Stoudemire Signs Phoenix Extension

Amare Stoudemire signed a five-year contract extension Monday with the Phoenix Suns worth about $73 million.

The deal is the maximum allowed under the NBA collective bargaining agreement for the forward, who jumped from high school to pro stardom in 2002. The exact figures won’t be known until next year’s salary cap is set, Sun President Bryan Colangelo said.

The extension kicks in after this season and has an opt-out clause after the 2009-10 season.

Stoudemire signed the contract a month shy of his 23rd birthday as the Suns gathered for media day preceding the start of their training camp in Tucson today.

The 6-foot-10, 245-pound power forward played out of position at center and dominated opponents last season for the high-scoring, fastbreaking Suns. He averaged just under 30 points in last year’s playoffs, 37 against Tim Duncan in the Western Conference finals.

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The Chicago Bulls agreed to trade center Eddy Curry to the New York Knicks, ending a contentious negotiation in which Chicago insisted that the restricted free agent take a DNA test to determine whether he’s susceptible to a potentially fatal heart problem. Curry, who missed the final 13 games of the regular season and the playoffs after experiencing an irregular heartbeat, said the test violated his privacy.

Chicago also sent veteran center Antonio Davis to the Knicks, who traded away forwards Tim Thomas, Michael Sweetney and Jermaine Jackson. Several draft choices also changed hands in the deal, according to an executive in the Eastern Conference who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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The Charlotte Bobcats will not match the Miami Heat’s offer sheet for restricted free-agent forward Jason Kapono.

Kapono joins his third team in three years. The former UCLA standout averaged 8.5 points and 2.0 rebounds in 81 games last season with the Bobcats, the team’s first year. He also had 35 double-digit scoring games and ranked 13th in the league in three-point shooting.

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Tennis

Daniela Hantuchova beat Meghann Shaughnessy, 6-4, 6-0, at the Porsche Grand Prix in Filderstadt, Germany, where Kim Clijsters is in position to regain the No. 1 ranking.

Clijsters, ranked No. 2, and top-seeded Lindsay Davenport will close within a few points of Maria Sharapova’s top ranking with a strong showing. Sharapova is injured and has pulled out of the indoor tournament, which features four of the world’s top five players.

The WTA said Clijsters probably will pass Sharapova if she beats fourth-ranked Amelie Mauresmo and eighth-ranked Elena Dementieva on the way to reaching the final. Clijsters won the U.S. Open and is 26-1 since a fourth-round loss to Davenport at Wimbledon.

Also in the first round, Flavia Pennetta of Italy beat Julia Schruff of Germany, 7-5, 6-2.

Jan-Michael Gambill defeated Peter Wessels of the Netherlands, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, in Tokyo to lead three American men into the second round of the Japan Open.

Gambill was joined by Eric Taino and Kevin Kim. Taino defeated Tasuku Iwami of Japan, 7-6 (9), 6-4, and Kim defeated Denis Gremelmayr of Germany, 6-2, 7-6 (3). The 16 seeded men received byes into the second round.

Among the women, seventh-seeded Shinobu Asagoe of Japan defeated Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela, 6-3, 6-3. Asagoe was the only seeded player competing in singles Monday.

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College Football

Virginia Tech quarterback Marcus Vick apologized for making an obscene gesture to fans during Tech’s 31-17 win Saturday at West Virginia.

Early in the third quarter, the younger brother of Atlanta Falcon quarterback Michael Vick was caught on camera extending his middle finger toward the stands after he was run out of bounds.

“I apologize for letting my emotions get the best of me Saturday,” Vick said in a statement issued Sunday by Virginia Tech.

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Jurisprudence

Milwaukee Buck forward Bobby Simmons was arrested and booked on tentative charges of fourth-degree sexual assault and misdemeanor battery, stemming from an alleged incident outside a downtown bar.

Lt. Mark Ciske said a 25-year-old woman told police that the former Clipper fondled her and punched her in the face after she got into a car with him about 2 a.m. Saturday.

Simmons was released, said police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz. It’s up to the Milwaukee County district attorney to decide on filing formal charges.

Simmons said he’s “very confident” he’ll be cleared of wrongdoing.

Two Oregon State football players and a former teammate have been charged with providing alcohol to an 18-year-old, who was later found dead with more than five times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood.

Lance Strickland’s body was found in an unoccupied dorm room over Labor Day weekend with a blood alcohol level of 0.43, officials said. Michael Marks and Gregg Peat, both 18, have been charged with two counts of giving alcohol to Strickland and another man, prosecutors said. Marks and Peat are being redshirted this season.

A former member of the team, 21-year-old John Ronnfeldt, faces four counts of furnishing alcohol to Strickland, Marks, Peat and another man, prosecutors said.

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Miscellany

Former Manchester United and Northern Ireland soccer star George Best, 59, is in the intensive care unit at Cromwell Hospital in London and responding to treatment for an infection after a liver transplant three years ago because of heavy drinking.