Ajay Mitchell, Justin Champagnie each suspended 1 game without pay for fighting in Thunder-Wizards matchup

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell and Washington Wizards forward Justin Champagnie each received one-game suspensions from the NBA for their roles in Saturday’s brawl between the two teams.

The league announced the penalties on Sunday. In addition to the suspensions, Oklahoma City’s Jaylin Williams and Cason Wallace were fined $35,000, while Washington’s Anthony Gill was docked the same amount.

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The on-court altercation ignited with 27 seconds left in the second quarter when Champagnie and Williams shoved each other under the basket. Several players from each team subsequently joined the scuffle, including Mitchell, who was near the two players on the baseline.

The tangle of players quickly involved a cameraman, who was positioned near the basket stanchion and got knocked over. The melee eventually spilled among fans sitting in the rows behind the basket.

Gill and Wallace joined the fracas, and Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander pulled Mitchell from the mass of bodies tussling.

“I’ve never seen him like that,” Gilgeous-Alexander said about Mitchell after the game, via The Athletic. “But at the same time, I’m not really surprised by his reaction… He’s as tough as they come, so I knew there’d be no back down when he’s involved in anything.”

After the incident calmed down, Champagnie and Williams were both assessed double technical fouls and removed from the game. Mitchell and Wallace received single technicals and were also ejected “for not acting as peacemakers and escalating the altercation,” as crew chief John Goble explained to a pool reporter after the game.

Gill stayed in the game because he didn’t demonstrate any unsportsmanlike conduct that warranted an ejection, according to Goble.

Following the game, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault told reporters that he disagreed with three of his players being ejected from the game while only one Wizards player was tossed out.

“I disagreed with their judgement after talking to them and watching it at halftime, Daigneault said. “I’ve worked with John Goble a long time, and he worked through it with me. We ended up agreeing to disagree and both moved on.”

The Thunder eventually won, 132-111, earning their 11th straight victory and boosting their NBA-best record to 56-15. The Wizards lost their 15th consecutive game with the defeat, competing for the league’s worst record at 16-54 as they pursue the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft Lottery.

Oklahoma City continues its Eastern road trip on Monday at the Philadelphia 76ers. Washington plays Sunday night, visiting the New York Knicks.

Phillies sign pitcher Cristopher Sánchez to 6-year, $107 million contract extension

Pitcher Cristopher Sánchez and the Philadelphia Phillies have agreed to a six-year contract extension worth a guaranteed $107 million, the team announced on Sunday. The deal also reportedly includes $13 million in performance incentives.

Sánchez, 29, finished with a 2.50 ERA in 32 starts for the Phillies last season, racking up 212 strikeouts in 202 innings. He finished as the runner-up for the National League Cy Young Award with that performance.

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The left-hander has thrown 200 innings or more for two consecutive seasons. In five seasons with Philadelphia, Sánchez has a 3.24 ERA and 30-21 record with a strikeout rate of 8.6 per nine innings.

Sánchez will be the Phillies’ Opening Day starter when they begin the 2026 season on Thursday versus the Texas Rangers at Citizens Bank Park.

In two starts during this spring’s World Baseball Classic, Sánchez recorded a 4.26 ERA for the Dominican Republic, allowing three runs in 6 1/3 innings with 12 strikeouts.

Sánchez is the second Phillies starting pitcher to sign a contract extension this offseason, joining Jesús Luzardo, who agreed to a five-year, $135 million deal earlier this month.

The new contract restructures the four-year, $22.5 million extension that Sánchez signed during the 2024 MLB season. That deal originally included club options for 2029 and 2030, but those years are now guaranteed. The new contract adds $30 million salaries for 2031 and 2032, with a team option for 2033.

With the extensions for Sánchez and Luzardo, the Phillies now have four starting pitchers signed to long-term deals along with Zack Wheeler (under contract through 2027) and Aaron Nola (signed through 2030). That continues a philosophy held by president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski throughout his executive career with the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox.

“I can’t speak for others because I don’t know what their mentality is, but basically, it’s worked,” Dombrowski told the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Scott Lauber.

“When you go out there daily and you look who’s on the mound, do you have the edge or not?” he continued. “I really like having the edge myself when you look at the guy out there vs. the other club.”

Among Phillies position players, the only two signed past 2030 are Bryce Harper (under contract through 2031) and Trea Turner (signed through 2033).

Signing Sánchez also presumably allows the Phillies to get ahead of whatever new market Tarik Skubal sets for starting pitchers when he becomes a free agent after he finishes this season with the Tigers. The two-time AL Cy Young Award winner won a $32 million salary for 2026 in arbitration earlier this spring.

South Korean military halts small firearms drills after stray bullet strikes young girl on playground

Sunday, March 22, 2026

On Tuesday, officials for the South Korean Army said at a press conference that they were suspending all scheduled drills involving smaller firearms such as rifles and handguns. The decision was made in response to an incident earlier in the week on Monday that resulted in a young girl at a children playground in Daegu being injured near the neck by an alleged stray bullet from a military drill at nearby military facility. Her injuries were not life-threatening and she was released from the hospital. Her name was not released to the general public.

Investigations into the circumstances leading up the incident were said to be underway. The incident raised questions regarding the military’s practice of conducting shooting drills in close proximity to civilian territory. A spokesperson for the army confirmed that a firearms drill had indeed been taking place at the same time the girl reported being struck. The incident came a year after the South Korean Army accidentally bombed a small village near the North Korean border, injuring 30 civilians, while conducting a drill with US forces.


Sources

[edit]

  • South Korea halts army firing drills after stray bullet hits child at playground in Daegu — Malay Mail, March 18, 2026
  • Lokmat Times Desk. South Korea Halts Military Live-Fire Drills After Child Hit By Suspected Stray Bullet in Degau — Lokmat Times, March 18, 2026
  • AFP. South Korean army halts drills after stray bullet injures child — The Sun (Malaysia), March 18, 2026


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