Newsmakers

Declined The Detroit Pistons say they won’t pick up the team option on Chauncey Billups’ contract for the 2014-15 season. Coach Stan Van Gundy says Monday’s announcement was a hard one. Billups played for Detroit from 2002-2008 and again in 2013. Billups also has played for Denver, Orlando, Toronto, Minnesota, New York and the Los Angeles Clippers.

Announced The Florida Panthers announced that they completed a compliance buyout of defenseman Ed Jovanovski, who was the team’s No. 1 overall draft pick 20 years ago. The buyout saves the Panthers about $4 million in salary-cap space heading into free agency. Jovanovski has been in the NHL for 18 seasons, parts of seven of those with Florida.

Withdrawn The Ukrainian city of Lviv has withdrawn its bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics due to the continuing political, security and economic crisis in the country. Officials say they plan to bid on the ’26 Games instead. Three candidates remain for 2022: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing, and Oslo.

• Former British Open champion Tom Lehman has withdrawn from this year’s competition. His brother and manager, Jim Lehman, says the former Open champion plans to enjoy a summer vacation with his family for the first time in some 20 years.

Traded The Montreal Canadiens have traded veteran forward Daniel Briere to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for forward Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau and a fifth-round pick in the 2015 draft. Briere had 13 goals and 12 assists in 69 games with the Canadiens last season. Parenteau had 14 goals and 19 assists with Colorado.

Waived The Orlando Magic waived guard Jameer Nelson, parting ways with their longest-tenured player in a move to save valuable salary cap space and turn a page toward the future. The Magic acquired Nelson in a draft-night trade in 2004. He averaged 12.6 points and 5.4 assists over 10 seasons.