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March 28, 2024
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March 28, 2024
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Update on the latest sports

 
AP-Summary Brief-Sports
March 28, 2024

NCAA President Charlie Baker urges states with legal wagering to ban prop bets on college athletes

NCAA President Charlie Baker is urging states with legal wagering on sporting events to ban betting on individual player performances. Prop bets allow gamblers to wager on statistics a player will accumulate during a game. The NBA has opened an investigation into Toronto Raptors two-way player Jontay Porter amid gambling allegations related to his own performance in individual games. Ohio, Vermont and Maryland are among the states that have removed prop betting on college athletes. The American Gaming Association estimates $2.7 billion will be bet this year on the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments through legal sportsbooks.

Opening day 2024: What to watch for on the first full day of the MLB season

After the Dodgers and Padres soft-launched the 2024 MLB season with a two-game series in South Korea last week, the rest of the league was scheduled to start play Thursday. All 30 teams were supposed to be in action, before Braves-Phillies and Brewers-Mets games were rained out. All eyes remain on Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, who will make his home debut with Los Angeles amid investigations into his fired interpreter. Zack Wheeler and Spencer Strider square off in a juicy NL East opener between the Phillies and Braves in Philadelphia. Several stars are set to debut with new teams, including Juan Soto with the Yankees, Josh Hader with the Astros, Corbin Burnes with the Orioles and Matt Chapman with the Giants.

Will Smith, Dodgers reach $140 million, 10-year deal. LA has spent $1.4 billion on 5 key players

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Catcher Will Smith and the Los Angeles Dodgers agreed to a $140 million, 10-year contract, raising the team’s spending to nearly $1.4 billion for five key players since December. Smith’s deal supersedes an $8.85 million, one-year agreement reached in January. The 28-year-old was a first-time All-Star last year, when he hit .261 with 19 homers and 76 RBIs. Smith has a .263 average with 91 homers and 308 RBIs in six seasons with the Dodgers. Los Angeles has committed almost $1.37 billion to two-way star Shohei Ohtani, right-handers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow, outfielder Teoscar Hernández and Smith.

Warriors’ Draymond Green is ejected less than 4 minutes into game against Magic

Golden State forward Draymond Green was ejected less than four minutes into the Warriors’ game against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night. It was Green’s fourth ejection of the season and the first since his 16-game suspension by the NBA for his history of misconduct and after he struck Phoenix center Jusuf Nurkic in the face during a Dec. 12 game. Warriors coach Steve Kerr said the 101-93 win over the Magic that Green “deserved” to be ejected and called it “unfortunate.”

Glen Taylor announces that Timberwolves are no longer for sale. Deal with A-Rod, Lore not completed

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Timberwolves will evidently remain in the control of owner Glen Taylor, after he announced Thursday that a deal where Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez would have acquired the controlling stake in the team has expired. Taylor agreed to sell the Timberwolves for $1.5 billion in 2021 to Lore and Rodriguez, who then began the purchase by acquiring 20% of the franchise. Lore became Walmart’s e-commerce chief in 2016; Rodriguez is one of baseball’s all-time home run leaders and has become an investor in a variety of businesses since, plus is a trustee at the University of Miami.

Owning Wrexham is hitting Ryan Reynolds in the wallet. Club owes its celebrity owners more than $11M

Owning a soccer club is hitting Ryan Reynolds in the wallet. Wrexham is the Welsh team bought by Reynolds and fellow Hollywood actor Rob McElhenney in 2021. The club has released its accounts for the latest financial year and reported that the amount owed to celebrities was nearly 9 million pounds ($11.37 million). That was up from 3.7 million pounds ($4.67 million) from the previous year that ended June 2022. The club says turnover rose from $7.5 million to $13.3 million and that future prospects were positive but that its losses increased to $6.4 million from $3.66 million.

‘Good likelihood’ that injured Embiid will be back before start of playoffs, 76ers’ Nurse says

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia 76ers coach Nick Nurse said Wednesday that there is a “good likelihood” that reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid will be back on the court before the postseason. Embiid, who has averaged 35.3 points and 11.5 rebounds this season, has missed the last 27 games after suffering a meniscus injury on Jan. 30 at Golden State that required surgery on Feb. 6. The Sixers were 10-16 in the games since Embiid’s injury heading into Wednesday. The club had confirmed two weeks ago that Embiid started on-court work, but has been cryptic about the extent of work he has been doing.

Rays’ Wander Franco placed on administrative leave through June 1 as sexual abuse probe continues

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Tampa Bay All-Star shortstop Wander Franco was placed on administrative leave through June 1 under an agreement between Major League Baseball and the players’ association while the investigation continues in an alleged relationship with a minor. Administrative leave is not disciplinary under the sport’s joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy, and a player continues to be paid. Franco, who has a $2 million salary this year, remained in his native Dominican Republic while authorities there investigate and did not report to spring training.

Super-sized March Madness stats in women’s Sweet 16

The numbers have been stunning in this memorable season for women’s college basketball. Iowa’s Caitlin Clark has broken scoring records. UConn’s Paige Bueckers is producing eye-popping statistics again after missing most of the last two seasons with knee injuries. Southern California’s JuJu Watkins and Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo have had two of the most productive freshman seasons ever. All of them have led their teams into a star-studded Sweet 16 field. Here’s a rundown of notable statistics regarding each of the teams that have made it this far.

Clark invited to play with US national team during training camp at Final Four

Caitlin Clark was invited to the USA Basketball national team training camp during the Final Four in Cleveland, contingent on Iowa’s season being over. The NCAA’s all-time Division I scoring leader has earned three gold medals with USA Basketball junior teams, most recently as a member of the 2021 under-19 squad. Clark is expected to be the No. 1 draft pick in the WNBA Draft on April 15 by the Indiana Fever.