Sports Digest: Joel Embiid signs three-year extension with 76ers

BASKETBALL

Joel Embiid, a seven-time NBA All-Star, signed a three-year contract extension Friday with the Philadelphia 76ers, keeping him with the team through 2029.

Embiid and the 76ers agreed to a $193 million extension with a player option for the 2028-29 season. Embiid broke his own news by posting a photo on Instagram of him signing a contract alongside the team owner, Josh Harris.

“Philadelphia is home,” Embiid wrote. “I want to be here the rest of my career. I love this community and everything you’ve given me and my family. There is a lot more work to do. You guys deserve a championship and I think we’re just getting started.”

COLLEGES

MEN’S LACROSSE: A dozen Tufts University players were diagnosed with a rare muscle injury after participating in a voluntary, supervised 45-minute workout, a university spokesperson said.

Five players diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis remained hospitalized. Rhabdomyolysis is a rare condition where a person’s muscles break down. It’s life-threatening and can happen after an injury or excessive exercise without rest.

GOLF

BMW CHAMPIONSHIP: Matthew Baldwin, who three weeks ago hit a drive so badly that the ball went between his legs and stopped one yard in front of the tee markers, shot a 6-under 66 to hold the second-round lead in the event at Virginia Water, England.

Baldwin is at 13 under, which tied the prestigious tournament’s 36-hole record. Many of Europe’s top players – including Rory McIlroy, who shot 68 and is four strokes off the lead – had a hard time keeping up with him.

• Ron Green, an award-winning journalist in Charlotte, North Carolina, who covered the Masters for 60 consecutive years died at age 95.

SOCCER

PLAYER PROTEST: Manchester City Coach Pep Guardiola told elite players they are the only ones who can force change in a growing dispute over the number of games they are being asked to play.

Manchester City midfielder Rodri said players are close to going on strike because of an increasingly congested schedule that will be added to next year by an expanded Club World Cup in the United States.

AUTO RACING

FORMULA 1: Max Verstappen, the group’s champion, was punished for swearing in a news conference in which he argued against greater restrictions on drivers swearing.

Stewards ruling for the sport’s governing body, the FIA, decided Verstappen should “accomplish some work of public interest.” Exactly what that involves is to be agreed with the FIA.

CRICKET

ENGLISH LEAGUE: Surrey became the first team to win three straight County Championship titles since the 1960s when Somerset, its closest challenger, fell to defeat.

Somerset’s 168-run loss at Lancashire saw Surrey win the title with a round to spare and become champion for the 23rd time – 10 fewer than first-place Yorkshire in the all-time list.

HOCKEY

NHL:  The New Jersey Devils rewarded productive young forward Dawson Mercer with a three-year, $12 million contract.

General Manager Tom Fitzgerald said the 22-year-old will earn $3 million this season, $4.75 million the following year and $4.25 million in the final year, 2026-27.

• The Ottawa Senators have an agreement to build a new arena downtown in Canada’s capital.

BOXING

TRAINER RETURNS: Daniel Dubois’ trainer expects to be in the corner of the IBF heavyweight champion for Saturday’s all-British fight against Anthony Joshua despite being bed-ridden by illness this week.

Don Charles said he has kept his distance from Dubois while trying to shake off what he described as a “very bad head cold.”

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