LOS ANGELES -- Lonzo Ball was in a car on his way to watch his brother, LaMelo, play in the Drew League when he learned he had been traded to the New Orleans Pelicans from Twitter.

After the Los Angeles Lakers drafted the point guard second overall in 2017 amid incredible hype and pressure, Ball's purple-and-gold tenure ended abruptly a month ago after just two injury-shortened seasons. However, Ball said he had been expecting and bracing for change to come and is ready for a "fresh start" with Zion Williamson and the Pelicans.

"I was kind of excited, honestly," Ball told ESPN of his first reaction to the trade, after filming for the PUBG MOBILE Team Up Superstar Showdown event. "I kind of figured someone was going to get moved soon enough. I knew Anthony Davis wanted to come bad. Anytime you can get a guy like that, you are going to have to do what you have to do to get him. So I was kind of already just waiting for it, honestly, and I was happy to go with two guys I am comfortable with in B.I. [Brandon Ingram] and JHart [Josh Hart]. I am excited to see what we can do."

"I tell people when I was a rookie, I probably would have been sad," he added of being traded. "Just being from L.A., having my whole family here and wanting to be a Laker. But being in the league for two years, knowing it's a business, as long you get to play, that's a blessing in itself. I'm excited to get started."

On Saturday, the Lakers introduced Davis as their latest All-Star big man to join the franchise. Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka opened the news conference by thanking several people, including Ball, Ingram and Hart.

The trio, along with the draft rights to No. 4 overall pick De'Andre Hunter, two first-round picks, a first-round pick swap and cash were sent to New Orleans in exchange for Davis. The Lakers also sent Moritz Wagner, Isaac Bonga, Jemerrio Jones and a second-round pick to Washington as part of the trade.

The blockbuster deal finally put to an end months of trade speculation surrounding Ball and many of the young Lakers. The constant trade rumors hung over the Lakers' locker room since January, as the team missed the playoffs for the sixth straight season.

"Yeah, I've been hearing my name for two years now," Ball said of expecting to be traded. "So it didn't bother me at all. We were all ready for it."

The Pelicans could be one of the more exciting young, up-and-coming teams. Ball, who averaged 9.9 points, 5.4 assists and 5.3 rebounds in 47 games last season before suffering a season-ending ankle injury on Jan. 19 can hardly wait to start lobbing passes to New Orleans' latest first overall pick, Williamson.

"Man, I've never seen somebody that size move like him," Ball said of the hyped rookie out of Duke. "... He's only 19, right? He's definitely a freak. I've never seen nothing like it."

"Honestly, you just got to run the lane, set screens and roll," Ball added of Williamson. "With his game and with him getting a full head of steam, it's going to be very tough to stop him. So, I think we play fast and get out on the break as soon as possible."

Ball, 21, has been shooting, jogging and jumping and expects to be cleared for full contact in two weeks. Knee and ankle injuries prevented Ball from playing more than 52 games in any of his first two seasons and from showing his full potential with the Lakers. He shot just 38% from the field and 31.5% from behind the arc in his first two seasons.

But before injuring his ankle at Houston, Ball was just hitting his stride and averaging 11.1 points, 7.0 assists and 6.1 rebounds in the month of January.

Ball is eager to help New Orleans surprise people this season.

"Obviously, injuries kind of messed up things a little bit," Ball said of his Lakers tenure. "But you take the bumps with the bruises and keep moving forward. Only been in the league for two years and looking forward to this third year in New Orleans, get a fresh start and show people what I can do."

"I know New Orleans is excited to have me, and I'm excited to get started," Ball added. "Moving to a new team, a new situation, a new organization, new coaches, new everything -- it's a refresh, getting back to playing basketball how I know I can play."

LOS ANGELES -- After a dominant MVP season in which he led the Milwaukee Bucks to an NBA-best 60 wins, Giannis Antetokounmpo said he's at only "60 percent" of what he can fully become.

Antetokounmpo said one of the biggest takeaways he took from the Bucks' run to the Eastern Conference finals is that he has a lot more to work on despite averaging 27.7 points, 12.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.3 steals last season.

"There's a lot of things I can improve on," Antetokounmpo told ESPN after filming for the PUBG MOBILE Team Up Superstar Showdown event. "First of all, [I have to] look at myself before I look at anybody else. Try to self-improve as much as possible. There are a lot of things that I got to work on in my game.

"A lot of people say, 'You are the MVP, you are one of the best players in the league, you are so dominant,'" he continued. "But I think I can get better. I think I am at 60 percent of my potential, as good as I can be. I just want to be better. If I am in the same situation again [in the conference finals], react better, play the game better, play better, execute better."

Antetokounmpo, 24, shot 57.8% from the field but just 25.6% from behind the arc in the regular season. He felt like the Bucks were the favorites to win the Eastern Conference before falling in six games to the Toronto Raptors in the conference finals. The Bucks star said he liked the moves Milwaukee made in free agency, such as re-signing Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez and adding the likes of Robin Lopez and Wesley Matthews. He also is excited about playing with his brother, Thanasis, who agreed to a two-year minimum contract with the Bucks.

Antetokounmpo has publicly and repeatedly voiced his adoration for the city of Milwaukee. When asked about potentially having one of the longest tenures with the same team someday, Antetokounmpo reiterated how important winning and being on the same page with an organization committed to winning a championship is to him.

ESPN reported in April that reaching the NBA Finals next season could help the Bucks to sign Antetokounmpo to a supermax contract in the summer of 2020.

"I'm going into Year 7, it's insane," Antetokounmpo said of his Bucks tenure. "... My goal is going to stay the same -- it's get better, take it day by day, step by step and the ultimate goal is to win a championship. As long as that we are all on the same page, and we are all focused on that goal, why not play for the Bucks 20 years, why not play 25 years? Why not after playing, be a member of the coaching staff or a member of the front office. But we got to have the same goal. We got to have the same principles ... we got to focus on winning a championship.

"I want to be a part of a winning team," Antetokounmpo continued. "As long as we have the same mindset and same approach to the game, there's no reason for me to move and not be like Steph [Curry], not like be like Dirk [Nowitzki] or Kobe [Bryant] or Tim Duncan."

Stars, though, are on the move more than ever, as this summer's flurry of moves and trades have proven. Like the rest of the NBA, Antetokounmpo couldn't believe so many of the free-agency transactions that have altered the landscape of the NBA.

"It's insane, obviously, but it evens up the balance in the NBA," Antetokounmpo said of watching stars such as Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, Paul George and Russell Westbrook all change teams. "You can see a lot of stars all over the place. Clippers, Lakers, Brooklyn, Sixers, Boston ... it's good."

Despite several superstars changing addresses and forming formidable duos in some cases, Antetokounmpo still believes the best team will win a championship, like Toronto did. Milwaukee largely kept its main core and hopes continuity will help the Bucks reach the Finals next season.

Antetokounmpo said he wishes Leonard had actually remained in Canada instead of going to the Clippers with George.

"For me personally, I would love for Kawhi to stay in the East and stay in Toronto because I would love to go through the series [with them] again," Antetokounmpo said. "But unfortunately, this is the NBA we are talking about. Moves happen, people change teams. But we got an opportunity right now. We got to take advantage of it, and hopefully, we can seize the opportunity and make big things happen."

"It's insane," Antetokounmpo added of all the changes this summer around the NBA. "Like people ask for a trade and a trade happens. Players ask for a trade, 'I want to get traded there,' and players go there. It's insane. A lot of star players have a lot of power right now. This is the league we live in. I think it's good to control your own destiny and your own career."

CLEVELAND -- Max Kepler has Trevor Bauer's number.

Kepler connected for home runs his first two times up Saturday night against Cleveland's hard-throwing starter, giving the Minnesota outfielder five homers in five straight at-bats against the right-hander.

Kepler homered three times off Bauer in Minnesota's win on June 6, and also drew a walk.

He made it four homers in four straight at-bats with a leadoff shot Saturday night, then connected in the second inning, one batter after rookie Jake Cave homered off Bauer.

Bauer finally got the best of Kepler in the fourth inning, striking him out, but only after Kepler hit a deep foul ball into the upper deck in right. He finished the night 2-for-5 as the Twins beat the Indians 6-2 to move 7½ games ahead of Cleveland in the American League Central.

According to Elias Sports Bureau research, Kepler matched the longest streak in the expansion era for homers in consecutive at-bats against one pitcher. Carlos Delgado did it against Jorge Sosa (2003-04), and Frank Howard connected against Bob Hendley (1963-64).

After the game, Kepler didn't make much of his achievement.

"Every pitcher is the same,'' Kepler said. "I have the same approach. I just try to simplify it when I go up there.''

Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli was more effusive in his praise.

"It's unfathomable that it's happening right in front of our eyes,'' Baldelli said. "Nobody has seen anything like it.''

Kepler has 13 career homers against the Indians, including 11 at Progressive Field. He also had a three-homer game in Cleveland as a rookie in 2016.

Saturday marked Kepler's fourth multihomer game of the season, matching his total from the previous three seasons.

Kepler's five home runs vs. Bauer are his most against any pitcher in his career, and the most by a batter against Bauer in the pitcher's career.

"I don't know,'' the right-hander said. "How do you explain it? It's just one of those baseball things ... he's just locked in against me -- for whatever reason. It won't be that way forever. He'll cool down, and he'll go through a 0-for-10 with seven punchouts or whatever and miss pitches. It's just one of those things right now.''

ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Hall of Fame right-hander Bob Gibson, who won the Cy Young and National League MVP awards in 1968, sent a letter to living Hall of Famers informing them he is battling pancreatic cancer.

Gibson, widely considered one of the greatest pitchers of all time, was diagnosed with cancer several weeks ago, his longtime agent, Dick Zitzmann, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Zitzmann told the newspaper that he has spoken to Gibson and that chemotherapy is expected to begin Monday in Omaha, Nebraska, the pitcher's hometown. Gibson, who turns 84 in November, has been hospitalized in Omaha for the past two weeks.

"We all know what a competitor he is," Zitzmann told the Post-Dispatch.

Gibson went 22-9 and led the majors in ERA (1.12), shutouts (13) and strikeouts (268) in 1968 for the St. Louis Cardinals. The year before, he went the distance in three games, all wins, and St. Louis beat the Boston Red Sox in seven games in an epic World Series.

In 1969, Major League Baseball lowered the pitcher's mound from 15 inches to 10 inches in hopes of boosting offense. Gibson remained dominant, winning 20 games for the fourth time and completing 28 games in 33 decisions.

Gibson, who spent his entire career with the Cardinals, won 251 games over 17 seasons. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1981.

The Cardinals offered their well wishes Saturday night, tweeting: "Get well soon, Bob. All of Cardinal Nation is behind you!"

MONTEREY, Calif. – Jonathan Rea emerged victorious in Saturday’s World Superbike event at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

The victory, combined with a crash by his championship rival Alvaro Bautista, allowed Rea to extend his championship advantage to 49 points over Bautista.

Rea got the best start off the line, with the Ducati duo of Bautista and Chaz Davies giving pursuit. Behind them was Toprak Razgatlioglu, who got a blistering start to move into fourth by turn five ahead of Tom Sykes in fifth.

New lap records came quickly, with Davies setting the record first before Bautista eclipsed him on the third lap. On the fourth circuit Rea’s teammate, Leon Haslam, went down in the Corkscrew.

On lap five Davies challenged Rea in the first two corners, but Davies ran wide after taking the lead and allowed Rea to regain the lead. Bautista remained in pursuit of the front duo, but he soon went down in turn five as Rea and Davies continued on at the front.

With Bautista out of the mix, Rea expanded his lead to roughly five seconds with Davies running a lonely second. In the end Rea easily crossed the line in first to grow his championship lead.

Razgatlioglu ended the day third, with Sykes finishing fourth and Alex Lowes coming home fifth after a late-race battle with Jordi Torres. Michael van der Mark, Loris Baz, Marco Melandri and Michael Ruben Rinaldi completed the top-10.

ELKO, Minn. – Christian Eckes won the General Tire Pole Award for Saturday’s ARCA Menards Series Menards 250 at Elko Speedway, nipping by Ty Gibbs by just .024 seconds.

Eckes’ fast lap was 14.403 seconds/93.730 mph, giving him his first pole award since the season opener at Daytona and the fourth in his ARCA Menards Series career.

Eckes also led practice earlier in the afternoon, also narrowly edging Gibbs in that session as well.

“We almost won here in 2017,” he said. “We had the pole here last year and almost won again so I hope we can close the deal tonight with our JBL Audio Camry. Kevin Reed and the Venturini Motorsports guys have given me a great car. We’ll try to keep the fenders on it and end up in victory lane.”

Gibbs’ fast lap was 14.427 seconds at 93.575 mph around the tight .375-mile oval, giving him his second front row start of the season and his first since he also started second at Nashville.

Corey Heim will start third after turning a lap of 14.516 seconds at 93.001 mph. Heim is driving for the team that won the last ARCA Menards Series event at Chicagoland Speedway with Ty Majeski driving. Michael Self, who won General Tire Pole Awards earlier this season at Toledo, Charlotte, Michigan, and Chicagoland, qualified fourth with a lap of 14.521 seconds at 92.969 mph. Self’s lap was matched to the thousandth of a second by Carson Hocevar, the General Tire Pole Award winner earlier in the season at Salem Speedway. Self will start fourth with Hocevar fifth.

Joe Graf Jr., Chandler Smith, Sam Mayer, Travis Braden and Bret Holmes rounded out the top-10 qualifiers.

The only incident in General Tire Pole Qualifying involved Tommy Vigh Jr., who spun while crossing the line to take the checkered flag and made slight contact with the inside wall. His team will make repairs and he will drop to the tail of the field for the start of the Menards 250.

TORONTO – Roman De Angelis has been on a roll in Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama this season entering the Indy Toronto weekend, with five consecutive wins through six rounds.

If there was one factor, though, that could have thrown the 18-year-old off his game on Saturday ahead of race one, it was weather.

A strong summer storm rolled in over the Streets of Toronto just as the GT3 Cup Challenge Canada green flag time was approaching and ultimately caused a near two-hour delay. However, the storm passed, allowing the field of Porsches to battle not only each other, but also changing track conditions as the surface dried over the course of the 45-minute race.

For De Angelis, overcoming the challenges to score a dominating 45-second, flag-to-flag victory on the 1.786-mile street course made this particular victory a bit sweeter than the rest in his No. 79 Mark Motors Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.

“There was a pretty big build up right before the race,” said De Angelis, of Belle River, Ontario. “There was probably two hours where we were sitting there waiting to see if we were going to race or not tonight. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever driven better in my life. Something about Toronto and the rain earlier on just fitted the Mark Motors car and the conditions. It was a lot of fun on the slicks early on. Once again, I just can’t thank Mark Motors enough. This is our sixth win in a row here and probably one of the best feelings I’ve ever had right now.”

De Angelis will seek another weekend sweep in GT3 Cup Challenge Canada on Sunday, with race two of the weekend scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.

Earning his second runner-up position in three races was Jeff Kingsley in the No. 16 Policaro Motorsport Porsche. Kingsley held the position throughout the race after qualifying second earlier in the day.

Rounding out the podium was Parker Thompson in the No. 3 Porsche for SCB Racing.

“What a day,” said Thompson, who is pulling double duty this weekend between GT3 Cup Challenge Canada and the Indy Pro 2000 series. “I was running back and forth between two categories and honestly, this SportsCarBoutique No. 3 was on rails this whole weekend. Unfortunately, I missed it in qualifying and ended up P7, which is disappointing. It’s one of our worst of the year and honestly, the car is the best it’s been.

“I wanted to make sure I put on a show and drove that car up the field and that’s what we did. No better way to showcase your talent than half wet, half dry. The car was unreal. I can’t thank the crew enough, Owen Hayes, Ilker Starck, our owner. These guys work so hard to get to track every weekend so it’s awesome to reward them with a podium.”

In the Platinum Masters class, Marco Cirone is on a streak of his own in the No. 88 Mark Motors Racing Porsche. After sweeping both victories at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park just last week, Cirone repeated on Saturday in the class for drivers 45 years and older.

Cirone described his race strategy as one with a bigger picture in mind, as he seeks his sixth Platinum Masters championship in 2019.

“The weather conditions were very, very challenging,” said Cirone. “It was very difficult to put the power down and there was a lot of action in front of me and behind me. I wanted to protect my point lead and here if you make a mistake, you’re in big trouble. I wasn’t aggressive as much as I should’ve been, but I don’t regret it. I’m glad I got the win, I’m glad I preserved the car and I’m here to race tomorrow.”

The St. Louis Blues have reached a deal with goaltender Jordan Binnington on a two-year contract with an annual average value of $4.4 million, the Stanley Cup champions announced Saturday.

Binnington had been a restricted free agent and avoided arbitration by agreeing to the deal on Saturday.

"I'm happy to get this deal done with the St. Louis Blues," Binnington told the team's website. "To the city of St. Louis, thank you for welcoming me in and trusting me to do me. I'm excited and motivated to keep doing my job and keep bringing success to the St. Louis Blues organization."

Binnington, who turned 26 on Thursday, couldn't have helped himself more this season. Working off his third straight one-year contract and sitting fourth on the depth chart at the beginning of the campaign, Binnington took control of the Blues crease in January and led St. Louis to the Stanley Cup.

In the wake of the Game 7 win over the Bruins, even general manager Doug Armstrong admitted that Binnington was looking at a "big pay raise."

"We are pleased to have Jordan signed for two more years," Armstrong said in a statement Saturday. "His play was outstanding and we look forward to seeing him continue to be a major contributor for our team."

Binnington played in 32 games during the regular season and posted a 1.89 goals-against average and .927 save percentage, leading the Blues from the worst record in the NHL to the playoffs. In the postseason, he won a rookie-record 16 games, posting a 2.46 GAA and .914 save percentage.

The Blues' goaltending situation is complicated by the fact that Jake Allen, who began last season as the starter, is still on the books for two more seasons with a cap hit of $4.35 million.