The Las Vegas Raiders are expected to release quarterback Derek Carr after he informed the team he would not accept a trade to the New Orleans Saints.
Carr's refusal to join the Saints, in a trade deal that had already been agreed between the teams, was reported on Sunday by ESPN and NFL Network.
Reports earlier in the week had detailed Carr's plan to visit the Saints after he was given permission to speak to the team.
However, it is said the contract on offer in New Orleans would require Carr to take a pay cut.
That was not something the QB was willing to do, refusing to waive his no-trade clause, and with only the Saints approaching the Raiders about a trade, the obvious alternative was for the player to be released.
The Raiders would have to cut Carr by Wednesday to avoid paying his full salary in 2023 and instead allow him to enter free agency.
Carr has been with the Raiders since he was selected in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft, but he said goodbye to fans in an emotional social media post in January.
Las Vegas had hoped for a big season in 2022 but finished third in the AFC West as Carr struggled for form.
Scottie Scheffler reclaimed the world number one ranking after successfully defending his Waste Management Phoenix Open title with a two-stroke victory on Sunday.
Scheffler – after posting rounds of 68, 64 and 68 – closed in style with a six-under 65 to finish at 19-under overall.
He went bogey-free in his final round with four birdies and an eagle, showing his affinity for the TPC Scottsdale course after winning his first PGA Tour event at this tournament last season.
Scheffler's lead was down to only one stroke heading into the famous 16th hole, and while he could only muster a par, that proved to be enough as second-placed Nick Taylor made bogey, and Scheffler extended the lead to three strokes for a comfortable finish with a birdie on 17.
Speaking to CBS after stepping off the final green, Scheffler said he was proud of the way he battled through some average shots.
"I'm just proud of how I fought today," he said. "I didn't have my best stuff, so I grinded it out today. I wasn't hitting it good off the tee, my irons didn't feel sharp, but I played a great round of golf today."
Taylor birdied the 18th to finish alone in second at 17 under for his best result since winning the 2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
The red-hot Jon Rahm ended up in sole possession of third at 14 under, fellow major champion Justin Thomas finished fourth at 13 under, and former world number one Jason Day continued his return to relevance with a fifth-place result at 12 under.
The highlight of the day came from Rickie Fowler, punctuating his T10 finish with an ace on the par-three seventh hole.
The Boston Celtics received terrific performances from Derrick White and Robert Williams III to defeat the visiting Memphis Grizzlies 119-109 on Sunday.
With Celtics All-Star Jaylen Brown out of action due to a broken bone in his face, and Jayson Tatum struggling on his way to a three-of-16 shooting performance, it was up to the role players to step up in what was a playoff-quality matchup.
After his best game of the season on Friday – scoring a season-high 33 points with 10 assists – White followed it up with another terrific showing. He led the Celtics with 23 points on eight-of-20 shooting and a game-high 10 assists.
Meanwhile, Williams – who set a season-high with 16 rebounds on Friday – matched that figure again, including five on the offensive end, while the Grizzlies only grabbed three offensive rebounds as a team.
Tatum ended up salvaging a respectable stat line of 20 points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks, but he was nowhere to be found in a close fourth quarter.
Instead, it was Al Horford providing the game-winning scoring burst, with 11 of his 16 points coming in the final five minutes to repel any late Grizzlies charge.
Ja Morant led the visitors with 25 points (nine-of-18 shooting), seven assists and six rebounds.
With the win, the Celtics improved their league-leading record to 41-16, while the Grizzlies sit second in the Western Conference at 34-22.
VanVleet and Siakam lead Raptors to victory
The combination of Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam provided the scoring punch in the Toronto Raptors' 119-118 home win against the Detroit Pistons, but a new addition held things together defensively.
VanVleet led all scorers with 35 points (12-of-26 shooting) and eight assists, while Siakam put together a strong performance with 28 points (10-of-19 shooting), six assists and two blocks.
On the defensive end, it was trade acquisition Jakob Poeltl showing exactly why the Raptors traded a first-round pick for him at the deadline, leading the game in both blocks (three) and steals (two) before fouling out in 25 minutes. Toronto were plus 11 with him on the court, and minus 10 while he was on the bench.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire is inactive for Super Bowl LVII, the Kansas City Chiefs running back unable to make his return from a high ankle sprain.
Edwards-Helaire was activated from injured reserve ahead of Sunday's showpiece at State Farm Stadium, having been sidelined since Week 11 because of the injury.
But the former first-round pick will not feature in Glendale, Arizona, meaning Isiah Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon will shoulder the bulk of the workload in the backfield.
Rookie Pacheco has enjoyed an outstanding season, rushing for 830 yards and five touchdowns.
He has done an excellent job of creating yards even when the opposing defense creates disruption in the backfield. Pacheco has averaged 3.68 yards per carry on runs where there was a disruption, the third most among backs with at least 100 carries.
McKinnon's impact has been primarily been as a receiver, catching nine touchdowns in the regular season.
One player who will return from an ankle injury to play in the Super Bowl is the Eagles' Australian punter Arryn Siposs, who was confirmed as active for the game having been out since December. He will reassume the punting duties from Brett Kern.
Wu Yibing triumphed in an extraordinary final against local hero John Isner at the Dallas Open to become China's first winner of a singles title at ATP tour level in the Open Era.
Isner served 44 aces but still lost, with the 37-year-old going down 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (14-12) in a match that saw neither player break serve at any point, climaxing in a marathon tie-break.
Former world number eight Isner was chasing a 17th singles title, and a first at an indoor tournament, and he saw a match point slide by at 6-5 in the second set.
Wu resisted one of the best serves in tennis history and took the match all the way. The first 22 points of the third-set tie-break went with serve, before Wu hit a super backhand winner to interrupt the sequence. Incredibly, Isner won the next rally to bring it back on serve, but the match then got away from him, and a stray forehand from the American gave Wu the title.
Dallas resident Isner, famed for his 11 hours and five minutes win over Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010, featuring a 70-68 final set, said of this loss: "That kind of stunk for me."
Wu said: "It's a very tough match today. I'm not even moving when he serves. I made history here for my country. I'm very proud of myself."
The New Orleans Pelicans were hopeful they would be getting star Zion Williamson back shortly after next week’s All-Star break, but that will no longer be the case.
Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin said Sunday that Williamson suffered a setback during his rehab for a hamstring injury and will miss several weeks after the All-Star Game.
Williamson, who missed the entire 2021-22 season with a broken foot, has been sidelined since injuring the hamstring in a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on January 2.
The 22-year-old had been participating in three-on-three work as part of his rehab, and his latest setback occurred while on the court, according to Griffin.
He will be re-evaluated after next Sunday’s All-Star Game.
The former number one overall draft pick was voted an All-Star starter after averaging 26 points, 7 rebounds and 4.6 assists in 29 games.
The Pelicans were 23-14 and had the Western Conference’s third-best record at the time of Williamson’s injury, but have gone just 6-14 since to drop into seventh place in the West.
England boss Steve Borthwick believes his team took "a couple of steps forward" with their hard-fought win over Italy at Twickenham on Sunday.
After losing at home to Scotland in the first round of the Six Nations, England began to make amends by grinding out a 31-14 victory over the Azzurri.
It means England preserved their 100 per cent record against Italy in the championship, with this a 24th successive win in the one-sided rivalry, and it allowed England to reflect on a positive week on the training pitch.
Borthwick, who celebrated on the pitch with his young son Chase after the game, is still getting to grips with his new task, having been appointed in December to replace Eddie Jones. The players are also still learning what the former Leicester Tigers head coach wants from them.
"I think we took some steps forward and that's an important thing to recognise," Borthwick said.
"But there's plenty of areas to improve upon. I think we left some chances out there we should have taken. Our ball speed could have been a bit quicker, and we conceded a couple [of tries] that we wouldn't want to do.
"So there's always things to work upon, but ultimately it was a couple of steps forward."
Borthwick said England's ruck speed could have been quicker but spoke positively in general, as England move on to preparations for a trip to face bottom side Wales on February 25.
England had tries from Jack Willis, Ollie Chessum, Jamie George and Henry Arundell, plus a penalty try.
Rugby World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward, now working in the media, said the performance against Italy was "really workmanlike" in the first half, contending the team lost their shape after going to the interval with a 19-0 lead.
Lawrence Dallaglio, the former England captain who is also now a pundit, told ITV the performance was "miles off" what was seen on Saturday, when Ireland beat France in Dublin.
Dallaglio spoke of it being "a messy game", but he agreed there were "small steps forward" to offer cheer for England.
The current captain, Owen Farrell, took the same view, saying: "In terms of the performance, it felt better. I thought it was a step forward, as it would be a week on into our new journey.
"There's a lot to get better at, and we feel like there's loads more to go, but it's a step in the right direction.
"We're trying to look after each other, trying to build a togetherness on the pitch, fighting for each other for 80 minutes, and I think you've seen that for the past two games, and we were hopefully more on top of that this week."
Player of the match Ollie Lawrence spoke of both small steps and greater gains.
"We took a massive stride forward after last week," Lawrence said. "We're rebuilding as a team, and we're taking those small steps each week.
"The progression's getting there. We're nowhere near the finished product yet, but we're all believing in where we're going as a team. It just needs to get better and better, and we're pushing together."
Trent McDuffie perhaps did not have the profile of a typical first-round draft pick.
Undersized even for a cornerback at 5ft 11in and 193 pounds, McDuffie did not have the standout college production of a top selection, registering only two interceptions in three seasons for the Washington Huskies.
But McDuffie's long speed and coverage ability convinced the Kansas City Chiefs he was worthy of their opening selection in the 2022 NFL Draft, taking him with the 21st overall pick.
That decision now looks an extremely astute one, with McDuffie shining as the starting nickel corner for a secondary that features five rookies and will be critical to the Chiefs prevailing when they face the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday.
McDuffie has allowed receivers to get open on 21.54 per cent of his matchups across man and zone coverage, giving him the fourth-best such ratio among all cornerbacks in the NFL.
He believes his immediate success, and that of seventh-round rookie corner Jaylen Watson, second-round safety Bryan Cook and fourth-round corner Joshua Williams, is the product of an outstanding learning environment and the culture of a team playing in a third Super Bowl in four seasons, having reached the AFC Championship Game in each of those years.
"It feels so long since I was drafted, I've just been learning so much," McDuffie told Stats Perform.
"This year I've been able to be around vets who know the game, be around coaches who know the game and understand what an organisation that has gone back to back to back, what that looks like, the environment, the culture, it's been huge.
"When I first got there, I was like, you can tell something's a little different, and I think the biggest thing is they want to teach us so much that just the learning environment is huge.
"You don't get that in a lot of places, but it's just constantly people trying to develop you, trying to teach you, trying to help you learn, and with that I feel like that's why so many rookies are able to play so quickly and come in to this."
McDuffie has yet to register an interception in his pro career but knows that strong play at the catch point, even if it is simply preventing receptions, will be pivotal against two excellent ball-winners in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.
Brown finished his first regular season in Philadelphia with 1,496 receiving yards and 11 touchdown receptions, while Smith racked up 1,196 yards and seven touchdown catches.
"I feel like the Eagles offense is super dynamic in terms of the offensive line is strong, their wide receiver core is strong, their depth at each position, they're so strong," added McDuffie.
"All 11 [starting defenders] are needed, that's something that, one, it's going to be fun because the dogs are going to go hunt, but again it's a challenge I'm excited to take on.
"After a full year of being in the NFL, the confidence is definitely there. We know we can play, we know we can do it.
"We've gone against the guys at the top of the league. It's going to come down to attacking the ball at the point of the catch because A.J. Brown, DeVonta, have really strong hands, so we're going to have to go out there and be a receiver on our own pretty much."
Jannik Sinner claimed his first title of the season with a 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 victory over Maxime Cressy at the Open Sud de France.
Cressy defeated top seed Holger Rune in the semi-finals but could not repeat that level of performance against Sinner, who is set to rise to 14th in the ATP rankings.
Sinner is the first Italian champion in the history of the tournament, having failed to win a match in his previous two appearances in Montpellier.
He has now collected seven Tour-level titles, with six of those coming on hard courts.
"To be honest, the first key was to hold the serve. In the tie-break I knew he may miss something," said Sinner, who saved all three break points he offered to his American opponent.
"I tried to keep my serve, which I have done, so I am very happy about the first set.
"The second set was a little bit different. I had a couple of good chances but he then served very well.
"I am very happy I broke him here and then I served very well at the end of match."
Sinner claimed two early mini breaks in the first-set tie-break to nose into a 4-0 lead, holding his nerve to win the set at the first time of asking.
A crucial break in the second came in the eighth game, with Sinner clinching victory when Cressy sent a weak volley into the net.
England secured their first win of the Steve Borthwick era as Italy succumbed 31-14 to a performance of potent power at Twickenham.
After losing at home to Scotland in round one of the Six Nations, Borthwick's first game as head coach since replacing Eddie Jones, this time the men in white got it right.
It rarely set the pulses racing, but England produced an efficient display, giving themselves a foothold in the championship.
Flanker Jack Willis made a swift impact in his first Six Nations game for two years, scurrying through to score from a rolling maul in the 13th minute, with captain Owen Farrell adding the extras.
Italy lost narrowly at home against France last week, and victory over Australia in November showed they are an improving team.
England's superior strength served the hosts well though, and another opportunity arrived when Lorenzo Cannone was sin-binned. Two yards short of the Italy line, lock Ollie Chessum was fed a short pass by Ellis Genge and dived over for his first international try. Farrell slotted a simple conversion.
Scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet had a try disallowed in the 35th minute after a trip by Ollie Lawrence in the build-up. Yet England did not have to wait long before scoring again, another rolling maul allowing hooker Jamie George to drive over.
Italy, subdued before the break, began the second half more purposefully and Marco Riccioni reached out to dot down and get the Azzurri moving.
A touch of nastiness from Sebastian Negri, pressing his hand across the face of Farrell, showed Italy were ready to make the rest of the game uncomfortable for England.
Yet Italy replacement Simone Ferrari collapsed another threatening England rolling maul and conceded a penalty try, ostensibly ending prospects of a full-scale comeback from the visitors.
Alessandro Fusco danced through a static defence to cut the deficit to 26-14, but Alex Mitchell then fed Henry Arundell to score his first Six Nations try in the left corner and England were home and hosed.
Belinda Bencic claimed the inaugural Abu Dhabi Open title after saving three championship points in a gripping comeback win against Liudmila Samsonova.
Second seed Bencic did not drop a single set en route to Sunday's final, but she fell behind to Samsonova and was on the brink of defeat when 6-4 down in a second-set tie-break.
The Swiss dug deep to take the game to a decider, however, and she prevailed 1-6 7-6 (10-8) 6-4 in a time of two hours and 48 minutes to win the eighth WTA title of her career.
World number nine Bencic, who was also victorious at the Adelaide International 2 in January, made a slow start against an opponent she had failed to beat in three meetings.
Samsonova broke Bencic in the second and sixth games of the opening set in a dominant start as she looked to make it 5-0 in championship matches on the WTA Tour.
Bencic improved in the second set, although a break of serve apiece meant it went the distance.
Eighth seed Samsonova looked good value to wrap up a straight-sets win when 6-4 up, only for Bencic to save both championship points, and likewise at 8-7.
Three points in a row saw the 25-year-old take the tie and level up the contest, which she went on to win with a couple of breaks in the deciding set.
Anastasia Potapova won the second WTA Tour title of her career with a straightforward win over Petra Martic in Sunday's final at the Linz Open.
The 21-year-old, who is set to reach a personal high of 31 in the world rankings on Monday, saw off her Croatian opponent in just an hour and 16 minutes, winning 6-3 6-1.
Potapova dropped as low as 124 in the rankings last year, but this week's success is another reminder of the Russian's promise.
Martic seemingly represents something of a good luck charm for Potapova – she also beat her en route to her first ever WTA title last year in Istanbul.
It did not always look like going in Potapova's favour, though, as she was broken right at the start and then only just held off Martic in her second service game.
Potapova then secured two breaks that helped her seal the first set, and after Martic won the first game of the second, the eventual champion reeled off six on the bounce to emphatically romp to victory.
Josh Allen should be fit for the start of the 2023 NFL season, with the Buffalo Bills quarterback reportedly not needing elbow surgery.
Allen suffered a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in the Week 9 loss to the New York Jets in November, though he was able to keep playing while wearing a brace.
A report from NFL.com's Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport claims the fact that the 26-year-old has not re-injured the area means surgery will not be necessary and further rest should see him able to line up in Week 1 of the 2023 campaign.
Allen had a productive 2022, throwing 35 touchdowns – only Patrick Mahomes (41) had more – and rushing for another seven during the regular season, throwing for an average of 267.7 yards per game.
That increased to 308.0 yards per game in his two postseason outings, where he contributed to four more touchdowns (three passing, one rushing) before the Bills were eliminated in the Divisional round by the Cincinnati Bengals.
In the Week 5 thrashing of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Allen became the first quarterback in NFL history to record 250+ passing yards, 50+ rushing yards, three or more passing touchdowns, a rushing touchdown, 80 per cent completions and a win all in one game.
Ockie Strydom shot a stunning nine-under round of 63 to seal victory in the Singapore Classic by one stroke on Sunday.
The South African's final round was the best score of the day at the Laguna National Golf Resort Club and propelled him to top spot ahead of Sami Valimaki of Finland.
The victory is Strydom's second on the DP World Tour after he claimed the Alfred Dunhill Championship on home soil in December.
"It's my mindset that's changing at the moment," he said. "When you've been in that situation before you know you can do it again.
"I was thinking of not being here this week as I was hitting it so badly. My coach and wife said 'maybe it's your week' and look what happened, it was my week!"
Joint leaders after the third round, Wang Jeung-hun and Alejandro del Rey, finished in a tie for third with Marcel Schneider, four shots back from Strydom.
Terrence Ross plans to sign with the Phoenix Suns after finalising his contract buyout with the Orlando Magic, according to reports.
Ross will be able to sign with a new team upon clearing waivers and becoming a free agent in the coming days, and will be eligible for any suitors' playoff roster if he agrees the buyout by March 1.
The Dallas Mavericks were reported as frontrunners to acquire Ross on Saturday, but the championship-chasing Suns are now in pole position, according to an ESPN report.
The Suns acquired Kevin Durant, as well as T.J. Warren, in a huge trade with the Brooklyn Nets earlier this week, sending Cameron Johnson, Mikal Bridges and Jae Crowder the other way alongside four first-round picks and a 2028 pick swap.
Ross' addition would provide cover for Durant in Phoenix after the Suns lost Johnson and Bridges to the Nets.
The 32-year-old is in the final season of his four-year, $54 million contract in Orlando, with his 22.5 minutes and eight points per game his fewest in a single campaign since his rookie year in 2012-13.
The Suns are fifth in the Western Conference following Friday's 117-104 win at the Indiana Pacers, in which Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton had 21 and 22 points respectively.
Luka Doncic had fun linking up with Kyrie Irving for the first time in spite of the Dallas Mavericks going down 133-128 in overtime at the Sacramento Kings.
In his third game since being traded from the Brooklyn Nets, Irving scored 28 points with seven rebounds and seven assists, but it was not enough to beat the Kings at Golden 1 Center again, as the Mavs did on Friday.
Doncic did not play in that game, but he returned on Saturday for the second of a double-header against Sacramento, and linked up well with Irving as he finished with 27 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
"Amazing, only our first game together, but I think it's so fun to play with this guy," the Slovenian said about lining up with Irving. "He's an amazing basketball player and I think it's going to be really fun and today, first game, it was really fun, too."
Mavs coach Jason Kidd was equally enthused by his new star partnership despite the loss, saying: "I thought it was good. It was just natural. Nothing forced.
"It's going to make us that much better. They did an incredible job."
De'Aaron Fox managed to outshine Doncic and Irving in Sacramento, scoring 36 points for the hosts, 26 of which came in the fourth quarter and overtime, while Domantas Sabonis and Terence Davis also put up 22 points each, with the former recording 14 rebounds for a league-leading 44th double-double of the season.
Kings coach Mike Brown was understandably pleased with his team's work, saying: "Heck of a job by our guys. Defensively, we did a pretty good job in both second halves.
"We had a lot of great individual performances."
Islam Makhachev was able to see off the challenge of Alexander Volkanovski in the latter's home country as the Russian secured a unanimous decision to retain the lightweight title at UFC 284.
In front of an excitable crowd in Perth, Australia, both men put on a fine show in the main event as they also fought for the title of pound-for-pound best in the world.
Despite the unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46), it was an undeniably close fight, with Volkanovski getting some early shots in and denying the champion some takedowns.
After initially showing caution, Makhachev soon came to the party and eventually completed four of nine takedown attempts, and somewhat surprisingly bested his opponent in terms of total and significant strike percentage, though Volkanovski's volume was predictably higher.
"You like or you don't like, I am [the] best fighter in the world right now," Makhachev said after the win, much to the crowd's displeasure.
"I show why I'm No. 1. They have to improve more."
The Australian delighted his many fans in attendance with a late surge, but Makhachev had already done enough, particularly in the fourth round when he spent the vast majority of it on his opponent's back.
"He didn't respect my wrestling, grappling," Volkanovski said. "Maybe I didn't respect his striking enough, either. He landed some shots. Fair play to both of us."
In the co-main event, Yair Rodriguez submitted Josh Emmett in the second round to claim the interim featherweight championship with a dominant performance.
In his first ever UFC win by submission, Rodriguez – who also landed around three times as many total and significant strikes – was able to get Emmett in a triangle choke to tap the American out at four minutes and 19 seconds in round two.
James Harden said he left the Brooklyn Nets "for a reason" after he and Joel Embiid starred in the Philadelphia 76ers' win over his former team, describing his time in Brooklyn as "frustrating".
Harden scored 29 points with six rebounds and six assists on his first appearance at Barclays Center since pushing for a trade to Philadelphia last year, helping the Sixers record a 101-98 win.
The 2018 NBA MVP and 10-time All-Star was criticised for his decision to seek a Nets exit just over a year after being acquired from the Houston Rockets.
Harden was keen to get a few things off his chest after Saturday's win over Brooklyn, who are working with a new-look roster after the recent departure of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Asked if he could have foreseen a situation where both of those stars followed him through the exit door, Harden said: "Yeah. I didn't just ask to leave for no reason. It wasn't right.
"I was in a really good place in Houston. Obviously, we didn't have a chance to win a championship, but I was comfortable.
"So for me to up and leave my family, all the things I created there, to come to Brooklyn for a year and a half to try to just get up and leave, it was for a reason, you know what I mean?"
Pushed on whether the Nets could have done anything to keep him, the guard added: "Yeah, there was. Like, a lot of things.
"But it was just a lot of dysfunction, clearly. A lot of internal things that I'm not going to ever say or put in the media or anything. That was one of the reasons why I chose to make my decision.
"But now, fast-forward to this date, I don't look like the crazy one. I don't look like the quitter or whatever the media want to call me.
"I knew what was going on and I just decided, 'hey, I'm not built for this'. I don't want to deal with that. I want to play basketball and have fun and enjoy doing it. Fast-forward to today, they've got a whole new roster."
Asked to sum up his time in Brooklyn, Harden described it as "frustrating", bemoaning his lack of game-time alongside Durant and Irving after the trio only played 16 times together.
"The reason I made that decision to get out of my comfort zone, to leave Houston and do everything that I did to get out of there was to come in and play with KD and Kyrie," he said.
"That didn't happen as much as I would like to or probably the organisation wanted to. It was just something where I knew it wasn't going to change. I had to make an individual decision for the betterment of my family and my career
"It's a lot of what-ifs when you play less than 20 games together. So it's a little bit frustrating, but it is what it is. Hopefully, everybody's in a good place now and we can move on."
Joel Embiid and James Harden led the Philadelphia 76ers to a hard-fought 101-98 win against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center on Saturday.
The Nets, now shorn of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, had to face another of their former stars in Harden, who had no problem showing them the kind of form he rarely displayed in Brooklyn on his first appearance there since leaving last year, scoring 29 points with six rebounds and six assists.
Embiid had an even better outing, with the Cameroonian finishing with 37 points and 13 rebounds, making 12 of his 18 field-goal attempts.
Mikal Bridges scored 23 on debut for Brooklyn after his arrival as part of the Durant deal with the Phoenix Suns, with fellow debutant Cam Johnson adding 12, while Joe Harris managed 18 points from just over 16 minutes on court.
The two players the Nets acquired as part of the Irving deal, Dorian Finney-Smith and Spencer Dinwiddie, struggled against the Sixers.
Finney-Smith made just two of his eight field-goal attempts, while Dinwiddie fared even worse with two from 10, and zero from four shots from beyond the arc.
Dinwiddie thought he had forced overtime at least when a three-pointer finally went in, but it was ruled out of time after a review as Philadelphia secured the victory.
Doncic and Irving outfoxed by De'Aaron
In their first outing together for the Dallas Mavericks, Luka Doncic and Irving could not get the W as De'Aaron Fox helped the Sacramento Kings to an overtime victory.
Both Doncic and Irving spent more than 40 minutes on the court, scoring 27 and 28 points respectively in a tight game in which neither team ended a quarter with more than a two-point lead.
Fox particularly shone in the latter stages as he recorded 26 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, including six free throws in the final 18.4 seconds to help seal a 133-128 win at Golden 1 Center.
Jokic makes history, Young's assist bonanza
Nikola Jokic became only the fifth player in NBA history to record 20+ triple-doubles in a single season as he led the Denver Nuggets to a 119-105 win at the Charlotte Hornets.
The two-time MVP scored 30 points, with 16 rebounds and 10 assists, while Trae Young also had a productive game as the Atlanta Hawks beat the San Antonio Spurs 125-106.
Young provided an impressive season-high 17 assists for his team to go with his 24 points to make it a 12-game losing streak for the Spurs, their longest since 1988-89 (13).
A much-changed Los Angeles Lakers pulled off a 109-103 victory against the Golden State Warriors, with Dennis Schroder top-scoring with 26 points, while the returning D'Angelo Russell added 15 and Anthony Davis recorded 16 rebounds.
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