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Heat, Erik Spoelstra agree to record-breaking $120 million extension: report

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Heat, Erik Spoelstra agree to record-breaking 0 million extension: report

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Erik Spoelstra is staying in South Beach for a long time.

The Miami Heat head coach since 2008, Spoelstra has reportedly agreed to an eight-year extension worth $120 million.

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The money is the most ever given to a coach in the history of the NBA, beating Gregg Popovich’s deal that was worth north of $80 million he got last July.

Head coach Erik Spoelstra looks on in the game against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center on November 20, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. (Justin Casterline/Getty Images)

Popvich had beaten Monty Williams’ $78.5 million from the month before.

The extension comes months after the Heat were in the NBA Finals as a No. 8 seed, the second to ever do so. They also made the Eastern Conference Finals the year prior.

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Spoelstra has been on the organization’s coaching staff since 1997, serving as an assistant for 11 years. He started in the video room and eventually became a scout, an assistant coach and then Pat Riley’s hand-picked successor as head coach in April 2008.

He has taken the Heat to the NBA Finals six times, including four-straight trips from 2011 to 2014, winning it all twice (2012 and 2013). 

Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra looks on against the Brooklyn Nets during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023, in New York.  (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

ILLINOIS BASKETBALL STAR FILES TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER IN ATTEMPT TO RETURN FROM SUSPENSION

Spoelstra’s 725 regular-season wins rank 19th in NBA history, and only three coaches — Popovich with the Spurs, Jerry Sloan with Utah and Red Auerbach with Boston — have won more games with one franchise than Spoelstra has with the Heat.

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He is also an assistant coach for USA Basketball in this Olympic cycle and will be part of head coach Steve Kerr’s staff at the Paris Games this summer. Spoelstra will likely be among the top candidates to take over the Olympic team for the next cycle that will culminate at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

Assistant coach Erik Spoelstra and Anthony Edwards #10 of the United States warm up before a 2023 FIBA World Cup exhibition game against Puerto Rico at T-Mobile Arena on August 07, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Spoelstra’s current deal expires after this season.

The Heat are currently 21-15, good for fifth place in the Eastern Conference.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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ESPN star calls for 2017 Masters winner to have his lifetime exemption removed after meltdown

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ESPN star calls for 2017 Masters winner to have his lifetime exemption removed after meltdown

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ESPN star Mike Greenberg called for Sergio Garcia’s lifetime exemption into the Masters Tournament to be pulled after his antics on the course in the final round on Sunday.

Garcia received a code of conduct warning after he smashed his driver in frustration at Augusta National. He slammed his club into the turf twice after hitting a shot that ended up in the bunker. Then he took a swipe at a table with a green cooler on it.

ESPN personality Mike Greenberg is interviewed on radio row at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas, on Feb. 1, 2017, ahead of Super Bowl LI. (Jerry Lai/USA TODAY Sports)

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Greenberg seemingly saw Garcia’s anger as a detrimental issue.

“A lifetime exemption is a privilege extended by Augusta to its champions out of respect,” he wrote on X. “If that respect is not reciprocated, there is no law that says a past champ cannot be banned.

RORY MCILROY REPEATS AS MASTERS CHAMPION, JOINS RARE COMPANY AT AUGUSTA NATIONAL

Sergio Garcia lines up a putt on the second green during the first round of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga., on Apr. 9, 2026. (Michael Madrid/Imagn Images)

“I’m not sure they should have Sergio Garcia back after the garbage he pulled today.”

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Garcia, who competes in LIV Golf, won the Masters in 2017. It is his only major victory of his career. Since winning in 2017, he only made the cut for the final two rounds once. The feat came at this year’s tournament. He finished 52nd in the field.

Sergio Garcia plays his shot on the seventeenth hole during the second round of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga., on April 10, 2026. (Bill Streicher/Imagn Images)

He joined LIV Golf in 2022 as he was among the PGA Tour stars who left the organization. He has two wins in the series – at LIV Golf Andalucía in 2024 and LIV Golf Hong Kong in 2025. He played his way into a playoff four times, only winning the Andalucía event.

Fox News’ Ryan Morik contributed to this report.

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‘I wanted to complete that wish tonight.’ Ducks lose as playoff berth remains just out of reach

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‘I wanted to complete that wish tonight.’ Ducks lose as playoff berth remains just out of reach

The Ducks held their annual fan appreciation day Sunday, handing out thousands of gifts, from a new car to team jerseys and gift cards. But the one prize the Ducks’ long-suffering fans really wanted, a playoff berth, remained just out of reach.

Needing a win to clinch a postseason berth for the first time since 2018, the Ducks lost a sloppy 4-3 overtime decision to the Vancouver Canucks, the NHL’s worst team, leaving them a point shy of the playoffs with two games to play. The loss was the seventh in eight games for the Ducks, who have tumbled from first to third in the Pacific Division standings and may now have to settle for a wild-card berth.

So they’ll hit the road Monday for their final two games of the regular season needing one point from games in Minnesota and Nashville. The Ducks could also back into the playoffs if Nashville losses either of its final two games.

“We haven’t clinched anything yet,” captain Radko Gudas said. “With two games to play, there’s still a lot of work to do, 120 minutes to give it our all and make that push.”

“We just can’t be satisfied with what we’re at right now,” coach Joel Quenneville agreed. “We didn’t make it easy on ourselves, that’s for sure.”

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The Ducks have already assured themselves of their first winning record since 2017-18 but the playoffs have been the Holy Grail the team has been chasing since then. And it appeared within reach until Marco Rossi scored on a power play with less than 11 seconds left in the extra period, silencing a sellout crowd that had repeatedly peppered the Ducks with rhythmic chants of “We want playoffs!”

“I loved it,” Quenneville said of the chant. “I wanted to complete that wish tonight.”

And it looked as if that would happen given the way the Ducks started, with Cutter Gauthier opening the scoring with the first of two goals 3:41 into a feisty and physical first period that was interrupted by seven penalties and two fights.

But Vancouver got the next three scores, taking a 3-1 lead when Brock Boeser intercepted a sloppy Leo Carlsson pass intended for John Carlson in Vancouver’s defensive end, then outskated Carlson the other way before lifting the puck over goaltender Lukas Dostal less than five minutes into the final period.

The shorthanded goal seemed to wake the slumbering Ducks, with Gauthier scoring on a power play 37 seconds later to halve the lead and become the first Duck with 40 goals in a season since Corey Perry in 2013-14.

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“It’s a huge milestone and something I’m very proud of,” Gauthier said. “But that’s not why I’m playing hockey. I’m playing to win games and eventually win a Stanley Cup.”

Carlsson then evened things at 3-3 on a spectacular goal less than two minutes later, backhanding the puck over Canucks goalie Nikita Tolopilo while skating away from the crease for his 29th goal of the season.

“It was kind of a dagger when they score a shorthanded goal on us,” Gauthier said. “It’s supposed to be the opposite way. But I thought we responded really well, obviously tying it back up.”

The Ducks couldn’t keep it there, however, with Chris Kreider taking a slashing penalty with 2:07 left in overtime, giving Vancouver an extra skater. Dostal had kept the Ducks in the game, making seven saves in the extra period, including five huge stops on the power play, but he couldn’t stop Rossi on the final shot, one which sent the Ducks’ fans home disappointed and eager to end to the second-longest playoff drought in the NHL.

“They’ve been hungry to get back in the playoffs over these last seven years,” said Gauthier, who was in junior high school in Michigan the last time the Ducks played in the postseason. “They’re excited for it, we’re excited for it. We fell short tonight but we had a great opportunity to go on this road trip and get some get points.”

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Actually just one point — the one they left on the ice Sunday — will be enough.

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Rory McIlroy repeats as Masters champion, joins rare company at Augusta National

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Rory McIlroy repeats as Masters champion, joins rare company at Augusta National

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Rory McIlroy further etched his name into Masters lore.

The Northern Irishman became just the fourth golfer in history to win back-to-back green jackets, finishing at 12-under par at historic Augusta National Golf Club.

Tiger Woods was the last to accomplish the rare feat, when he was repeat winner in 2001 and 2002.

Rory McIlroy celebrates after winning the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, on April 12, 2026. (Bill Streicher/Imagn Images)

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With multiple contenders in the mix, the margin for error was slim Sunday at Augusta National.

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Masters champion Rory McIlroy acknowledges patrons on the 18th hole during the second round of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on April 10, 2026. (Simon Bruty/Augusta National/Getty Images)

Despite a dismal round Saturday, McIlroy bounced back in the final round to fend off rallies from two-time Masters champion Scottie Scheffler and 2013 U.S. Open champion Justin Rose.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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