Ewing tests positive for COVID-19

Georgetown basketball coach Patrick Ewing tested positive for COVID-19 and is being treated at a hospital.

“This virus is serious and should not be taken lightly,” the Hall of Famer as a player for the Hoyas in college and the New York Knicks in the NBA said in a statement issued by the university. “I want to encourage everyone to stay safe and take care of yourselves and your loved ones. Now more than ever, I want to thank the healthcare workers and everyone on the front lines. I’ll be fine and we will all get through this.”

The school said the 57-year-old Ewing is the only member of its men’s program who has contracted the coronavirus.

As a player, the 7-foot Ewing helped Georgetown win the 1984 NCAA men’s basketball championship and reach two other title games.

During Ewing’s four years playing for John Thompson Jr., Georgetown went 121-23, a winning percentage of .840.

He was taken with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1985 draft after the Knicks won the NBA’s first lottery. Ewing wound up leading New York to the 1994 NBA Finals, where they lost to Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets.

Ewing played 17 seasons in the NBA, 15 with the Knicks. He played 67 games (49 in the regular season and 18 in the playoffs) against the Miami Heat, averaging 20.3 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.4 blocks a game.

After retiring as a player, he spent 15 years as an assistant or associate coach with four teams in the pros. In April 2017, he returned to Georgetown for his first job as a head coach at any level, replacing Thompson’s son in that job with the Hoyas.

In his first three seasons at his alma mater, Ewing’s teams have gone a combined 49-46 with zero trips to the NCAA Tournament.

In 2019-20, Georgetown finished the season with seven consecutive losses and a 15-17 record.

Last week, sophomore guard Mac McClung announced that he was planning to enter the NCAA transfer portal, joining four other Georgetown players who said during the season they would be switching schools.

Baseball:

The Nationals have changed their plans for their virtual World Series ring ceremony after players decided they would rather wait until they could reunite in person to receive their new jewelry. The Nationals had announced they were going to give out the rings during a show broadcast on television and online — an unprecedented approach brought about by the pandemic.

NFL:

Former quarterback Ryan Leaf was arrested in Southern California on Friday. Leaf, 44, was arrested on a domestic battery charge in Palm Desert, which is about 110 miles southeast of Los Angeles, according to booking information provided by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department on Saturday. Leaf is being held on $5,000 bail at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility. Leaf was arrested in 2012 for breaking into a home in Montana to steal prescription drugs, which violated his Texas probation and led to prison.

NHL:

The NHL Players’ Association’s executive committee authorized moving forward in talks with the league on returning to play from the coronavirus suspension, approving 24 teams making the playoffs with other aspects still to be negotiated. The NHLPA did not provide a breakdown of the vote of its 31 player representatives in making the announcement Friday night, a day after the proposal was presented to the union’s executive board. In giving the format the green light, the NHLPA stressed several details still need to be negotiated before games can begin. The proposal will now go to the NHL board of governors, which is expected to approve the plan in the next few days. Once approved, the proposal effectively ends the season of the league’s bottom seven teams. The top four teams in each conference would play each other in a mini-tournament for seeding while the remaining 16 teams face off in a best-of-five play-in round to set the final 16 to compete for the Stanley Cup.

Soccer:

Lionel Messi’s Barcelona and the rest of the Spanish league can resume play in June after three months of waiting for the pandemic to subside. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced Saturday that La Liga and other professional sports competitions will be allowed to resume starting June 8, providing Spain keeps its coronavirus outbreak in check. While the top tier can play from this date, which is a Monday, it has already said it wants to restart on June 12, a Friday.