The Memphis Grizzlies have granted Dwight Howard's representatives permission to speak with other teams that might be interested in the veteran center, league sources told ESPN.

One of those teams is the Los Angeles Lakers, who are exploring options at center after DeMarcus Cousins was lost with a torn ACL.

The Lakers' interest in Howard is more "due diligence" at this point, a team source said.

Howard played one season for the Lakers, in 2012, then spurned them for the Houston Rockets in free agency.

CLEVELAND -- Indians ace Corey Kluber was removed from a minor league start after one inning with abdominal tightness.

The team said Kluber, who hasn't pitched in the majors since breaking his arm during a start on May 1, was taken out of Sunday's game for Triple-A Columbus in Charlotte, North Carolina, for precautionary reasons. The two-time Cy Young winner was making his third start as he attempts to return from the injury.

Kluber walked two and didn't allow a run in his one inning. The 33-year-old was scheduled to spend Monday in Cleveland -- an off day for the Indians -- before re-joining the club in New York.

It's not yet known if Kluber's abdominal issue is a setback. The Indians have been hoping he might be able to pitch for them during the playoff push in September.

Kluber won the Cy Young in 2014 and 2017.

Russia's Daniil Medvedev and American Madison Keys recorded straight-set victories to win the men's and women's Cincinnati Masters titles in Ohio.

Medvedev, who defeated world number one Novak Djokovic in the semi-final, beat Belgium's David Goffin 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 to win his first ATP Masters 1,000 title.

Victory means the 23-year-old will become world number five on Monday.

Keys, 24, beat two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5 7-6 (7-5) to win a second title of the season.

The win will see Keys - ranked 18th - return to the world top 10.

In her first hard court final since finishing as runner-up at the 2017 US Open, the American twice recovered from 5-3 down to take the victory.

Meanwhile, eighth-ranked Medvedev held his nerve in the first set tie-break and broke serve immediately in the second before seeing out the win in one hour 41 minutes.

LONG POND, Pa. – Felix Rosenqvist was taken to a local hospital for evaluation and later released after being involved in a five-car crash on the opening lap of Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway.

Rosenqvist was collected in a five-crash crash in turn two, which started when Takuma Sato came down across the nose of Ryan Hunter-Reay as the field charged towards turn two.

The resulting crash also collected James Hinchcliffe, Alexander Rossi and Rosenqvist, who clipped Sato’s when it came back up the track. Rosenqvist’s car partially flipped and rode the outside wall before coming to rest at the exit of turn two.

Rosenqvist was taken to the infield car center, where it was decided he would be taken to a local hospital for further evaluation according to IndyCar Director of Medical Services Dr. Geoffrey Billows.

“Felix we’re just sending down to the trauma center for a little bit more evaluation,” Billows said. “He’s got non-life-threatening injuries. I think he’ll be fine. He walked to the ambulance on his own.”

NTT IndyCar Series officials announced shortly after 5:40 p.m. that Rosenqvist had been evaluated by officials at a local hospital and was set to be released.

Felix Rosenqvist has been evaluated at local hospital and will be released shortly ?#ABCSupply500 // @FRosenqvist pic.twitter.com/osrUVCCAPh

— NTT IndyCar Series (@IndyCar) August 18, 2019

Rosenqvist later confirmed via Twitter that he had been released from a local hospital.

Just got cleared from the hospital. Definitely feel lucky escaping without any serious injuries after visiting the catch fence there… Good to see @scottdixon9 back in the championship hunt! On to Gateway next weekend ?? #NTTDataRacing #Pocono

— Felix Rosenqvist (@FRosenqvist) August 18, 2019

The incident on the first lap of the race damaged the catch fencing on the outside of turn two, resulting in a 45-minute red flag period to repair the damage.

It is the second-straight year a violent crash has taken place in turn two early in the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway. Last year on the sixth lap Robert Wickens crashed violently in turn two, leaving him severely injured.

MONTEREY, Calif. – As this year’s Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion came to a close Sunday, the highlight for IMSA fans was a panel discussion on the Prototype class with former drivers and engine builders.

A large crowd gathered in front of the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Paddock Stage to spend 45 minutes with these gentlemen as they entertain the fans with stories from past eras.

Here are some of the thoughts from the panel about their time around this class.

Tom Milner worked for Ford when the Prototype class first started and got the job because he lived in the United States at the time. What does he remember about their cars is simple.

“The cars had the most spectacular huge flames shoot out of the side and migrated around the car,” he said. The fans really loved that!”

Milner has been around IMSA since the beginning as he ran in the first race at Pocono in 1969.

“It’s amazing that IMSA has been around for 50 years and it is hard to imagine the first race was in 1969,” he said. “I was there. Mrs. (Peggy) Bishop gave me a check for $300 because we came in third and back then, that was a lot of money!”

Milner enjoyed a successful career and left the crowd with this thought. “As a sports car racer you want to win the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 12 Hours of Sebring and then you can retire,” he said. “I’m happy to say, I’m retired!”

Porsche’s Alwin Springer explained how they had to change the 962 Prototype before it could race.

“The 962s were different so we had to change the front axle,” he said. “The driver had their feet in front of the axel so we had to change the chassis so the 962 could race in IMSA and put their feet behind the front axle.”

Jerry Woods was an engine builder for Chevrolet and remembered how competitive the racing was in the class.

“There was a lot of innovation that could be done to the cars and the engines,” he said. “Learning about the Chevrolet motor was another animal. You had to respect the workers who built these engines.”

John Morton remembered his time in a Nissan.

“The Nissan era where the car wasn’t very unsuccessful, I wasn’t involved in that!” he said. “I only joined them after that, and it was a winner. “It was really cool to be driving the fastest car on the track and with the fastest driver Geoff Brabham.
“I ended up on the GTS team and won Sebring in 1994 and our class at Le Mans that year,” he added. “I had a good run with Nissan and Datsun as they were known then.”

Former driver Davy Jones recalled his win in 1986 with John Andretti in a BMW at Watkins Glen.

“The car, in the end, took a little bit to sort out,” he said. “There were a lot of little wrenches to figure out. When you ask a driver what their favorite race was, they usually answer with ‘the one I won.’ That is true with this one as I will always remember winning at The Glen.”

Parker Johnstone, who won three championships in an Acura in the 1990s, spoke about what he loved about the Porsche 962.

“The 962 is the easiest race car as I have ever driven,” he said. “The car has all this leeway that makes it a great endurance car.”

Jörg Bergmeister first started driving in Prototypes with Riley and Ford.

“Prototype racing was intense and wheel-to-wheel,” he said. “What I liked about the car is that I fit in it as being 6-4 and that was sometimes difficult. It was good fun and even better racing.”

Didier Theys is no stranger to winning the most iconic races. He is a two-time overall winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona and has also won at the Twelve Hours of Sebring. He is known for driving the Ferrari 333 SP.

“The horsepower the car had was a lot to put on the ground,” he said. “I enjoyed driving the Ferrari. The car was great to compete in and try to win a race. But when you see the engineers there, you feel the passion about it. Then you win, go to the factory and have the red carpet treatment – that was special.”

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Michael Self held off his Venturini Motorsports teammate Christian Eckes on a two-lap dash to the checkered to earn his fourth series victory of the season Sunday in the Allen Crowe 100 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.

Self, the current series championship leader, took the lead from another Venturini Motorsports teammate and General Tire Pole Award winner Logan Seavey shortly after halfway. From there, Self build a nearly four-second advantage over the field until an incident in turn four involving Ty Gibbs and Joe Graf Jr. with less than 10 laps to go.

The race would get restarted at the scheduled conclusion, lap 100, setting up a green-white-checkered dash to the checkered.

Self got the break on the restart and battled side-by-side with upstart rookie Corey Heim, but the two made contact in turns three and four. Self dashed to the lead while Heim dropped through the field allowing Eckes to move into second.

“I did not want to see that last yellow,” Self said. “I was really nervous about it. I knew we had to get a great restart. It was pretty wild going off into turns one and two.”

For his part, Heim was disappointed but he knew what to expect going into the final couple of laps.

“We just got pushed up into the loose dirt in turns three and four,” Heim said. “If I was in that position that’s what I would have done too. It sucks we lost all those positions. We stayed patient all day and worked the bottom groove and did what we needed to do. It’s disappointing to end up seventh after the day we had.”

Eckes was happy to come across the line in second knowing he could have given up a lot more ground to Self in the ARCA Menards Series championship battle.

“We’re happy with second but we needed more than that today,” Eckes said. “We were fourth before that last restart so it could have been worse than that. It’s just a shame we gave up everything we picked up at Pocono.”

Bret Holmes was third, Seavey fourth and Will Kimmel was fifth.

The finish:

Michael Self, Christian Eckes, Bret Holmes, Logan Seavey, Will Kimmel, Kelly Kovski, Corey Heim, Carson Hocevar, Ryan Unzicker, Joe Graf Jr., Travis Braden, Dick Doheny, Tim Richmond, Bobby Gerhart, Ty Gibbs, Brad Smith, Dale Shearer, Mike Basham, Tommy Vigh Jr., Eric Caudell, Wayne Peterson.

LONG POND, Pa. – It’s been a season to forget for Will Power, but he finally got something to smile about on Sunday afternoon.

Power was declared the winner of Sunday’s ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway after a storm stopped the event after 128 laps, 73 laps short of the scheduled 200-lap distance.

“I thought if this cloud cover comes over and it doesn’t rain then it’s just not my year,” Power joked after being declared the winner.

Power was leading the race aboard his No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet as an ominous storm cloud began to move in over the 2.5-mile track. A lightning strike with seven miles of the track resulted in a caution period and moments later the red flag was displayed.

After a short waiting period, NTT IndyCar Series officials made the decision to call the race and declared Power the winner. Power has now won an Indy car event for 13 consecutive seasons.

“I had a few issues during the race, but we just kept coming back,” Power said. “Full credit to the team. Great car. I kind of just hung there, saved fuel and when it was time to go I went. I was so determined. I really wanted to win.”

Scott Dixon was scored second when the race was declared official, continuing a streak of four consecutive top-two finishes for the reigning series champion as he battles to get back into the championship fight.

Indianapolis 500 winner Simon Pagenaud finished third, followed by impressive rookie Santino Ferrucci and championship leader Josef Newgarden.

Newgarden more than doubled his championship lead with his fifth-place finish, largely because his main title rival Alexander Rossi was involved in an opening lap crash that collected four other cars. Rossi managed to get back on track, but finished 18th in the 22-car field.

More details to come.