The Chargers released Joey Bosa on Wednesday night, ending the linebacker’s nine-season tenure with the franchise.

The move, which came less than a week before the start of the new league year, was expected due to Bosa’s large salary cap number and injury history. Bosa had a cap number of $36.47 million for the 2025 season. The Chargers will save $25.36 million in cap space.

Bosa was the third overall pick by the Chargers in 2016 and was the last player on the roster from when the team played in San Diego. He signed a five-year extension worth $135 million in 2020 that made him the league’s highest-paid defensive player at the time.

Bosa played in 14 games with nine starts last season after agreeing to restructure his contract. His five sacks were his fewest in the six seasons during which he has played at least 12 games as he battled hip and back injuries.

Bosa’s 72 sacks are tied for 10th most in the NFL since he entered the league and are second in franchise history.

The Rams agreed to terms with receiver Tutu Atwell, a source confirmed to the Southern California News Group on Thursday. The deal, reportedly worth $10 million for one season, keeps Atwell with the Rams for a fifth season. A second-round pick in 2021, Atwell set career highs in 2024 with 42 receptions for 562 yards, though he did not reach the end zone.

— Adam Grosbard

Six-time All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner is returning to the Washington Commanders after being a big part of their franchise-best turnaround and a trip to the NFC championship game in quarterback Jayden Daniels’ rookie season.

Wagner, a Colony High grad, has agreed on a contract for the 2025 NFL season, according to a person with knowledge of the move. The person spoke to The AP on condition of anonymity because the deal had not yet been announced.

Wagner, 34, led the Commanders with 132 tackles during the regular season and made 25 more during their playoff run. He keyed a defense that went from last in the league before he and several newcomers arrived to finish 13th under first-year coach Dan Quinn and D-coordinator Joe Whitt Jr.

The Jacksonville Jaguars found a trade partner for Christian Kirk before officially releasing him, shipping the vetern wideout to AFC South opponent Houston for a seventh-round draft pick in 2026, a person familiar with the move told The AP. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because neither side had confirmed the deal, which won’t be official until the new league year begins.

HORSE RACING

Trevor Denman, whose iconic calls for 40 years and more than 15,000 horse races at Del Mar became almost as much a part of San Diego’s summers as sun, surf and sand, is retiring.

Denman, 72, recently informed Joe Harper, CEO of Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, of his decision, with Harper noting the text message said in part: “My soul is telling me that now is the time.”

While disappointed, Harper said he wasn’t surprised to learn Denman no longer wished to travel west each summer from the Minnesota farm where he lives with his wife of nearly 40 years, Robin.

“I think the call of the farm was getting a little more attention than the call of Del Mar,” Harper said, “and I understood that. And just the fact that he had given up (working) the fall meet (back in 2020), and I certainly understood that.

“We were lucky to have him for so many years.”

Through a track spokesman, Denman declined further comment, other than to say, “This is one of the hardest decisions I have ever made.”

— San Diego Union-Tribune

NBA

James Harden scored 50 points, his 24th career 50-point game and first with the Clippers, leading a 123-115 over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night in L.A.

Harden scored 23 in the first quarter and ended up with the eighth 50-point game in franchise history, the first since Lou Williams on Jan. 10, 2018, at Golden State.

Bogdan Bogdanovic added 23 points and Ivica Zubac had 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Clippers, who were without Kawhi Leonard (knee) and Norman Powell (hamstring) on the second night of back-to-back games.

Cade Cunningham had 37 points and 10 assists for Detroit.

Former Chino Hills High star LaMelo Ball had 28 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the Hornets in a 125=110 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night in Charlotte.

NHL

The Ducks traded defenseman Brian Dumoulin to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for a 2025 second-round draft pick and prospect winger Herman Träff, both teams announced on Thursday, a day before the NHL’s trade deadline.

The Ducks retained 50% of Dumoulin’s remaining salary for the season (he made $3.15 million against the cap this season) in the deal. The second-round pick they acquired will be the higher between that of the Edmonton Oilers or Winnipeg Jets, per the conditions of the swap.

Dumoulin, 33, was acquired over the summer from the Seattle Kraken in exchange for a fourth-rounder. Not only did he reward the Ducks with a deadline flip for a profit, but with sound play and veteran leadership across 61 games as a Duck.

He was largely moved for circumstantial reasons: his expiring contract, his value at the trade deadline when defensemen tend to command a premium and a trio of talented young players on the left side of the Ducks’ blue line (Jackson LaCombe, Pavel Mintyukov and Olen Zellweger).

— Andrew Knoll

Robert Thomas scored the decisive goal in the shootout and scored a goal in regulation to extend his point streak to 11 games as the St. Louis Blues beat the Kings 3-2 on Wednesday night in L.A.

Quinton Byfield and Trevor Moore scored for the Kings, who have now lost five straight.

Carson Soucy, Jake DeBrusk, and Teddy Blueger scored to carry the Canucks over the Ducks 3-2 in Vancouver.

Sam Colangelo and Brian Dumoulin scored for the Ducks, who lost netminder John Gibson to injury midway through the second period.

Alex Ovechkin got his 885th career goal in the Washington Capitals’ 3-2 win over the New York Rangers on Wednesday night. Ovechkin pulled nine goals from tying Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record,

GOLF

Two late birdies as the wind finally waned carried Wyndham Clark shot a 5-under 67 for a two-shot lead on a challenging weather day Thursday in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Orlando.

Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley, Shane Lowry, Corey Conners and Christiaan Bezuidenhout were the only other players to break 70, each with a 69.

Ayaka Furue, A Lim Kim, and Auston Kim were atop the leaderboard at the LPGA’s Blue Bay tournament with opening round scores of 4-under 68 on Thursday on China’s southern island of Hainan.