Injured Buffalo Bills pass-rusher Von Miller has been ruled out for the remainder of the NFL season.

Two-time Super Bowl champion Miller had initially hoped for a swift return after suffering a knee injury in Week 12 against the Detroit Lions.

He missed the Week 13 triumph against the New England Patriots and was placed on injured reserve as the Bills hoped to ease him back into the fold.

However, exploratory surgery was conducted on Tuesday and confirmed a torn ACL, ruling him out for the rest of the campaign in a huge blow for the Bills, with Miller leading the team on eight sacks.

Speaking to reporters, head coach Sean McDermott said: "It's a very unfortunate situation for Von and for our team.

"We care for him, like we do with any player, we know how much this means, in terms of playing and being with the team.

"We look forward to getting him back, off the field, for the rest of the season for his leadership.

"You care about every player and it affects you when guys go down, it's the business we are in, it's a physical game.

"We care for everyone, we care for Von in this case, and we will certainly miss him. But as I said last week, it's a time and an opportunity for one of the other guys to step up."

The Bills sit top of the AFC East with a 9-3 record and host the New York Jets in Week 14 on the back of a three-game win streak.

They are tied with the Kansas City Chiefs for the best record in the conference and started the season as Super Bowl favourites.

England's decision to sack head coach Eddie Jones nine months before the Rugby World Cup is "utter madness", according to former back-row James Haskell.

Jones' fate was confirmed on Tuesday following a review by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) into recent results.

England have endured their worst calendar year since 2008 in terms of results, having won just five of their 12 Tests in 2022, most recently going down 27-13 to South Africa.

Despite a disappointing year, however, Jones bows out with the best win rate (73 per cent) of any head coach in England's history, having won 59 of his 81 Tests at the helm.

Haskell, who played under Jones prior to retiring in 2019, believes the Australian should have remained in the position until his contract expired after next year's World Cup.

"Personally, I think it's utter madness," he told Sky Sports. "You've literally taken the most successful World Cup coach and binned him nine months before a World Cup.

"He's been to three World Cup finals [two as head coach, one as a technical adviser], he's won one [with South Africa as technical adviser, 2007] and lost two."

Jones led England to their first Six Nations Grand Slam in 13 years in 2016, then won the Six Nations tournament again in 2017 and 2020, while also reaching the 2019 World Cup final.

He won his first 17 games with England, which was part of an 18-game win streak overall, the joint longest of any Tier 1 nation.

The 62-year-old will be replaced by forwards coach Richard Cockerill on an interim basis, with Leicester Tigers head coach Steve Borthwick the favourite to take over permanently.

"The best thing is, the person [the RFU] want to replace Jones with at this point in time, and obviously it's an ever-movable feast, is not available," Haskell added. 

"So you're going to put someone else in charge for the Six Nations who hasn't been an international coach.

"All because of some grumpy old journalists, and miserable fans, who decided to gang up to get rid of him. It's pretty much the story of the modern world."

Borthwick worked alongside Jones with Japan and England before taking over at Leicester in 2020 and guiding them to the Premiership title last season.

While Haskell questioned the decision to replace Jones, fellow former England player Ugo Monye has backed Borthwick to succeed if he is appointed.

"If he is the man, I think it is a great appointment," Monye told Rugby Union Weekly. "We don't have nine months to experiment, we have nine months to nail our identity.

"He gets it. He understands the personality of the game at the domestic level, what the players want, what the fans want, it feels like a necessity to connect all that together."

Aaron Judge has reportedly agreed a nine-year, $360million deal to stay with the New York Yankees.

The contract surpasses the $330m deal signed by Bryce Harper with the Philadelphia Phillies, making it the largest free-agent agreement in MLB history.

The slugger, who last season broke the American League record for home runs in a single season with 62, was the top prize on the market in MLB this offseason.

Chatter at MLB's winter meetings had indicated on Tuesday that Judge could be headed to the San Francisco Giants.

Judge was born in Northern California in Sacramento and grew up a Giants fan.

However, the four-time All-Star has eschewed the chance to play for his boyhood team and will now instead remain in the Bronx.

MLB Network's Jon Morosi and The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal each reported the terms of the deal, which is pending a physical.

A first-round pick of the Yankees in 2013, Judge has 220 home runs since making his MLB debut in 2016.

Only Nolan Arenado (229) has more home runs in that span.

His incredible efforts last season propelled the Yankees to a 99-63 record, the second-best in the American League.

However, they were swept by the team with the league's best record, the Houston Astros (106-56), in the ALCS. The Astros went on to beat the Phillies in the World Series.

The Lawn Tennis Association has been hit with an £820,000 fine by the ATP for banning Russian and Belarusian male players from its 2022 grass-court events, including Wimbledon.

The ban was imposed upon players from those nations following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, supported by Belarus, but has been deemed to have breached ATP rules.

In a statement, the LTA expressed its disappointment with the decision and accused the ATP of not recognising "exceptional circumstances".

"The LTA is deeply disappointed with this outcome," the statement read. "The ATP, in its finding, has shown no recognition of the exceptional circumstances created by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, or the international sporting community and UK Government's response to that invasion.

"The ATP appear to regard this matter as a straightforward breach of their rules – with a surprising lack of empathy shown for the situation in Ukraine, and a clear lack of understanding of the unique circumstances the LTA faced."

The LTA said the fine will prevent the organisation from holding smaller events to give opportunities to lower-ranked players, and announced that plans for ATP Challenger level events will be scrapped.

A previous fine was issued by the WTA for the banning of female Russian and Belarusian players, which has been appealed by the LTA.

Formula One has announced the venues for the six Sprint weekends during the 2023 season, doubling the amount from the 2022 season.

The Sprint moves the standard qualifying session to Friday, with a 100-kilometre dash on a Saturday deciding the grid for the main race on a Sunday.

For the 2022 season, four new venues will host Sprint events in Azerbaijan, Belgium, Qatar and the United States (Circuit of the Americas).

Interlagos in Brazil will stand as the only venue to have hosted Sprint events in each season from 2021, while Austria's Red Bull Ring featured the revised format last season.

Speaking on the increase of Sprint events, Formula One CEO Stefano Domenicali said: "We have seen a hugely positive reaction to the F1 Sprint events during the first two years of its running, and we can't wait to bring even more action to fans with six events next year, including our first US F1 Sprint in Austin.

"The introduction of the F1 Sprint has created a race weekend that includes three days of competitive racing action and brings more entertainment to fans of the sport as well as additional value for key stakeholders including teams, broadcasters, partners, and host venues."

Previously, Silverstone, Monza and Imola have hosted Sprint events but, for 2023, those races will have the regular qualifying format, along with the rest of the calendar.

Novak Djokovic will feature at January's Adelaide Invitational, just one year on from being deported from Australia.

It was confirmed last month Djokovic is free to play at the Australian Open after a three-year ban imposed on him entering the country was overturned.

Back in January, Djokovic was at the centre of huge controversy following his attempts to play in Melbourne despite not receiving a vaccine to protect against COVID-19.

That led to Djokovic being deported, having his visa cancelled on public health grounds, and hit with an automatic three-year ban on entering Australia.

However, immigration minister Andrew Giles handed Djokovic a visa after the vaccine mandate that was in place earlier this year was no longer a barrier to his participation.

As such Djokovic, a record nine-time Australian Open champion, will warm up for his return to Melbourne by playing in Adelaide, where the likes of Daniil Medvedev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev, and Andy Murray will also be involved.

Djokovic was the victor at the season-ending ATP Finals in November and is targeting a 22nd grand slam title, which would take him level with Rafael Nadal as the most singles slams held by a male player.

Goaltender Matt Murray enjoyed his first shutout as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs as he saved all 44 of the Dallas Stars' shots in a strong 4-0 win on Tuesday.

Murray, who spent the past two seasons with the Ottawa Senators, tallied three total shutouts during his time there, and his 44 saves is the most he has had since December 2019 when he was with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

His best stretch of the game came late in the second period, when the Maple Leafs were tasked with killing a five-on-three power play, knocking away five shots in under a minute to protect their 3-0 lead.

Auston Matthews, who won last season's Hart Memorial Trophy winner as league MVP, scored the only unassisted goal of the four, and he made sure to credit his goalie for ensuring it was not a nervous ending.

"I don't know if there's words for [Murray's performance] – that was special," he said. "I thought at the end of the second [period] there, that penalty kill, a lot of credit obviously to 'Murs' for some absolutely incredible saves.

"He made some unbelievable saves, just special."

Matthews also gave credit to Mitchell Marner, who dished an assist to become the fourth active player in the NHL to record a 20-game point streak in their career.

"Echoing what I've been saying for the last two weeks, I guess, but it's been a lot of fun to watch," Matthews said.

"He's been driving the bus for us. He's going to continue to play, and continue to compete for us, and he's been all over it on both sides of the puck. He's a special guy, a special player."

Marner made an effort to deflect the praise away from himself, pointing to his teammates as the key to his success.

"I'm sure like anyone would say, it's not a one-man effort out there," he said. "It's a lot of work from these guys around me, a lot of help from these guys around me.

"It's been a lot of fun in this streak, because we've been winning games as well, but a lot of kudos to these guys around me helping me make plays. I'm just trying to go out there and buzz.

"[Murray was] exceptional. He made some massive saves, especially on that [penalty] kill. Throughout the whole game, just working his bag off, making backdoor plays and saves, it was fun to watch."

With the win, the Maple Leafs now own the third-best record in the Eastern Conference at 16-5-6, while the Dallas Stars remain fourth in the West at 14-7-5.

Donovan Mitchell scored 43 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers claimed a rare win over the former face of their franchise LeBron James, beating the Los Angeles Lakers 116-102 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Tuesday.

Mitchell's season-high 43-point haul was the most by a Cavaliers player ever against James, while it meant that the 37-year-old four-time NBA MVP has a 17-3 record against his former side.

The Lakers were not helped by the first-quarter exit of in-form big man Anthony Davis, who did not return due to flu-like symptoms.

James finished with 21 points on eight-of-17 shooting, pulling down 17 rebounds with four assists, while Thomas Bryant came off the bench to add 19 points with Davis out.

The Cavs led by two points at the final change, but Mitchell took control on 17-of-27 shooting with four three-pointers along with six rebounds, five assists and four steals. Mitchell scored 29 of his 43 points in the second half.

Cavs center Jarrett Allen capitalised on Davis' absence on his own return from injury with 24 points and 11 rebounds, while point guard Darius Garland had 21 points with 11 assists.

The Cavs' win means they are 11-1 on their home floor and improved their season record to 16-9, snapping the Lakers' three-game win streak.

Mavs down Nuggets in a thriller

Dorian Finney-Smith drained a clutch three-pointer with 16.8 seconds remaining as the Dallas Mavericks downed the Denver Nuggets 116-115.

Tim Hardaway top scored with 29 points including six three-pointers for the Mavs, who claimed an impressive road win, even with Luka Doncic only managing 22 points on five-of-17 shooting. Doncic did record a triple-double, adding 10 rebounds and 12 assists.

Back-to-back reigning MVP Nikola Jokic was also down on his usual output, scoring 19 points with eight rebounds and eight assists, while the center missed a crucial free-throw with 12 seconds left. 

Heat humiliated in second-half blitz

The Miami Heat were humiliated at home by the Detroit Pistons who triumphed 116-96, led by Bojan Bogdanovic and his 31 points, with 28 coming in the second half.

The Pistons piled on 69 second-half points after scores were 50-47 in the Heat's favour at half-time to improve their record to 7-19.

Heat point guard Tyler Herro top scored for the game with 34 points, while Bam Adebayo scored 21 points with 15 rebounds.

Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham shed some light on Anthony Davis' health after the surging star was forced to leave Tuesday's 116-102 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers with flu-like symptoms.

Davis could only muster eight minutes before making his way to the locker room, being promptly ruled out from returning.

LeBron James picked up some of the slack inside as he racked up a season-high 17 rebounds to go with his 21 points, but the Lakers were no match for the Cavs down the stretch when Donovan Mitchell caught fire.

Mitchell top-scored with 43 points on 17-of-27 shooting, while Jarrett Allen was the main beneficiary of Davis' absence, dominating the interior with 24 points (11-of-14 shooting) and 11 rebounds.

Speaking after the loss, Ham said Davis' issue was one he was dealing with all day, but he tried, unsuccessfully, to tough it out.

"Yeah, it progressively got worse," he said. "His temperature went over 100 – I believe it was 101-and-change.

"He said he was going to try and give it a go, and he did, but he just felt too weak, drained and dehydrated a little bit.

"But, you know, it's that time of the season, in terms of winter time and the weather changing. Changing climates, coming from LA and going to these different places.

"We've dealt with it earlier in the year, and he experienced it again today. It set in earlier in the day, and it worsened as the day went on."

Ham discussed how he tried to combat the Lakers' lack of size by pivoting towards a focus on speed, but ultimately did not have the firepower to overcome it.

"We massaged the rotation a little bit… with him going out, just really trying to throw some different line-ups out there," he said.

"They're a really wide, rangy, long, athletic ball club, so just trying to get some speed out there to combat some of their size.

"Hats off to our guys, man, they competed their hearts out. That's a huge blow, obviously, with the way he's been playing of late, but they stayed the course.

"They got through the first half pretty good, they made it competitive in the third quarter, and then the bottom kind of fell out."

James gave his respect to Thomas Bryant, who came off the bench for the Lakers and chipped in 19 points and nine rebounds in 28 minutes, but said there is no replacing Davis.

"Next man up, but that's a tall task – figuratively and literally – for what AD has been doing for us over the last few weeks," he said. 

"I thought Thomas [Bryant] came in and gave us some great minutes. He was high-energy, worked the glass really well, but it was tough for us when AD went out. We had to switch up our whole game plan from what we were trying to do.

"But we gave as much as we could, we had a couple of opportunities in the fourth, but they broke away with it."

He added: "Obviously you can't replace AD, so everyone has to do a little bit more, but do their job, at the highest level or capacity they can do it, and live with the results.

"[Davis' exit meant we lacked] a little bit of everything. He's giving us everything – scoring, defense, rebounding, blocking shots around the rim, our length… when you have a guy that's six-foot-11 with a seven-foot-seven wingspan, you can't match that."

The loss snaps a three-game winning streak for the Lakers, although they have still won eight of their past 11 outings to pull their record to 10-13 after a 2-10 start.

After going down 116-102 away from home against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday, LeBron James made sure to give his respect to the franchise he called home for 11 seasons.

James was drafted by the Cavaliers as the first overall selection in 2003, carrying them to the NBA Finals in 2007, and then winning two league MVPs in 2009 and 2010 before taking his talents to South Beach.

He returned ahead of the 2014-15 season, taking the Cavaliers to four more NBA Finals appearances, highlighted by the franchise's only championship in 2016 when they came back from a 3-1 deficit against the 73-9 Golden State Warriors.

James has played against the Cavaliers multiple times since joining the Lakers, but he admitted that the video package his former team played during a timeout in Tuesday's game caught him by surprise.

"A little bit," he said "It's always love coming back here.

"Obviously, the memories I have here will never be forgotten, from the time I was drafted here as an 18-year-old kid, to the time I left, so the reception I got from the fans here, it's mutual for sure."

He added: "That's what Cleveland sports is all about. From the Guardians, to the Browns, to the Cavs – the fans are always going to support and be loud. I wouldn't expect anything less."

When asked if he has been impressed with the Cavaliers since they acquired All-Star Donovan Mitchell through an offseason trade with the Utah Jazz, James said he has been paying close attention for longer than that.

"They were competitive before Donovan got here, but I thought them adding him made them more dynamic," he said. "If you watched them last year, you saw how competitive they were then as well.

"When some of their guys got injured towards the end of the season they slipped a bit and ended up in the play-in game, but they were a good team last year.

"You add an All-Star, a dynamic guard like Donovan, it's automatically going to make a team better."

Mitchell played like a superstar against the Lakers, scoring a game-high 43 points on 17-of-27 shooting, while adding six rebounds, five assists and four steals.

"I mean Mitchell is Mitchell," James said. "He did a great job of penetrating our gaps, making some tough shots all night, and getting into a real good comfort zone. He's a really special kid."

Mitchell also had kind words for James, reflecting on his position now as a leader of the Cavaliers after watching the franchise on television growing up.

"It's crazy – I grew up watching him here," he said. "It really hit for me, that full-circle moment, when I watched him get that standing ovation and they played his intro. 

"I just sat there on the stanchion and watched the reception he got – it's incredible. It's well-deserved, he's one of the greatest players of all-time.

"He brought a championship – the only championship – to this franchise. You've got to have admiration for that, and hopefully we can do something similar."

He went on to talk about how he will always view James as a Cavalier.

"There was a level of excellence he brought to the city, the way he's revered as an athlete," he said. 

"I think the first initial thought is the Cleveland Cavaliers when you think LeBron – that's no disrespect to the Lakers or the Heat – but when you think of 'Bron, you think of Cleveland.

"He set that precedent. When you look at what he's done here in his career, in two different stints. To be the only team to come back from 3-1, leading that group.

"It's really cool, to be honest with you, to be in a situation where as a kid you're literally watching the games in front of a TV, and now I'm part of it."

The Cavaliers are built to last, and there has always been rumblings that James would end up finishing his career where it began.

But after signing a two-year extension with the Lakers in September, he is tied to Los Angeles until at least the end of the 2023-24 season, when he can exercise his player option and opt out, becoming a free agent once again.

When also taking into account the Cavaliers currently have four players who will be earning max-contracts – Mitchell, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley – the reality is one would have to make way to accommodate any potential return of the 'King'.

The Philadelphia Phillies added a former All-Star to their starting pitching rotation on Tuesday when Taijuan Walker signed on the dotted line for a four-year, $72million free agent contract.

Walker, 30, spent the past two seasons with the New York Mets, earning an All-Star selection in 2021, before improving his numbers this year.

The former Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks starter tailed off badly in his All-Star season, going on to post an ERA of 4.47 in his 29 starts, but rebounded strongly.

This year he boasted an ERA of 3.49 in 29 starts, while his 2.6 walks-per-nine-innings was his best figure since 2016. His 15 home runs allowed were also his lowest of any season he has pitched at least 100 innings.

Walker will join a rotation already featuring 2021 NL Cy Young Award runner-up Zack Wheeler, as well as this season's fourth place for the award Aaron Nola, giving the reigning NL champions one of the strongest units in the majors.

Mitch Haniger has been scooped up by the San Francisco Giants in free agency, signing a three-year, $43.5million contract as he bids farewell to the Seattle Mariners.

Haniger, who turns 32 later this month, finished fifth in the American League for home runs in the 2021 season, blasting a career-high 39 with 100 RBIs in 157 games.

He battled a series of injuries this year and could only suit up for 57 games – a recurring theme in his career, including a lengthy absence after a ruptured testicle in 2019 – but he got healthy just in time to help the Mariners reach their first postseason since 2001.

The Giants are also a leading candidate to land the top outfielder in this year's free agent market, Aaron Judge, and according to ESPN's Jeff Passan their decision to sign Haniger will have no impact on those negotiations.

Haniger hit 31 home runs in the 2022 season, batting at .246/.308/.737 across 224 at-bats for the Mariners, who ended their 21-year postseason drought.

NBA Player of the Week Anthony Davis exited the Los Angeles Lakers' clash on Tuesday with the Cleveland Cavaliers after experiencing flu-like symptoms mid-game.

Davis, who has averaged 37.8 points, 13.0 rebounds and 3.25 blocks over the past four games, left the court for the locker room late in the first quarter.

The Lakers officially ruled out the eight-time All-Star in the second quarter, reporting flu-like symptoms.

Davis had played eight minutes for one point with three rebounds and two assists, well down on his recent output.

The Lakers big-man has returned to career-best form this season, having been dogged by injuries over the past two years, restricting him to a combined 76 games in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons.

Davis scored 55 points in Sunday's 130-119 victory over the Washington Wizards, the second most by any player in a single game this season.