Drew Brees agrees to $100-million deal with Saints

Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints reached a deal on par with the quarterback’s record-setting play, giving the team’s fans some news they can celebrate after an off-season rife with turmoil.

The team announced Friday that it had agreed to a five-year contract with Brees. A person familiar with the deal said it’s for $100 million, with $60 million guaranteed.

The deal will pay the quarterback $40 million the first year, the person told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because financial details had not been publicly announced.

Brees’ new deal tops the previous benchmark contract for elite QBs set by the five-year, $96 million deal Denver gave earlier this offseason to Peyton Manning, who is three years older than Brees and sat out last season while recovering from neck surgery.

Had a deal not been reached, the tender for a quarterback was worth $16.3 million. Brees would have had to play for that amount or hold out for a better one-year deal, which would have left his long-term future in New Orleans uncertain.

Now Brees is set to report for the opening of Saints training camp on July 24, a needed dose of good news for a club whose off-season has been plagued by the bounty scandal that resulted in the season-long suspensions of head coach Sean Payton and linebacker Jonathan Vilma, among other sanctions.

The Seattle Seahawks cut wide receiver Mike Williams, a former USC star, after two up-and-down seasons that first reignited his career before injuries slowed him in 2011.

The Dallas Mavericks won the bidding to obtain two-time All-Star forward Elton Brand off waivers, the latest in a series of moves to build their roster after a frustrating start in free agency.

Brand was available after the Philadelphia 76ers this week used the one-time amnesty provision in the new CBA to let him go and not have the $18.1 million he is owed in the final season of his five-year deal count against their salary cap or luxury tax.

Dallas also completed a one-year deal with center Chris Kaman.

The Minnesota Timberwolves traded center Brad Miller and two second-round picks to New Orleans and waived swingman Martell Webster as they continue to make moves to make a run at Portland restricted free agent Nicolas Batum.

The Charlotte Bobcats signed free agent point guard Ramon Sessions to a two-year contract.

Lance Ten Broeck shot a 68 at the U.S. Senior Open at Lake Orion, Mich. His six-under 134 gave him a one-shot lead over first-round leader Tom Kite.

Tom Lehman and Corey Pavin were in a pack that will go into the weekend two strokes back.

Phil Mickelson broke out of his slump with an eight-under 64 at the Scottish Open at Inverness, leaving him five shots off the second-round lead shared by Alexander Noren and Francesco Molinari.

Troy Matteson shot a three-under 68 for a one-stroke lead over Jeff Maggert and Brian Harman after two rounds of the PGA’s John Deere Classic at Silvis, Mich. Matteson was at 13-under 129.

Serena Williams reached the semifinals of the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, beating Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa, 6-4, 6-0.

Yanina Wickmayer beat Marion Bartoli, 6-3, 6-2, and next faces American Coco Vandeweghe, who knocked off Urszula Radwanska of Poland, 6-4, 6-4, to make the semifinals of a WTA Tour event for the first time.

Americans John Isner and Ryan Harrison will face off in the semifinals at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships at Newport, R.I.

Former Studio City Harvard-Westlake pitcher Lucas Giolito signed with the Washington Nationals for $2,925,000 just before Friday’s signing deadline.

“There was 30 seconds to go,” Giolito said.

Giolito was the No. 16 pick for the Nationals. He injured his right elbow last March, spraining a ligament not long after he was clocked throwing a 100-mph fastball during the opening days of the season at Harvard-Westlake. He had signed with UCLA.

— Eric Sondheimer

Relay sprinter Debbie Dunn took her name off the U.S. Olympic team roster Friday after testing positive for excessive testosterone.