SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili will miss the rest of the season and playoffs after tests Monday revealed his troubled right ankle has gotten worse.
Ginobili missed 19 games after the all-star break to heal a stress reaction in his right distal fibula. He returned March 25, but tests showed the stubborn injury is now a fracture. The Spurs, who are two games behind Denver for the No. 2 seed in the West, said Ginobili wasn’t expected to need surgery.
Ginobili averaged 15.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 44 games this season.
• The Los Angeles Clippers suspended forward Zach Randolph for two games after he was arrested for investigation of drunken driving hours after Sunday’s 88-85 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Raiders sign quarterback Garcia
OAKLAND, Calif. — Four-time Pro Bowl quarterback Jeff Garcia joined the Oakland Raiders, agreeing to a one-year deal to be JaMarcus Russell‘s backup.
Despite solid numbers last season — 2,712 yards passing and a 90.2 passer rating with 12 touchdowns and just six interceptions — he wasn’t re-signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who apparently are going with Brian Griese or Luke McCown at the position.
• Kellen Winslow and the Buccaneers agreed to a six-year, $36.1 million contract extension that will make him the highest-paid tight end in NFL history.
• Despite getting into trouble, receiver Plaxico Burress can keep a $1 million signing bonus from the New York Giants, but running back Larry Johnson‘s salary in Kansas City isn’t guaranteed, according to a ruling issued following a grievance hearing.
That means the Giants cannot recoup $1 million of a $4.5 million bonus Burress earned by signing a contract extension with the team in August, months before he shot himself in the leg at a New York nightclub.
Johnson also can keep money he’s earned, though the Chiefs — if they release Johnson — do not owe him future pay after he had two nightclub altercations last year.
Footnotes.
Toronto Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson was chosen as coach of the 2010 U.S. men’s Olympic team and the club that will participate in the world championships this month in Switzerland.
• Baseball will be adding a women’s component to its bid to get reinstated for the 2016 Olympics, after failing to unite with women’s softball.
• NASCAR great Richard Petty plans to take his first crack at winning the Indianapolis 500 on May 24 by putting one of his former drivers, John Andretti, in the cockpit of an open-wheel car co-owned with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.
• Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden has indefinitely suspended wide receiver Rod Owens after the senior’s weekend drunken driving arrest.
• Quality Road has a quarter crack in his right hind hoof, putting in doubt his status for the Kentucky Derby on May 2.
• California-based trainer Jeff Mullins is under investigation by New York racing officials after giving Gato Go Win a substance before Saturday’s $200,000 Bay Shore at Aqueduct.
The Associated Press
