Pelicans lose Williamson in loss to Lakers
NEW ORLEANS —Zion Williamson has been ruled out of the New Orleans Pelicans' Western Conference play-in game against the Sacramento Kings on Friday night because of a left hamstring injury — and is expected to miss up to two weeks should New Orleans advance to the NBA playoffs.
The injury occurred with about three minutes remaining in a 110-106 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in New Orleans' play-in tournament opener Tuesday night. The club announced Wednesday that imaging confirmed he had a strained hamstring.
Williamson scored 40 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the loss to the Lakers, who were led by LeBron James with 23 points, nine assists and nine rebounds.
The Lakers advance to face defending champion Denver in the first round of the playoffs in a rematch of last season's Western Conference finals, a sweep by the Nuggets. Game 1 is Saturday night in Denver.
Anthony Davis finished with 20 points and 15 rebounds for Los Angeles. D'Angelo Russell scored 21, hitting five 3-pointers.
James was 10 of 10 on free throws and Davis 8 of 10.
Raptors’ Porter banned for life
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter was banned for life from the NBA on Wednesday after a league probe found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors and wagered on games, even betting on the Raptors to lose.
Porter is the second person to be banned by commissioner Adam Silver for violating league rules. The other was now-former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling in 2014.
In making the announcement, Silver called Porter's actions “blatant.”
“There is nothing more important than protecting the integrity of NBA competition for our fans, our teams and everyone associated with our sport, which is why Jontay Porter's blatant violations of our gaming rules are being met with the most severe punishment,” Silver said.
The investigation started once the league learned from “licensed sports betting operators and an organization that monitors legal betting markets” about unusual gambling patterns surrounding Porter's performance in a game on March 20 against Sacramento. The league determined that Porter gave a bettor information about his own health status prior that game and said that another individual — known to be an NBA bettor — placed an $80,000 bet that Porter would not hit the numbers set for him in parlays through an online sports book. That bet would have won $1.1 million.
Porter took himself out of that game after less than three minutes, claiming illness, none of his stats meeting the totals set in the parlay. The $80,000 bet was frozen and not paid out, and the NBA started an investigation not long afterward.