MORNING ROUNDUP

Durant cleared to resume full practice

Months ago when the season began, the Golden State Warriors focused all their energy on incorporating Kevin Durant.

When Durant returns from a left knee injury Saturday barring any setbacks after missing more than a month, he will rejoin a Golden State group on a roll that appears poised for another deep postseason run. The Warriors have said all along they will settle for nothing less than a second championship in three years after last season’s near miss.

Durant was medically cleared during a day off Thursday to resume full practice beginning Friday. He is tentatively scheduled to play against New Orleans.

Sefolosha reaches settlement with NYC

Former Oklahoma City Thunder player Thabo

Sefolosha settled his lawsuit against New York City after he was acquitted of criminal charges stemming from a police fracas outside a trendy Manhattan nightclub that left him with a broken leg in the final months of the 2015 NBA season.

The New York Daily News reported Wednesday that the Atlanta Hawks guard will receive $4 million.

Sefolosha was arrested in April 2015 outside the 1 Oak nightclub in Manhattan. Prosecutors said he repeatedly disobeyed officers’ orders to leave the area around the club where another NBA player,

Chris Copeland, had been

stabbed.

Akron hires former Illinois coach Groce

After previous stops at Illinois and Ohio, Jon Groce was introduced Thursday as the new coach at Akron, where he’ll inherit a program that flourished over the past decade under Keith Dambrot.

The Zips became one of the nation’s best midmajors and were a standard of excellence in the MidAmerican Conference under Dambrot, who stunned the school by accepting the job at Duquesne.