HOUSTON — Encouraged by progress in his recovery from major foot surgery, Houston Rockets center Yao Ming said Wednesday he will return to action — just not this coming season.
“The (X-ray) picture looks good. The bones heal well,” he said.
He also said, however, there is no chance he will play in the 2009-10 NBA season. “The answer is no. You don’t want to rush it, because they want it to totally heal this time. I have been in this situation enough,” he said.
• The New Jersey Nets are a step closer to being owned by Russia’s richest man, Mikhail Prokhorov, who said he has a deal to buy 80 percent of the NBA team and nearly half of a project to build a new arena in Brooklyn. The deal would make Prokhorov, a Russian billionaire and former amateur basketball player, the NBA’s first non-North American owner.
• The Utah Jazz said veteran forward Matt Harpring, who has been plagued by knee and ankle injuries, will not take part in the team’s training camp or preseason and will miss the start of the regular NBA season.
• Mark Blount will not join the Minnesota Timberwolves, who have given his agent permission to seek a new team for the center.
• Point guard Raymond Felton signed Charlotte’s one-year, $5.5 million qualifying offer after the restricted free agent was unable to come to terms on a long-term deal.
Mercury, Shock win openers
LOS ANGELES — Diana Taurasi scored 28 points and the Phoenix Mercury hit 14 3-pointers to hold off the Los Angeles Sparks 103-94 in Game 1 of the WNBA Western Conference finals.
• The Detroit Shock cruised to a 72-56 victory over the Indiana Fever in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals in Auburn Hills, Mich.
Footnotes.
Goaltender Olaf Kolzig, whose 303 career wins rank 21st in the NHL, is retiring after 14 seasons in the league.
• The College Football Hall of Fame, which never managed to attract the number of visitors its organizers hoped for after moving it to South Bend, Ind., in 1995, is being moved to Atlanta to bring it more exposure.
• The Big Ten suspended Purdue offensive guard Zach Reckman for Saturday’s game against Notre Dame after it reviewed Reckman’s late hit at the end of Northern Illinois’ victory last weekend.
• Suspended Akron starting quarterback Chris Jacquemain has been removed from the team for the remainder of the season.
• PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said shrinking marketing budgets of major companies could lead to the loss of title sponsors, and possibly some tournaments.
• Tyshawn Taylor, a sophomore guard on the Kansas basketball team, was treated at a hospital after injuring his hand during a scuffle among athletes. He could be out four to six weeks.
• Kristin Armstrong won the women’s time trial at the road cycling world championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland.
• Todd Redmond threw 8 1/3 shutout innings to lead the United States to a 3-0 victory over Puerto Rico at the baseball World Cup in Rome. The Associated Press
