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Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News reports:
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The deal that will keep guard Manu Ginobili with the Spurs for three more seasons has been completed, and the team plans to announce the contract extension on Friday.
Negotiations on final details were hammered out late Thursday afternoon and Ginobili was expected to sign the new contract, the details of which were approved by the NBA office on Thursday.
The extension will pay Ginobili $38.9 million through the 2012-13 season.
The AP reports:
New Orleans Hornets majority owner George Shinn is negotiating to sell his stake in the NBA club to south Louisiana businessman Gary Chouest, who has owned 25 percent of the team since 2007, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The person familiar with both men’s plans and the anticipated sale, told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday because an agreement has not been signed.
Shinn, a 68-year-old businessman who made his fortune developing a chain of business schools in his native North Carolina, has been either the sole or majority owner of the Hornets since the club’s inception in Charlotte in 1988. The club moved to New Orleans in 2002 and three years ago Chouest paid about $62 million for his share of the team.
Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register reports (via blog):
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Andrew Bynum said Thursday he is leaning toward sitting out until the Lakers open the playoffs rather than risk a setback in his strained left Achilles’ tendon.
Bynum referred to coming back for the last two games of the regular season “possible,” but he later noted: “It’s like, what’s the point? Another possibility to go back a couple steps.”
Bynum was firm in his declaration that he would play in the playoff opener, likely to be April 18. If Bynum doesn’t play until then, he will have missed a month since being hurt March 19.
“I’m going to play in the first game of the playoffs,” he said.
Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has assigned guard Kyle Weaver to the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League.
This will mark Weaver’s third assignment to the 66ers this season. In his two prior stints with Tulsa, Weaver appeared in five games (all starts) averaging 12.4 points, 7.2 assists, 5.4 rebounds, 1.40 steals, 1.40 blocks and 42.6 minutes per contest.
The second-year guard has made five appearances for the Thunder this season and recorded averages of 3.0 points and 1.5 rebounds in 12.0 minutes per game.
Weaver is expected to be in uniform today when the Tulsa 66ers take on the Sioux Falls Skyforce at 12:30 PM in Tulsa for the first round of the NBA D-League Playoffs.
Raptors forward Hedo Turkoglu left Wednesday’s game versus Boston at Air Canada Centre at the 1:15 mark of the first quarter after being struck in the nose. A CT scan performed at Mt. Sinai Hospital revealed a small new non-displaced fracture on an old nasal fracture. The scan also showed no significant displacement, and no skull or midface injuries.
Turkoglu’s status is listed as day-to-day.
The Raptors travel to Atlanta to face the Hawks on Friday at Philips Arena (7:30 p.m., TSN/FAN 590).
The AP reports:
D.J. Augustin’s clutch shooting, so familiar to basketball fans in his hometown of New Orleans, sent the Charlotte Bobcats into uncharted territory: the NBA playoffs.
Shortly after congratulating the current Louisiana state champions from his old high school, Augustin hit three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, including one with 16 seconds left to give Charlotte the lead for good in a dramatic 104-103 victory over the Hornets on Wednesday night.
That secured the first playoff berth for the Bobcats, in their sixth year since joining the NBA and first with Michael Jordan as their majority owner.
The AP reports:
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Don Nelson emerged from the Golden State Warriors locker room all disheveled from a wild celebration after finally overtaking Lenny Wilkens as the NBA’s winningest coach.
His gray hair was soaked to the scalp not with Dom Perignon, but a concoction of fizzy soft drinks after a 116-107 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night gave Nelson win No. 1,333 for his career…
In 31 seasons on the bench, Nelson is 1,333-1,061 in a career that has made stops in Milwaukee, Golden State (twice), New York and Dallas. He won five titles as a player, has been named coach of the year three times, but has never made an NBA Finals as a coach.