Embiid updates his status
Joel Embiid wants to play again this year – for the Philadelphia 76ers, yes, even as they fade without the injured all-star in the playoff hunt but also this summer for the U.S. Olympic team.
The reigning NBA MVP, Embiid has been sidelined since early February when he underwent meniscus surgery on his left knee after he was hurt when a player fell on him. Embiid had already been hampered by knee injuries this season that cost him multiple games – and cost the 76ers a good spot in the standings.
When healthy, Embiid continued to perform at an MVP level. He was the NBA’s leading scorer at 35.3 points per game at the time he was hurt and averaged 11.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists. He scored a franchise-record 70 points to go along with 18 rebounds on Jan. 22 in a 133-124 victory over San Antonio.
And the No. 3 overall pick in the 2014 draft says he’s not done yet.
“That’s the plan,” to return, Embiid told reporters Thursday at the team’s New Jersey complex. “Obviously, everything has to go right as far as getting healthy and being as close as I’m supposed to be.”
Embiid and the 76ers have said there is no timetable for his return.
“You can never tell how the body reacts, especially once you start ramping up,” Embiid said. “It all depends on how it feels and if it feels great. Then that’s good. If it doesn’t feel like it’s right, then you’ve got to keep going.”
NBA
The Charlotte Hornets are finalizing a deal to make Brooklyn Nets assistant general manager Jeff Peterson their new head of basketball operations, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The person said the deal is expected to be completed in the next few days.
The 35-year-old Peterson will replace Mitch Kupchak, who announced earlier this month that he is stepping down as president of basketball operations and general manager and moving to an advisory role.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, who is on the verge of becoming the all-time NCAA scoring leader in college basketball, announced Thursday that she will will leave the Hawkeyes after this season and enter the WNBA Draft.
The guard, with one more year of eligibility, became the all-time leading women’s scorer in major college basketball by scoring 33 points to pass Lynette Woodard and post her 17th career triple-double in a 108-60 victory over Minnesota on Wednesday night. She now has 3,650 career points.
Next up is the overall NCAA scoring record of Pete Maravich, who is just 17 points ahead of her.
MLB
Major League Baseball’s average salary rose 7.1% last year to a record $4,525,719, according to the annual report the players’ association issued Thursday.
After declining in 2021 following the pandemicshortened season, the average rose 23% over two seasons. The 2022 average marked a 14.8% increase from 2021.
Union figures are based on the 2023 salaries, earned bonuses and prorated shares of signing bonuses for 1,038 players on Aug. 31 active rosters and injured lists, before active rosters expanded for the remainder of the season.
Son of Jays reliever improving: Toronto Blue Jays reliever Erik Swanson’s son Toby has been discharged from the pediatric intensive care unit.
The 4-year-old boy was hit by a car Sunday in Clearwater, Florida and was airlifted in critical condition to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg.
NFL
A judge has upheld a decision requiring Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to take a paternity test as part of a legal dispute with a 27-year-old woman who claims the billionaire is her biological father.
A Texas judge rejected an appeal from Jones of a 2022 ruling in a paternity case brought by Alexandra Davis, who previously alleged in a separate lawsuit she was conceived from a relationship Jones had with her mother in the mid-1990s.
Attorneys for Jones are challenging the constitutionality of the Texas law that would compel genetic testing of Jones.