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• Griffin announces retirement after 14-year NBA career

  Blake Griffin has dunked in an NBA game for the last time.

  The six-time All-Star announced his retirement on social media on Tuesday after a 14-year pro career.

  The first overall pick of the 2009 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Clippers, Griffin missed the entire 2009-10 season with a broken patella in his left knee sustained in the preseason.

  He made an immediate impact the following year, however, winning the 2010-11 Rookie of the Year Award, the 2011 Slam Dunk Contest and was named to the first of five consecutive All-Star teams while playing for the Clippers.

  A three-time All-NBA Second Team selection and a two-time All-NBA Third Team pick, Griffin made his final All-Star Game appearance in 2019, with the Detroit Pistons.

  The 35-year-old spent the 2023-24 season out of basketball as a free agent.

   

  Griffin's best season came in 2013-14, when he finished third in MVP voting with averages of 24.1 points per game, 9.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists to help the Clippers capture the Pacific Division title.

  In his final NBA season, Griffin averaged career lows of 4.1 points and 3.8 rebounds in 41 games for the Boston Celtics in 2022-23.

  Though injuries slowed him in recent seasons, Griffin, who also played for the Brooklyn Nets, still averaged 19.0 points per game and 8.0 rebounds in 765 career games.

  One of basketball's top dunkers, Griffin may be best remembered for winning the Slam Dunk Contest by dunking the ball after jumping over a parked car on the floor at his home-court in Los Angeles.

• Rafael Nadal eases past Flavio Cobolli on return to action in Barcelona

  Rafael Nadal made a triumphant return to the match court with victory over Flavio Cobolli in the first round of the Barcelona Open.

  The 37-year-old was playing just his second tournament in 15 months after suffering another injury problem in his hip muscle at his comeback event in Brisbane in January.

  Nadal only committed to playing at the tournament he has won 12 times on Monday but there was not much rust on display as he eased to a 6-2 6-3 victory over 21-year-old Italian Cobolli in his first match on clay since he won his 14th French Open title in 2022.

  Nadal received a hero’s welcome as he strode out onto the court that bears his name and, although there were a few loose forehands in the early stages, the former world number one was too solid for Cobolli.

  Cobolli understandably looked nervous and contributed to the scoreline with far too many errors, but a big factor in that was the pressure being exerted from the other end of the court.

  A blip came when Nadal, who is set to retire at some point this season, played a poor game to drop serve for the first time in the third game of the second set but he had already broken Cobolli and quickly restored his advantage.

  There were some vintage forehands from Nadal in the final stages and he clinched victory when Cobolli netted a final backhand, thrusting his fist into the air.

  The home favourite faces a real test next, though, when he takes on in-form fourth seed Alex De Minaur.

  Meanwhile, second seed Andrey Rublev destroyed his racket at the end of a 6-4 7-6 (6) defeat by Brandon Nakashima that continued his poor run of form.

• Antetokounmpo reportedly to miss start of Bucks' play-off series

  Giannis Antetokounmpo is reportedly unlikely to play when the Milwaukee Bucks open the NBA play-offs.

  The Bucks expect to be without Antetokounmpo for the start of their first-round series against the Indiana Pacers, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN on Tuesday.

  The two-time league MVP will continue to go through treatment on his left calf strain, and the team remains hopeful he'll be able to take the court at some point during the series against the sixth-seeded Pacers.

  Game 1 tips off Sunday in Milwaukee.

   

  Antetokounmpo missed the final three games of the regular season after he strained his left calf in the third quarter of Milwaukee's 104-91 win over the NBA-best Boston Celtics on April 9.

  It was a non-contact injury for Antetokounmpo, who was heading up the court when he awkwardly went down grabbing his left calf.

  An MRI later confirmed it was a calf strain.

  The eight-time All-Star is coming off another outstanding season, ranking second in the NBA in scoring with an average of 30.4 points per game and sixth in rebounding at 11.5 boards per game.

  The Bucks lost two of the final three games of the season with Antetokounmpo injured to slip from second place in the Eastern Conference to the third seed.

  On the season, the Bucks went 4-5 in games he missed and 45-28 in games he played.

  Making matters even more difficult for Milwaukee is the Pacers went 4-1 against the Bucks in the 2023-24 regular season.