In Brief

Kevin Love is staying with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Love and the team agreed to a four-year contract extension worth between $60 million and $62 million, a deal that includes an early termination option for Love in the final year.

The All-Star power forward and the team faced a Wednesday night deadline to sign an extension. If not, Love would have become a restricted free agent this summer.

Love will make the maximum salary for the four years, but he did not get the five-year deal for which he was hoping. The new collective bargaining agreement allows for franchises to give one player on the roster a five-year deal that would have been worth roughly $80 million for Love this time around.

Also: The Denver Nuggets signed smooth-shooting Danilo Gallinari to a four-year extension, worth $42 million. Gallinari is averaging career bests in points (17.4), assists (2.8), steals (1.7) and minutes (34.2) this season.

The Los Angeles Lakers have surpassed the New York Knicks as the NBA's most valuable team, according to Forbes' annual report.

The magazine said the Lakers' value had increased 40 percent since last year to $900 million thanks to its blockbuster Time Warner TV deal. The Knicks' value increased 19 percent to $780 million with a boost from the renovation of Madison Square Garden. The Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics round out the top five.

Phoenix Suns backup center Robin Lopez was suspended for one game by the NBA for improper conduct toward a game official.

Lopez was ejected after a run-in with referee Rodney Mott in the second quarter of the Suns' 99-96 home loss to the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night. Lopez, upset with a foul call, glared at Mott as he walked to the bench, brushed against the official as he walked past him, then turned around and glared again.

Lopez will miss the Suns' game Friday night in Portland.

New Orleans guard Eric Gordon will miss at least another three weeks as he recovers from a bruised right knee. Gordon bruised his knee in the Hornets' season opener against Phoenix and has played only one game since.

Sacramento Kings leading scorer Marcus Thornton is expected to be sidelined one to two weeks with a deep bruise in his left thigh.

The Kings announced that an MRI exam on Thornton revealed a "significant hematoma" in his thigh. Thornton already has missed four games because of the injury.

Rookie guard Jimmer Fredette, a Brigham Young product, is expected to see his minutes increase in Thornton's absence.

Nine powerhouse men's and women's college basketball teams will wear Nike's new "platinum" line of fluorescent-colored uniforms for one game each later this season.

Arizona, Connecticut, Duke, Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina and Syracuse men and the Baylor and UConn women will sport the non-traditional look, similiar to ones that have become popular with college football teams in recent years.

BASEBALL

Tainted NL MVP Braun to miss team's fan festival

The Milwaukee Brewers said National League Most Valuable Player Ryan Braun will not attend the team's fan festival this weekend because it's too "sensitive" a period for the slugger who awaits a decision of his appeal of a 50-game suspension under baseball's drug policy.

Brewers chairman and principal owner Mark Attanasio said in a statement that Braun and the team "came to the conclusion that this is too sensitive of a time in the confidential process for him to attend this year." The team's Brewers On Deck event will be held Sunday.

Braun's appeal was heard in New York last week.

Also: The newest member of the Washington Nationals' starting rotation, Gio Gonzalez, signed his $42 million, five-year contract. The 26-year-old Gonzalez was an All-Star in 2011, when he went 16-12 with a 3.12 ERA in 32 starts.

Andruw Jones and the Yankees have finalized a $2 million, one-year contract that keeps him in New York for a second season. Jones hit .247 with 13 homers and 33 RBIs in 222 plate appearances last year, providing a right-handed bat off the bench.

The Colorado Rockies and right-handed reliever Rafael Betancourt agreed to an $8.5 million, two-year contract that guarantees him an additional $4.25 million. The Venezuela native saved eight of nine games filling in for an injured Huston Street last August.

Right-handed reliever Nick Masset agreed on a two-year, $5.5 million deal with the Cincinnati Reds, avoiding salary arbitration. Masset made $1,825,000 last season, when he went 3-6 with a 3.71 earned run average in 75 relief appearances.

The Boston Red Sox agreed to terms with right-handed pitcher Andrew Bailey on a one-year contract worth $3.9 million. Bailey was acquired from the Oakland Athletics this winter. The 27-year-old right-hander converted 24 of 26 save opportunities with a 3.24 ERA for the A's in 2011.

Cardinals closer Jason Motte has agreed to a $1.95 million, one-year contract after helping St. Louis win the World Series. The 29-year-old was 5-2 with a 2.25 ERA and nine saves last season, earning the closer's role in late August and getting five saves in the postseason.

Pitcher Brad Ziegler and the Arizona Diamondbacks agreed to a one-year contract worth $1,795,000, a deal that avoids arbitration. The 32-year-old right-hander was 3-2 with a 2.16 ERA in 66 appearances with the Diamondbacks and Oakland last season.

Daryle Ward, an 11-season veteran who hasn't played in the major leagues since 2008, was suspended for 50 games after testing positive for a banned amphetamine under the minor league testing program. Ward spent last season in the minor league systems of the Chicago White Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks.

MISCELLANEOUS

Lunden's OT goal carries Wranglers past Colorado

Wranglers left wing Josh Lunden scored with 59 seconds left in overtime as Las Vegas opened a three-game ECHL series against the Colorado Eagles in Loveland, Colo., with a 3-2 victory.

Eric Lampe scored Las Vegas' two regulation goals, giving him 32 on the season, as the Wranglers improved to a Pacific Division-leading 26-13-4 (56 points).

Also: The PGA Tour is one step closer to eliminating Q-school as a path to earning a tour card, a significant overhaul that would include starting the official season in the fall instead of waiting for the next calendar year.

At the heart of the proposal is making the Nationwide Tour the primary means of getting to the big leagues.

The plan, presented by Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, is for the top 75 players from the Nationwide Tour and the top 75 players who failed to keep their PGA Tour cards to play a three-tournament series. Players would be ranked based on how they fared on their respective money lists, and the top 50 after that series would earn cards.

The rest would have the option of going to Q-school, where only Nationwide Tour status would be available.

Graham Zusi scored his first international goal in the eighth minute, and the United States beat Panama 1-0 in a friendly in Panama City.

Using mostly backups while the regulars remained with their European clubs, and playing nearly the entire second half a man short, the Americans evened their record at four wins, four losses and a draw under coach Jurgen Klinsmann.

Lindsey Jacobellis tore a ligament in her left knee during practice for the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo., and will not have a chance to go for her fifth straight gold medal in snowboard cross.

Jacobellis crashed on the final landing on the course and tore her ACL. She was trying to become the first female to win five straight golds at the event.

UNLV women's tennis player Aleksandra Josifoska was named Mountain West Conference women's tennis player of the week after going a combined 6-0 in singles and doubles in team victories over New Mexico State, Pacific and Weber State last week.