Injury sidelines Spurs’ Murray for the season
Dejounte Murray was driving past James Harden and on his way to the basket, showing one of the skills that made the San Antonio Spurs convinced he’s the right point guard for their team.
And then Murray’s knee gave out.
In an instant, the entire trajectory of the Spurs’ season might have changed.
Murray’s season is almost certainly over, after the Spurs learned Monday that their starting point guard has a torn ACL in his right knee. The team hasn’t revealed when Murray will have surgery, nor has it determined a timetable for his return, but ACL reconstruction and rehabilitation is a process that typically takes around a full year.
“You just carry on,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said, standing in a corner of the team’s practice facility in San Antonio shortly after the Murray diagnosis was released. “He’s going to be out. Devastating injury for him, for the team. But life goes on. Everybody will pick up and do the best job we can to carry forward without him.”
Murray, who turned 22 last month, averaged 8.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists last season.
“I assume he misses the season,” Popovich said.
In a tweet, Murray thanked people for support and said he’s “been beating the odds and handling adversity” throughout his life.
Murray was a second-team member of the NBA’s All-Defensive Team last season, the youngest player to ever earn such a distinction.
The Spurs are going to have to choose between letting Derrick White take the starting gig or finding help elsewhere.
LIGHTER IN THE WALLET >> The NBA fined Celtics guard Marcus Smart and forward Aron Baynes and Cavaliers forward J.R. Smith for an on-court shoving match in their exhibition game.
NBA discipline boss Kiki VanDeWeghe fined Smart $25,000 for escalating the altercation and Smith $15,000 for shoving. Baynes was assessed $15,000 for initiating it.
In the first quarter of Saturday’s game in Cleveland, Smith and Baynes got tangled up while boxing out under the Boston basket. Smith gave Baynes a two-handed push, and Smart ran in from near mid-court to retaliate with a shove of his own.
• Thunder guard Terrance Ferguson sustained a concussion in a preseason game against the Atlanta Hawks and has been placed in the NBA’s concussion protocol.
• The Phoenix Suns fired general manager Ryan McDonough barely a week before the season begins. James Jones and Trevor Bukstein will share the GM duties on an interim basis for the Suns. Jones is the team’s vice president of basketball operations and Bukstein was assistant GM under McDonough, who had been in Phoenix since 2013 and was under contract through 2020.
Soccer
BALLON D’OR DOMINANCE TO BE BROKEN >> Luka Modric and Kylian Mbappe are in the running to break Lionel Messi’s and Cristiano Ronaldo’s 10-year dominance of the Ballon d’Or.
The World Cup finalist and champion, respectively, are nominees for this year’s award, alongside Brazilian forward Marta. For the first time, France Football magazine is awarding the individual trophy to a woman and a man on Dec. 3 in Paris.
The last player to win the trophy before Ronaldo and Messi took over was Kaka in 2007. This year, Ronaldo and Messi have not been as dominant, leaving the door open for a new winner.
Last month, the technically gifted Modric won FIFA’s best player award, and is regarded as the frontrunner for the Ballon d’Or.
In addition to guiding Croatia to the World Cup final, Modric also won the Champions league with Real Madrid. Mbappe also helped Paris Saint-Germain to a domestic treble last season.
Ronaldo and Messi are also among the 30 male nominees. Antoine Griezmann, Neymar, Gareth Bale, Mohamed Salah, and Sergio Aguero are also listed.
College football
OKLAHOMA FIRES STOOPS >> Oklahoma fired defensive coordinator Mike Stoops after the Sooners struggled to stop Texas during their first loss of the season.
Ruffin McNeill, the assistant head coach and defensive tackles coach, will be the defensive coordinator for the rest of the year.
The No. 11 Sooners (51) lost 48-45 on Saturday, allowing 501 yards to the Longhorns in Dallas.
“At the end of the day, I felt like we needed a new voice,” Coach Lincoln Riley said. “We needed just a little bit of a spark. I thought that making the change was right for that reason, and also because I felt good about the guys we have in this room and a plan for the rest of this season. This team’s got a lot in front of them. This team could make a run here. I think we all feel that.”