NBA doesn’t plan to pause
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said there are “no plans“to pause the season, even as numbers of players entering the league’s health and safety protocols related to the coronavirus continue to rise.
Silver, in an interview with ESPN, said the league has examined multiple options but does not yet see a reason to stop play. Through early Tuesday evening, at least 84 players from 20 teams — not including some coaches and staffers — were believed to be in the protocols, though those numbers tend to change almost on an hourly basis. The count is largely based on what teams have disclosed on their most recent injury report.
The Chargers placed No. 2 quarterback Chase Daniel and backup defensive lineman Joe Gaziano on the COVID-19 reserve list. Those moves brought to nine the number of players the team has put on the COVID list in the last two days.
— Jeff Miller
Another 21 NFL players were put on the reserve/ COVID-19 list, including Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill, cornerback Rashad Fenton and tight end Blake Bell . ... New York Jets tight end Ryan Griffin was placed on injured reserve because of a knee injury, ending his season.
Former USC quarterback Kedon Slovis announced he is heading east to join the Atlantic Coast Conference champion Pittsburgh Panthers, with whom he will get a chance to replace ACC player of the year Kenny Pickett . ... The Miami Hurricanes’ plans to play in the Sun Bowl on Dec. 31 appear to be uncertain at best after the school announced that its program has entered COVID-19 protocols.
Shelly Carlin, a member of UCLA’s 1982 softball NCAA championship team, has committed $1 million to establish a softball coaching endowment as part of the largest financial gift by a former Bruins female athlete to the school.
In honor of the pledge, coach Kelly Inouye-Perez’s new title will become The Shelly Carlin UCLA Head
Softball Coach. — Ben Bolch
Mikaela Shiffrin dominated the first of two midweek women’s World Cup giant slaloms with three of the American’s main rivals sitting out Tuesday’s race after positive COVID-19 tests.
Building on a big lead from the first run, the Olympic champion finished the race in Courchevel, France, 0.86 seconds ahead of Sara Hector of Sweden, who posted the fastest second-run time.
Major League Baseball payrolls dropped 4% in 2021 compared with the last full season, and the $4.05-billion total was the lowest in a fully completed year since 2015 . ... Kimera Bartee, a former major league outfielder and Detroit Tigers first base coach, died Monday. He was 49. The Tigers made the announcement Tuesday. They did not disclose the cause of death.
The Michigan Court of Appeals overturned the conviction of a former Michigan State University gymnastics coach who was accused of lying to investigators about her knowledge of sexual abuse complaints against Larry Nassar in the 1990s. In a 2-1 decision, the court didn’t determine that Kathie Klages had told the truth to police, but rather that her interviews in 2018 were not crucial in a state investigation of how the university had responded to allegations about Nassar.