Trail Blazers Sign Grant to 7-Year, $63-Million Deal

Free-agent forward Brian Grant, who played only 24 games with the Sacramento Kings last season because of a shoulder injury, signed a seven-year, $63-million contract with the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Trail Blazers also re-signed center Chris Dudley to a one-year deal.

To clear salary-cap room, Portland renounced its rights to veteran forward Clifford Robinson and guards Rumeal Robinson, Mitchell Butler and Marcus Brown.

The 6-foot-9 Grant, the eighth pick in the 1994 draft, turned down a seven-year, $48-million deal from the Kings. His best season was 1995-96, when he averaged 14.4 points and 7.0 rebounds as the Kings made the playoffs.

Grant, 25, joins a team that has only two players over 30--centers Arvydas Sabonis and Dudley, both 32.

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Kansas forward Lester Earl has been freed from his scholarship commitment to Louisiana State and will be able to play for the Jayhawks next season. Earl enrolled at Kansas for the spring semester after leaving LSU. Then-LSU Coach Dale Brown had suspended him for missing practices, and he later quit the team.

Tennis

Lindsay Davenport won the U.S. Women’s Hardcourt Championships, defeating Sandrine Testud of France, 6-4, 6-1, in 58 minutes at Stone Mountain, Ga.

The fourth-seeded Davenport didn’t lose a set in four matches during the event.

Fifth-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain defeated countryman Julian Alonso, 6-2, 6-3, to reach the final of the Hamlet Cup at Commack, N.Y.

Moya, ranked eighth in the world, will play eighth-seeded Patrick Rafter of Australia. Rafter, who defeated Michael Chang in the quarterfinals, defeated sixth-seeded Thomas Enqvist of Sweden, 6-4, 6-4.

Second-seeded Marcelo Rios of Chile and unseeded Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands won semifinal matches in the MFS Pro Championships at Brookline, Mass. Schalken defeated fifth-seeded Albert Costa of Spain, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, and Rios beat unseeded Jeff Tarango, 6-4, 6-3.

Boxing

Julio Cesar Green won the World Boxing Assn. middleweight title with an upset decision over William Joppy at New York.

Also on the Madison Square Garden card, Felix Trinidad, the unbeaten International Boxing Federation welterweight champion, beat the stroke of midnight by knocking out Troy Waters in the first round of a super-welterweight match; Wilfredo Vazquez of Puerto Rico retained the WBA featherweight title on a one-sided decision over Roque Cassiani of Colombia; and Mexico’s Ricardo Lopez stopped Alexander Sanchez of Puerto Rico in the fifth round of the 20th defense of his World Boxing Council straw-weight title.

The Trinidad-Waters fight started about 11:55 p.m. and was over 2:50 after the opening bell. The victory sets up Trinidad for a match with WBC super-welterweight champion Terry Norris.

Swimming

Double Olympic gold medal winner Alexander Popov of Russia kept his six-year unbeaten string alive in the 50-meter freestyle, winning at the European Championships at Seville, Spain, with the best time in the world this season.

Popov, who is making a comeback after being stabbed in a fight with a Moscow watermelon vendor last year, was clocked in 22.30 seconds as he earned his second title of the meet. He won the 100 freestyle earlier, also with the best time of the season, 49.09.

University Games

Earl Boykins of Eastern Michigan scored 16 points to lead the United States to an 88-48 basketball victory over Britain at the World University Games in Alcamo, Sicily. Kara Wolters had 22 points and 10 rebounds as the U.S. women routed Turkey, 110-32, to reach the quarterfinals.

Shannon Miller led the U.S. to a 1-2 finish in individual all-around gymnastics.

Miller, who won two Olympic gold medals last year, totaled 36.937 points, edging teammate Kathleen Shrieves by 0.012.

China swept the men’s competition, with Zheng Lihui winning the gold.

Miscellany

Oakland won the Babe Ruth World Series, defeating South Shore of Staten Island, N.Y., 15-5.

Marv Albert’s lawyers want a judge to dismiss sodomy and assault charges against the NBC sportscaster, saying prosecutors jeopardized his chance for a fair trial by making DNA test results public.

Former New Hampshire coach Charlie Holt was among three members inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame at Eveleth, Minn.