BASKETBALL
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - After Anthony Davis found out he wouldn’t be traded, the six-time All-Star learned the New Orleans Pelicans will let him suit up for the remainder of the season.
While Davis had stated publicly that he’s ready to move on from New Orleans, he also had said he was prepared to play for the Pelicans as long as he remained under contract with them.
The Pelicans initially appeared inclined to move on without Davis and focus on the players who might help them going forward. Davis’ image has been removed from promotional materials, the club’s official website and even a team hype video that plays before home games on the Smoothie King Center’s expansive scoreboard screens hanging above the court.
But benching a healthy player could potentially infringe on NBA rules designed to protect the investments of ticket holders and broadcast partners alike against the prospects of star players being arbitrarily rested.
Those rules, for example, prohibit clubs from “resting healthy players for any high-profile, nationally televised game.” Doing so, the rules state, “will constitute conduct prejudicial or detrimental to the NBA and result in a fine of at least $100,000.”
BASEBALL
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, the first black manager in Major League Baseball and the only player to win the MVP award in both leagues, died Thursday. He was 83.
Robinson had recently been in hospice care at his home in Bel Air. MLB confirmed his death.
An MVP with Cincinnati and Baltimore, Robinson cemented his legacy when he became Cleveland’s manager in 1975. The Reds, Orioles and Indians retired his No. 20 and honored him with statues at their stadiums.
Fearsome and fearless in the batter’s box, Robinson hit 586 home runs - he was fourth on the career list behind only Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth and Willie Mays when he retired and now ranks 10th. He won the Triple Crown while leading the Orioles to their first World Series championship in 1966.
An All-Star outfielder in 12 seasons and a first-ballot selection to Cooperstown, Robinson also was a Rookie of the Year and picked up a Gold Glove.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Major League Baseball is changing the name of its disabled lists to injured lists.
Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem said the change is being made at the suggestion of advocacy groups for the disabled, including the Link20 Network.
Clubs were notified of the change in a Dec. 20 memo to clubs from Jeff Pfeifer, senior director of league economics and operations in the commissioner’s office. The change was first reported by ESPN.
“In recent years, the commissioner has received several inquiries regarding the name of the ’Disabled List,’” Pfeifer wrote. “The principal concern is that using the term ’disabled’ for players who are injured supports the misconception that people with disabilities are injured and therefore are not able to participate or compete in sports. As a result, Major League Baseball has agreed to change the name ’Disabled List’ to be the ’Injured List’ at both the major and minor league levels. All standards and requirements for placement, reinstatement, etc., shall remain unchanged. This change, which is only a rebranding of the name itself, is effective immediately.”
The major leagues have had disabled lists of 10 and 60 days, plus a seven-day list only for players with concussions. MLB has proposed to the players’ association that the 10-day list go back to a 15-day minimum, its level before 2017.
SOCCER
LONDON (AP) - More than two weeks after the plane carrying Emiliano Sala to a new career in the English Premier League crashed into the sea, police confirmed the body recovered from the wreckage was the Argentine soccer player.
A search of the seabed of the English Channel only discovered the Piper Malibu aircraft on Sunday and the agony was prolonged for Sala’s family by the difficulties raising the body to the surface.
“The news is so painful,” Argentine President Mauricio Macri wrote in remarks translated from Spanish on Twitter, reflecting national concerns at home over the fate of Sala. “My condolences to the family, friends and teammates of Emiliano Sala on this tough moment. We are with you.”
Search teams are yet to find pilot David Ibbotson, the only other person on board the light aircraft which lost contact with traffic control near Guernsey on the evening of Jan. 21 as it flew from the French city of Nantes to the Welsh capital Cardiff. At 28, Sala had just secured the biggest move of his career after signing for Cardiff.
GYMNASTICS
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Three women suing USA Gymnastics over alleged sexual abuse by sports doctor Larry Nassar expressed frustration with its chief financial officer’s lack of answers during a creditors meeting in the group’s bankruptcy case, with one calling it “one big I-don’t-know.”
Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics filed for Chapter 11 protection in December in an effort to reach settlements in the dozens of sex-abuse lawsuits it faces and to avoid its potential demise at the hands of the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Three Nassar accusers who are members of the creditors’ committee were among those who questioned USA Gymnastics CFO Scott Shollenbarger for more than three hours Thursday during a meeting where creditors can confront the debtor in the early stages of the bankruptcy process.
They peppered Shollenbarger with questions about the group’s assets, insurance policies, records it might have with the names of other abuse victims and their abusers, and its liabilities in claims filed by women who say Nassar abused them as young athletes.
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