SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- While no move has been made official yet, San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan made it clear Friday that linebacker De'Vondre Campbell has played his last snap for the team.

Campbell's decision to not play in Thursday night's loss to the Los Angeles Rams angered Shanahan and many of his teammates. After the game, Shanahan and multiple players made it clear that Campbell's actions were unacceptable, with cornerback Charvarius Ward going so far as to say Campbell is "probably going to get cut soon."

As of Friday morning, the Niners had not determined exactly how they will part ways with Campbell, but Shanahan said he didn't expect Campbell to be on the team in Week 16 and beyond.

"We're working through the semantics of exactly how to deal with it," Shanahan said. "But I mean you guys heard from me last night, you guys heard from our players, his actions from the game, it's not something you can do to your team or your teammates and still get to be a part of our team. We're working through exactly the semantics of it right now, but we'll handle the situation appropriately."

The most obvious move would be to outright release Campbell, making him an unrestricted free agent and free to sign with another team immediately. There are, however, other options the Niners can explore, such as a suspension without pay for conduct detrimental to the team.

Campbell signed a one-year, $5 million contract with the Niners in March, meaning he will again be an unrestricted free agent after the season regardless of what the 49ers decide to do now. When Campbell signed, the Niners envisioned him as a placeholder for Dre Greenlaw, the team's starting weakside linebacker who was working his way back from a torn Achilles suffered in Super Bowl LVIII.

A deal with Campbell was struck after another veteran linebacker, Eric Kendricks, agreed to sign with San Francisco before backing out to go to the Dallas Cowboys. With Greenlaw still recovering for the first 13 weeks, Campbell started 12 games and played 90% of the defensive snaps with 79 tackles, including three for loss, and two passes defended.

"We were needing a starting caliber linebacker to fill in for Dre until he could get back," Shanahan said. "We didn't know how long that would be. I thought he had some ups and downs throughout the year. I thought he started off slow. I thought he got more used to our defense and how we expected people to play, and I thought he improved throughout the year."

Greenlaw's return Thursday night offered an immediate spark for a Niners defense that held the Rams without a first down through the first quarter and just three points in the first half. But Greenlaw began dealing with some knee soreness in the third quarter, which is when the Niners asked Campbell to enter the game.

According to Shanahan, Campbell actually had been asked to enter the game in the second quarter when strong side linebacker Dee Winters departed with a neck injury. Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles had to step in for Winters after Campbell told the coaching staff he didn't want to play.

Shanahan said Friday it wasn't until the third quarter that he circled back to Campbell and found out for himself what was happening. Shanahan said Campbell was not by his teammates and was "distant from everyone" when he addressed him.

"I didn't notice until the third quarter when Dre came out and Dee went in and then I got on the defensive headset and asked what was going on," Shanahan said. "And then the coaches told me and then I addressed De'Vondre and found out. It was pretty simple to see how he was and then we moved on with our life after that."

Shanahan added that he did not tell Campbell to go to the locker room in the fourth quarter, a walk that was shown on the television broadcast as it happened. Shanahan added that he wasn't sure what led to Campbell going to the locker room but "once I found out he wasn't playing, I moved on to people who we could count on."

With Campbell on his way out, the Niners will likely need to add another linebacker to the roster. Shanahan said Friday that Greenlaw (knee soreness) and Winters (neck) will be day-to-day when the team returns to practice next week.

But assuming Greenlaw is able to recover well, he will continue to hold down his usual starting spot. For his part, Greenlaw said after the game that he didn't really know what was going on with Campbell but didn't seem too concerned about it.

"He didn't want to play," Greenlaw said. "I guess if he didn't want to play, you ain't gotta play. So, he didn't want to play."

The Miami Heat have agreed on a trade to send center Thomas Bryant to the Indiana Pacers, sources told ESPN.

The Pacers will send a swap of a future second-round pick to the Heat for Bryant, who becomes trade-eligible on Sunday, sources said.

The Pacers scoured the trade market for a backup center after losing big men Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman to torn Achilles tendons.

The 6-foot-10 Bryant is in his eighth NBA season, averaging 4.1 points and 3.2 rebounds in 11 minutes a game this season.

An Indiana University alum, Bryant has averaged 9.3 points and 5.4 rebounds in his career after being a second-round pick acquisition by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2017. Additionally, he played four years for the Washington Wizards before splitting the 2022-23 season with the Lakers and Denver Nuggets.

The cramped visitors locker room at Kaseya Center felt extra crowded last week after the Los Angeles Lakers' 41-point shellacking at the hands of the Miami Heat.

LeBron James and Anthony Davis were assigned lockers across from each other, leaving a couple of dozen reporters to pack the space in between them, waiting for the stars to explain how their defense could be so thoroughly decimated by the Heat.

James spoke first. "We got to figure it out," he said after L.A. lost for the sixth time in eight games. "Because it's definitely embarrassing, for sure."

Miami shot 57.8% from the field and a volcanic 51.1% on 3-pointers -- tying a franchise record for 3s in a regular-season game with 24 while pouring 134 points on the Lakers -- tied for the most L.A. has allowed under new coach JJ Redick.

The Lakers bottomed out in the third quarter when Tyler Herro single-handedly outscored them, hitting seven straight 3s and leading Miami to win the period 36-20.

When asked what the Lakers did wrong in guarding Herro, James quipped: "Everything."

After James finished answering questions, reporters pivoted to Davis, who put the onus on himself after scoring a season-low eight points on 3-of-14 shooting.

"I hate losing," Davis said dejectedly. "The way we're losing, we're playing bad, blown out. I'm not playing well individually. It's an accumulation of things and it's frustrating."

Davis took accountability, but even had he made the 11 other shots he attempted that night in Miami, L.A. still would have lost by double digits.

A quarter of the way through the season, the Lakers are 13-11 and have issues that Davis can't fix individually.

With James starting to show his age, L.A.'s defense continuing to be exposed in multiple facets and even the normally headstrong Redick admitting, "We're all trying to find it," after the loss to Miami, there is mounting evidence that this season could go sideways without a significant shakeup.

With Redick taking advantage of a break in the schedule to give his team time to reset this week ahead of Friday's game on the road against the Minnesota Timberwolves, here's a look at what's plaguing L.A. -- and what can be done to fix it.

Porous defense

"They weren't even trying," one Western Conference scout, who reviewed film from the L.A.-Miami game, told ESPN of the Lakers.

"The Lakers play with zero physicality," he said. "It's easy to get transition baskets. It's easy to score via pick-and-rolls. It's easy to post up and cut for easy baskets. Everything is just easy."

The numbers back up that assessment. The Lakers have allowed opponents to shoot 63% on layups and dunks in the half court this season, which is fourth worst in the league. Part of the reason for that alarming percentage is that the Lakers are allowing the third-highest shot quality on those shots at the rim in the half court, according to Second Spectrum, with only 64% of those point-blank attempts considered to be heavily contested by L.A.'s defenders.

When asked about L.A.'s pick-and-roll defense against Miami, and against the Wolves in the game that preceded it when the Lakers lost by 29 points, Redick was direct as he exhumed the defeats.

"Did not execute our switches, were not physical, did not communicate," Redick said Wednesday. "Communication was a big issue in Miami as well, no matter what we tried. Again, you can't play basketball and not talk. In terms of technique and schemes, if you don't talk, you're dead. In terms of tweaking stuff, we've done it. We've done it in coverage. We've done it with 1 through 5, and we've done it being physical. We've done it talking, so that's what we have to do. We can make adjustments on that. If you're not talking and you're not competing, you can't really make adjustments."

As rough as the half court has been, the open court has been even worse. L.A. is 29th in transition defense, allowing 1.44 points per possession. The Lakers have also had to defend the sixth-most transition possessions per game in the league this season.

Part of that problem can be linked to effort. They have had a man advantage when defending a transition possession just 44% of the time this season -- the fifth-lowest rate in the league -- meaning there aren't enough players wearing purple and gold sprinting back to protect their basket.

However, with largely the same personnel as last season's team that ranked 17th in defense, by allowing 114.8 points per 100 possessions, maybe L.A. ranking 26th and allowing 117.0 points per 100 possessions this season shouldn't be so surprising.

"It's been interesting to me, Darvin [Ham] took a lot of s--- last year," another Western Conference scout told ESPN. "I think now you're seeing like, 'Oh, maybe it wasn't Darvin. Maybe it's the f---ing roster.'"

He is not the only person among the half-dozen scouts, coaches and front office employees ESPN interviewed to suggest that L.A. needs different players if it expects different results.

"They need to trade for a good point-of-attack defender that can at least be capable of knocking down open shots," an Eastern Conference scout told ESPN. "They don't have many perimeter defenders."

Added another Eastern Conference executive to ESPN: "I don't think they have the personnel to be a good defensive team."

Though Jarred Vanderbilt's expected return next month will give Redick a player with a solid defensive track record to add to the Lakers' rotation, Vanderbilt's offensive limitations are also well documented.

"Honestly, they need what everybody wants," one of the West scouts told ESPN. "It's that versatile wing defender that can guard 2 through 4 and then can make an open 3. Your Mikal Bridges, your OG Anunoby, those type of players. And those guys, either: One, aren't available; or two, if they are available, they're not cheap, they're at a premium. Everybody in the NBA wants guys like that."

Not enough consistency from James and Davis, or players around them

Part of L.A.'s slide has coincided with Austin Reaves snapping his personal iron man streak of 129 straight regular-season games played before missing the past five games because of a left pelvic injury.

Before going out, Reaves had averaged a career-best 16.7 points, adding 4.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game.

"AD and LeBron need consistency from the rest of the group," the East exec said. "The only guy that they rely on is Austin. He finally got to the point of not deferring to those guys. The rest of the group should follow suit. Too many guys don't know how to play with them because they feel like they need to just give AD and LeBron the ball and wait for a pass. They end up forcing shots late-clock because that is when they get the ball."

Another Eastern Conference front office member pointed to L.A.'s second tier of role players failing to make a difference. "Getting very little from Gabe Vincent, Cam Reddish, Christian Wood, Jaxson Hayes has been disappointing," he told ESPN. "One of those guys needs to play better."

Though a Lakers team source told ESPN that one of L.A.'s strengths is that Reaves, D'Angelo Russell or rookie Dalton Knecht is capable of being the leading scorer any game to take the burden off James and Davis, that's still a relative rarity. In 24 games, Davis has been the leading scorer 12 times, James six times, Knecht three times, Reaves twice and Russell once.

As far as a big three goes, the results have been a big negative. The Lakers have a minus-8.4 net efficiency in the 383 minutes that Davis, James and Reaves have played together this season. That's the third-worst net efficiency among 73, three-player combinations to appear on the court together for at least 350 minutes this season.

"If Austin Reaves is your third-best player -- and I love Austin, I think he's a very good basketball player -- but if he's your third-best player, you're not a championship contender, you're just not," one of the West scouts told ESPN. "If you put Austin Reaves on the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Boston Celtics, he's probably the fifth-, maybe even sixth-best player, on those rosters."

James has been poor by his standards

If you judge by plus-minus, James has not only ceded control of the team to Davis and become the team's second-best player in his 22nd season, he has become the Lakers' worst player.

This season, the Lakers are minus-129 when James is on the floor, by far the worst on the team. And the Lakers are plus-42 when he is off the court.

James has used the off week to "take some time" away from the team for personal reasons, according to Redick. By sitting out against Minnesota, he will get eight days of rest and treatment on his sore left foot, and only miss two games.

Though his overall production -- he's averaging 23 points on 49.5% shooting, 9.1 assists and 8.0 rebounds -- is unprecedented for a player at this late stage of his career, his recent struggles prior to the foot injury are alarming.

His 66 turnovers over the past 13 games are the most he has had in a 13-game stretch since signing with the Lakers in 2018. And before he went 6-for-11 on 3-pointers in an overtime loss against the Atlanta Hawks (with two misses coming late in the fourth in an attempt to ice it and at the buzzer in OT), James shot 4-for-34 from deep (11.8%) in his seven games prior to that.

"He had that stretch where he looked probably as human as he's never looked in his career," one of James' former assistant coaches told ESPN. "It seems like he's prolonged it more than anybody ever has, but at some point, he's going to just reach a point where he can't do it. And it seems like that day is getting closer and closer now. I don't think it's yet. I think that was just a rough stretch, but I think it is eye-opening to see it like, 'Oh f---, he's not God.' He's, at some point, going to not be able to do this anymore."

Though Miami's Erik Spoelstra suggested James' combination of size, strength and smarts would allow him to keep playing the game at a high level for another decade if he wanted to, some of his effectiveness has clearly waned.

James has been off not only from the outside. He's shooting 65% on layups and dunks, his lowest in a season since player tracking began in 2013-14, according to Second Spectrum. And his 62% mark on shots 8 feet from the basket is his lowest since his rookie season in 2003-04.

"When he just wasn't knocking down shots from the outside, and with him not being as explosive as he once was, he's going to struggle if he can't play with the threat of his shot," the East scout told ESPN.

One of the West scouts said it is Redick's responsibility to engage James to impact winning, stats be damned.

"They will go nowhere if Redick and staff don't find a way to challenge him beyond his historic numbers," the scout told ESPN. "The supporting cast is always going to follow his lead. When they have these horrible games, it's a reflection of him being able to cruise and still get great stats. They can't cruise."

Though James, along with Davis, shouldered the blame in Miami -- saying a clunker such as that has to fall on the players, and not the coaches -- a couple of nights later in Atlanta, he pointed to a different reason for L.A.'s loss.

"We don't have much room for error," James said, pointing to the "big pieces" L.A. was missing from the lineup in Reaves, Vanderbilt, Hayes and Wood.

Of course, that reality of James missing the matchup against Minnesota, and even more games, becomes unfeasible if L.A. hopes to win.

"Sure, it'd be great to rest your second-best player who's 40 years old, but with the lack of talent and obviously also the lack of health, it makes it incredibly difficult to sit somebody like that," one of the West scouts told ESPN.

"So I don't know what the right answer is. Because probably yes, the right thing for LeBron is to take some nights off just to rest his body and rest his mind. But you run the risk of not being able to win games just with your talent deficiency."

Added the scout: "I think that comes back to the roster issue of he can't consistently do it over an 82-game stretch at his age. And he needs help ... and he doesn't have help."

The Chicago Cubs acquired Houston Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker in exchange for third baseman Isaac Paredes, pitcher Hayden Wesneski and prospect Cam Smith, the teams announced on Friday.

Tucker, 27, has a career .870 OPS over seven seasons with the Astros. He's entering his final year of team control -- which means he'll be a free agent after next season -- and is likely to make around $18 million through the arbitration process.

He'll become the Cubs starting right fielder with Seiya Suzuki relegated to designated hitter duty -- at least for now. The team still employs INF/OF Cody Bellinger, but he's likely to be moved in a separate trade, sources told ESPN.

Tucker played in only 78 games last season due to a shin injury -- but will still be the Cubs' best player. The team has been searching for star-quality production on offense, and they might have found it in the three-time All-Star, who finished fifth in AL MVP voting in 2023.

Paredes, 25, spent a half season with the Cubs after being acquired from the Rays in July. He'll likely serve as a replacement for Alex Bregman at third base if he leaves Houston via free agency. Paredes is a dead pull hitter, useful for the short left field fences at Minute Maid Park. He hit 19 home runs last season and has a career .755 OPS over five big league seasons.

Wesneski, 27, has appeared in 68 career games for the Cubs, including 22 as a starter. He has a career 3.93 ERA pitching as a swingman over the past three seasons. He was acquired from the Yankees at the summer trade deadline in 2022.

Smith, 21, was the 14th overall pick out of Florida State in last year's amateur draft. He made headlines during his short pro debut, hitting home runs in six straight games for Single-A Myrtle Beach in August. He played mostly third base in college.

Justin Ishbia, a Phoenix Suns minority owner and the brother of Suns majority owner Mat Ishbia, is interested in buying the Minnesota Twins, a source with knowledge of the matter told ESPN on Friday.

In October, the Pohlad family, which has owned the Twins for four decades, announced its intention to explore selling the team, which would end one of the longest-tenured ownerships in Major League Baseball. The Twins finished 82-80 last season, missing the playoffs for the third time in four seasons.

Justin, whom Forbes estimates has a net worth of nearly $5 billion, is the founder and managing partner of the Chicago-based private equity firm Shore Capital Partners.

Justin's brother, Mat, a billionaire mortgage lender and head of United Wholesale Mortgage, led an ownership group that included Justin to buy a controlling stake in the Suns and the Phoenix Mercury in February 2023 at a $4 billion valuation.

Justin, who owns a 22% stake in United Wholesale Mortgage, is listed as the alternate governor for the Suns and Mercury.

Allen & Company is the investment bank facilitating the sale of the Twins, which are estimated to be worth between $1.5 billion and $2 billion. The Pohlad family bought the Twins for $44 million in 1984.

Bloomberg was first to report Ishbia's interest in the Twins.

BOSTON -- Garrett Crochet quickly realized he had a numbers issue following his trade to the Boston Red Sox.

He had worn No. 45 with the Chicago White Sox since his major league debut in 2020 and the pitcher was dealt Wednesday to a team that retired the number for Pedro Martínez in 2015.

"Yeah, that's one of the first things that I realized after the trade went through," Crochet said Friday.

His next few choices also were unavailable.

"I wore 34 in college, so that one was retired," he said, thinking back to his time at Tennessee. "Other than that, I never really picked a number since high school, and in high school I wore No. 14, which I also believe was retired."

Boston retired No. 34 for David Ortiz in 2016 and No. 14 for Jim Rice in 2009.

Crochet settled on No. 35, unused this year and worn most recently with the Red Sox by Richard Bleier (2023), Eric Hosmer (2022), Matt Andriese (2021) and Josh Osich (2020). Its last multiyear user was Steven Wright in 2013-19.

Martínez is a Red Sox special assistant and works for the team as a spring training instructor.

"Having any sort of conversation with Pedro would be my ideal world," Crochet said, "but I'm kind of going in with low expectations, hoping to bump into guys when I can."

Crochet was acquired at the winter meetings for catcher Kyle Teel, infielder Chase Meidroth, right-hander Wikelman Gonzalez and outfielder Braden Montgomery.

"It's a big relief," Crochet said. "It takes a lot of stress out of the way of, I suppose, in spring training being curious where we're going to be living, the housing situation is tough to figure out, so it's nice to kind of be ahead of the game in that regard."

Crochet was 6-12 with a 3.58 ERA in 32 starts for a White Sox team that went 41-121, the most losses for any club since 1900. The 25-year-old was picked for the AL All-Star team in his first season as a starter.

"The opportunity to play for the market of Boston, the fan base that's representing the Red Sox is about as great of an opportunity as you can come by in this game," he said. "Especially growing up that's what you imagine it to be, is Major League Baseball, playing in the AL East, Boston, New York, the whole thing like that. And I grew up watching Big Papi, so it's going to be a very surreal moment to play where he played."

Crochet is eligible for arbitration this offseason and next and unless he signs a long-term deal can become a free agent after the 2026 World Series.

"I really haven't had much time to give it a lot of thought," he said. "For me this time of year the main thing that I'm focused on is my training and getting ready for spring training."

Leicester Tigers: Steward; Bassett, Perese, Kata, Hassell-Collins; Pollard, Van Poortvliet; Smith, Montoya (c), Heyes, Wells, Martin, Liebenberg, Reffell, Cracknell

Replacements: Clare, Cronin, Cole, Henderson, Ilione, Youngs, Shillcock, Woodward

Sharks: Jo Hendrikse; Keyter, Hooker, Venter, Penxe; Masuku, Ja Hendrikse; Mchunu, Richardson, Nyakane, Jenkins, Van Heerden, Buthelezi (c), Labuschagne, Tshituka

Replacements: Bester, Ganyane, Jacobs, Rahl, Mavesere, Davids, Appollis, Kunene

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Ita)

England defence coach Felix Jones has stepped down from his role with immediate effect.

Jones resigned in August after becoming disillusioned in Steve Borthwick's set-up but was being held to a 12-month notice period.

Although England said the Irishman was doing "remote analysis" during the Autumn Nations Series, it was revealed Jones was not in contact with the other assistant coaches.

In a statement on Friday, the Rugby Football Union said: "The RFU can confirm that England Rugby men's assistant coach Felix Jones will step down from his role today."

Joe El-Abd took over from Jones during the autumn campaign and adopted a blitz style of defence, which was initially implemented by his predecessor.

El-Abd follows Jones and Kevin Sinfield as England's third defence coach to work under head coach Borthwick, who took charge in 2023.

England's defence was a concern during the autumn as they conceded an average of four tries a match across their three home defeats by New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

Borthwick's side begin next year's Six Nations campaign against defending champions Ireland in Dublin on Saturday, 1 February.

The most recent picture posted to Tom Voyce's Instagram page is a team shot from five weeks ago., external

Some a little thinner on top, others a little thicker round the waist, it marked a 20-year reunion for the all-conquering Wasps team of 2003-04, who won a Premiership and European double.

Voyce, a 23-year-old wing in his first season at the club since arriving from Bath, started both finals and was a leading light in a team that contained Lawrence Dallaglio, Joe Worsley, Rob Howley, Josh Lewsey, Simon Shaw and Trevor Leota.

He was Wasps' top try-scorer in the league and twice carved through Munster in a rollicking Heineken Cup semi-final to set up their first-ever shot at a continental prize.

It was the start of a glorious era for the Cornishman and his club.

By the time he departed Wasps five summers later, Voyce had won another two Premiership titles, repeated Heineken Cup success with a win over Leicester in 2007 and added an Anglo-Welsh Cup to his list of honours.

Voyce, a descendent of a 1920s England great of the same name, won his first England cap in 2001, but had fallen out of favour before his move to Wasps revitalised his international prospects.

He ended up making nine international appearances, scoring three tries en route, but was unable to permanently dislodge Iain Balshaw, Mark Cueto, Ben Cohen and team-mate Lewsey in the back three.

A poor performance in a 34-3 defeat by Australia in 2006 ultimately marked the end of his Test career.

He left Wasps in 2009 for a three-year stint at Gloucester, initially finding himself behind James Simpson-Daniel, Lesley Vainikolo and a youthful Charlie Sharples before stepping in to help power the club to the Anglo-Welsh Cup in 2011, scoring in the final against Newcastle.

After being released by the Cherry and Whites, he endured a frustrating search for a club before signing on for a final farewell season with London Welsh.

Voyce retired in 2013 at the age of 32, having scored 66 tries in 220 top-flight games, to pursue a career in financial services

Future England fly-half Freddie Burns was emerging at Kingsholm during Voyce's Gloucester stint.

"He was my gym partner in the very early days at Gloucester and taught me so much," he wrote. "I will forever be grateful."

Andy Goode, who featured alongside Voyce in the England backline, said: "He was a great bloke who I spent many fun times with."

Former England scrum-half Matt Dawson, who played alongside Voyce at Wasps, described him as "one of life's wonderful humans".

"I can't express my sadness right now," Dawson added in an Instagram post , externalfeaturing a horse emoji, a reference to Voyce's nickname.

Former Wasps and England flanker James Haskell said, external Voyce was "a team-mate, a friend and an incredible player - someone I admired who always punched above his weight".

World Cup winner Dallaglio, who captained Voyce and Wasps during that silverware-littered golden period, pleaded for privacy for his former team-mate's family.

Dallaglio's sister Francesca was among the 51 people who died in the 1989 Marchioness disaster when a boat carrying party-goers sank in the Thames.

"It's the most horrific news and all I would say at this juncture is that please let us all respect Tom's family and their suffering right now and keep them in all our thoughts," Dallaglio wrote.

"It's just such a tragedy. Sending all my love."

England head coach Steve Borthwick said Voyce was "a wonderfully gifted rugby player and a truly lovely man".

He added: "Tom left a lasting impact on everyone who had the pleasure of knowing him and created memories that will stay with all who watched him play."