Deng has surgery
Lakers forward Luol Deng had successful surgery Wednesday morning to repair an injury to his right pectoral muscle, the Lakers said. Deng suffered the injury while working out in the offseason. It did not affect him during the season. He expects to be healthy well before the start of training camp in the final week of September.
Last summer Deng signed a fouryear, $72-million contract with the Lakers, making him the team’s highest-paid player.
Deng played in 56 games, starting 49 of them. The Lakers replaced Deng with rookie Brandon Ingram in the starting lineup on Feb. 6. He played in a reserve role for seven games before being shut down for the remainder of the season so the Lakers could give more time to their young players. He averaged 7.6 points and 5.2 rebounds a game.
Meantime, the Lakers have let go of some of the team’s support staff.
Strength and conditioning coach Tim DiFrancesco resigned this week. His assistant, Sean Light, was let go as part of the Lakers’ reorganization of their basketball operations departments. Tania Jolly, a longtime frontoffice assistant, left two weeks ago. As the coordinator of basketball operations, she arranged the Lakers’ travel schedule. The Lakers also parted ways with Rondre Jackson, their director of player development. — Tania Ganguli
The Rams claimed nose tackle Mike Purcell off waivers from the San Francisco 49ers, adding depth to the interior defensive line.
Purcell, 26, played in 15 games last season and started five. He was in on 26 tackles.
The 6-foot-3, 303-pound Purcell joins a Rams position group that includes defensive tackles Aaron Donald, Michael Brockers, Dominique Easley, Tyrunn Walker and recently drafted Tanzel Smart.
The Rams also waived defensive back Jerome Couplin, long snapper Andrew East, running back Brandon Wegher and tight end Bryce Williams. — Gary Klein
The Arizona Cardinals signed center/guard Tony Bergstrom to a one-year contract. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The 6-foot-5, 315 pound Bergstrom played 15 games for Houston last season. He spent his first four NFL seasons with Oakland.
Gonzalo Higuain scored two opportunistic goals and veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon made some crucial saves as Juventus won 2-0 at Monaco to take a commanding lead after the first leg of their Champions League semifinal.
The Kings have signed defenseman Oscar Fantenberg to a one-year entry-level contract. The 25-year-old Swede went undrafted by the NHL, but he bloomed into a solid defenseman in Sweden’s top domestic league.
He made a strong transition last season to the Kontinental Hockey League, scoring 23 points in 44 games with HK Sochi.
He is expected to challenge for a roster spot with the Kings in the fall.
Odyssey Sims scored 12 points as the Sparks lost to the Connecticut Sun 79-62 in their second preseason game.
A Utah State football player and another student, both from Southern California, have been charged with intimidating a witness in a burglary case against two other members of the football team. Logan, Utah, Police Chief Gary Jensen said that on April 5, 19-year-old freshmen Kevin Meitzenheimer and Dayshawn Littleton tried to hit the witness with their car and threatened to return and shoot the witness. Police found an assault rif le in the car and arrested both men, Jensen told the Salt Lake Tribune.
The police chief said Meitzenheimer and Littleton were trying to prevent charges from being filed against two Utah State players accused in a theft of electronics from an apartment complex.
Meitzenheimer, a redshirt freshman linebacker from Moreno Valley, is charged with witness tampering, obstruction of justice, aggravated assault and failure to remain at the scene of an accident. University officials say he’s been indefinitely suspended from the football team. Littleton, from Carson, is charged with witness tampering and obstruction of justice.