The Golden State Warriors issued a statement Monday thanking Kevin Durant and announcing that no player will ever wear No. 35 for the team again.

The statement, from Warriors co-chairman and CEO Joe Lacob, said Durant "carried himself with class and dignity both on and off the court."

After winning two NBA championships in three seasons with Golden State, Durant will begin the next chapter of his career in Brooklyn, where he plans to sign a four-year contract worth up to $164 million. He will join free agents Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan, who also plan to sign with the Nets.

Durant, who joined the Warriors after spending eight seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder, won two NBA Finals MVPs during his tenure with Golden State.

"Today, as he starts a new chapter in his incredible career, we thank KD for all of his contributions, for being an integral part to one of the most prolific runs in NBA history and wish him well as he continues his Hall of Fame journey," Lacob said in the statement. "As long as I am Co-Chairman of this team, no player will ever wear #35 for the Warriors again."

The Warriors were quick to recover from the news of Durant's departure, finalizing a sign-and-trade with the Nets for D'Angelo Russell on Monday, league sources tell ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, and agreeing to a maximum contract with Klay Thompson, his agent, Greg Lawrence, told Wojnarowski.

The Miami Heat completed a four-team trade that allows them to sign All-Star guard Jimmy Butler to a four-year, $142 million contract, league sources told ESPN on Monday.

The Heat are sending center Hassan Whiteside to the Portland Trail Blazers, guard Josh Richardson to the Philadelphia 76ers and a protected 2023 first-round pick to the Los Angeles Clippers to secure the salary-cap flexibility to complete the sign-and-trade deal with the 76ers, league sources tell ESPN.

The Blazers acquired Whiteside for forwards Meyers Leonard and Maurice Harkless, sources said. Harkless and his $11 million expiring contract are headed to the Clippers in the deal, which is the reason the Clippers were able to extract the protected 2023 first-round pick.

The Clippers still hold the max salary space to sign free agent Kawhi Leonard, who they're pursuing. For the Clippers, Harkless represents a starting-level forward who can play with Leonard and provide depth behind him.

The Clippers already hold Miami's 2021 first-round pick, which was acquired in the Tobias Harris trade with Philadelphia in February.

The Dallas Mavericks had interest in acquiring Heat guard Goran Dragic in a previous, three-team construction of the Butler sign-and-trade, but they "changed course," Dragic's agent, Bill Duffy, told ESPN.

"In analyzing it, his salary was too high based on other things they're trying to do," Duffy told ESPN.

Dallas has been pursuing perimeter help in free agency, with an emphasis on tough defenders accomplished as 3-point shooters.

ESPN's Ramona Shelburne contributed to this report.

You've just witnessed the most intense transactional day in NBA history. Actually, it was more like a quarter of a day.

Amid the flurry of Sunday's spending and sign-and-trades, it might've been easy to miss that something potentially terrific happened: The league just got super competitive.

Kawhi Leonard holds the favorite chip in his hands and wherever he signs may end up being the title favorite. But no matter what he decides, it promises to be a mysterious 2019-20 season with a slew of true contenders, a needed changeup.

This could well be the NBA's first transitional season since 2014-15, when the Miami Heat broke up and the San Antonio Spurs slowed down, eventually getting eliminated in the first round. From that murk rose the Golden State Warriors, who stunned us with their explosive leap. It was a joyous time of uncertainty.

The brand-new 2019-20 season now has even more promise. The first hours of the new league year saw teams in both conferences fortify themselves by spreading out the balance of power. After waiting out the Warriors' five-year run and the sunset of LeBron James' Finals streak, this is what everyone else has been waiting for. The door is open and everyone can sense it.

Just consider the unusual circumstance two of the biggest offseason winners face. The Brooklyn Nets had a historic free agency, landing both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant in a white-hot streak across social media. But because of the circumstances with Durant's injury, the Nets face a holding pattern as Durant recovers from his torn Achilles.

Yes, the Nets added Irving but in the process had to jettison another All-Star guard, D'Angelo Russell. They may be better next season, but until Durant returns they may have to toil in the middle of the pack of Eastern Conference contenders.

The Los Angeles Lakers have been another big winner, landing Anthony Davis, but waiting on Leonard has cost the Lakers a chance at signing the majority of their role-player targets as most have gone elsewhere. If they complete the grand slam by getting Leonard, they face playing next season with a record 10 minimum-contract players, which could present an array of challenges even with their star power. The futures of the Lakers and Nets are shimmering but they may not be at their best for a bit.

The Warriors promise to be relevant with Russell joining Stephen Curry as they wait for Klay Thompson, who is expected to eventually re-sign, to recover from a torn ACL. But the machinations needed to acquire Russell in a sign-and-trade with Durant will zap some depth and they will be vulnerable.

Meanwhile, the Northwest Division has turned into an arms race with the Utah Jazz loading up their team by trading for Mike Conley, then adding Bojan Bogdanovic and Ed Davis on Sunday. They join the Denver Nuggets, who elected to pay Paul Millsap $30 million to keep him and locked down Jamal Murray with a five-year contract extension, as legitimate contenders to win the West.

Then there are the Portland Trail Blazers, who are coming off the conference finals and re-signed Damian Lillard and Rodney Hood. Not to mention the Oklahoma City Thunder, who have two All-NBA players in Russell Westbrook and Paul George.

The Dallas Mavericks, who will be getting freshly re-signed Kristaps Porzingis back, and New Orleans Pelicans, who now have one of the deepest teams in the conference after signing JJ Redick and trading for Derrick Favors, will both be playoff contenders. And there's an expectation No. 1 pick Zion Williamson will be a must-watch every night, to the point where the Pelicans may sell out of season tickets.

None of this speaks to the power the LA Clippers will become if Leonard picks them. With their depth, they could be a serious title contender. Or the Houston Rockets, who despite their team turmoil status still are loaded with talent and might've been the second-best team in the West by the end of last regular season.

Having said all that, for the first time in recent memory, the East might actually be stronger than the West collectively.

The Boston Celtics retooled by replacing Irving with Kemba Walker, an All-Star starter last season. The Philadelphia 76ers, once they work out a Jimmy Butler sign-and-trade, will have added highly sought big man Al Horford to wing Josh Richardson after re-signing Tobias Harris.

Coming off a 60-win season, the Milwaukee Bucks kept key players Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez to space the floor for MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. But they had to let valued guard Malcolm Brogdon go due to cost reasons, perhaps slightly bringing them back toward the pack.

Brogdon went to the Indiana Pacers, where he is expected to eventually join a recovering Victor Oladipo to create a powerful backcourt that could see them become more of a factor. The Detroit Pistons added another scoring and playmaking option by signing Derrick Rose as they look to return to the playoffs.

Add in the improving Atlanta Hawks, who have two top-10 picks joining their young core, and the Miami Heat, who are plotting a return to the postseason after lining up a deal to get Butler in an aggressive sign-and-trade that will likely get finalized.

Then, of course, there are the defending champion Toronto Raptors. If Leonard returns, fellow free agent Danny Green could follow and they could end up with the top eight players of a title team with legit thoughts of a repeat. Even if Leonard moves on, Pascal Siakam and Kyle Lowry should keep Toronto dangerous even if it creates a window for new blood.

The anticipation of all these moves drove so much interest over the previous 12 months. Oftentimes, obsession with this free-agent-rich summer overwhelmed attention on the games. That trend may end right now with so many teams feeling like they could be the next 2014-15 Warriors and sneak up on the league.

The 2020 free-agent class is expected to be much shallower than the target-rich group this summer. Combined with the upgraded list of competitive teams, it could drive more interest in actual basketball than the transaction forecasting that often dominated the conversation over the past 12 months.

That change alone could energize the regular season and unveil the kind of year of opportunity that will present a new drama for fans to fall in love with all over again.

CHICAGO -- A White Sox official says it was "poor form" for the team to show a scoreboard graphic of "famous people from Chicagoland" that grouped lynching victim Emmett Till with game show host Pat Sajak and film icon Orson Welles.

Scott Reifert, the team's vice president of communications, said Sunday that he told the staffer who created the graphic shown during Saturday's game against the Minnesota Twins that listing the slain black teenager next to the others "kind of minimalizes [that this] is a young man who lost his life."

He says it was "poor form" and that the intent "wasn't to insult anybody." He also says the staffer won't be disciplined and there will be no change in protocol.

The 1955 killing of the 14-year-old Till in Money, Mississippi, shocked the nation and was a watershed moment in the civil rights movement.

NEW YORK -- In the latest embarrassment for the New York Mets, the team has publicly apologized to two living members of its 1969 World Series championship team who were included in a video montage of dead players during the 50th anniversary celebration.

With a message that filled up one Citi Field scoreboard about 15 minutes before Sunday night's game against Atlanta, the Mets expressed deep regret to Jim Gosger and Jesse Hudson for displaying their names and images in error during the "We Remember" segment of Saturday's ceremony.

The club says it has spoken with both former players to apologize and wants to thank them along with their families and friends for their "gracefulness and understanding."

Gosger, 76, had 16 plate appearances for the 1969 Mets and returned to the team from 1973-74. Hudson, 70, pitched two innings for the '69 club in his only major league game.

"Somebody from the Mets called me that night and said, 'We're awful sorry about the screw-up,'" Gosger told his hometown newspaper, the Times Herald of Port Huron, Michigan. "I said, 'What's done is done.' But I don't know, it was a shock, I will say that."

Equally upsetting as the Mets informing the world that he was dead was not getting an invitation to the ceremony, Gosger said.

"I didn't get an invite for that either but then they recognize you for being dead, that's what really hurt," he said.

Gosger said the Mets could make things up to him by giving him a World Series championship ring from 1969. He got one from 1973 but not 1969.

"I was there in '69 and I didn't get the ring, and that's the thing I wanted more than anything, the ring," he said.

Perhaps another apology will follow from the Mets, who won Sunday for only the fifth time in 18 games. On the scoreboard, they misspelled Hudson's first name as "Jessie."

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Tampa Bay Rays two-way player Brendan McKay is scheduled to make his hitting debut against the Baltimore Orioles two days after winning his first appearance as a starting pitcher.

McKay was in the lineup as the designated hitter Monday night and batting eighth.

"It's great," McKay said. "You get to get everything out of the way quick and then you get those out of the way and then you're free to just relax and have fun and play."

The left-hander took a perfect game into the sixth inning in his big league debut Saturday against Texas. He was pulled after allowing one hit over six scoreless innings.

"I'm excited to see him hit," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "We saw a really, really good pitching performance. If he can do that at the plate, we've got something working, I guess."

McKay, a first baseman limited to DH this season, hit .216 (96 for 444) with 14 homers and 79 RBI over three minor league seasons. After a promotion this year from Double-A Montgomery, he had a .265 average (13 for 49) with four homers and 10 RBI at Triple-A Durham.

McKay is scheduled to pitch again Friday night against the AL East-leading New York Yankees.

"There's satisfaction in knowing that you're going to get a chance to do both," McKay said.

McKay will be available to pinch-hit on days he doesn't pitch or DH. He will have a bullpen session Tuesday.

"I'm still learning and asking questions kind of on the fly here," Cash said.

The Rays have another two-way player on the horizon at Durham with Jake Cronenworth. The infielder entered Monday hitting .338 with nine homers and 38 RBI, while allowing two unearned runs and four hits over 6 1/3 innings in six games.

Cronenworth has pitched as an opener five times and last week started a game at shortstop before pitching 1 1/3 relief innings.

"Look at what he's done offensively, and the pitching makes him that much more interesting of a player that can help a major league team," Cash said.

NEW YORK -- A month after setting a record for most home runs in a month, big league batters did it again and are on pace to shatter the season mark.

Batters hit 1,142 home runs in June, seven more than they had hit in May.

Five of the top six home run months have occurred in the last three years. August 2017 is third at 1,119, followed by June 2017 (1,101), May 2000 (1,069) and May 2017 (1,060).

A total of 3,421 home runs were hit in 1,255 games through Sunday, an average of 2.73 per game. That is up 19% from the 2.28 average through June last year, when 2,822 home runs were hit in 1,236 games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Batters are on pace to hit 6,624 home runs -- well above the record 6,105 set in 2017 and up from 5,585 last year.

Milwaukee's Christian Yelich leads the major leagues with 29 home runs, followed by New York Mets rookie Pete Alonso (28) and the Los Angeles Dodgers' Cody Bellinger (27).

A year after strikeouts surpassed hits for the first time, whiffs remain ahead: 21,871 to 21,554. Though there were more strikeouts than hits in March (949 to 848) and April (6,799 to 6,371), hitting has picked up in the warmer months. There were 7,170 hits to 7,137 strikeouts in May and 7,165 hits to 6,986 strikeouts in June.

The major league batting average was .251 through June. That is up three percentage points from last year's average, the lowest since 1972 -- the year before the American League started using the designated hitter.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs died Monday, the team announced. He was 27.

Police responded to a report of an unconscious man in a hotel room in Southlake, Texas, and pronounced Skaggs dead at the scene. No foul play is suspected and an investigation is ongoing, police said.

"It is with great sorrow that we report Tyler Skaggs passed away earlier today in Texas," an Angels statement said. "Tyler has, and always will be, an important part of the Angels Family. Our thoughts and prayers are with his entire family during this devastating time."

The Angels' game against the Texas Rangers scheduled for Monday was postponed.

Rangers general manager Jon Daniels told media that he had only discussed the postponement of Monday's game with MLB, but he would be open to talking if the league feels more should be done.

MLB posted a statement to Twitter from commissioner Rob Manfred that read in part, "All of us at Major League Baseball extend our deepest condolences to Tyler's wife Carli, their family, their friends and all of his Angels' teammates and colleagues. We will support the Angels' organization through this most difficult period, and we will make a variety of resources available to Tyler's teammates and other members of the baseball family."

We are deeply saddened by the tragic news that Tyler Skaggs, 27, passed away this morning. https://t.co/q150hyH01J pic.twitter.com/y1X5ctlWDl

— MLB (@MLB) July 1, 2019

Skaggs last pitched Saturday, going five innings at home against Oakland. He had gone 7-7 this year in 15 starts, recording a 4.29 ERA with 78 strikeouts in 79⅔ innings.

A Los Angeles-area native, Skaggs was born in Woodland Hills and went to high school in Santa Monica. His mother, Debbie, was the longtime softball coach at Santa Monica High School. She famously provided postgame tips on his pitching mechanics, even deep into his big-league career.

Skaggs was drafted by the Angels with the 40th pick in the first round of the 2009 draft, the same Angels draft class as Mike Trout. They were roommates in the low minor leagues before Skaggs was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks in August 2010.

Skaggs made his major league debut two years later, and Arizona traded him back to the Angels after the 2013 season.

Rest in peace, Tyler. You will be missed dearly. pic.twitter.com/4DDTMZssNo

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) July 1, 2019

Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark said in a statement that "the fraternity of players is stunned and saddened today by the untimely death of Tyler Skaggs."

Skaggs' death comes 10 years after another Angels pitcher, Nick Adenhart, died in a car crash along with two other people in April 2009. A drunk driver was convicted of murder and sentenced to 51 years to life in 2010.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Vijay Shankar has been ruled out of the 2019 World Cup with a fractured toe. Mayank Agarwal is set to fly out as his replacement and will join the squad later this week. India have two fixtures remaining, against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka on July 2 and July 6 respectively.

"Vijay sustained a non-displaced fracture of the left big toe, which will require a minimum of three weeks to heal. The injury rules him out of the ongoing World Cup," stated a BCCI media release.

Vijay was struck on his left foot by a Jasprit Bumrah yorker at training on June 20. The injury was not perceived to be serious initially and Vijay was part of India's XI for the match against Afghanistan on June 22 and West Indies on June 27. However, the injury flared up on Friday, two days before the England game. On match-eve, he missed an option training session even as the support staff oversaw rigorous net sessions for Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant, who replaced Vijay in India's XI on Sunday.

The selection of Agarwal and not Ambati Rayudu, one of five stand-bys named earlier, is possibly a sign of him being looked at as the third opener. KL Rahul spent considerable time off the field during the England game after bruising his back while attempting a catch at the boundary. It was deemed to be an external injury and he eventually returned to open the batting and was dismissed for a nine-ball duck.

Agarwal, uncapped in the shorter formats, Agarwal made his Test debut in Melbourne in December last year after being called in as a replacement for the injured Prithvi Shaw. He was to undergo a fitness assessment this week before flying out to the Caribbean with the India A team for five one-dayers and the third unofficial Test.

Agarwal has been a prolific List A batsman for Karnataka, averaging 48.71 in 75 innings, having aggregated 3605 runs with 12 hundreds and 14 half-centuries. He had a prolific run in England with the India A squad last year, scoring 287 runs in four one-day innings at an average of 71.75 and strike rate of 105.90.

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