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The Brooklyn Nets ended their sometimes sour relationship with guard Cam Thomas on Thursday by releasing him to allow him to be a free agent, according to multiple reports.

Thomas signed a $5.9 million qualifying offer last summer after he and the Nets could not agree to contract terms. Brooklyn reportedly tried to shop him before Thursday's trade deadline.

Now he is in an unrestricted free agent instead of being restricted, which would have given the Nets the right to match any offer sheet.

"Super excited, ready to actually help and contribute to another team," Thomas, 24, told ESPN. "My next team is getting elite scoring, good playmaking and a good combo guard."

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Thomas ranked second on the team with a 15.6 scoring average and averaged 3.1 assists and 2.0 turnovers per game in 24 contests (eight starts) this season after missing 20 games because of a strained left hamstring.

He was Brooklyn's leading scorer in the 2023-24 regular season (22.5) and averaged a team-best 24.0 scoring average in only 25 games in 2024-25 before he was limited by hamstring issues.

For his career, Thomas averages 15.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 23.3 minutes in 239 regular-season games (88 starts).

Brooklyn selected Thomas with the 27th overall pick of the 2021 NBA Draft.

--Field Level Media

The New York Knicks acquired guard Jose Alvarado from the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for guard Dalen Terry and two second-round draft picks on Thursday ahead of the NBA trade deadline.

New Orleans also sent the draft rights for Latavious Williams to New York.

Alvarado, 27, is averaging 7.9 points, 3.1 assists, 21.9 minutes and a career-high 2.8 rebounds in 41 games as a reserve this season. The native of Brooklyn, N.Y., posted career-high averages of 10.3 points, 4.6 assists and 24.4 minutes in 56 games (23 starts) last season with the Pelicans.

For his career, all with New Orleans since the 2021-22 campaign, Alvarado is averaging 8.1 points, 3.1 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 20.3 minutes in 268 regular-season games (34 starts).

Terry, 23, was traded earlier from the Chicago Bulls to the Knicks for forward Guerschon Yabusele, 30.

Terry averaged 3.5 points, 1.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 11.1 minutes in 34 games off the bench this season for the Bulls. His career averages in parts of four seasons are 3.5 points, 1.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 11.1 minutes in 204 games (seven starts).

Chicago selected Terry with the 18th overall pick of the 2022 NBA Draft out of Arizona.

Williams, 36, was picked in the second round of the 2010 draft by the Miami Heat but has never played in the NBA. He is currently playing for Al-Ittihad Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

--Field Level Media

A brief history of the T20 World Cup:

2007 in South Africa

Final: India def. Pakistan by 5 runs

Four years after England invented Twenty20 cricket, the first T20 World Cup (then World Twenty20) blasted off in the opening match where Chris Gayle scored the first international T20 century, 117 off 57 balls (10 sixes) and Zimbabwe upset Australia the next day. In the final at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, India posted 157-5 on the back of Gautam Gambhir's 75 from 54. Pakistan was on track until slowed by bowlers Irfan Pathan, RP Singh and Joginder Sharma. Pakistan needed six runs off the last four balls with one wicket left then Misbah-ul-Haq skied Sharma to Sreesanth at short fine leg.

Tournament MVP: Shahid Afridi, Pakistan

2009 in England

Final: Pakistan def. Sri Lanka by 8 wickets

In the group stage, the Netherlands beat England at Lord's, and Australia was eliminated after two losses in two matches. The final pitted Pakistan against Sri Lanka, just three months after a dozen gunmen fired on the Sri Lanka cricket bus and match officials' minivan in Lahore. Seven players were injured, and three of them played in the T20 final. Sri Lanka batted first at Lord's and was soon 2-2 and 32-4. Kumar Sangakkara's anchoring 64 helped them to 138-6. The chase was paced well and Shahid Afridi hit the winning leg bye in an unbeaten 54. They reached 139-2 with eight balls to spare and Pakistan won its first world title in 17 years.

Tournament MVP: Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sri Lanka

2010 in Caribbean

Final: England def. Australia by 7 wickets

Afghanistan made its debut in a major men's event and didn't win a match. Australia reached the final at Kensington Oval undefeated. England, without a first-round win, advanced on net run rate then swept its Super 8s group and semifinal. David Hussey rescued Australia from 8-3 with 59 in a 147-6. England made no race of the chase. Craig Kieswetter, 63 off 49, and Kevin Pietersen, 47 off 31, shared 111 for the second wicket. With three overs to spare, England won its first world title.

Tournament MVP: Kevin Pietersen, England

2012 in Sri Lanka

Final: West Indies def. Sri Lanka by 36 runs

New Zealander Brendon McCullum's 123 off 58 balls against Bangladesh remains the highest score in tournament history. Sri Lanka beat the West Indies by nine wickets in the Super 8s. In the final in Colombo, Marlon Samuels' 78 off 56 pegged West Indies to 137-6 from 87-5. Then they turned around and squeezed the home team. Samuels, Sunil Narine — 3-9 off 22 balls — Daren Sammy and Samuel Badree bowled a combined 13.4 overs, conceded 54 runs and took seven wickets. They celebrated by dancing 'Gangnam Style' on the field.

Tournament MVP: Shane Watson, Australia

2014 in Bangladesh

Final: Sri Lanka def. India by 6 wickets

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In the Super 10s, the Netherlands thrashed England. Sri Lanka ended the West Indies' title defense in a rain-affected semifinal, then easily chased down India's measly 130-4 in the final in Dhaka. India was propped up by Virat Kohli's 77 off 58 until he was run out going for a second run. Kumar Sangakkara led Sri Lanka's charge to 134-4 with 2.1 overs to spare with an unbeaten 52 off 35. He and Mahela Jayawardene, having lost two previous T20 finals, bowed out of T20 cricket as world champions.

Tournament MVP: Virat Kohli, India

2016 in India

Final: West Indies def. England by 4 wickets

Afghanistan successfully defended 123 against the West Indies but the latter advanced to the semifinals. The West Indies knocked out India in the semifinals with the highest successful run chase in playoff history. In the final at Eden Gardens, Joe Root's 54 off 36 led England to 155-9. The Windies needed 19 runs off the last over bowled by Ben Stokes, and Carlos Braithwaite hit 6-6-6-6 to win the final with two balls to spare.

Tournament MVP: Virat Kohli, India

2021 in United Arab Emirates

Final: Australia def. New Zealand by 8 wickets

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the tournament to move from Australia to India to the UAE, and was delayed for a year. In the Super 12s, Pakistan beat India for the first time in 13 attempts in a 20-over or 50-over World Cup. The final in Dubai between unbeaten teams saw Kane Williamson's 85 off 48 lead New Zealand to 172-4, the highest total in a final. Australia surpassed it with seven balls to spare thanks to David Warner's 53 off 38 and Mitch Marsh's unbeaten 77 off 50. Glenn Maxwell applied the coup de grace with a boundary past short third man for 173-2 and Australia's first T20 crown.

Tournament MVP: David Warner, Australia

2022 in Australia

Final: England def. Pakistan by 5 wickets

In the preliminary round, the West Indies lost to Scotland and Ireland, and Sri Lanka lost to Namibia. There was more drama in the Super 12s: Ireland beat England, Zimbabwe defeated Pakistan, the Netherlands upset South Africa, and Australia's title defense ended on net run rate after a 4-run win over Afghanistan. Pakistan, with two losses, reached the final. England crushed India by 10 wickets in the semifinals then restricted Pakistan to 137, Sam Curran taking 3-12. Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi went off injured in the final and England cruised to victory on Ben Stokes' unbeaten maiden T20 half-century.

Tournament MVP: Sam Curran, England

2024 in the United States and Caribbean

Final: India def. South Africa by 7 runs.

The first major ICC World Cup tournament to have matches in the U.S. certainly gave the home team an extra boost. The fledgling U.S. team opened with a seven-wicket win over Canada and then stunned Pakistan with a shocking upset in a so-called "Super Over" tiebreaker after the match finished with both teams posting totals of 159. The Americans placed second behind India in Group A and advanced to the Super Eights round, where they were beaten along with the co-host West Indies. Afghanistan upset Australia in the Super Eights to advance with India to the semifinals but lost in a lopsided contest against South Africa. India held off South Africa in the final to become the first team to go through the T20 world tournament undefeated.

Tournament MVP: Jasprit Bumrah, India

AP T20 World Cup:https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

Jan. 30 - Feb. 1, 2026

Cubansgetting by without power as outages persistand tensions with US escalate.Argentina firesravage pristine Patagonia forests.After Mexico bans vapes, cartels tighten their grip on a booming market.

This gallery was curated by photo editor Anita Baca, based in Mexico City.

AP photography:https://apnews.com/photography

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/apnews

KAPLAN, La. (AP) — Josh Courville has harvested crawfish his whole life, but these days, he's finding a less welcome catch in some of the fields he manages in southern Louisiana.

Climate Rice and Crawfish Pests

Snails. Big ones.

For every crawfish Courville dumps out of a trap, three or four snails clang onto the boat's metal sorting table. About the size of a baseball when fully grown, apple snails stubbornly survive all kinds of weather in fields, pipes and drainage ditches and can lay thousands of bubblegum-colored eggs every month.

"It's very disheartening," Courville said. "The most discouraging part, actually, is not having much control over it."

Apple snails are just one example of how invasive species can quickly become a nightmare for farmers.

In Louisiana, where rice and crawfish are often grown together in the same fields, there's now a second threat: tiny insects called delphacids that can deal catastrophic damage to rice plants. Much about these snails and insects is still a mystery, and researchers are trying to learn more about what's fueling their spread, from farming methods andpesticidestoglobal shippingandextreme weather.

Experts aren't sure what roleclimate changemay play, but they say a warming world generally makes it easier for pests to spread to other parts of the country if they gain a foothold in the temperate South.

"We are going to have more bugs that are happier to live here if it stays warmer here longer," said Hannah Burrack, professor and chair of the entomology department at Michigan State University.

It's an urgent problem because in a tough market for rice, farmers who rotate the rice and crawfish crops together need successful harvests of both to make ends meet. And losses to pests could mean higher rice prices for U.S. consumers, said Steve Linscombe, director of The Rice Foundation, which does research and education outreach for the U.S. rice industry.

Inconvenience, stress and higher costs for farmers

Courville manages fields for Christian Richard, a sixth-generation rice farmer in Louisiana. Both started noticing apple snails after a bad flood in 2016. Then the population ballooned.

In spring, at rice planting time, the hungry snails found a feast.

"It was like this science fiction movie," Richard said, describing how each snail made its own little whirlpool as it popped out of the wet ground. "They would start on those tender rice plants, and they destroyed a 100-acre field."

Louisiana State University scientists estimate that about 78 square miles (202 square kilometers) in the state are now regularly seeing snails.

To keep the rice from becoming a snail buffet, Richard's team and many other rice and crawfish farmers dealing with the pests start with a dry field to give the rice plants the chance to grow a few inches and get stronger, then flood the field after.

It's a planting method they'd already used on some fields, even before the snails arrived. But now, with the snails, that's essentially their only option, and it's the most expensive one.

They also can't get rid of the snails entirely. Many of the pesticides that might work on snails can also hurt crustaceans. People directly eat both rice and crawfish, unlike crops grown for animal feed, so there are fewer chemicals farmers can use on them. One option some farmers are testing, copper sulfate, can easily add thousands of dollars to an operation's costs, Courville said.

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It all means "lower production, decreased revenue from that, and increased cost with the extra labor," Richard said.

Cecilia Gallegos, who has worked as a crawfish harvester for the past three years, said the snails have made her job more difficult in the past year.

"You give up more time," she said of having to separate the crawfish from the snails, or occasionally plucking them out of sacks if they roll in by mistake. Work that already stretched as late as 3 a.m. in the busy springtime season can now take even longer.

The snails separated from the crawfish get destroyed later.

One of the most significant pest appearances since the 1950s

To look for pests much smaller than the apple snails, entomologists whip around heavy-duty butterfly nets and deploy Ghostbusters-style specimen-collecting vacuums. Since last year, they've been sampling for rice delphacids, tiny insects that pierce the rice plants, suck out their sap and transmit a rice virus that worsens the damage.

It's worrying for Louisiana because they've seen how bad it can get next door in Texas, where delphacids surged last year. Yields dropped by up to 50% in what's called the ratoon crop, the second rice crop of the year, said The Rice Foundation's Linscombe. Texas farmers are projected to grow rice on only half the acres they did last year, and some are worried they won't be able to get bank loans, said Tyler Musgrove, a rice extension specialist at the Louisiana State University AgCenter.

Musgrove said entomologists believe almost all rice fields in Louisiana had delphacids by September and October of last year. By then, most of the rice had already been harvested, so they're waiting to see what happens this year.

"The rice delphacid this past year was probably one of the most significant entomological events to occur in U.S. rice since the '50s when it first appeared," Musgrove said. Delphacids had eventually disappeared after that outbreak until now. It's been identified in four of the six rice-producing states — Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi — but it's not clear yet whether it's made a permanent winter home in the U.S.

Scientists are still in the early stages of advising farmers on what to do about the resurgence of the destructive bugs without adding costly or crawfish-harming pesticides. And they're also starting to study whether rice and crawfish grown together will see different impacts than rice grown by itself.

"I think everyone agrees, it's not going to be a silver bullet approach. Like, oh, we can just breed for it or we could just spray our way out of it," said Adam Famoso, director of Louisiana State University's Rice Research Station.

Climate change makes it harder to plan around pests

Burrack, of Michigan State, said that climate change is making it harder for modeling that has helped predict how big populations of invasive pests will get and when they may affect certain crops. And that makes it harder for farmers to plan around them.

"From an agricultural standpoint, that's generally what happens when you get one of these intractable pests," Burrack said. "People are no longer able to produce the thing that they want to produce in the place that they're producing it."

Follow Melina Walling on X@MelinaWallingand Bluesky@melinawalling.bsky.social. Follow Joshua A. Bickel onInstagram,BlueskyandX@joshuabickel.

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