Once free agency starts on Sunday, the Rockets are planning to recruit Jimmy Butler to push the Philadelphia 76ers for a sign-and-trade deal that would allow the All-Star forward to join James Harden and Chris Paul in Houston, league sources tell ESPN.

The Rockets don't have the salary-cap space to sign Butler, so they'd need the threat of the Sixers losing him for nothing to a team with the available room to motivate Philadelphia into a trade. The Rockets also would potentially need to make this a multiteam deal to satisfy the rules of base year compensation that would cover Butler's outgoing salary.

The Sixers plan to be aggressive in signing Butler to a new deal, sources said, and they could blunt a Rockets push with a full five-year, $190 million offer at the start of free agency on Sunday night. The Sixers could offer Butler a four-year, $146.5 million deal, too.

Butler would be eligible to sign a four-year, $140 million contract on the way to the Rockets, but Houston likely would need to include two of these players -- center Clint Capela, guard Eric Gordon and power forward P.J. Tucker -- to make the financial deal work, sources said.

Sources tell ESPN that the Rockets are offering the three players individually to teams with cap space to absorb salary, trying to acquire the best available first-round draft pick for any of those three, hoping to redirect the pick to the 76ers in pursuit of a Butler sign-and-trade.

The 76ers are facing a free agency that includes Butler, Tobias Harris and JJ Redick. They're expected to make a significant four- or five-year offer to keep Butler, whom they acquired in a trade with Minnesota for Dario Saric and Robert Covington in November.

The Rockets offered Minnesota four future first-round picks for Butler before the Timberwolves agreed to the trade with Philadelphia, league sources said.

In a potential trade with Houston, the 76ers could turn Butler into a large trade exception and redirect the Rockets' assets to additional teams.

If the Sixers were to lose Butler in free agency -- and were in position to keep Harris and Redick -- it is possible they could simply want the payroll flexibility and dismiss the potential idea of a sign-and-trade scenario for Butler.

ESPN's Zach Lowe contributed to this report.

The NBA is formally exploring how it might use its 75th anniversary season as an opportunity to test some of its bolder initiatives -- not only a mid-season cup and postseason play-in tournament, but also a reduction in the 82-game regular season schedule.

On a June 17 conference call, a committee that consists of approximately a dozen top team executives from both basketball and business operations discussed with the league office ideas for alternatives to the traditional NBA schedule for the 2021-22 season. In what sources characterize as a wide-ranging brainstorming session with accompanying documents, participants contemplated how the NBA could introduce the aforementioned tournaments, as well as an abbreviated slate of regular-season games to accommodate the additional events.

According to those with knowledge of the conversation, which sources regard as very exploratory, the proposed reforms would be adopted initially as a pilot program. The NBA would have the chance to observe the trial run and evaluate the long-term viability of such a schedule design.

Supporters of a new mid-season cup-style tournament acknowledge the difficulty of its implementation without a corresponding reduction in the number of regular-season games. For instance, trimming games off the current 82-game schedule would have vast revenue implications for teams which have commitments to local broadcast partners and rely on revenue from attendance at live games.

The length and density of the current 82-game NBA schedule has come under some scrutiny in recent years. Superstars such as Toronto Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard routinely sit out regular-season games to preserve their bodies for the NBA's intense nine-week playoff run. But apart from issues surrounding load management, voices at both the team and league level have made an economic case for making the NBA's regular-season games more scarce and meaningful in an increasingly competitive entertainment marketplace.

These more substantive conversations about contemplating new ways to construct the NBA's seasonal schedule demonstrate momentum for reformers inside the league. Advocates for change believe that robust revenue generated from new products such as the play-in tournament and mid-season cup posed recently by commissioner Adam Silver could, over time, recoup losses that would result from a reduction in traditional regular-season games.

The number of games in a reduced regular season discussed on the conference call ranged from 58 -- ensuring every team would host each of the 29 other teams in their arenas over the course of a season -- to a marginal cut of only a handful of games. According to sources on the call, the appetite among team officials for a major reduction in the number of games was limited.

Realizing wholesale changes to the schedule in a little more than two years' time doesn't come without major complications. The NBA would need the cooperation of numerous stakeholders, from the players union to ownership groups to national and local broadcast partners, sponsors, among others.

For example, the NBA's collective bargaining agreement requires the league and its teams to "act and use their commercially reasonable efforts to increase [Basketball Related Income] for each Salary Cap Year." If players interpreted a deliberate drop in the number of games as an abdication of that effort, they could potentially have grounds to object to such reforms.

The committee was formed as an advisory group to grapple with structural issues that touch on both basketball and business operations -- matters like playoff format and the contour of the NBA schedule. The committee has no official governing authority but can make recommendations to the NBA's Board of Governors.

Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant has declined his $31.5 million player option and will become an unrestricted free agent, league sources told ESPN.

Durant's business manager, Rich Kleiman, informed Warriors general manager Bob Myers of the decision in recent days.

Durant and Kleiman are together in New York, where they've been mulling Durant's free-agency options. So far, it has been a fairly clandestine process.

Durant is still considering a number of scenarios in free agency, including a return to Golden State, league sources tell ESPN. The New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets and LA Clippers are also believed to be considerations, sources said.

Durant, 30, can sign a four-year, $164 million deal with another team, and remains eligible to sign a five-year, $221 million deal with the Warriors.

Durant, a two-time NBA Finals MVP with the Warriors, suffered a torn Achilles tendon in Game 5 of the Finals on June 10 and is expected to need the 2019-20 season to fully rehabilitate the injury.

Every team pursuing him is expected to still offer him a full max contract.

SMYRNA, Ga. -- The widow of a beer tap inventor who died inside a walk-in cooler at the Atlanta Braves' stadium is blaming a faulty door mechanism and lethal carbon dioxide leaks.

Angela Keeling made the allegations in a wrongful death lawsuit filed Friday against the team and its contractors.

Todd Keeling, 48, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, had worked an overnight shift to install his beer tap invention at SunTrust Park when he died in June 2018, his relatives told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Colorless and odorless carbon dioxide filled the cooler, and Keeling became trapped inside because the interior door mechanism failed to work, the lawsuit states. His body was found by a co-worker before a game against the Cincinnati Reds.

A partnership of the stadium's builders, based in Georgia, Alabama, Minnesota and Michigan, "received an email before Todd Keeling's death that there were issues with the door release mechanisms in coolers throughout the stadium,'' the lawsuit states.

The construction companies involved also knew about carbon dioxide leaks in the coolers, but allowed them to go unfixed; and Cooler 331, where Todd Keeling died, lacked a functioning carbon dioxide monitor or alarm, the lawsuit states.

Braves spokeswoman Beth Marshall declined to comment "due to ongoing litigation.''

The Kansas City Royals have designated reliever Brad Boxberger for assignment, opening a roster spot for Eric Skoglund's return from an 80-game PED suspension.

Boxberger, who had joined the Royals on a one-year, $2.2 million contract after earning 32 saves as the Arizona Diamondbacks' closer in 2018, had a 5.40 ERA with one save and three blown saves in 29 games this season.

In January, Skoglund was suspended for the first 80 games of 2019 after testing positive for two performance-enhancing substances.

Skoglund, 27, who was 1-6 with a 5.14 ERA last season, was optioned to Triple-A Omaha.

Left-hander Tim Hill was recalled from Omaha in a corresponding move. He has a 6.75 ERA in four innings (six games) for Kansas City this season.

The White Sox lost half their starting infield to injury Wednesday, as shortstop Tim Anderson is headed to the 10-day injured list and third baseman Yoan Moncada left Chicago's game in Boston with a knee injury.

Anderson suffered a high ankle sprain in Tuesday's loss to the Red Sox and is expected to be placed on the IL before Chicago's weekend series against Minnesota.

White Sox manager Rick Renteria told reporters the team does not have a specific timeline for how long Anderson will be out, but he is expected to be sidelined until after the All-Star break.

Less than two hours later, Moncada limped off the field in the first inning after being hit on his right knee by a pitch from Red Sox ace Chris Sale. The White Sox announced he has a bruised knee.

Moncada initially tried to stay in the game but ultimately was replaced by Yolmer Sanchez after struggling to run the bases. The White Sox have not announced an official diagnosis for Moncada's injury.

Anderson, 26, was enjoying a breakout season, batting .317 with 11 home runs, 37 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. Leury Garcia replaced Anderson at shortstop in Wednesday afternoon's game.

Moncada, 24, is batting .299 with 13 homers and 42 RBIs.

The results of the MRI on New York Yankees outfielder Giancarlo Stanton right knee were "good," manager Aaron Boone said Wednesday.

"He came in today and there's no swelling in there, but he's sore and stiff," Boone told reporters, according to Newsday. "He's just kind of going through treatment right now."

Stanton left the Yankees' 4-3 victory on Tuesday night against the Toronto Blue Jays with a bruised right knee.

He is not in the lineup for Wednesday afternoon's game against the Blue Jays, but he is listed as an available player on the bench.

Stanton was 1-for-1 in Tuesday night's game, hitting a single in the first inning. He got tangled up with Toronto pitcher Clayton Richard while getting thrown out on a headfirst slide into third base, but he remained in left field in the second and third innings.

Stanton is batting .290 this season in nine games for the Yankees. He came off the injured list on June 18 after being shelved since April because of three separate injuries.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

LOS ANGELES -- Perhaps, in a season that can stretch so long and can prove so arduous, there is, in fact, something to be gleaned from the beginning. The Los Angeles Dodgers started their 2018 campaign on the wrong end of back-to-back shutouts, marking the first time in 50 years that the team had gone scoreless through its first two games. In 2019, the Dodgers introduced themselves with eight home runs by six different players, a record for Opening Day. After it was over, the second baseman, Enrique Hernandez, noted that this year's team didn't dwell as much as last year's team. Getting over the second World Series loss, he suggested, proved a lot easier than getting over the first one.

Two months, four weeks and one day later, it seems as if Hernandez might have been on to something. The Dodgers reached the halfway point of their regular season with 55 wins, 12 more than what last year's group compiled through the first 81 games. Their .679 winning percentage is the best in the majors; their 13-game divisional cushion is larger than any other team's by a wide margin. They're a dominant force in every area, all but certain to capture a seventh consecutive National League West title.

"We're as good as we want to be," Dodgers starting pitcher Rich Hill said -- and maybe that's part of the point.

Hill and several of his teammates will readily admit to being caught flat-footed when last season began. The Dodgers were coming off an emotionally draining loss to the Houston Astros in seven World Series games and weren't quite sure how to move on from it. Spring training, Hill said, became "a big feeling-out process." They eased into it slowly, then approached the ensuing season as if another pennant were their divine right.

"Going through the motions is not the right word, but there was probably a built-in assumption that we would get back and then we realized that it's not that easy -- that there's a lot of good teams out there and you have to continue to play," Dodgers longtime ace Clayton Kershaw said. "I think after last year, we maybe came in determined to not get off to that slow start again. There's probably something to that."

Here's the thing about that 2018 season, in which the Dodgers fell as low as 10 games below .500 on May 16: They still reached their ultimate destination, even if it required a frantic surge and an extra regular-season contest. They advanced all the way to the World Series again, this time losing in five games to the Boston Red Sox.

No matter what the Dodgers accomplish this season -- no matter how many records they break, or how many awards they win, or how many stirring walk-offs they produce -- their success will once again hinge on the random acts that shape Octobers. On the ill-timed slump or the hot relief pitcher or the late-game decision. It's a thought that can plague the mind if one lets it, but these Dodgers have not. They're enjoying the moment, ever-present, and it seems to be their greatest asset.

"That's been a three-year, four-year process -- to be in the moment," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "We understand the ultimate goal, but we also realize that there's nothing we can do about the end of October right now. That's the hardest thing to do -- to get talented teams and players to just live in the moment."

Roberts sees an entire team embodying Kershaw's unwavering focus. He sees a starting rotation that feels an inherent responsibility to pitch deep into games. He sees an offense that is no longer waiting around to exert its will on opponents. He sees a group of players who are thoroughly enjoying one another, unconcerned by what might await them.

"Whatever happened these last two years happened," Hernandez said. "It's a very long season, and if you don't find joy and excitement in playing really good baseball at such a high level the way we're doing it right now, then you're not really enjoying what you do for a living."

The Dodgers lead the NL in OPS and ERA and lead the majors -- by a lot -- in defensive runs saved. Their two big offseason acquisitions, center fielder A.J. Pollock and late-inning reliever Joe Kelly, have either been ineffective or injured or both, yet the team is still pacing the sport in run differential.

Cody Bellinger is the MVP favorite and Hyun-Jin Ryu is the Cy Young favorite. Kershaw and Justin Turner, the two veteran leaders, have held steady. Walker Buehler and Max Muncy are matching the success of last year's breakout seasons. Joc Pederson, on pace for 40 home runs, and Kenley Jansen, on pace for 40 saves, are deserving All-Stars in their own right. Alex Verdugo, whose infectious energy has altered the team's dynamic, should earn Rookie of the Year consideration.

Over the weekend, Verdugo became the second of three consecutive Dodgers rookies to hit a walk-off home run, an unprecedented feat. On Monday, the Dodgers had a six-game winning streak snapped and lost a game by more than two runs for the first time all month. On Tuesday, the last game of their first half, they won on the strength of their bullpen -- their only perceived weakness so far.

Two years ago, any number of events could have swayed the World Series in the Dodgers' favor. Last year's World Series didn't necessarily justify that logic.

It quickened the grieving process.

"I think that once you get there, and you lose in Game 7, that carryover or hangover was real," Roberts said. "But when you lose in five, to a team that was really, for me, at that point in time, better, guys were more pissed off instead of feeling sorry for themselves."

That's the word that keeps being used inside the Dodgers' clubhouse -- "pissed."

"Everybody was upset about the way the season ended," Hill said, "but I think we were more upset about playing Game 163."

The Dodgers believed -- rightfully -- that they were better than that one-game tiebreaker. This year, they haven't wasted any time showing it. They won at least 55 of their first 81 games for the fifth time in franchise history. (Three of the other four teams that did it went on to reach the World Series.) And they're on track to be one of only five teams in the divisional era (dating to 1969) to boast at least a 13-game division lead before the All-Star break, according to research from the Elias Sports Bureau.

Only one team, the 1923 New York Yankees, lost back-to-back World Series and returned to win a third. The Dodgers, so far, have the makings of another.

"We have everything we would want, every piece you could need," Kershaw said, "and now it's a matter of continuing this pace and stringing together 11 in October."

Britons Dan Evans and Cameron Norrie reached the second round of the Nature Valley International at Eastbourne with straight-set victories.

Evans progressed with a 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 win over Moldovan Radu Albot and will face France's Pierre-Hugues Herbert or American Denis Kudla next.

Norrie, 23, beat Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3 7-6 (7-4) in a match delayed by rain on Monday.

He will play British number one Kyle Edmund, the third seed, in round two.

World number 31 Edmund has a first-round bye.

Norrie, the British number two, saved a set point at 5-6 in the second set before sealing victory on his first match point.

Evans, 29, saved nine of the 10 break points he faced against Albot in the first set, which he took on a tie-break.

It was more straightforward in the second set as two breaks of serve ensured victory in one hour and 46 minutes.

Evans had lost to Albot in the final of the Delray Beach Open in February.

Potential opponent Kudla got into the draw as a lucky loser after Queen's singles and doubles champion Feliciano Lopez withdrew from the event because of fatigue.

Evans, now ranked 65 in the world, won back-to-back titles at Surbiton and Nottingham this month but lost in the first round of Queen's to Stan Wawrinka.

There were defeats for two other Britons in the men's event with 20-year-old Jay Clarke losing 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 6-3 to Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero, and James Ward, 32, beaten 2-6 6-3 6-1 by Italian Thomas Fabbiano.

French sixth seed Gilles Simon defeated American Tennys Sandgren 7-5 6-1 and plays Chile's Nicolas Jarry in the second round.