The San Antonio Spurs are planning a trip to Uvalde, Texas next month. The Golden State Warriors and Washington Wizards are going to Japan. The Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks are going to Abu Dhabi. The next three weeks around the NBA will be busy with training camps now opening and 70 preseason games set to be played. It's all the warmup act for opening night on Oct. 18.
The Boston Celtics have suspended coach Ime Udoka for the 2022-23 season. The move takes effect immediately and with no guarantee he will be back with the franchise. The Celtics said Thursday night that Udoka was suspended for “violations of team policies.” Earlier Thursday, two people with knowledge of the matter said Udoka was being sanctioned because of an improper relationship with a member of the organization. Those people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team did not reveal that detail publicly.
Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka has been suspended for the 2022-23 season for violating team policies.
Robert Sarver says he has started the process of selling the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury, a move that comes only eight days after he was suspended by the NBA over workplace misconduct including racist speech and hostile behavior toward employees. Sarver made the announcement Wednesday, saying selling “is the best course of action.” He has owned the teams since 2004, when he purchased it for about $400 million. He is not the lone owner, but the primary one. Forbes recently estimated the value of the Suns at $1.8 billion.
Suspended owner Robert Sarver says he has started the process of selling the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury.
A jury has convicted a 25-year-old man of capital murder in the killing of former Texas Tech basketball star Andre Emmett. The Dallas County jury deliberated about four hours before finding Larry Daquan Jenkins guilty on Friday of the September 2019 slaying. Jenkins was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, since prosecutors weren’t seeking the death penalty. Prosecutors say Jenkins and two other men followed Emmett, who was 35, from a nightclub to his Dallas home in order to rob him. A witness told police that Jenkins was the one who fatally shot Emmett. The other two men alleged to have taken part in the robbery are awaiting trial on capital murder charges.
The NBA suspended Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury owner Robert Sarver for one year and fined him $10 million after an investigation found that he had engaged in what the league called “workplace misconduct and organizational deficiencies.” The findings come nearly a year after the NBA asked a law firm to investigate allegations that Sarver had a history of racist, misogynistic and hostile incidents over his nearly two-decade tenure overseeing the franchise. The league said the results of the investigation were based on interviews with 320 individuals and more than 80,000 documents and other materials. Sarver apologized for “words and actions that offended our employees,” though he disagreed with some of the report’s findings.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)
The stars showed up at EuroBasket on Tuesday in a big way. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 41 points in 27 minutes for Greece. Luka Doncic had 36 points for Slovenia. And two-time reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic scored 29 points for Serbia. It was three of the world’s best players all leading their teams to big group-stage wins at the European championships.
A person familiar with the deal says the Philadelphia 76ers have agreed to a two-year contract with free agent center Montrezl Harrell. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been announced. Harrell was the NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2019-2020 when Sixers coach Doc Rivers still coached the Los Angeles Clippers. Harrell averaged 13.1 points and 6.1 rebounds in 71 games last season with the Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets.
A woman has been arrested after she tried to enter the property of Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari. University spokeswoman Blair Conner says Lexington Police were called to assist University of Kentucky police outside of Calipari’s residence Tuesday morning. The woman was arrested outside of the gate and charged with trespassing and six counts of theft of credit cards from around the country. The woman was looking for someone who wasn't at Calipari’s house. Conner says the call to police did not come from Calipari’s home.
Golden State Warriors megastar Stephen Curry is largely credited with transforming basketball from a must-see above the rim game to box office long range shooting. But the reigning NBA Finals MVP who recently broke the league's all-time 3-point record is now aiming at a different target: children’s books. The “I Have a Superpower” author says he wants to inspire young readers and "reach the next generation of kids that are dreaming big,” said Curry of the motivational book illustrated by Geneva Bowers out Tuesday. “We want them to be able to set their sights on what they want to accomplish in the world and really believe that it’s possible.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo simply took over with the game on the line. And as usual, he did it on both ends of the floor. Antetokounmpo scored 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Tyler Dorsey also finished with 27 points and Greece held off Croatia 89-85 in the opening Group C game for both teams at the EuroBasket tournament on Friday. All 24 teams in the field will play on Saturday as group games continue.
Boston Celtics forward Danilo Gallinari has torn the ACL in his left knee. Such injuries typically involve a recovery process of up to a year, meaning it would be unlikely for the veteran to play this season. Gallinari tore the same ligament in 2013. The Celtics signed Gallinari to a two-year, $13 million contract in July. He averaged 11.7 points for Atlanta last season. The 34-year-old Gallinari was hurt while playing for Italy in a FIBA World Cup qualifier against Georgia this past weekend.
Shane Burcar sits in the front row of the large auditorium as a thunderstorm rolls over the Northern Arizona campus. The wall of windows on the room’s north side offers a perfect view of the lightning strikes and approaching rain moving through the pine trees. The building the auditorium is in gives Burcar something he’s never had in four years as Northern Arizona’s coach: a top-of-the-line facility to show prospective basketball recruits. The performance center could be the missing piece Burcar needs to get NAU back on the right track after winning 15 combined games the past two seasons.
A person familiar with the trade tells AP the Cleveland Cavaliers have agreed to acquire All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell in a blockbuster trade with the Utah Jazz. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the NBA still has to approve the trade. The person says Cleveland is sending guard Collin Sexton, forward Lauri Markkanen and rookie guard Ochai Agbaji along with three unprotected first-round picks to the Jazz. Mitchell is one of the league’s premiere scorers and his acquisition could put the Cavs among the elite teams in the Eastern Conference.
Overtime in the G League this season will be a race to seven points. The schedule for the G League’s 22nd season has been was released, with the 50-game slate for teams beginning on Nov. 4 and ending on March 25. And the league is making some changes, with a switch to a “target score” ending for its overtime games among the most significant. The first team to score seven points in the OT period wins, and that extra session will be untimed.
Recently retired Duke University coach Mike Krzyzewski was honored Thursday by Gov. Roy Cooper — a two-time graduate of the University of North Carolina — with the state's highest honor.
Stephen Curry knocked down another huge 3. This one was 13 years in the making. The Golden State Warriors point guard was inducted into the Davidson College Hall of Fame, had his No. 30 jersey retired and received his bachelor’s degree in sociology following an elaborate solo graduation ceremony on the school’s campus. He became the first Davidson College athlete to have his jersey number retired, meaning No. 30 will never be worn again by a Wildcats basketball player.
Longtime official Chris Rastatter has been chosen to take over as the NCAA’s national coordinator of men’s basketball officiating. Among his immediate plans is a comprehensive training program to help improve call accuracy during the regular season and postseason tournaments. Rastatter’s appointment begins Thursday. He takes over for J.D. Collins, who is retiring after seven years on the job.
Patrick McCaw has three NBA championship rings from the start of his career with Golden State and Toronto. Norris Cole was part of two title-winning teams in Miami. And right now, both have the same plan: Take the USA’s call, while awaiting the NBA’s call. McCaw and Cole are on USA Basketball’s roster for the FIBA AmeriCup tournament that starts Friday in Recife, Brazil. The tournament runs through Sept. 11, or about two weeks before NBA training camps begin, and both McCaw and Cole are hoping that these games lead to two things. One is a gold medal. The other is a springboard back to the league.
School is back in session across the United States. That means new textbooks, new clothes and maybe new name, image and licensing deals. College athletes and some high school athletes can make money doing things like social media posts, in-person appearances and hosting sports camps. College students are becoming more and more familiar with so-called NIL compensation. It remains relatively new at the high school level.
John Wall says he considered taking his own life during a time in the last three years when he was dealing with a torn Achilles and the deaths of family members at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 31-year-old guard joined the Los Angeles Clippers this summer and is eager for a return to form. Wall said recently he was in the “darkest place I've ever been in” after the death of his 58-year-old mother in December 2019, followed by the loss of his grandmother. Wall says he began attending therapy to deal with the losses in the middle of rehabbing from his Achilles injury.
Unvaccinated NBA players and team personnel must submit to weekly COVID-19 testing this season. The league told its clubs of that plan in a memo Tuesday. There will be certain exceptions to that mandate. That includes when the unvaccinated person is considered to have been “recently recovered” from COVID-19. But for all others, testing will not be required except when “directed by their team physician or a league physician or government authority.”
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