WNBA Breaks Attendance Records, Darvin Ham Returns to Bucks, and More Sports Highlights

The WNBA achieved record attendance and viewership for its season's opening month. Darvin Ham rejoins the Milwaukee Bucks as an assistant coach. The Boston Celtics stay united despite external comments. Meanwhile, Marcedes Lewis extends his career with the Bears, and Sunisa Lee boosts her Olympic hopes on Biles' advice.

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

WNBA opens with highest attendance in 26 years

The WNBA registered its highest attendance in 26 years for an opening month to the season as well as its most-watched start. The league announced Monday that 400,000 fans attended games since the season tipped off on May 14 through the end of the month, its highest since nearly the league's inception; the WNBA began play in 1997. Further, more than half of all WNBA games were sellouts, which is a 156 percent increase year over year, according to the release.

Report: Darvin Ham returning to Bucks as top assistant

Fired Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham is returning to the Milwaukee Bucks as the top assistant coach on Doc Rivers' staff, ESPN reported Monday. Ham, 50, spent 11 seasons as an assistant coach, including four with the Bucks, before the Lakers gave him his first head coaching job ahead of the 2022-23 season.

Top-dog status not a concern to team-first Celtics

BOSTON -- Prior to the Celtics' 105-98 victory over the Mavericks in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday, Dallas coach Jason Kidd seemingly tried to pit Boston stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown against each other. Speaking to reporters Saturday, Kidd referred to Brown as the Celtics' best player. Both Brown and Tatum were unfazed by the remark, but it later became evident that Boston coach Joe Mazzulla took it to heart.

Golf-Clark hopes to jump-start sluggish season at U.S. Open

Wyndham Clark is frustrated with the state of his game and just looking to produce four solid rounds when he starts his U.S. Open defence this week at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina. The American was the major tournament's surprise winner last year when he held off Rory McIlroy on the back nine for a one-stroke victory at Los Angeles Country Club.

Bears bring back TE Marcedes Lewis, 40

The Chicago Bears are bringing back Marcedes Lewis on a one-year deal, setting him up to be the oldest tight end in NFL history. Financial terms were not announced for Lewis, who turned 40 last month. The 2024 season will be his 19th in the league. At 268 games, Lewis ranks third all-time among TEs in career games played, trailing Jason Witten (271) and Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez (270).

MLB roundup: M's stun White Sox with walk-off slam

Cal Raleigh hit a grand slam with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Seattle Mariners rallied from a four-run deficit to defeat the visiting Chicago White Sox 8-4 on Monday night. Dominic Canzone also went deep for the Mariners, who were blanked by White Sox starter Erick Fedde for the first seven innings. Luis Robert Jr. and Corey Julks homered for the White Sox, who dropped to 5-27 on the road.

Olympics-Lee's performance at U.S. Championships lifted by Biles pep talk

Sunisa Lee thought her chances of making the U.S. team for the Paris Olympics had crumbled after an awful vault at the national championships earlier this month but some words of encouragement from team mate Simone Biles helped to turn her meet around. Since winning gold in the all-around at the Tokyo Olympics Lee has spent time sidelined with kidney illnesses and needed a strong performance at the pressure packed competition to stay in the running for the five-person Paris squad.

Evan Rodrigues, Panthers surge late, down Oilers in Game 2

The Florida Panthers are halfway to winning the Stanley Cup Final thanks to a 4-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night in Sunrise, Fla. The Panthers, on a quest for the first championship in franchise history, lead the best-of-seven series 2-0, having taken both home dates to kick off the set.

Steelers sign coach Mike Tomlin to 3-year extension

The Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday signed head coach Mike Tomlin to a three-year extension, keeping him on the sidelines through the 2027 season. Financial terms were not disclosed by the team. Tomlin was entering the final year of his contract.

NBA-Hurley turns down Lakers offer to stay with Connecticut - reports

Dan Hurley has rejected a Los Angeles Lakers offer to become their next head coach in favor of chasing a third straight national title with the University of Connecticut, multiple media outlets reported on Monday. The Lakers offer was reportedly a six-year, $70 million contract to lead the team and their stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)