NEW YORK -- Dwyane Wade's final NBA game also marked something else: a reunion of the Banana Boat Crew, so nicknamed for a photograph that surfaced of the group on vacation in 2015.

Moments before Wednesday night's game at Barclays Center between Wade's Miami Heat and the Brooklyn Nets tipped off, LeBron James, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony exited the arena's underground elevator inside a private SUV and walked into the bowl of the arena just as the night's rendition of the national anthem was being completed.

James' Lakers played the Blazers in Los Angeles the previous night, Paul was in Oklahoma City on Tuesday with the Rockets, and Anthony lives in New York. All three were able to get to their seats in the corner of the court across from Miami's bench in time for a tribute video honoring Wade before pregame introductions to be played.

Wade, who was introduced first to a standing ovation by the crowd, then went over and hugged each of his friends before taking the court in the starting lineup. Once the game began, he gave everyone in attendance something to remember as he secured a triple-double by the end of the third quarter. Wade finished with 25 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in 36 minutes during a 113-94 loss to Brooklyn.

"Listen, we all started this journey together," James told Fox Sports Southeast during an interview early in the second quarter, when asked why the three of them came to the game. "Obviously CP came into the league a couple years after us, but we have a brotherhood that is just so much more than basketball. CP played last night, we had our last regular-season game last night, and Melo is right here in New York so we kind of made the plan and made the decision to come up here."

After scoring 30 points in the final home game of his career Tuesday night in a win over the Philadelphia 76ers, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra did his best to downplay expectations for an encore performance from Wade before Wednesday night's game. It turns out he was simply being cautions, as Wade's triple-doubled proved.

"Yeah, in a normal circumstance this would 1,000 percent be considered load management and protection," Spoelstra said. "There's no guarantees that this will be like last night. He let it all out there, including the postgame celebration. It was an incredible night. It was beautiful, and just everything probably played out as well as you possibly could imagine it, dream of it, in a scenario like that.

"That just doesn't happen for most pro athletes. I'm very grateful like everyone else in Miami and the organization to have been part of a night like that."

James, who narrated the part of the tribute video honoring Wade about the four years they spent together in South Florida that played before Tuesday's game against the Sixers, was asked Wednesday what were his favorite memories of playing with Wade.

"I mean, we'd be here all night talking," he said with a smile. "We'd be here all night talking about the best memories, or the most fond memories I have of D-Wade.

"The plane rides, the bus rides, the hotels. When we get to the city we'd go to the hotel room and just chop it up, the dinners we had on the road, everything we did was always genuine. [There was] always love, and we always wanted the best for one another, no matter the good or the bad.

"I will say the most founding part was when we lost [to Dallas in 2011]. Because, without '11, there's no [2013], no [2012 championship] banners hanging up in [AmericanAirlines Arena]. That's what made us. That's what made our team.

"It's been an unbelievable journey for my guy, and I'm happy to be here for the last little part of the road before the train comes to a stop."

Wade fell trying to do his famous leap onto the scorer's table during his postgame celebration Tuesday night, and tweeted Wednesday afternoon about getting treatment on his knee ahead of the final game of his NBA career.

According to Wade's wife, actress Gabrielle Union, he had no idea his friends were going to be in attendance for Wednesday's game, and wasn't even sure he'd be able to play after his fall the night before.

@DwyaneWade did not know his friends were coming. He wasnt sure he could even play after his fall last night. Perfect ending. https://t.co/ewAyGRVTIT

— Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) April 11, 2019

In addition to James, Wade and Anthony, Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker and Tom Crean, Wade's coach at Marquette, attended Wednesday's game.

NEW YORK -- Robot umpires will get some more warm-up time.

Major League Baseball and the Atlantic League said Wednesday the experiment with radar-tracking technology to call balls and strikes will not be used when the independent minor league starts play on April 25. Instead, the technology "will be implemented gradually over the course of the 2019 season." No date for the start was announced.

Plate umpires will wear earpieces and be informed of ball and strike calls by a TrackMan computer system that uses Doppler radar. Umps will have the ability to override the computer, which considers a pitch a strike when the ball bounces and then crosses the zone. TrackMan also does not evaluate check swings.

A second test also was pushed back: extending the distance between the pitching rubber and home plate by 2 feet to 62½ feet. Originally scheduled to start after this year's All-Star break, the distance change was put off until the second half of 2020.

"These changes reflect a joint desire that the upcoming technology upgrades at ALPB ballparks be fully installed and calibrated prior to implementation of these experimental playing rules," MLB and the Atlanta League said in a joint statement.

Atlantic League teams are in Bridgewater, New Jersey; Central Islip, New York; High Point, North Carolina; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; New Britain, Connecticut; Sugar Land, Texas; Waldorf, Maryland; and York, Pennsylvania.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Mike Trout is hopeful he won't be out of the Los Angeles Angels' lineup for long, but he remains cautious since it is early in the season.

The star outfielder was out of the lineup Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Brewers in order to rest the right groin he strained Tuesday night.

"It was really sore yesterday but not as sore today,'' said Trout, who received treatment and did not take batting practice. "Missing a couple games this early in the season is not that big of a deal.''

Trout added that he was pleased with the progress made overnight, which is why he thinks he won't be out for long. The Angels have Thursday off before beginning a three-game series Friday in Chicago against the Cubs.

Trout, who signed a record 12-year, $426.5 million contract near the end of spring training, is second in the American League with a .406 batting average. The two-time MVP is tied for third in home runs (five) and tied for fourth in RBIs (12). He has reached base safely in all 12 games.

Weather could play a factor though in when Trout could return, especially if it is cold and windy.

Trout said he had not looked at the weather forecast, but manager Brad Ausmus said it will be a factor and taken into consideration.

"There is a big stretch of 17 games coming up. You want to be out there for the whole season but you have to be smart,'' Trout said. "The trainer said if I pushed it [during Tuesday's game] that it could get a lot worse.''

Brian Goodwin moved to center field and David Fletcher got the start in left in the series finale.

ST. LOUIS -- Three-time All-Star infielder Matt Carpenter and the St. Louis Cardinals have agreed to a contract that adds $37 million in guaranteed money for 2020 and '21, a deal that includes an option for 2022.

The 33-year-old has a $14.5 million salary this season as part of a $52 million, six-year deal that included an $18.5 million club option for 2020 with a $2 million buyout.

Under the new deal, he has guaranteed salaries of $18.5 million in both 2020 and '21. The 2022 salary would become guaranteed if he has 1,100 plate appearances combined in 2020 and '21, including at least 550 in '21.

"It's really very humbling," Carpenter said after Wednesday's announcement. "To be able to potentially be here for an entire career is something that I don't take for granted. Every day it's something that I try to live up to."

He has a .273 batting average with 134 home runs and a .376 on base percentage in 1,031 games since debuting in 2011 with the Cardinals. Carpenter was an All-Star in 2013, 2014, and 2016. He finished among the top 10 in MVP voting in 2013 and last year.

"He's created enormous flexibility for the Cardinals because he was always willing to play a different position to allow us to maximize our team," Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said. "Really what it says is he's truly a team player. So, the reason we're motivated to try to do this is where he's at in his career, we wanted him to continue to wear the Cardinal uniform."

Carpenter was a 13th-round draft pick by the Cardinals in 2009. He became the fourth St. Louis player since February to sign a long-term deal after first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, pitcher Miles Mikolas, and first baseman/outfielder Jose Martinez.

"When we get a core player, we like to keep him here," Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said. "We've made every effort to do that since I've been here and before."

British number one Kyle Edmund is out of the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech after losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets in the last 16.

The third seed was beaten 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 in one hour 29 minutes.

The early exit comes a year after Edmund reached the final of the clay court event, his maiden ATP final.

Tsonga has a career-high ranking of fifth in the world but is now ranked 116th, 94 places below Edmund, as he recovers from knee surgery.

The Frenchman will play Italian qualifier Lorenzo Sonego in the quarter-final.

In the men's doubles, Britain's Dom Inglot and partner Rohan Bopanna beat Roman Jebavy and Andres Molteni 0-6 6-3 10-8.

Leicester Tigers will hand lifetime bans to anyone found to have subjected players and their families to "vile and disgusting abuse" on social media.

The club said it was aware of "malicious content" posted after Saturday's 52-20 defeat by Exeter.

Leicester have contacted police and "reported this as a crime".

"The club is in no way above criticism - everybody at the club accepts that we are not where want to be," said Tigers head of brand Chris Rose.

"Every person at the club finds it an honour to work at Welford Road and so accept all opinions on how we are doing our jobs for our supporters, but when this tips over into foul abuse, the club will do everything in its power to make sure people that believe that is acceptable behaviour are found and dealt with.

"There is no place in society or the Tigers family for this, let alone in our sport which prides itself on the family-friendly nature of the game.

"We encourage any supporters that have any information that could be relevant to contact the club or Leicestershire Police and help us make a stand against anyone having to receive these kind of messages."

Captain Tom Youngs, who has been banned for three weeks after being sent off in the loss at Welford Road, was one of "several players to have family members targeted in posts".

"At the moment, we have not been good enough and accept that it means a lot to our supporters, who are entitled to have their say on our performances," said Youngs.

"However, no family members are deserving of being pulled in to that criticism and nothing of the sort myself and players have received in recent weeks is appropriate, ever."

The NHL has suspended defenseman Slava Voynov for the 2019-20 season as well as the 2020 playoffs for "unacceptable off-ice conduct."

Voynov, then with the Los Angeles Kings, was suspended indefinitely by the NHL following an arrest on Oct. 20, 2014. He was eventually convicted of misdemeanor domestic abuse and was sentenced to 90 days in jail.

In July, Voynov's conviction was dismissed by a judge in Los Angeles County, paving the way for his return to the NHL.

The NHL is the only one of the four major North American sports leagues without a specific domestic violence policy. Every incident is treated on a case-by-case basis and is determined by commissioner Gary Bettman.

The NHL Players Association says it is reviewing the NHL's decision on Voynov. The NHLPA has the option to appeal to an independent arbitrator.

Bettman's decision came after an investigation by the NHL and an in-person hearing with Voynov in New York on March 21.

"Today's ruling, while tailored to the specific facts of this case and the individuals involved, is necessary and consistent with the NHL's strongly held policy that it cannot and will not tolerate this and similar types of conduct, particularly as directed at a spouse, domestic partner or family member," Bettman said in a statement issued Tuesday.

The Kings terminated Voynov's six-year, $25 million contract after the arrest and placed him on their voluntary retirement list. Voynov has not played in the NHL since and instead has played three seasons with St. Petersburg in the KHL.

Voynov also competed for Russia in the 2018 Olympics.

Contingent on "good behavior," he will again be eligible to sign a contract with an NHL team starting on July 1, 2020.