BOSTON -- Other than the game itself, both Canada and the United States were talking about President Donald Trump hours before playing one another in the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off championship game.

Trump was a topic of conversation for both teams Thursday with many Team USA players speaking about the call they shared with the president with Team Canada sharing some of its thoughts about Trump once again stating that Canada would become the "51st state" in the country.

"It was awesome. It was one of the cooler experiences I've had," Team USA's Vincent Trocheck said of the Trump phone call. "Having the president of the United States call your team about a hockey game just seems kind of crazy but it's pretty cool."

Team USA and New York Rangers forward J.T. Miller echoed a similar sentiment.

"Pretty cool. It was so awesome to hear the support," Miller said. "It's a pretty big deal for us to take time out of his schedule to talk to us. It's just another one of those things where we're pinching ourselves this tournament. It's been really fun so far to see the support from everybody up to the president is pretty wild."

Miller said that Trump told the team to enjoy the moment and have fun with it with Team USA defenseman Zach Werenski saying he "kind of blacked out" because of the significance of the moment.

Team USA received a call from the President this morning to wish them luck ahead of tonight's #4Nations championship game. pic.twitter.com/he1kIgUVGW

USA Hockey (@usahockey) February 20, 2025

A reporter then asked Miller if Trump mentioned making Canada the 51st state.

"I don't think he brought that up," said Werenski, who plays for the Columbus Blue Jackets. "He left that one out."

Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier Thursday that he planned on calling Team USA while later adding that "on toward victory tonight against Canada ... will someday, maybe soon, become our cherished, and very important Fifty First State."

With political tensions already in place prior to the 4 Nations, those feelings have only amplified with hockey as its latest avenue. It started with fans on both sides booing during each country's respective national anthems.

It further escalated during the first Canada-U.S. game last Saturday. There were three fights in the first nine seconds of a contest which ultimately ended with the U.S. winning 3-1 in Montreal. The game itself became the talk of the North American sports landscape and only added to the anticipation of a potential rematch, something Canada secured Tuesday with a 5-3 win against Sweden.

Canada coach Jon Cooper was asked if the political discussion regarding the two countries has entered the dressing room.

"Other than the talk of [Canada becoming] the 51st state and then somebody saying, 'Wow, we'd have one hell of a hockey team,'" said Cooper, who is the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Cooper then further elaborated on the subject.

"Let's be honest, you'd never get what's going to be contested tonight," Cooper said. "The political side of things, we feel [that] for everybody on our side of things. But for us to come here and to be in that room, it's going to be more for us to win that game, then sit there and debate what the game means. We have to go out there and represent our country and make them proud. If we accomplish that, then I think we accomplish what we want to, which is to make Canadians proud."

ESPN's Greg Wyshynski contributed to this report.

The New York Islanders placed defenseman Dennis Cholowski on waivers on Thursday.

The Islanders have one open roster spot coming out of the break but might need two as they anticipate the return of defensemen Scott Mayfield (lower body) and Ryan Pulock (upper body) from injured reserve. Both participated in their third straight practice on Thursday ahead of the Islanders' next game Sunday against the Dallas Stars.

Cholowski, who turned 27 on Saturday, has three goals, seven assists, 10 penalty minutes and an average of 12:48 time on ice in 33 games this season.

The Detroit Red Wings selected him with the 20th overall pick of the 2016 NHL Draft. He was picked by the Seattle Kraken from the Red Wings' roster in the 2021 expansion draft.

He has 13 career goals, 27 assists, 38 penalty minutes, 147 blocks and 48 hits while averaging 16:47 of ice time in 150 games for the Red Wings (2018-21), Washington Capitals (2021-22), Kraken (2022) and Islanders (2022-23, 2024-25).

Inter Milan goalkeeper Yann Sommer has a broken right thumb ahead of key games in Serie A and the Champions League.

Inter said the Swiss 'keeper's injury was revealed in tests on Thursday and "necessary therapy will be decided in the coming days."

Thumb injuries can sideline goalkeepers for several weeks though no timetable was set by Inter for Sommer, who has started every Serie A and Champions League game this season.

The defending Serie A champion is second in the standings, trailing Napoli by two points, and travels to Naples at the end of next week. Inter first hosts Genoa on Saturday.

Sommer also could miss the Champions League round-of-16 games on March 4 or 5 then March 10 or 11. Inter will be drawn against Feyenoord or PSV Eindhoven when the pairings are made on Friday.

Sommer's backups are Raffaele Di Gennaro and Josep Martinez.

FRISCO, Texas -- Zack Martin, one of the most decorated offensive linemen in Dallas Cowboys history, opted to retire, sources told ESPN.

Martin met with owner and general manager Jerry Jones on Thursday to inform him of his decision, sources said.

Martin was a nine-time Pro Bowl selection in 11 years with the Cowboys. Only Hall of Famers Bob Lilly (11), Larry Allen (10) and Mel Renfro (10), along with Jason Witten (11), who is eligible for the Hall of Fame for the first time this season, have been named to more. Martin was a first-team All-Pro pick seven times, which is tied for the most in team history with Lilly and Hall of Famer Randy White.

Martin's seven first-team All-Pro selections also are tied with Hall of Famers Randall McDaniel and John Hannah for the most among guards all time, according to ESPN Research. The only player with more first-team All-Pro selections since Martin entered the NFL in 2014 is retired Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald (8).

Martin also had only seven accepted holding penalties in his career, equaling his number of first-team All-Pro nods.

A first-round pick in 2014, Martin started 162 games, missing more than one game in a season just twice: 2020 and 2024. In addition, he was named to the NFL's All-Decade team from 2010 to '20.

In 2024, he was limited to 10 games because of an ankle injury that required surgery. He played through multiple injuries during his last two seasons until he no longer had the strength to sustain his elite level of play.

Martin, 34, quashed talk of retirement last summer during training camp and when his season ended. During several appearances before Super Bowl LIX, Martin said he wanted to get healthy before deciding on his future.

Martin held out most of training camp in 2023 before signing an adjusted contract that guaranteed him $36 million over the past two seasons and made him the third-highest-paid guard in the NFL.

Martin reworked his contract last offseason, allowing the Cowboys to gain some salary cap relief if he opted to retire in 2025. The Cowboys can designate him a post-June 1 cut, which means he will count $9.4 million against the cap in 2025 and $17 million against the 2026 cap.

His absence creates a void on and off the field for the Cowboys.

Brock Hoffman filled in admirably for Martin last season, but the Cowboys could look to the draft or free agency to fill Martin's spot. Martin was one of the team's most influential leaders, serving on the players' council under coaches Jason Garrett and Mike McCarthy in his time.

Though not the most vocal, Martin's day-to-day dedication was admired by teammates.

Up next for Martin is likely a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame after a five-year waiting period.

Charlotte Hornets star guard LaMelo Ball will sit out Thursday's game at the Denver Nuggets due to left ankle soreness.

Ball scored 27 points in Wednesday night's 100-97 win against the Los Angeles Lakers, including a driving layup with 14.2 seconds remaining to help snap Charlotte's three-game skid.

Ball, 23, is averaging 27.3 points, 7.2 assists and 5.1 rebounds in 34 games (all starts) during his fifth season with the Hornets. The former All-Star is shooting 41.8 percent from the floor and 33.9 percent from 3-point range.

Ball missed five games from late January to early February due to a sprained left ankle, then sat out against the Detroit Pistons on Feb. 9 and the Orlando Magic on Feb. 12 because of left ankle soreness.

Two-time NBA All-Star Ja Morant is the Memphis Grizzlies player whose home was burglarized by the seven men from Chile charged in federal court with orchestrating break-ins at the homes of prominent professional athletes around the country, a league source confirmed to ESPN's Tim MacMahon.

The Daily Memphian reported earlier Thursday that a senior law enforcement official familiar with the investigation confirmed Morant was "Professional Athlete 6" identified in an FBI complaint filed Jan. 30 in Tampa, Florida.

During pregame availability Thursday evening in Indianapolis, Memphis officials said Morant had no comment about the news. The Grizzlies were to play at the Indiana Pacers on Thursday night in their first game since the All-Star break.

The FBI complaint doesn't name the athletes and lists only burglaries already made public involving the Kansas City Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals, Bobby Portis of the Milwaukee Bucks, and players for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the NBA's Grizzlies.

According to the complaint, the Grizzlies player's home was burglarized sometime after 4 p.m. on Dec. 19. The Grizzlies beat the Golden State Warriors 144-93 that night in Memphis. The burglars stole "jewelry, watches and luxury bags valued" at about $1 million, according to the complaint.

A spokesperson for the Shelby County Sheriff's Office said deputies responded to a reported burglary Dec. 20 at a home in an unincorporated part of the county. Deputies declined to release the name of the player or the address during an active investigation.

Some of the men were arrested in January after a traffic stop in Ohio on state charges for allegedly breaking into the home of Burrow, the Bengals quarterback. In that case, four of the men were found to be in the country illegally, according to a court affidavit filed in Clark County, Ohio. The men took photos of themselves with some of the loot. The groups often separated into smaller units to commit multiple burglaries, according to the FBI.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Nearly two weeks after the Los Angeles Lakers rescinded their trade for center Mark Williams with the Charlotte Hornets because, sources told ESPN, the 7-foot center failed his physical examination with L.A., his agent issued a statement Thursday disputing the Lakers' decision.

"The overwhelming sentiment, after conferring with multiple, nationally recognized doctors, is that the Los Angeles Lakers should not have failed Mark Williams on his physical," Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports Management said in the statement. "Mark was ready and able to play for them and should have been given that opportunity."

When asked for a response to Schwartz's statement by ESPN, the Lakers declined to comment.

Williams returned to the court against the Lakers on Wednesday, posting 10 points, nine rebounds and two assists in 29 minutes in the Hornets' 100-97 win. It was Williams' first game action for Charlotte since the trade, which initially sent Lakers rookie forward Dalton Knecht, a 2030 pick swap and L.A.'s 2031 first-round pick to the Hornets for the 23-year-old big man.

Williams hadn't played since Feb. 5 for the Hornets and was listed on the injury report with "return to play conditioning" before being upgraded to available.

Williams, a third-year veteran who is averaging 15.3 points on 58.1% shooting, 9.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists this season, told Fox Sports on Wednesday that he didn't believe concern about his health was the sole reason the Lakers nixed the deal.

"I don't think it was solely because of my physical," Williams said. "I felt like I could have contributed to them. But, obviously, they had second thoughts."

LeBron James, who dunked over Williams in Wednesday's game, was asked what it was like to face the center so soon after the Lakers had him on their team.

"He was never a teammate," James said. "He never stepped into the locker room. He never came [in]. We never seen him. We know the trade went down, but we never seen him. So when it got rescinded, it was just back to what it was before. So, it was no different."

After the trade was rescinded, the Lakers have had to reintegrate Knecht into the rotation and find center depth by other means. L.A. waived Christian Wood, the stretch big who has been sidelined this season after knee surgery, to sign the 7-foot Alex Len after he was waived by the Sacramento Kings. Len is averaging 2.0 points on 40% shooting and 4.0 rebounds in 16.0 minutes through his two games with L.A.

Williams posted a carousel of photographs to Instagram on Thursday -- including one photo of him attacking the rim versus the Lakers -- and included a caption with the social media missive. It read: "There's Always Peace When You Know The Truth."

AUSTIN, Texas -- San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama is expected to miss the remainder of the season with deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder, the team announced Thursday.

The Spurs said in a statement that the condition, a form of a blood clot, was discovered after Wembanyama returned to San Antonio after the All-Star Game. The condition is typically treated with blood-thinning medication, which usually precludes a player from participating in a contact sport such as basketball.

Wembanyama started feeling symptomatic recently but believed he would feel better after two days off following the All-Star Game, sources told ESPN's Shams Charania. When symptoms persisted, Wembanyama underwent a battery of tests that showed the clot.

A team source told ESPN that the Spurs are optimistic that Wembanyama will make a full recovery by the beginning of the 2025-26 season.

"It's tough," Spurs point guard Chris Paul said. "Tough more than anything, I think for all of us, knowing how much he means to our team, but more so knowing how much he means to the game and how much he loves to play."

Wembanyama, the reigning Rookie of the Year and a first-time All-Star this season, was averaging 24.3 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and a league-leading 3.8 blocks in 46 games for the 23-29 Spurs.

The team said in its statement that updates on Wembanyama's condition would be provided as appropriate.

"I think everybody understands that basketball is what we do and not who we are," Paul said. "So life and everything is so much more important, but for us, we know losing a big part of our team like that is [made up for] by committee. And trust me, you can't replace Vic. I can't stand on a guy's shoulders and block every shot that comes to the rim.

"Aside from his basketball ability, his charisma and what he brings into the locker room I think is what we'll miss the most."

Wembanyama will not be eligible for All-NBA, Defensive Player of the Year and other major awards because he did not meet the 65-game minimum. Wembanyama had been a -2000 favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year at ESPN BET and had attracted over three times as many bets to win the award prior to the Spurs' announcement. Afterward, Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. moved from +2500 to Defensive Player of the Year favorite at -130.

Wembanyama's departure is a second big loss for the Spurs this season, coming about 3 months after coach Gregg Popovich had a stroke and was forced to take an indefinite leave from the sideline.

Wembanyama had already taken 403 3-pointers and blocked 176 shots this season. No player in NBA history has ever finished a season with those numbers, and Wembanyama did it before the All-Star break.

Information from ESPN's David Purdum and The Associated Press was used in this report.