BASKETBALL

Amar’e Stoudemire has agreed to a two-year contract with an Israeli League team.

Stoudemire, who retired from the NBA after spending this past season with the Miami Heat, is a part-owner of Hapoel Jerusalem.

In a first-person piece for The Players’ Tribune website, Stoudemire, 33, wrote of stepping away from the NBA after 14 seasons.

“I may be retiring from the NBA, but I’m not saying goodbye to basketball just yet,” he wrote. “This isn’t about collecting a paycheck overseas, though; it’s a spiritual journey, too.”

In an interview with the Sun Sentinel shortly after joining the Heat last summer, Stoudemire spoke of considering himself a “spiritual Jew.”

WNBA: The league has amassed more than 24 million video views across its social media platforms, nearly five times more than at this point last season. It also has seen a record number of subscriptions to WNBA League Pass, up more than 20 percent from last year.

The WNBA has made a huge marketing push this year – the league’s 20th season – and that certainly has helped.

ESPN has seen household ratings increase 100 percent over last year and 23 percent among viewers.

HOCKEY

NHL: Buffalo Sabres forward Evander Kane pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he grabbed three women during an altercation at a downtown bar in June.

The charges stem from an alleged incident that occurred early on June 24 at Bottoms Up, a nightclub in Buffalo’s popular Chippewa Street entertainment district. Three women said they were grabbed by Kane inside the bar. A male bar employee said he also had a run-in with the NHL player.

A bouncer told police that the DJ sent him a text around 3 a.m. saying, “Kane’s gotta go.” The bouncer said that after he told Kane he had to leave the nightclub, Kane pushed him twice before “someone else grabbed Kane and walked him out the back.”

• The Columbus Blue Jackets signed forward Sam Gagner to a $650,000, one-year deal.

Gagner, 26, has 124 goals and 228 assists in 615 games.

COLLEGES

MEN’S BASKETBALL: A prosecutor has decided not to charge Reggie Lynch, a Minnesota basketball player arrested on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct in May.

A spokesman for the Hennepin County Attorney’s office said the office found “insufficient evidence to prove that a crime was committed.”

Lynch was arrested May 8. He was released from jail when a 36-hour hold expired and the prosecutor delayed a decision on whether to charge him.

• Nick Marshall has left Memphis’ basketball program. Marshall, a 6-foot-11 forward from Lexington, Tennessee, averaged 3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 8.6 minutes per game as a freshman last season.

AUTO RACING

FORMULA 1: Brazilian police said they rescued the kidnapped mother-in-law of Formula 1 chief Bernie Ecclestone from two men on the outskirts of Sao Paulo.

According to police, 67-year-old Aparecida Schunck, who had been held since Friday last week, was not harmed in the operation conducted by Sao Paulo’s anti-kidnapping division.

Schunck is the mother of Fabiana Flosi, married to Ecclestone since 2012.

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