Paul George has missed the last four 76ers games with a groin injury. Combine that with George's ongoing knee issues, and he has been limited to 41 games total this season (15 games where George, Joel Embiid, and Tyrese Maxey all played).
George is meeting with doctors this week to come up with a treatment plan for his groin and knee, "including a possible procedure," reports Shams Charania of ESPN. A decision is expected early next week.
Considering that Joel Embiid is out for the season and the 76ers are tanking, trying to hold on to their top-six protected pick, it would be stunning if George stepped on an NBA court again this season.
In the wake of the Utah Jazz getting fined $100,000 for not playing Lauri Markkanen in violation of the league’s Player Participation Policy, you can be sure teams are ensuring they follow the appropriate guidelines in sitting star players. This has the feel of the 76ers making sure they don't get hit with a fine.
Last summer George signed a four-year, $212 million max contract to come to Philadelphia, however, injuries have held him back from playing at the level he did last season for the Clippers. George is averaging 16.2 points a game (his fewest since 2012) and has struggled defensively and across the board. With his contract and the massive extension that Joel Embiid got — two nearly untradable contracts right now — the 76ers are pot committed to this core. They are better off getting the high draft pick (lottery gods willing), getting healthy with their stars and players like Jaren McCain (who was having a standout rookie season until he tore a meniscus), and making a run at things again next season.
Not so long ago, John McGinn presumed a detour to the Paris Saint-Germain club shop on a family holiday as a kid, getting kitted out en route to Disneyland, would be the closest he got to playing at the Parc des Princes. Unai Emery is a former PSG manager, Marco Asensio is on loan from the Ligue 1 club, but McGinn’s ties are more modest, if not tenuous.
“The only place I’ve been there is the shop,” he says, smiling. “We were in a big campervan and stopped off in Paris. I think I was about seven or eight … I remember getting a PSG strip.”
Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is missing the 2025 season due to Tommy John surgery but the procedure also includes an internal brace.
Now, while there is a UCL procedure that uses an internal brace instead of the traditional Tommy John surgery, a Yankees spokesman told The Athletic's Brendan Kuty that Cole had full UCL reconstruction surgery in addition to the internal brace.
In this case, the internal brace is being used to fortify the elbow and the typical recovery timeframe stands.
The recovery time for Tommy Johns is typically 14-18 months. If Cole had the internal brace procedure and not the traditional UCL surgery, it would have shortened his recovery to around 12 months.
So, as of now, Cole's return could be held off until a few months into the 2026 season.
If Cole were to miss the start of the 2026 season, the ace and Yankees are accustomed to that as well. Cole misseed roughly the first three months of the 2024 season with inflammation in his right elbow but returned to pitch with a 3.41 ERA across 95 innings over 17 starts when he returned in June. However, the Yankees will have to find a way to navigate this year without their ace and Luis Gil for a stretch as the reigning AL Rookie of the Year deals with an oblique strain.
Without Cole and Gil, the Yankees' starting rotation will include Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt, and Marcus Stroman, with the No. 5 spot on the starting staff likely coming down to Will Warren, Allan Winans, or Carlos Carrasco.
Manchester United’s trophy hopes live to fight on against Lyon in the Europa League quarter-final after a swaggering display that battered Real Sociedad and must be the Ruben Amorim blueprint.
From the moment they fell behind early on, his side was electrified, as if finally locating the high-voltage socket under Amorim and gleefully plugging themselves in. United came at Sociedad relentlessly, a whir of energy and creativity that is the best advertisement yet for where their head coach might take them.
Owen Tippett scored a game-winning shootout tally Thursday night to give the Flyers a 4-3 decision over the Lightning at the Wells Fargo Center.
Finally, John Tortorella’s club could celebrate again.
The Flyers (28-31-8) picked up win No. 1 on this season-long seven-game homestand. They came in 0-5-0 and had been outscored 22-8.
Bobby Brink led the Flyers’ charge Thursday night with three points. The 23-year-old winger had two goals to make up for two penalties. Both were game-tying markers.
Ryan Poehling gave the Flyers just their second lead of the homestand when he made a nice move in close with just under a minute left in the middle stanza. Brink assisted the go-ahead 3-2 goal, but former Flyer Cam Atkinson erased the lead just 3:50 minutes into the third period.
The Flyers went to overtime for the 19th time this season. They improved to 5-3 in the shootout. Matvei Michkov also netted one in the skills competition.
Lycksell had the second multi-point game of his NHL career with two assists. The 25-year-old winger saw the door open for an audition when the Flyers traded away four forwards in the span of five weeks. Both of his helpers were primary ones on Brink’s markers.
“He’s a great player, real skilled offensively,” Lycksell said. “Heck of a two goals and he can really make plays, so I was just trying to set him up.”
The Flyers are 2-0-0 against the Lightning (37-23-5), with both victories coming in the shootout. The clubs meet once more in four days at Amalie Arena.
On Thursday night, Tampa Bay was without Nikita Kucherov (illness), the NHL’s third-leading scorer (92 points).
• After the Flyers turned to Ivan Fedotov for consecutive starts, they went back to Samuel Ersson and he converted 17 saves on 20 shots.
The 25-year-old had surrendered 16 goals over his previous four starts.
Lightning backup Jonas Johansson stopped 26 of the Flyers’ 29 shots.
• Tortorella decided to bump Travis Konecny up to the first line with Noah Cates and Tyson Foerster.
As a result, Brink moved down to play with Poehling and Lycksell. And it ended up sparking Brink.
The Flyers got great production from that line and really needed it. They’ve been desperate for a jolt offensively. They had not scored three or more goals since Game 1 of the homestand.
“Lycky and Poehls played great,” Brink said. “Unbelievable plays on the goals. They made life easy on me.”
• Rasmus Ristolainen was banged up and unavailable, so Egor Zamula drew into the lineup and played alongside Emil Andrae.
Garnet Hathaway remained out with an undisclosed injury he suffered from a blindsided hit he took at the end of February.
• Atkinson unleashed a big pump of the fist after he tied things up against his former team in the third period.
Owen Tippett scored a game-winning shootout tally Thursday night to give the Flyers a 4-3 decision over the Lightning at the Wells Fargo Center.
Finally, John Tortorella’s club could celebrate again.
The Flyers (28-31-8) picked up win No. 1 on their season-long seven-game homestand. They came in 0-5-0 on this stretch at home and had been outscored 22-8. They avoided matching their season-worst losing streak of six games.
“They know the situation and that’s why I appreciate them,” Tortorella said. “I don’t think there’s going to ever be a problem in how hard they’re going to play. But it’s hard for them and I’m happy they can enjoy it.”
Bobby Brink led the Flyers’ charge with three points. The 23-year-old winger had two goals to make up for two penalties. Both were game-tying markers.
“I have been all over Bobby for the first couple of years and I just like the way he has handled it,” Tortorella said. “He has just taken it on, I think he has accepted the challenge. And I’m happy for him because I think he has found an area that I don’t think he thought he could play. He was a scorer in college, small guy, probably doesn’t think he’s good enough to check. But he has found a way to play hard in those areas and I think that has taken him to another level this year.”
Ryan Poehling gave the Flyers just their second lead of the homestand when he made a nice move in close with just under a minute left in the middle stanza. Brink assisted the go-ahead 3-2 goal, but former Flyer Cam Atkinson erased the lead just 3:50 minutes into the third period.
The Flyers went to overtime for the 19th time this season. They improved to 5-3 in the shootout. Matvei Michkov also netted one in the skills competition.
Lycksell had the second multi-point game of his NHL career with two assists. The 25-year-old winger saw the door open for an audition when the Flyers traded away four forwards in the span of five weeks. Both of his helpers were primary ones on Brink’s markers.
“He’s a great player, real skilled offensively,” Lycksell said. “Heck of a two goals and he can really make plays, so I was just trying to set him up.”
The Flyers are 2-0-0 against the Lightning (37-23-5), with both victories coming in the shootout. The clubs meet once more in four days at Amalie Arena.
On Thursday night, Tampa Bay was without Nikita Kucherov (illness), the NHL’s third-leading scorer (92 points).
• After the Flyers turned to Ivan Fedotov for consecutive starts, they went back to Samuel Ersson and he converted 17 saves on 20 shots.
“He did a great job, that’s a heavy lineup they’ve got up there, especially in a shootout,” Poehling said. “For him to shut the door like that for us and give us a chance was awesome.”
Ersson had surrendered 16 goals over his previous four starts.
Lightning backup Jonas Johansson stopped 26 of the Flyers’ 29 shots.
• Tortorella decided to bump Travis Konecny up to the first line with Noah Cates and Tyson Foerster.
As a result, Brink moved down to play with Poehling and Lycksell. And it ended up sparking Brink. The Flyers are 7-0-2 in games that Brink scores a goal.
“He has taken a huge step in his development,” Tortorella said. “He works so hard away from the puck, that helps his offense.”
The Flyers got great production from that line and really needed it. They’ve been desperate for a jolt offensively. They had not scored three or more goals since Game 1 of the homestand.
“Lycky and Poehls played great,” Brink said. “Unbelievable plays on the goals. They made life easy on me.”
• Rasmus Ristolainen was banged up and unavailable, so Egor Zamula drew into the lineup and played alongside Emil Andrae.
Garnet Hathaway remained out with an undisclosed injury he suffered from a blindsided hit he took at the end of February.
• Atkinson unleashed a big pump of the fist after he tied things up against his former team in the third period.
SAN FRANCISCO – Turns out that 29-point loss to the New York Knicks wasn’t rock bottom for the Kings. Three days after getting shellacked at home, Sacramento’s 2024-25 NBA season reached a new low in Thursday’s 130-104 loss to the Golden State Warriors.
Losing to the four-time NBA champions wasn’t the worst part, especially with center Domantas Sabonis again not able to play due to his hamstring injury.
It was the aesthetics that made it so bad.
The Kings’ season-long defensive issues were on full display in a bad way at Chase Center. Time and time again, Warriors’ shooters were given uncontested, wide-open looks. Even when Sacramento tried to D up, Golden State’s offense was too much to handle.
It wasn’t Stephen Curry doing the majority of damage. Although the NBA icon reached another mercurial plateau with his 4,000 career 3-pointer, it was the Warriors’ all-around effort that wore the Kings down.
On the positive side, DeMar DeRozan remained hot with 23 points and seven assists. Keon Ellis added 18 points off the bench while Zach LaVine scored 14. Jake LaRavia had 13 points.
The Kings (33-32) don’t have much time to lick their wounds. They head to Phoenix for a key game against the Suns on Friday. Despite the loss to Golden State, Sacramento remains the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference while Phoenix is on the outer edge of the NBA play-in round.
The Kings came out against the Warriors a little sluggish on offense but seemed intent on preventing Curry from going off. That worked for a while, but the domino effect was what really hurt Sacramento.
With all that attention on Curry, the Kings were out of position when it came to defending Golden State’s other players. Draymond Green, Moses Moody and Buddy Hield made four 3-pointers apiece. Quinten Post and Gary Payton II each made three 3-pointers.
Sacramento trailed bv 23 in the first half before a late run in the second quarter to make things respectable at the break. Those good vibes went away shortly after halftime, as Golden State increased its lead in the third quarter then coasted in the fourth.
Here are the takeaways from Thursday’s game:
Where’s The Closeout?
Sacramento’s perimeter defense might as well have been on the back of a milk carton. It was missing most of the night, one of the key reasons that enabled Golden State to control the flow and rhythm of the game.
Warriors shooters repeatedly were left wide open, either from the corner or at the top of the arc, and made good on their attempts when given space to operate.
Perimeter defense has been an issue for the Kings all season and was one of former coach Mike Brown’s biggest pet peeves. If they can’t get it corrected before the NBA playoffs, it will be a short but tiring postseason for the Kings.
No Domas, No Interior
With Sabonis still sitting out with a grade 1 hamstring strain, the Kings basically had zero presence on the inside, offensively and defensively.
Sacramento, which had four shots blocked in the key within the first 10 minutes of the game, did OK early without their big man in the middle and scored nearly a dozen points in the paint before settling for contested jumpers and distance shots.
Jonas Valančiūnas continued to start at center in Sabonis’ absence and finished with five points and nine rebounds.
Sabonis’ unique ability to score from inside and outside makes him a perennial NBA All-Star contender, and those elements clearly were a sore spot against the Warriors. The good news is that Kings interim coach Doug Christie is optimistic that Sabonis would return soon.
Monk’s Off Night
Making his second consecutive start after missing a trio of games with a toe injury, Kings guard Malik Monk had a frustrating night. Although his offensive numbers were low – seven points on 3-of-13 shooting (0-for-5 from distance) Monk grabbed four boards and dished out six assists.
Monk obviously has earned a strong reputation for coming off the bench, but he has been very good as a starter for the Kings. Keeping him with the starters, despite his off night against Golden State, is a must for Christie.
Kam Jones scored 28 points and No. 25 Marquette rallied past Xavier 89-87 on Thursday in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals. After trailing by 14 early in the second half, the fifth-seeded Golden Eagles (23-9) took the lead for good at 81-80 on Jones' layup with 1:16 remaining. David Joplin connected on a pivotal 3-pointer with 26 seconds left, and Marquette held on to earn a semifinal matchup with sixth-ranked and top-seeded St. John's on Friday night at Madison Square Garden.
D'ante Bass led Alabama State past Texas Southern on Thursday with 16 points off of the bench in an 84-79 win in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament. Bass also added eight rebounds for the Hornets (17-15). Antonio Madlock scored 15 points and added eight rebounds and six assists.
