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NBA
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma City forward Chet Holmgren, the No. 2 pick in this year’s NBA draft, will miss the 2022-23 season with a right foot injury.
The 7-footer was hurt while playing in a pro-am game last weekend in Seattle, near where he starred last season for Gonzaga, and the Thunder announced Thursday that he sustained a Lisfranc injury. Video appeared to show Holmgren was hurt on a play while defending a LeBron James drive to the basket on a fast break.
General manager Sam Presti said Holmgren will have surgery to repair the ruptured tendon on a date that hasn’t been determined and he expects Holmgren to be ready for the 2023-24 season.
NFL
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Matt Araiza, the “Punt God” who led San Diego State to a record-setting season before being drafted by the Buffalo Bills, and two of his former Aztecs teammates were accused in a civil lawsuit Thursday of gang-raping a teenager at an off-campus party last fall.
The lawsuit, filed in San Diego County Superior Court, accuses Araiza, Zavier Leonard and Nowlin “Pa’a” Ewaliko of gang-raping a then-17-year-old girl at a Halloween party at a home where Araiza had been living.
The plaintiff, now 18, is identified in the complaint as “Jane Doe” because she was underage at the time.
No arrests have been made and San Diego Police have not publicly identified any suspects.
Leonard is listed on San Diego State’s roster as a redshirt freshman offensive lineman from Arlington, Texas. Ewaliko is not listed on this year’s roster, but was on the 2021 roster as a defensive lineman from Seattle.
GOLF
ATLANTA (AP) — Masters champion Scottie Scheffler started the Tour Championship on Thursday with a two-shot lead as the No. 1 seed in the FedEx Cup. He led by as many as six shots on the front nine. Then his lead was down to two. And when he finished with three straight birdies for a 5-under 65, he was five strokes ahead of Xander Schauffele (66).
Rory McIlroy started six shots behind and salvaged a 67. British Open champion Cameron Smith, playing for the first time since the opening FedEx Cup playoffs event because of a hip injury that gets aggravated in soft conditions, managed a 67 and joined McIlroy at eight shots back.
U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick finished with an eagle for a bogey-free 64 and was six shots behind — he matched the best round of the soggy day and gained only one shot on Scheffler — while Joaquin Niemann (64) and defending champion Patrick Cantlay (70) were another shot behind.
TENNIS
NEW YORK (AP) — Serena Williams’ first opponent at what she has indicated will be her last U.S. Open — and, indeed, the last tournament of her career — is unseeded Danka Kovinic.
Win that first-round match Monday, and Williams could face No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia in the second round.
The brackets for the women’s and men’s singles events were released Thursday by the U.S. Tennis Association.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion, who turns 41 on Sept. 26, announced this month she was preparing to step away from her playing career. She did not explicitly say when she planned to stop but made it sound as if the U.S. Open would mark her farewell.
NEW YORK (AP) — Novak Djokovic will not play in the U.S. Open, as expected, because he is not vaccinated against COVID-19 and thus is not allowed to travel to the United States.
Djokovic announced his withdrawal from the year’s last Grand Slam tournament on Twitter on Thursday, hours before the draw for the event was revealed.
“Sadly, I will not be able to travel to NY this time for US Open,” Djokovic wrote, wishing luck to his fellow players, and said he would “keep in good shape and positive spirit and wait for an opportunity to compete again.”
MLB
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Reigning National League MVP Bryce Harper is set to start for the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night, just two months after having his left thumb broken by a pitch.
Phillies interim manager Rob Thomson announced Harper’s impending return from the injured list Thursday after consulting with the star.
Harper was 5 for 8 with two home runs, two doubles and six RBIs in a two-game rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. His minor league stint was originally expected to last through the weekend, but ended after a game-winning RBI double in the ninth inning on Wednesday night.
AUTO RACING
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Kurt Busch will miss the start of NASCAR’s playoffs with concussion-like symptoms that have sidelined him six for weeks, meaning two spots in the 16-driver field will be open Saturday night in the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway.
23XI Racing on Thursday withdrew the medical waiver that was holding Busch’s spot in the playoffs.
Busch has been out since he crashed in qualifying July 23 at Pocono. Ty Gibbs, the 19-year-old grandson of Joe Gibbs, has replaced Busch since he was injured.
SOCCER
Barcelona faces another tough Champions League group after being drawn Thursday with Bayern Munich and Inter Milan as it tries to avoid a second straight group-stage exit since losing Lionel Messi.
Bayern beat Barcelona home and away last season when the Spanish giant failed to reach the knockout stage. Still, Barcelona has since recruited former Bayern forward Robert Lewandowski.
Real Madrid will start defending its title in a group with Leipzig, Shakhtar Donetsk and Celtic. Manchester City’s star signing Erling Haaland will face his old club Borussia Dortmund. That group also includes Sevilla and Copenhagen.
CHICAGO (AP) — The U.S. Soccer Federation plans to announce its World Cup roster on Nov. 9.
Kay Bradley, the USSF’s director of marketing, said Thurday the federation is planning to have coach Gregg Berhalter announce the roster during an event in New York.
The U.S. is returning to the World Cup after missing the 2018 tournament. At this year’s World Cup in Qatar, the 14th-ranked Americans open against No. 19 Wales on Nov. 21, face No. 5 England in a Black Friday matchup, and finish the first round against No. 22 Iran on Nov. 29.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Baylor and Gonzaga will meet in a men’s basketball game in South Dakota on Dec. 2 and organizers will pay players on both teams who agree to help promote the game.
Complete Sports Management and Range Sports announced this week that it would put on the game at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.
Baylor and Gonzaga will meet for the seventh time, and first since the Bears beat the Bulldogs in the 2021 national championship game.
The game is an opportunity for players to cash in on their celebrity under name, image and likeness (NIL) rules. Matt Haberman, a spokesman for the organizers, said players would be paid for participating in “tune-in to the game” promotions on the network that televises the game.
HORSE RACING
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) — John Velazquez, already the leading career rider at Saratoga, had his 1,000th winner Thursday at the historic track.
The 50-year-old Hall of Fame jockey won the eighth race by a neck aboard Precursory, who paid $14 to win. The filly is trained by fellow Hall of Famer Bill Mott.
Some of Velazquez’s biggest career moments have occurred at Saratoga.
His 64 victories at the 2004 summer meet was a record at the time. On Sept. 9, 2001, he won six races in one day to set a record. On July 27, 2013, he won his 694th race to become the track’s winningest jockey.
OBITUARY
BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgian cyclist Herman Vanspringel, who lost the 1968 Tour de France on the final day and became famously known as Monsieur Bordeaux-Paris for winning the marathon classic 7 times, has died. He was 79.
Tour de France organizers confirmed the death Thursday in a tribute to the sweet-tempered rider known as much for his close finishes as his victories.
In 1968, he entered the concluding Tour time trial with a 16-second lead over Jan Janssen only for the Dutchman to overtake him in the final kilometers to win the yellow jersey.
He also finished second in Italy’s Giro and third in Spain’s Vuelta during a hard-luck career spent all too often in the shadows of his great compatriot Eddy Merckx.
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