Durham 131 and 212 for 8 (Eckersley 54*, Hutton 4-54) trail Northamptonshire 217 and 315 (Proctor 86*, Levi 60, Rossington 52) by 189 runs

When Durham were relegated by the ECB as part of the financial rescue in 2016, figures at the club predicted a five-year journey back to the first division. On another warm, cosy day at Wantage Road they all but surrendered the possibility of making it in three to a Northamptonshire side whose own promotion may be confirmed as early as tomorrow.

One by one, the challengers are thinning out. As Durham slid to near defeat, so the push from Sussex expired via an unexpected loss to Derbyshire. If Northants complete victory and Glamorgan fail to convert their advantage against Leicestershire, then Northants will go up with a game to spare. Should Glamorgan win then Northants will still need only four points against Gloucestershire next week.

It would be an exaggeration to say that they are dominating this match, but neither have they been behind since the half-hour or so of carnage from Adam Rossington on the first day. With Luke Procter to the fore, they added 80 second-innings runs to their overnight 235 for 6 to set a target of 402 and once again Durham's top order collapsed to leave the result an apparent formality.

Durham can claim to be taking small steps forward, with five wins against four last season and a tally of 150 points, 20 up on 2018, with a game to go. There is even something slightly positive to be taken from the haul of 19 batting points. It may be easily the worst among their rivals, but they managed only 16 last summer. And even 11 Steve Smiths would struggle to rack up 400s at the Riverside.

If one eye is on the field, the other must be on the ledgers. The latest accounts, up to the end of September 2018, were lodged with Companies House recently and reveal an overall loss for the year of £1,136,418. This against a profit of £2,227,951 for 2017, when they received £2 million from the ECB for agreeing not to apply to stage Test cricket for the foreseeable future.

Durham certainly know the meaning of the word 'battle'. Whatever the paucity of certain techniques, enough of them showed the guts required to fight their way into a final day. The forecast is good, again, and the new ball is only one over old, but at a time when matches are routinely finishing way ahead of schedule their lower order deserve credit for refusing to succumb to the inevitable.

Ned Eckersley held things together during the gloom of a floodlit extra half hour, when Northants failed in a dubious mission to bounce their way to a breakthrough. Rossington must question his earlier strategy of easing up on Eckersley to focus on removing his tail-end partners. Matt Salisbury has faced 55 balls for his two runs, undaunted even after being struck by Doug Bracewell.

In fact, Durham's best periods bookended an otherwise rather dispiriting day. They struck in each of the first two overs, with the ball seaming away, and a brilliant diving catch by Cameron Steel at backward point removed Brett Hutton just as he was starting to smite profitably. But a last-wicket stand of 51 between Procter and Ben Sanderson shifted the initiative.

Procter completed his fifty from 109 balls and went along at better than a run a ball thereafter. No stroke startled as much as his straight six against Brydon Carse, which prompted a change of ball, though a couple of later Vince-like cover drives by Jack Burnham would have better sated the aesthetes who always converge around the second-hand bookshop during lunch.

They had only victory to anticipate as they ferreted through the shelves of slightly-foxed Swantons and mottled CMJs. In the seventh over, Alex Lees was bowled shouldering arms to Hutton, a poor decision given that the bowler was shaping the ball back in to the left-hander, and a tortured innings by Angus Robson ended with a routine catch to Rossington.

After his sensational stumping on Wednesday, Rossington suffered mixed fortunes this time. He dropped Robson, not that it mattered, and needed treatment after being struck painfully on a finger. Equally, he held an absolute beauty, right-handed at full stretch when Burnham chased a wide one from Procter, who enjoyed a characteristically effective, easily-overlooked day.

But Rossington's effort was trumped by Richard Levi at third slip when Carse slashed at Bracewell. Levi did well to react quickly enough let alone hold on at full stretch. Ominously, though, Carse had kept the nuggety Eckersley company for 17 overs. Salisbury has matched that, and while Northants supporters might have chuntered on their way out at least they have one last home day ahead.

PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh-area law enforcement looked into an allegation that Antonio Brown committed a sexual assault in June 2017, but authorities won't prosecute him due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

A detective contacted Britney Taylor's lawyer after her lawsuit against Brown became public last week, a source told ESPN, but since the allegation is more than two years old, there won't be an investigation.

"Our office, along with the Allegheny County Police Department, made contact with counsel for the plaintiff in the federal lawsuit involving Antonio Brown," the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office told ESPN in a statement. "Procedurally, it appears there is a statute of limitations issue in moving forward with any inquiry involving the Allegheny County allegation mentioned in the lawsuit."

Taylor's lawsuit says that Brown -- in three separate incidents, two in June 2017 and another in May 2018 -- sexually assaulted Taylor, whom he met while they were attending Central Michigan and whom he later hired as a trainer. One of the alleged 2017 incidents happened in Pittsburgh, where Brown played for the Steelers for nine seasons. The others allegedly took place in Florida.

The NFL is investigating the matter and has interviewed Taylor, though it remains unclear when or if Brown will interview with the league.

ESPN first reported that Brown and Taylor entered into confidential settlement discussions months before the lawsuit surfaced last week, but the New England Patriots -- who signed Brown on Sept. 7 -- wouldn't have known about the situation unless confidentiality was breached. ESPN's Jeff Darlington reported those discussions included a $2 million settlement offer that Brown declined.

Brown made his season debut with the Patriots in Miami on Sunday. Sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Friday that Brown was not placed on the commissioner's exempt list because there is no criminal investigation into the wide receiver.

Brown's lawyer, Darren Heitner, said in a statement last week that his client and Taylor had been involved in a "consensual personal relationship."

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who has asked the team to trade him, will play on Thursday night against the Tennessee Titans, coach Doug Marrone said Wednesday.

Marrone said he spoke with Ramsey on Tuesday, and there are no lingering issues regarding their sideline shouting match in Sunday's game. But the coach didn't have anything to say on Wednesday about Ramsey's trade request.

"I stay out of that," Marrone said. "I stay out of contracts, stay out of that stuff, and my focus is on the guys that are playing, and he's playing and he's on the team. I don't get involved in that."

Ramsey's agent informed the team after Sunday's 13-12 loss to Houston that the star cornerback wanted a trade. Ramsey is in the fourth year of his rookie contract, and the team exercised the fifth-year option for 2020. League sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen the Jaguars are seeking at least a first-round pick but would like more than that.

Ramsey said Tuesday that he doesn't have anything negative to say about anyone in the Jaguars building, and Marrone said Wednesday the two have a good relationship.

"Jalen and I have always had a good, open relationship where we've always been able to talk," Marrone said. "We sat down yesterday and we talked about what's gone on as far as he and I. It's like anything else in this profession: It's behind us now. His focus is on playing and doing the best job for his teammates and my job is to do the best for the team."

FRISCO, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys have released former first-round pick Taco Charlton.

With the roster exemption for Robert Quinn's return expiring Wednesday, the Cowboys opted to cut ties with Charlton despite being on the hook for more than $1.8 million in guaranteed base salary over the next two years.

On Monday, Charlton posted -- and then deleted -- "Free me" on Twitter. He then tweeted, "Trust me the last thing I want to do is have to go to social media to get what I want so I can play football again."

The Cowboys had trade discussions with teams for Charlton, but nothing that prompted them to make a deal. Charlton was not on the field during the open portion of practice to the media Wednesday.

Charlton is one of the rare failed first-round picks the Cowboys have made in the past decade. In 2012, the Cowboys moved up to the sixth pick in the draft to select cornerback Morris Claiborne, and he never had more than one interception in his five seasons.

Charlton, the 28th overall pick in 2017, had four sacks in 27 games (seven starts) but was inactive for the first two games of this season. He had been a healthy scratch in four of the past six games, dating to the end of the 2018 regular season.

He was not able to find a consistent role in the rotation used by defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli. Last year, Charlton missed three games because of a shoulder injury that required offseason surgery. He also had ankle surgery.

After a slow start to camp, he had two sacks this preseason but faced a numbers crunch with the Cowboys liking the work of last year's fourth-round pick, Dorance Armstrong, and this year's fifth-round pick, Joe Jackson, because of their versatility.

If Charlton is claimed by another team, the Cowboys would not owe him the guaranteed money. If he goes unclaimed and signs with another team at a lower salary, the Cowboys would be on the hook for the difference in the guaranteed money.

Quinn practiced for the first time Wednesday since returning from his two-game suspension for violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing drugs. He suffered a broken hand in training camp, but that has healed and the expectation is he will play Sunday against his former team, the Miami Dolphins.

He said he worked out for four hours a day during his suspension, not far from the Cowboys' headquarters. Quinn added that his surgically repaired hand has healed well enough to where he hopes not to need extra padding.

"If you ask a man what he can and cannot do, I'm sure he's going to tell you he can do everything," Quinn said. "If they need me to play 50, 60 snaps, that's what I have to do. You look at our D-line, we've got depth. We've got people who can play every position. At the end of the day, I'm just looking to help this team win. If it takes 10 plays or 50 plays, I just want to win."

That his return is coming against the team that traded him to Dallas in the offseason does not matter, according to Quinn.

"A lot of the guys are gone," Quinn said when asked whether he has contacted any of his former teammates. "It's kind of crazy what's going on. I kind of broke it down like this way: I think Coach [Brian] Flores is doing his thing, same thing [Jon] Gruden's doing. He's putting his team together. However you want go about it, that's how he's going about it.

"... I'm not in the building, so who cares? Again, he's the head coach. He can do what he wants. At the end of the day, like I said, you've seen one coach do it, don't knock another coach for doing the same thing. That's what it is."

The Cowboys could be without defensive end Tyrone Crawford on Sunday because of recurring hip issues that limited his work over the summer. Crawford did not practice Wednesday.

VONTAE DAVIS WAKES just after sunrise on a weekday in August and wonders how he'll start the day. He has little on his schedule -- a lunch meeting with his business partner and maybe some household chores -- so he decides to spend his morning doing something familiar, a routine from his NFL playing days: logging an hour in his hyperbaric chamber.

He zips himself inside the pill-shaped device -- an inflatable mattress meets sleeping bag -- and breathes in the pure, compressed oxygen. To pass the time, Davis reads a business book on his Kindle. Today's chapter is about CEOs -- how whenever possible, they shy away from the spotlight. It's of particular interest to Davis, who is now CEO of a soon-to-open holistic wellness spa in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

But the chapter resonates in a deeper way. It's been almost a year since Davis stunned the sports world with one of the most bizarre retirements in history. With his Buffalo Bills down 28-6 minutes before halftime against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 2, the 30-year-old two-time Pro Bowl cornerback removed himself from the game. Then he walked to the locker room, took off his jersey and drove home.

It was a confounding decision, one that thrust him into the national spotlight. Former teammates and fans called him a quitter. His brother, Vernon Davis, a 14-year NFL veteran, was heartbroken. Commentators and sportswriters questioned Vontae Davis' mental health and made jokes on social media and talk shows.

Now, 11 months later, Davis emerges from the chamber. He's wearing shorts branded with the logo of the Indianapolis Colts, with whom he spent six of his happiest football years. This is the first August since high school that he isn't preparing for a season, and he admits it's strange. He's still in shape -- 210 pounds, 5 shy of his playing weight. Just the other day, he posted a video of himself on his Instagram running shirtless on his Peloton, his muscles bouncing with every stride, prompting his followers to ask if he was readying a comeback. The thought made him laugh.

Vontae Davis doesn't miss the NFL, and he doesn't regret his decision to walk off the field.

"Most people, when I did what I did, they thought I was literally going insane or something," he says. "But I was actually fine. I was totally fine.

"And I'm totally fine today."

WHEN DAVIS WOKE up on Sept. 16, the day of the Bills' Week 2 game against the Chargers, he couldn't wait to get onto the field. It had been a hectic 10 months -- Davis had been released the previous November by the Colts, rehabbed from a third surgery on his groin, then signed with a team nobody -- not even those in his family -- saw coming. He was a healthy scratch in the first week of his 10th NFL season, then named the starter before Week 2 after an injury to another cornerback.

This was his chance to prove to his coaches and teammates that he was still an elite, Pro Bowl-level player.

That week had been like any other -- he studied up on his opponent's tendencies and spent time at the practice facility. Come Sunday morning, he was well rested. He ate a good breakfast and drove to the stadium, listening to his favorite Rick Ross tracks on the way. Pregame stretches were normal, as was the buzz of the crowd and the national anthem. His wife, Megan, sat in the family section, roughly 15 rows behind the team bench, wearing her husband's new No. 22 jersey.

On the third play of the game, 1 yard shy of a first down, Davis tackled Chargers running back Melvin Gordon to force a punt, then celebrated with his new teammates, holding his fist high as the crowd cheered.

But something was off. Physically, he felt fine -- there was no twinge from the groin that had long plagued his NFL career. This was different. His mind felt far away -- like he was going through the motions in the game he'd spent more than a decade playing. "I don't feel right," he said to his teammates, and as the Chargers sliced through the Bills' defense, scoring 28 points before halftime, he sat on the bench and realized what was happening.

His mind had finally caught up with his body. Mentally, he was finished. Most athletes who come to this realization have their "aha" moment somewhere in private, but Davis' was happening right there on the sideline. He felt scared and vulnerable, and he wasn't sure what to do -- all he knew was that he couldn't return to the field.

He needed to get away.

"I'm done," he told his defensive coordinator, who wasn't sure what Davis was talking about. The team chaplain followed him into the locker room, thinking he was injured, but Davis just kept repeating those same words.

The locker room was empty when he arrived. He took off his jersey and his shoulder pads and texted Megan. "Babe I'm done. I'm hanging up my cleats. I don't want to put my body through this anymore." The message startled her. Right now? she thought. In the middle of the game? She knew Vontae didn't want anyone to talk him out of his decision. Instead, her first instinct was just to be there for him. "OK, I'll meet you at home," she responded.

Davis skipped his shower, changed into his clothes, left everything in his locker and walked out the door to the players parking lot before his teammates and coaches arrived.

Meanwhile, 375 miles away in D.C., where his Redskins were playing the Colts, Vernon had just entered the locker room at halftime. He saw a missed call from his brother, which was odd -- they never called each other during games. So he called back and asked if everything was OK.

"I'm calling to let you know that I'm retired," Vontae said.

Vernon's heart sank. "Are you serious, or are you joking?"

" ... I'm tired," Vontae said.

He called his grandmother and a couple of close friends, then waited at the town house for his wife's arrival. By then, the news had spread among his Bills teammates and coaches, first as a rumor, then as a bizarre truth -- No. 22 was nowhere in sight.

Megan neared the town house, not sure of what to say or how to react. She opened the front door, and there he was, standing in street clothes in the kitchen, as his team began the third quarter. It was awkward, and Megan couldn't help herself. She started to laugh.

"Damn! You just left the stadium!" she said, and as she kept laughing, Davis started to laugh too.

"I'm never going to hear the end of this," he said.

Their laughs quickly turned to tears. He looked frazzled but light. She asked him how he was doing.

"I feel free like a bird," he said, and with that, she grabbed a bottle of their favorite tequila, Don Julio 1942, and the only juice they had in the refrigerator, orange, and poured them each a heavy glass.

It wasn't a moment of celebration. It was a moment of reflection.

FOR DAVIS, FOOTBALL had always been more of a job than a passion. He loved the feeling of being on the field -- and being great at it. But throughout his career, he struggled with the constant injuries, painkiller culture and business side of the NFL.

After three years at the University of Illinois, he was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the first round in 2009. He earned all-rookie honors that season. His first interception was a pick-six against the Bills, and in the two games he played against the New England Patriots, he intercepted Tom Brady twice, both while covering Randy Moss.

He was also introduced to the prescription painkiller Toradol. In his rookie year, Davis watched many of his veteran teammates take it before games and sometimes practice. He never liked the idea of painkillers -- he rarely even took Tylenol or Advil. But as he adjusted to the violence of the NFL, Toradol made him feel numb on the field, masking any bumps or bruises. "Guys can run through a brick wall on that stuff," he says.

There were flashes of greatness in the next two seasons for the Dolphins, like the improbable goal-line interception against Brett Favre, a pass that Davis tipped, juggled and caught flat on his back. Then there were the off-the-field mishaps. He was benched for the start of a game in 2010 for breaking an unspecified team rule, and the next year he was suspended a game for arriving late and hungover to practice. The media labeled him immature and problematic, which bothered Davis.

"I'm 23 years old," he says today. "Who's never shown up to work hungover once? Only difference is I'm in the public eye."

And that never came naturally. Davis was quiet and reserved, raised in Washington, D.C., by his grandma, who took in Davis and his six siblings from parents who battled drug addiction. In sports, he was stuck in the shadow of Vernon, his oldest brother, an elite high school football player who'd go on to star in college and the NFL.

Vontae Davis never sought the spotlight. That's why he was upset with how his Dolphins tenure ended. The team was featured on HBO's "Hard Knocks" in 2012, and in the fourth episode, he sat across from GM Jeff Ireland in his office and learned he'd been traded to the Colts.

Davis' first reaction was to ask whether he could call his grandma and his brother. He didn't know cameras were tucked inside the room, capturing his intimate moment that would become a viral sensation.

"There's this perception that there's brotherhood in the NFL and we're all fighting for each other and the same things," Megan says. "And then you embarrass one of your first-round draft picks on national television without him knowing there's a camera in the room?"

"I felt kind of violated," Vontae says. "It was a lot of B.S."

But things worked out with the Colts. After two years, he earned a huge contract -- four years and $39 million. The vote of confidence translated to his best-ever season. In 2014, he finished tied for fourth in the league in passes defended, adding five more in a playoff win against Peyton Manning's Denver Broncos.

Davis was a Pro Bowler, and was again in 2015. He became a fan favorite and in the process had grown very close to head coach Chuck Pagano. The two texted frequently about football and life. Pagano even attended Davis' 2015 wedding in Puerto Rico.

For a few years, it seemed Davis had discovered his path to success in the NFL. But he never felt defined by football. In a way, it pulled him from his other interests. Davis loved traveling but could do so only during the offseason. He became interested in finance, wanting to open a business, but never found the time to immerse himself in the logistics.

He knew football would always be a means to an end more than his reason for being. But in a city he loved, with a coach who cared for him, Davis was happy.

THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER, Megan rarely saw Vontae bring home a bad game. Can't play well every Sunday, he'd tell her, then move on.

Except on Thanksgiving Day 2016.

Davis had been limping around the house in the days before the game. His groin was bothering him, just like it had off and on throughout his career. Megan told him not to play, but Vontae suited up anyway, matching up against All-Pro wide receiver Antonio Brown, who scored three touchdowns and had 91 receiving yards. When Davis got home later that night, he didn't leave the bedroom for a full day.

"It was probably the worst game I'd ever seen him play," Megan says. "But injuries never really set him back mentally. That's what I think the disconnect was with Vontae for a bit. Mentally, he was always the most tenacious and hungry. He believes in himself to the umpteenth degree."

But his body was breaking down. During the season, Davis had trouble sitting and standing. "He was walking like an 80-year-old man," Megan says.

The next summer, heading into his contract year, Davis reinjured his groin during the preseason. This time, it was a tear. The Colts medical staff prescribed rest and rehab, but Davis got a second opinion from the independent surgeon who had operated on him in 2012 and 2014. His suggestion? Surgery.

At first, Davis followed the team's advice. He was cleared to return in Week 4 but wasn't himself. "I didn't have my explosiveness," he says. "I didn't have a burst." He had taken prescription painkillers like Toradol sporadically throughout his career, but now Davis refused to take them -- he had read about several long-term consequences and was trying to focus on holistic ways to heal. After a Week 8 loss, the Colts had seen enough of his play. Two years removed from a Pro Bowl season, Davis was benched in a "non-injury" decision. But that news didn't come from Pagano. It came from another coach.

"I felt betrayed," Davis says, believing he'd done enough for the team, and built enough of a rapport with his head coach, to hear it from the man himself.

Megan knew he'd never play second string. "Him mentally, I don't think he would be able to go from playing at that pinnacle to the bench," she says. "There's certain guys who can do that and play a lesser role. But that was never him."

Plus, Davis' groin hadn't healed properly. So he went to the media to share his side of the drama. "I feel like I was demoted because of my health instead of my ability," he told reporters by his locker, explaining that he felt disrespected by how Pagano handled the situation. Later that night, he and Megan talked with his agent and decided to go against the team's wishes: He would have season-ending surgery to repair his torn groin. The next day, he was cut.

But Davis wasn't close to retiring. After spending the remainder of the 2017 season rehabbing, he visited teams such as the Browns, 49ers and Raiders. He was looking for a prove-it deal, just one year, so he could reestablish himself as an elite corner, then cash in the next season. He says he decided on the Bills because that's the team that offered him the most money on a one-year deal -- $5 million.

But those closest to him had reservations.

"I absolutely wanted to stay away from Buffalo," Megan says. "The organization just didn't have a great reputation. When you're in the league, you hear things, and records show things."

"I didn't know why he chose Buffalo until I talked to him," Vernon adds. "He chose them basically because of the good group of DBs that they had."

Vontae Davis arrived at training camp two weeks early, eager to learn the playbook and meet his new coaches. He'd soak in the hot tub before practice and in the cold tub after, earning himself the nickname "Old Man" from some of his teammates. But his camp wasn't great. He was always a step or two too slow, and his preseason play was inconsistent. One day, following a long practice, Megan found him sitting alone in their bedroom. He was quiet, his eyes fixed on the window.

"I'm so f---ing tired," he said, in a way she'd never heard from him before. She sat next to him on the bed, choosing her words carefully.

"'Tae, you know you don't really have to do this," she said.

He looked at her, confused. "What do you mean?"

"You don't have to play football anymore. You don't have to keep putting your body through this every week."

Davis looked at her. "I just need to prove to myself that I can't do it anymore."

Three weeks later, he walked off a football field for the last time.

NOW IT'S JUST after 11 a.m. on a weekday in August and Davis is driving into town to meet with Pai Dayan, his business partner who also runs a juice bar.

The two have plenty to go over. Ever since he retired, Davis has refocused his energy on VZONE, his holistic wellness spa, scheduled to open in October. It's a low-risk investment for Davis, even though he has sunk six figures into the passion project. That's one of the many positives from his NFL career: the financial security and leverage to create opportunities like this.

Dayan gives Davis a huge hug when he arrives and asks if he could meet a few customers at the juice bar. They're all excited to chat with a football player. One asks where he played. "I was drafted by Miami and traded to the Indianapolis Colts," Davis says. "Then I was in Buffalo for a cup of coffee."

"Are you still playing?" someone asks.

"No," he says with a big, easy smile. "I'm retired."

"But you're too young to retire!"

"Not in football years," Davis replies.

The backlash to his retirement was swift and ferocious. Some of his Bills teammates called him a quitter. So did fans and commentators. After Megan caught him reading some of the vitriol, she took away Vontae's phone, which kept ringing with texts and calls from reporters and former teammates, coaches and friends, wanting to know what happened.

Davis explained his reasoning that day in a social media statement. "This isn't how I pictured retiring from the NFL," it began, detailing the injuries and the physical and mental toll it took to play the game he loved. He read the statement over and over with tears in his eyes before it posted to his Instagram page. There was finality to it. In the message, there's a picture of him saluting the fans. He's wearing his No. 21 Colts jersey. He signed his retirement papers, and the Bills demanded most of his signing bonus back. He didn't care about that, or the $5 million. But he did care about offending his teammates. He never meant to disrespect them, or anyone else.

"At the moment, they were obviously pretty upset," Davis says. "I get it from their perspective. It's such a warrior mentality."

He knows that some people will always consider him a quitter or associate his legacy with retirement. He even finds some of the constant social media trolling entertaining. Just the other day, former NFL defensive lineman Darnell Dockett tagged Davis in a video on Instagram with a clip from "South Park." He and Megan couldn't stop laughing.

He also understands that people have wondered why he didn't just finish the game -- even just stand on the sideline for the second half. It's hard for him to explain. In that moment, when he realized football was no longer his purpose, he was overwhelmed. So he trusted his gut to leave the field.

"And looking back, it's one of the best decisions I've made in my life, honestly," he says. "Because I did something that I knew was the best thing for me."

Davis is truly happy. He loves how great his body feels. He loves that soon he'll be his own boss and that he's creating a space to help others heal. He wakes up every day with the freedom to decide how he wants to fill his day, knowing he, Megan and their future family are financially secure.

After a bowl of acai at the juice bar, he and Dayan decide on lunch near the ocean. Davis sits back and sips on a tequila-based cocktail in the sun, eating fried calamari and sea bass. The two talk business until Davis' eyes drift toward a TV at the outdoor bar set on NFL Network. It's a short replay of a Colts preseason game. Davis can't help it -- his brain is quickly analyzing what's happening on the field. Moments later, as the program pans through different storylines, a familiar face flashes across the screen from Redskins training camp.

"Look, look, look!" he says. "My brother!"

Watching football was weird at first. Last season, he caught the playoffs and the Super Bowl, but it felt too soon. This year is different. He's excited to be a fan. Davis wants to attend a couple of Dolphins games, especially in Week 6, when the Redskins come to town. He even bought NFL Game Pass. He'll invite his buddies over to watch games from his man cave, where they'll sit on black leather couches and scream at a 70-inch-screen TV, all the while surrounded by memorabilia from Davis' playing days -- most of which is still in the garage.

He hasn't gotten around to unboxing it yet. But when he does, the walls will tell the story of his career. From high school and college jerseys to aqua and royal blue ones from Miami and Indianapolis. There will be his interception balls thrown by Brady and Favre, as well as his Pro Bowl uniforms.

"But no Buffalo stuff," Davis says with a laugh. "I wasn't there that long."

NEW YORK -- The Brooklyn Nets have a new owner and a new CEO.

Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai completed his purchase of the team and Barclays Center on Wednesday, then announced that he had hired former Turner Sports president David Levy to oversee both.

Tsai's purchase of the Nets was unanimously approved Wednesday by the NBA's board of governors. He spent nearly $3.5 billion for the team and the arena, a record sale for a United States sports franchise.

The native of Taiwan already had purchased 49% of the team from Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov in 2018, with the option to become controlling owner in 2021, but pushed up that timeline for full ownership of the team.

"In addition to being a passionate basketball fan, Joe is one of China's pre-eminent internet, media and e-commerce pioneers and his expertise will be invaluable in the league's efforts to grow the game in China and other global markets,'' NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.

The Nets will travel to China next month to play two preseason games against the Los Angeles Lakers at the start of a season filled with excitement for the team. They signed Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in July, adding two superstars to a team that made the playoffs last season.

Silver called the Nets a "thriving team, well-positioned for the future,'' and Tsai praised general manager Sean Marks and coach Kenny Atkinson for building it.

"They established the culture, developed talent that others couldn't see, and made Brooklyn the place where the best players want to play,'' Tsai said.

Tsai, the executive vice chairman of the Alibaba Group, the Chinese e-commerce giant, paid $2.35 billion for the Nets and about $1 billion in a separate transaction for the arena. The team price surpassed the $2.2 billion that Tilman Fertitta paid for the NBA's Houston Rockets and that David Tepper spent for the NFL's Carolina Panthers.

Levy will also serve as president of J Tsai Sports, the sports investment and holding vehicle controlled by Tsai whose portfolio includes the WNBA's New York Liberty, as well as other sports teams and companies in both the U.S and overseas. Levy worked closely with the NBA while at Turner and in his new role will oversee all business, revenue, strategy and operations for the Nets and Barclays Center.

Washington Wizards guard Isaiah Thomas is expected to miss six to eight weeks after undergoing thumb surgery Wednesday, meaning he could miss the start of the regular season.

The Wizards announced that the operation was to repair a ruptured radial collateral ligament in Thomas' left thumb. The two-time All-Star suffered the injury Monday during routine workouts.

"This was an unfortunate setback for Isaiah, but with his resolve and the top care he will receive from our medical team, we expect him to make a full recovery," Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard said in a statement. "In the meantime, he will continue to mentor our young guards and have a positive impact on the team as we start training camp."

The Wizards open their regular season Oct. 23 against the Dallas Mavericks. Thomas signed a one-year deal with Washington in July after spending last season with the Denver Nuggets.

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry is committed to playing for Team USA in next summer's Olympic Games in Tokyo.

"That is the plan, for sure," Curry said in an interview with ESPN's Rachel Nichols. "You know, obviously knock on wood, you don't want any injuries or things like that to interfere."

This would mark Curry's first appearance in the Olympics, an experience he said he's looking forward to, when asked specifically by Nichols whether he was committing to the team.

"Definitely wanna go," Curry said. "I've never been on the Olympic team. I've been on two World Cup championship gold-medal teams. But the Olympics is the experience that I want. And next year will hopefully be it."

Team USA recently finished seventh in the FIBA World Cup, the country's worst finish ever. The roster was composed mostly of players put together at the last minute, after multiple high-profile players backed out of playing. The embarrassing finish for the proud basketball country prompted Team USA managing director Jerry Colangelo to say that he would "remember" players who "didn't show up." Curry's declaration figures to be the first signal that other American superstars will join the former MVP in trying to win a fourth straight Olympic gold medal for Team USA.

Curry says he is confident that the Americans can still reign supreme when they put their best players on the floor.

"We're still the best," Curry said. "If we get the guys that are supposed to be there, in terms of, you know, representing us in the Olympic stage and the commitment's been there, and I think it'll be there next year."

Curry would join Warriors head coach Steve Kerr on Team USA. Kerr is an assistant on Gregg Popovich's Team USA staff.

Curry also is sorting through his new reality as a member of a Warriors squad that comes into the season after a massive roster reconstruction that started when Kevin Durant signed with the Brooklyn Nets at the beginning of the free-agency period.

"At the end of the day, we live in an age where choice at the forefront, and K, you know, made a decision for himself and you can't argue that," Curry said. "I wish we could still play with K. He's an unbelievable talent, unbelievable person. We accomplished a lot together. But -- you know, things have changed a little bit. So you obviously wish him the best, obviously with his recovery first and foremost and things on and off the court. But we're gonna have to battle down the road. So this should be a fun, new experience on that front, too."

Curry acknowledged that he found out about Durant's decision to sign with the Nets as he flew to New York to check in on his now former teammate.

"There was never an expectation that I was going there to pitch him or to try to sell the Warriors and his future here," Curry said. "Everything was pretty much on the table. And again -- I think Draymond [Green] said it, too, he's like, 'He ain't need to call anybody to say, you know, 'This is' -- if he wanted to we woulda said, 'That's fine.' But he didn't have to call anybody to say, 'This is what I wanna do for myself.' And so you respect that."

One of the things that Durant discussed at times last season and reiterated in a story in the Wall Street Journal recently was the feeling that he was never fully embraced as a member of the Warriors because he did not get drafted and grow in the group's system like Curry and fellow All-Stars Draymond Green and Klay Thompson.

When asked about Durant's quote to the Journal that "nobody could get a full acceptance of me there," Curry held to the belief that Durant had to make the best decision for himself and the Warriors would always cherish the two championships the group won together with Durant during his three-year stint with the team.

"I mean, that's tough," Curry said. "There's so many narratives that go on, especially when you're at the top of the league. No matter how, you know, the full transition happens to Brooklyn, him separating himself from the Warriors -- that's gonna happen. I think he knows, you know, what we were about as teammates, what we were about as friends on and off the court. And again, nobody is gonna take away the accomplishments we had. But at the end of the day, whatever he, you know, needed to do to make that decision and however he wants to explain that -- that's just what's gonna happen."

Curry struck a similar chord when Nichols asked about Durant's quote to the Journal regarding the Warriors' offense and Kerr's offensive system -- with Durant saying in part, "The motion offense we run in Golden State, it only works to a certain point."

"Well, I don't care what plays we ran," Curry said. "We won two championships. And at the end of the day, we had a lotta talent and there was an expectation of us figuring out how to balance all that. And we talked a lot about it throughout the three-year run. It wasn't always perfect, but I think in terms of, you know, the results and what we were able to do on the floor, that kinda speaks for itself. We all wanna play iso-ball at the end of the day in some way, shape or form. But I'd rather have some championships, too."

Curry knows the Warriors will face a different challenge this year as they try to integrate D'Angelo Russell, who was acquired in a sign and trade with the Nets for Durant, into the offense while the group waits for Thompson to return from an ACL injury. It remains to be seen how the Warriors will divvy up Curry's minutes in the new year, but Curry demurred when the topic of load management came up.

"I wanna be smart about what I'm doing," Curry said. "I doubt there'll be any games where I'm playing 48 minutes (laugh) and -- just 'cause I -- I could, but why, you know, that's not -- that's not part of, you know, how you achieve greatness, at the end of the day, for what we're trying to accomplish, which is a championship. So everything's gonna be in light of trying to get another banner. All the other stuff is -- it'll take care of itself."

While winning another title remains Curry's ultimate goal, he acknowledged that winning his third MVP award would be a "special" accomplishment.

"I always say, I'm playing like I'm the best player on the floor no matter what the situation is," Curry said. "That's my mentality. It might not mean I'm taking every shot, but that's the aggressiveness that I need to play with and the confidence I need to have. So -- that'll carry me the rest of my career. And at the end of the day, winning an MVP would be special. And it's something that -- I've experienced before and would love to experience again. I'd love to push the envelope and push the limits a little bit. So ... you won't see anything different about how I play, you know, this season versus years past."

Which players defined the past 10 NBA seasons?

We posed this question to a panel of ESPN's NBA experts: Who was the player of the decade? Voters ranked their top three picks in order -- considering the 2009-10 season through 2018-19 -- and here are the results.

LeBron James was an overwhelming pick at No. 1, with a tight race between former teammates Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant for Nos. 2 and 3.

Three members of our panel -- Kirk Goldsberry, Kevin Pelton and Tim Bontemps -- highlight what made each of these three players a defining superstar of the 2010s.

1. LeBron James

Teams

• Cleveland Cavaliers: 2009-10

• Miami Heat: 2010-14

• Cleveland Cavaliers: 2014-18

• Los Angeles Lakers: 2018-19

Kirk Goldsberry: LeBron James is the defining player of the 2010s, and it's not close. The only people who have had better NBA decades than 2010s LeBron are Michael Jordan in the 1990s and Bill Russell in the 1960s. Neither of those guys played in a league as deep or as competitive as the one James dominated over these past 10 seasons.

James was clearly the best on-court performer we watched this decade. In case you might disagree, consider these facts:

• He led all scorers this decade ... by a lot

• He ranked fourth in total assists and 10th in total rebounds

• He was the only player in the top 10 in points, rebounds and assists

James is the greatest basketball player since Jordan, and most of his prime fell squarely in the 2010s. He began this decade as a 25-year-old NBA superstar with one Finals appearance and zero championships. He will end it as a 35-year-old global icon with nine Finals appearances, three titles and three Finals MVP awards. When we look back at his incredible career, we will look back mostly at the 2010s.

Not only did James appear in the NBA Finals every season between 2011 and 2018 but he also was arguably the best player in every one of those series. In addition, the dude racked up more than 1,500 more buckets than Stephen Curry and James Harden and 500 more than Kevin Durant.

LeBron received nearly every first-place vote available from our panel, and that's how it should be. Don't get me wrong -- Durant and Curry are marvelous, game-changing megastars, but neither of them controlled this decade nearly as much as James. He is deeply intertwined with every major trend this decade on and off the court.

Although the rise of 3-point shooting is the definitive on-court trend of the 2010s -- and Curry is the definitive shooter of our time -- that's only part of the story. Curry made an astronomical 2,483 3-pointers during the 2010s. Harden ranked second with 2,025. But, in that same time period, James assisted on 2,107 triples, by far the most in the NBA. So while Curry might deserve all the credit in the world for changing how we look at long-range shooting this decade, James deserves some for changing the way we look at long-range shot creation. His play is integral to the tactics driving the trend.

Durant is a better pure scorer than James, and Curry is a better pure shooter, but James is a more complete superstar. When you consider his playoff success and the stat totals, it's virtually impossible to argue any other player was as dominant on the court.

Oh, and James has made First-Team All-Defense three times this decade, too. Neither Curry nor Durant has ever done that.

James wasn't simply the league's most impactful player on the court. Off the floor, he reshaped how we look at superstardom and player movement in pro sports. If you're searching for the origin of contemporary player empowerment in the NBA and beyond, look no further than July 8, 2010, in Greenwich, Connecticut. His televised free-agency decision might have been kind of clumsy, but it was unquestionably the seminal moment for a decade in which dozens of the game's biggest talents all seemed to switch teams, demand trades and join forces in ways we'd never seen before.

Before King James shocked the world in 2010 and took his talents to South Beach, July was a sleepy month on the NBA calendar. Nowadays the league sets its phones on fire for two straight weeks with breaking news bombs in ways that would be incomprehensible to basketball fans in the pre-LeBron era.

In the end, it's the overwhelming breadth and relentlessness of James' greatness that make him the most definitive player of the 2010s.

2. Stephen Curry

Team

• Golden State Warriors: 2009-19

Kevin Pelton: When the 2010s began, LeBron James was an easy choice as the decade's best player. He had already led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals and won his first MVP before celebrating his 26th birthday. Stephen Curry's future was far less clear. Back when the calendar turned from 2009 to 2010, Curry was a rookie who was averaging 11.8 points per game through the first two months of his NBA career while taking a back seat to backcourt-mate Monta Ellis.

Sure, Curry had already made a name for himself in college by leading Davidson to the 2008 Elite Eight. But skepticism persisted over whether a skinny, 6-foot-3 guard who relied on 3-pointers could become a star in the NBA even before recurring ankle injuries put Curry's career in jeopardy early in the decade. After all, he was the seventh pick in the 2009 NBA draft, going behind two players -- Jonny Flynn and Hasheem Thabeet -- who have long since washed out of the league.

Fast-forward a decade, and the NBA has been remade in Curry's image. Back in 2009, 3-point attempts seemed to have stalled out at about 22% of all NBA shots. Over the past five years, 3-pointers have increased at a faster rate than at any point aside from when the league briefly moved the line in to 22 feet, reaching more than 36% of shot attempts last season. And pace of play has skyrocketed from 94.1 possessions per 48 minutes in 2008-09 to 102.4 last season.

It's not just that 3s are up. Specifically, Curry has helped popularize 3-pointers off the dribble (up almost 50% as a percentage of all shots between the first season for which camera-tracking data is available and 2018-19, per Second Spectrum data) and shots from beyond 30 feet (attempts from 30-40 feet are up nearly 250% between 2008-09 and 2018-19, according to Basketball-Reference.com).

Most of that change has occurred over the five seasons since Curry went from budding star to two-time MVP, leading the Warriors to three championships in the process. Other teams have sought to imitate the style that made Golden State so great, which starts with Curry being a threat teams have to account for anywhere beyond midcourt.

Having joined the Bill Russell-era Boston Celtics as the second team to reach five consecutive NBA Finals, the Warriors are the team of the decade. And nobody has been more important to their success than Curry, who has played two different roles for Golden State.

At first, Curry was the focal point of a team that came out of nowhere to win the 2015 championship and an NBA-record 73 games the next season. He won back-to-back MVP awards, the latter as the first unanimous selection in league history and as one of just four players all decade -- a group that doesn't include LeBron, believe it or not -- to average at least 30 points per game for a season.

After the Warriors lost to James' Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals, with the MCL sprain Curry suffered earlier in the playoffs helping limit his output, he changed his game to accommodate Kevin Durant's arrival via free agency. It was Curry, not Durant, who was forced to adjust by playing less frequently with the ball in his hands and taking fewer shots. He sacrificed a chance at additional MVPs in the name of team success and was rewarded with two more championship rings.

Although we'll look back on LeBron as the decade's best player, Curry's rise best symbolizes where the NBA appears headed as skill and speed gain favor over size and strength. While those trends had begun with rules changes in the previous decade, it took a player as singularly capable of exploiting them as Curry to open the league's eyes to what now seems possible.

3. Kevin Durant

Teams

• Oklahoma City Thunder: 2009-16

• Golden State Warriors: 2016-19

Tim Bontemps: Kevin Durant would deserve this spot based on his incredible on-court production alone -- one MVP, two Finals MVPs, four scoring championships. But by factoring in all the ramifications from his decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder and join the Golden State Warriors as a free agent in 2016, he becomes a lock as a defining player of the decade.

LeBron made a somewhat similar decision to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh with the Miami Heat in 2010. It was a pioneering move that changed NBA free agency and leaguewide player movement. Yet consider all the ways Durant's choice to team up with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green completely reshaped the NBA.

There isn't a comparison in league history for a player of Durant's caliber choosing to join a team that was already better than the rest of the competition. Durant, Curry, Thompson and Green combined to give the Warriors four of the top 20 players in the NBA -- a quartet of stars that simply overwhelmed the opposition en route to a pair of titles even while rarely looking fully engaged. They confidently trailed at halftime of Games 6 and 7 of the 2018 Western Conference finals before dispatching the Houston Rockets. They felt inevitable until wear, tear and injuries caught up to them this past season.

Beyond the accomplishments in Golden State -- and his many accolades in OKC at the beginning of the decade -- consider the ripple effects from KD's stunning move:

• The Thunder appeared set to battle the Warriors for West supremacy for the next several seasons after their epic 2016 playoff matchup. Instead, OKC has yet to win another postseason series. Now Russell Westbrook is in Houston and the team could be headed toward a full rebuild.

• In 2015, James and the Cavaliers gave the Warriors all they could handle after Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving suffered season-ending injuries. In 2016, Cleveland came back from down 3-1 in the Finals to win the city's first championship in any sport in 50 years. Under normal circumstances, the Cavs might have earned another title (don't forget how good that 2017 team looked rolling through the East). Instead, Durant's arrival eliminated Cleveland's chances. Within two years, Irving had demanded a trade and James had left for Los Angeles.

• In 2017, the league and the players' association agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement that included the designated veteran extension, otherwise known as the supermax. It was supposed to help teams like OKC keep players like Durant. Instead, there has been a steady stream of players who -- of their own volition (Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis) or their team's (Jimmy Butler, DeMarcus Cousins and Kemba Walker) -- have gone elsewhere anyway.

• The LA Clippers shifted into asset-collection mode and away from their star-studded roster -- beginning with the Chris Paul trade in the summer of 2017 -- after seeing they had no chance of beating Golden State. If the Warriors don't add Durant, maybe a version of that Clippers squad is still together.

• And now, after the Toronto Raptors' championship and Durant's departure for the Brooklyn Nets, the power dynamic in the league looks more balanced. Seeing their opportunity to strike after hoarding assets during Golden State's reign, teams made huge, win-now moves during a seismic summer. The list of real contenders runs deeper than it has at any time since Durant left OKC.

No other single decision has had so many ripple effects on the rest of the NBA.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela's winter baseball league is delaying the start of its season for the first time in decades after Major League Baseball banned its players from participating.

The Venezuelan League of Professional Baseball said in a statement Tuesday that it had agreed to postpone play for nearly three weeks to Nov. 5.

It didn't give a reason for the shortened season, but the announcement comes after the Trump administration prohibited Americans from doing business with President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government, which sponsors the league through state-run oil giant PDVSA.

The league's new president has vowed to try to reverse the ban. He argues that the privately run league is one of the few institutions that brings together Venezuelans of all political persuasions and shouldn't be punished by U.S. sanctions.

The Venezuelan Winter League is one of many that major league players use to hone their skills in the offseason.