Sports Briefs 5/26/21

NBA

Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies play game two of their first-round Western Conference playoff series against the Utah Jazz tonight. Utah is expected to get star guard Donovan Mitchell back from an ankle injury that’s kept him out for the past 17 contests, though Mitchell was upset that the Jazz scratched him ahead of their game one loss. Tipoff in Salt Lake City is at 9.

MLB

The Portland Diamond Project is confirming reports that representatives from the Oakland A’s will be visiting the city on a fact-finding mission. The group is interested in bringing Major League Baseball to Portland, and the A’s may already have one foot out the door in Oakland. The franchise has faced a string of rejections as well as political and financial hurdles in trying to build a new ball park. The Oakland City Council is likely to vote on a financial plan this summer that could open the door for the A’s to build a water front ball park at the Howard Terminal site.

NASCAR

The NASCAR Cup Series is racing to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the annual Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday. Martin Truex Jr. remains atop the power ranking despite finishing in the bottom half of the Circuit of Americas for the second week following a violent wreck. Kyle Larson moves to second after earning his third second-place finish in a row at COTA while William Byron drops into third after an 11th place finish on Sunday that snapped his streak of top-10 finishes at 11 in a row.

Olympics

American Olympic athletes are still planning to head to Tokyo for the Summer Olympics. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki says U.S. athletes will be following strict, longstanding COVID protocols. Japan is in the midst of another coronavirus surge, which has prompted a “Do Not Travel” advisory from the State Department. Tokyo is set to host the Olympics starting in July.