Dallas Trades Fortson to Seattle for Booth

The Dallas Mavericks traded power forward Danny Fortson to the Seattle SuperSonics for Calvin Booth on Monday, bringing back the 7-footer they once thought might help solve their woes at center.

Booth initially came to Dallas with Juwan Howard at the trade deadline in 2001. He played well the final 15 regular-season games, then in the playoffs hit one of the most memorable shots in team history, a short jumper with 9.8 seconds left that won a first-round series over Utah.

Booth never averaged more than 6.2 points, 3.9 rebounds and 18.6 minutes, while missing 113 games in Seattle.

Fortson averaged only 11.2 minutes over 56 games, with 3.9 points and 4.5 rebounds. He was fourth in the NBA in rebounding in both the 1998-99 and 2001-02 seasons.

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Minnesota Timberwolf guard Trenton Hassell signed a six-year, $27-million offer sheet with the Portland Trail Blazers, according to his agent, Mark Bartelstein.... Former first-round draft pick Nenad Krstic, a 7-foot center, will join the New Jersey Nets next season after reaching a buyout agreement with his European team, Partizan Belgrade.

College Football

Tennessee Coach Phillip Fulmer will not attend this week’s Southeastern Conference media days after learning that attorneys in a lawsuit against the NCAA plan to subpoena him at the event in Alabama.

Attorneys representing a former Alabama assistant coach have accused Fulmer of conspiring with the NCAA in bringing down the Crimson Tide football program by speaking to an NCAA investigator four years ago. Alabama was put on five years probation in 2002.

“I am not attending media days because of the legal circus that has been created by an isolated group of attorneys,” Fulmer said.

Tennis

Andre Agassi rallied to beat Tommy Haas, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, in an opening-round match in the Masters Canada tournament at Toronto.

Seventh-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero was forced to retire in the sixth game of the first set against Fabrice Santoro because of back spasms.

Hockey

The Atlanta Thrashers signed 19-year veteran Scott Mellanby, adding experience to a talented front line that already includes Ilya Kovalchuk and Dany Heatley.

Mellanby, 38, spent the last two years with the St. Louis Blues, getting 14 goals and 17 assists last season. He also has played with Philadelphia, Edmonton and Florida.

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Mario Lemieux and Luc Robitaille are part of a five-person group that will buy the River City Lancers Junior A team, Lemieux’s attorney Chuck Greenberg said. The team plays in Council Bluffs, Iowa, but is based in Omaha.

Miscellany

New UC Irvine baseball Coach Dave Serrano hired Sergio Brown and Chad Baum as his assistants. Brown and Baum come over from national champion Cal State Fullerton to rejoin Serrano, the Titans’ former pitching coach.

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Ryan Simmons and Danny Nichols of Huntington Beach and Travis Mellem and Chris Drummy of San Clemente were among the eight heat winners who advanced to today’s round of 160 in the men’s competition at the U.S. Open of Surfing at the Huntington Beach Pier.

Highlighting this morning’s round, which begins at 8 a.m., will be Patrick Gudauskas of San Clemente and Dane Reynolds of Ventura, both 18, entered in the same heat as Brazilian Christiano Spirro and Australian Daniel Ross.

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Kristina Loucks scored three goals to lead Southern California United of the Conejo Valley to the under-17 girls’ title at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships in Orlando, Fla., with a 4-1 victory over Windy City Pride of Chicago.

United was joined by the Eagles of Camarillo (under-14 girls), the Celtic Harps of Upland (under-14 boys) and Arsenal FC of Alta Loma (under-15 boys) as national champions.