Massaro (ENG)
[8] Tesni Evans (WAL) v Mariam Metwally (EGY)
Nicol David (MAS) v [2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY)

Men’s Quarter-finals (Top-half) April 12:
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) v [5] Miguel Rodriguez (COL)
Declan James (ENG) v [4] Simon Rösner (GER)

Women’s Quarter-finals (Top-half) April 12:
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) v Amanda Sobhy (USA)
[5] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) v [3] Nour El Tayeb (EGY)

Pictures courtesy of PSA 

Saracens' management of the salary cap remains under scrutiny after Premiership Rugby revealed the four-times champions had not disclosed the full extent of their business deals with players.

A number of the north London club's leading players share co-investments with Sarries owner Nigel Wray.

Premiership Rugby says the Allianz Park outfit had contravened regulations by initially not sharing all of these details, and will now review further.

Saracens have explained the delay as a "minor internal oversight" and insist they comply with rules.

Last month Wray issued a statement saying Saracens "proactively disclose co-investments when they occur, even though we are under no obligation to do so," which has now been disputed by Premiership Rugby.

"Clubs are required to supply information to the Premiership Rugby salary cap manager on any arrangements between a connected party and a player which might constitute a payment or benefit in kind," said a Premiership Rugby statement.

"Saracens had not at the time of recent media speculation shared details of all the co-investment arrangements.

"The information now received will be reviewed."

In response, Saracens continued to defend their financial arrangements.

"Unprompted, we invited Premiership Rugby's salary cap manager into the club to openly discuss matters related to player salaries," a club statement read.

"While co-investments are not part of the salary regulations, we disclosed these transactions in good faith and indeed divulged more information than was necessary.

"Separately, following a minor internal oversight, Premiership Rugby was provided with details relating to some of these agreements.

"We remain confident we comply with the salary regulations and will continue to support the entrepreneurial spirit and future of our players."

The Premiership salary cap is currently £7 million, excluding marquee players and other credits.

If found guilty of breaching the salary cap, a club faces a fine or a possible points deduction. The maximum punishment under salary cap regulations is a 35-point deduction.

In February, Harlequins were fined £6,239.50 after exceeding the regulations last season - the south-west London side were £12,479 over the limit, and were docked 50p per £1 overspent.

NEW EPISODE – Thursday (4/11) at 7 p.m. & 10 p.m. ET

SPEED SPORT on MAVTV

48th annual DIRTcar Nationals (Late Models)

SPEED SPORT kicks off its 2019 season on MAVTV this Thursday night with coverage of the 48th DIRTcar Nationals for the DIRTcar Racing Late Models! The big names are here, as is big competition.

Check it out tomorrow night (Thursday, April 11) on MAVTV!