Warriors sideline Curry for at least a week with hamstring strain

MINNEAPOLIS >> The Golden State Warriors are planning to play without Stephen Curry for at least the next three games of their second-round series against Minnesota, after an MRI exam on Wednesday confirmed a mild strain of the star guard’s left hamstring.

The Warriors said Curry would be sidelined at least a week after the injury on Tuesday night forced him out early in the second quarter of Game 1, which they went on to win 99-88. He had 13 points in 13 minutes to help Golden State build a comfortable lead and take home-court advantage away from the Timberwolves.

“Every year the playoffs are about adapting, whether it’s a game plan or an injury or a lineup, so we just have to adapt,” coach Steve Kerr said. “We’ve done this before, and we’re confident we can do this again.”

Game 2 is in Minneapolis on Thursday, before the series moves west to San Francisco for Game 3 on Saturday and Game 4 on Monday. The earliest return for Curry appears to be Game 5 on May 14, which is conveniently followed by three straight off days before Game 6 on May 18.

The Steelers move on from Pickens by trading mercurial receiver to Cowboys

PITTSBURGH >> The Pittsburgh Steelers have run out patience with wide receiver George Pickens, agreeing Wednesday on a trade that sends the talented but mercurial 24-year-old to the Dallas Cowboys.

The Steelers will get a third-round pick in the 2026 draft and a fifth-rounder in 2027. The Cowboys get a sixth-round choice in two years.

The trade was first reported by ESPN.

Pickens is about to enter the final year of the rookie deal he signed in 2022 when the Steelers took the former Georgia star in the second round. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Pickens has spent his first three seasons in the NFL being equal parts productive and petulant, mixing highlight-reel catches with bouts of immaturity along the way.

Pickens joins a Cowboys offense that could use another downfield threat to pair with star CeeDee Lamb. Dallas’ second-leading pass catcher behind Lamb last year was tight end Jake Ferguson, with Jalen Tolbert’s modest 49 receptions a distant third.

Dallas didn’t address the need for a No. 2 receiver in the draft, with first-year coach Brian Schottenheimer saying he liked the youth that was already on the roster. Owner and general manager Jerry Jones made reference before the draft to “substantive” trades the Cowboys were pursuing. This qualifies as one.

Utah Mammoth is the permanent name of the NHL team in Salt Lake City

After a mammoth undertaking of buying an NHL team, moving players, coaches and a full staff more than 600 miles and getting it all together in a matter of months before the puck dropped on a new season, it is perhaps a fitting identity that owners Ryan and Ashley Smith chose after rounds and rounds of fan voting.

They unveiled Utah Mammoth as the franchise’s permanent, full-time name Wednesday, with a profiled logo of the ice age creature featuring nods to the shape of the state, its mountain range and the same light blue, black and white color scheme that quickly became synonymous with the team in its first season in Salt Lake City.

“Our fans made it very easy for us,” Ryan Smith said at a news conference at Delta Center celebrating the branding effort’s competition after more than 850,000 votes were cast over the past 13 months. “Every single night we were doing the voting, Mammoth just started running away with it. ... And for us, it was like, ‘That’s it.’”

— The Associated Press