Durant won’t risk injury if NBA restarts season
Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant will not play if the NBA restarts the season, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Sunday.
The Nets are determined to let the four-time scoring champion rest until next season rather than risk reinjuring his right Achilles tendon.
“Kevin Durant’s not coming back to the Nets this year,” Wojnarowski said during “The Woj Pod” podcast. “That’s not happening. ... They’re not playing him.”
Earlier this month, Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks said he wouldn’t rule out Durant returning to the court if the league resumes the 2019-20 campaign. Play has been suspended since March 11 due to the coronavirus crisis.
“He knows his body better than anybody,” Marks told Newshub of New Zealand. “Our performance team and training staff have done a tremendous job getting him to this point, but I just don’t know how coming out of this pandemic will affect anybody, let alone Kevin.”
Durant, 31, was injured during Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals as a member of the Golden State Warriors. He signed a four-year, $164 million deal with the Nets as a free agent in July.
The 10-time All-Star forward was the league’s Most Valuable Player in 2013-14 as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. He was a twotime NBA Finals MVP with the Warriors.
GIANNIS’ YOUNGEST BROTHER WILL SKIP COLLEGE >> The youngest brother of Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo plans to skip college and play professionally in Europe to prepare for the NBA.
Alex Antetokounmpo, who graduated from Dominican High School in Milwaukee, reportedly received offers from DePaul, Ohio and Green Bay. The 6-foot-7 small forward is rated as a threestar prospect in the Class of 2020 by 247 Sports.
“I am examining my options, I have a few choices from the States, but I have decided to play in Europe,” he told EuroHoops.net on Saturday. “I want to become a pro as soon as possible. I was born and raised in Europe, I know European basketball and the best thing for me would be to sign a contract with a European club.
“I will have to train and compete against grown men, I will experience strong competition and pressure and I will evolve on every level.”
Alex moved to Milwaukee from his native Greece in 2013 during Giannis’ rookie season with the Bucks. He twice earned first-team allstate honors in Wisconsin and averaged 20 points and 7.3 rebounds as a senior, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Alex will eligible for the NBA draft in 2021. If he makes it, he would be the fourth member of his family in the league. Giannis, the 2018-19 league MVP, and Thanasis play for the Bucks, while Kostas plays for the Los Angeles Lakers.
YAO HAS PLAN FOR CHINESE LEAGUE’S RETURN >> Yao Ming, the former Houston Rockets star and now president of the Chinese Basketball Association, says the league has three options for resuming the season that has been on hold since Feb. 1 over the coronavirus pandemic.
Yao said the league might play out the full schedule; play a shortened season with some games dropped; or end the regular season and go straight to the playoffs based on teams’ current rankings.
Yao told state broadcaster CCTV on Sunday that he hopes as much as the season can be played as possible, but that public health and fairness were the key considerations. A tournament to restart the season was also being considered if not all scheduled games could be played.
Teams would also be isolated in hotels and fans barred from stadiums, he said.
In formulating a restart plan, the CBA received advice from a unique source, Yao said. Zhong Nanshan, who heads a national virus control team and is married to a former national player, provided “many useful suggestions,” Yao said. “With their help, we are more confident of the CBA’s return.”
Tennis
PLAYING FRENCH OPEN WITHOUT FANS AN OPTION >> The president of the French Tennis Federation says holding the French Open without fans later this year is an option.
The clay-court tournament at Roland Garros was initially slated to be held May 24-June 7, but was postponed amid the coronavirus pandemic and rescheduled for Sept. 20-Oct. 4.
Bernard Giudicelli tells French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche that “organizing it without fans would allow a part of the economy to keep turning, (like) television rights and partnerships. It’s not to be overlooked.”
Giudicelli adds that “the lack of visibility is genuine” when hosting a tournament without fans but “we are not ruling any option out.”
That could potentially mean moving the starting date back to Sept. 27, something Giudicelli says “does not change much.”
MMA
FERGUSON SUSTAINED ORBITAL FRACTURE IN LOSS >> Tony Ferguson sustained an orbital fracture during his loss to Justin Gaethje at UFC 249 on Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla., according to a report by Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports.
“Per @danawhite, @TonyFergusonXT suffered an orbital fracture in his loss to @ Justin_Gaethje at #UFC249,” Iole wrote Sunday on Twitter.
Gaethje (22-2) captured the interim lightweight title after recording a TKO victory over Ferguson in the fifth round of the main event at VyStar Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The end came at the 3:39 mark, as referee Herb Dean stepped in to stop the fight. Ferguson had swollen eyes and a laceration on his right cheek at the time.
Ferguson, 36, saw his UFC lightweight record 12-fight win streak come to a halt and fell to 25-4 in his career.
NFL
BENGALS, MIXON BEGIN EXTENSION TALKS >> Cincinnati running back Joe Mixon expressed interest in having the team begin talks on a contract extension at the end of last season.
The Bengals apparently have taken his words to heart and began conversations about a new deal, according to team director of player personnel Duke Tobin.
“Joe’s obviously a guy that’s shown a lot of ability,” Tobin said on 700 WLW of Mixon.
• Defensive end Aldon Smith met with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and is waiting for a decision about his indefinite suspension, according to the Dallas Cowboys’ Stephen Jones.
Out of the league since 2015 due to a series of arrests and off-field issues, Smith signed a one-year deal with Dallas last month worth up to a reported $4 million.
Jones, the Cowboys’ executive vice president and director of player personnel, told the Pro Football Talk PM podcast Friday that Smith has met with Goodell and is “waiting to hear back.”