Ginobili signs with Spurs for 16th season

Manu Ginobili is returning for his 16th season with the San Antonio Spurs.

Ginobili, 40, had said he wanted to return. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Ginobili seems certain to become the eighth player in NBA history to spend his entire career with one team and play at least 16 seasons, joining Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki, John Stockton, Reggie Miller and John Havlicek.

Ginobili averaged 7.5 points, 2.7 assists and 2.3 rebounds in 69 games last season. In 992 career regular-season games, he has averaged 13.6 points, 3.9 assists and 3.6 rebounds. In 213 playoff games, the fourtime NBA champion has averaged 14.1 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists.

Ginobili led Argentina to the 2004 Olympic title. He and Bill Bradley are the only players to win NBA and Euroleague titles and an Olympic gold medal. G League changes: The Santa Cruz Warriors, the G League affiliate of Golden State, will be getting more of a breather between games.

Much like their NBA counterparts, G League players will no longer endure stretches of four games in five nights. Eliminating that for the first time was a key component of this season’s NBA schedule, and it’s now gone from G League schedules as well. The average number of back-to-backs will drop in the G League, from nearly nine per team last year to seven this season.

The newly rebranded G League will have a record 26 franchises this season. WNBA: Odyssey Sims scored a season-high 28 points, and Nneka Ogwumike had 21 points and 10 rebounds in the Los Angeles Sparks’ 82-67 win over the host Phoenix Mercury.