Jonathan Irons, the man behind Maya Moore's push for justice, is released from Missouri penitentiary

Jonathan Irons, whose bid for freedom from a 50-year prison sentence was pushed by Lynx star Maya Moore, walked out of a Missouri penitentiary on Wednesday, nearly four months after a judge overturned his conviction on charges of burglary and assault.

Irons, 40, a Black man convicted at age 18 by an all-white jury, was met by Moore and her family outside the Jefferson City Correctional Center.

It was the culmination of a yearslong effort by his supporters to win his freedom, a campaign that factored in a decision by Moore last year to forgo playing for the Lynx at the peak of her success.

In March, a Missouri judge, Daniel Green, vacated Irons' 1998 conviction in what police said was a burglary and shooting at the home of Stanley Stotler, a white homeowner.

Irons has insisted that he was not there and had been misidentified.

Green cited problems with the way the case had been investigated and tried. He focused on a fingerprint report that had not been turned over to Irons' defense team. The print, found inside a door that would have been used to leave the house, belonged to neither Irons nor Stotler.

The case against Irons, Green wrote, was "very weak and circumstantial at best."

Moore's family met Irons through prison ministry. She and Irons were introduced in 2007, and they formed a close bond. Irons has plans to live with Moore's godparents in Atlanta. Moore's godfather, Reggie Williams, had worked to investigate Irons' case and uncovered the key fingerprint evidence.

"I hope to be an agent of positive change," Irons said in a recent interview from prison.

Kansas State is launching a diversity and education fund amid several other initiatives to address racial injustice after football players threatened a boycott in response to an insensitive tweet by a student about the death of George Floyd.

The fund will allow boosters to funnel money directly to initiatives within the athletic department that "actively seek inclusive and diverse community through educational programming and support of all student-athletes, coaches and staff."

"We will not stand for social injustice," Wildcats athletic director Gene Taylor said.

Utah defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley will remain on staff but will take a pay cut and must undergo diversity training after being suspended for using a racial slur in a 2013 text message. Scalley's salary will be cut in half to $525,000 and his contract length cut to one year, and he will no longer be the designated head coach in waiting.

J.R. Smith has joined LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers for their championship push.

The Lakers announced their long-anticipated signing of Smith on Wednesday, the first day allowed under the rules of the NBA's summer restart.

Smith is the Lakers' replacement for Avery Bradley, who cited family reasons last week for his decision not to finish the season with his team in Orlando.

Smith, 34, hasn't played in the NBA since November 2018, but he is a longtime trusted teammate of James. During their four years together with the Cleveland Cavaliers, they won a title in 2016 and reached four consecutive NBA Finals.

Dallas signed guard Trey Burke after center Willie Cauley-Stein decided not to rejoin the team for the resumption of the season as he awaits the birth of his daughter next month.

The NCAA's infractions case against the Kansas men's basketball program has been accepted into a new independent investigation process.

The case against the Jayhawks and coach Bill Self will go through the Independent Accountability Resolution Process, which was established to deal with select cases and minimize perceived conflicts of interest.

Kansas has been accused of five Level I violations, which are considered the most egregious, in the fallout of an FBI investigation into college basketball corruption. The case hinges on whether representatives of apparel company Adidas were acting as boosters when two of them arranged payments to prospective recruits.

The case is the third to be accepted by the review panel. The NCAA's case against Memphis' basketball program was the first, and a case against North Carolina State's basketball program was the second.

Track and field: St. Augustine's College fired longtime coach George Williams, also a former coach with the U.S. Olympic team. Williams, 78, has coached St. Augustine's, his alma mater, for 43 seasons, winning 39 NCAA Division II championships, the most of any active coach. He coached the U.S. Olympic team in 2004. His attorney said Williams was fired without cause.

MLS: LA Galaxy midfielder Jonathan Dos Santos will miss the MLS restart tournament to have hernia surgery.