Sports
Bucks G Khris Middleton working his way back from ankle surgery
May 2, 2024; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton (22) dribbles the ball while Indiana Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith (23) defends during game six of the first round for the 2024 NBA playoffs at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images Milwaukee Bucks guard Khris Middleton will be limited as training camp starts, still recovering from offseason surgery on both ankles, coach Doc Rivers said Monday.
Middleton, 33, will start camp in Irvine, Calif., sitting out five-on-five work initially, Rivers said.
“He’ll participate in camp,” Rivers said. “We won’t have him doing a lot of live action coming off the surgery and all that. But all our skeleton work, our transition work, transition D, our conditioning work, he’ll be on the floor with us.
“He looks great. He’s in the gym right now as we speak working out. He’s had a terrific summer overall. Physically, he’s fit and that’s something he probably hasn’t been able to say in a while. And feels great. So we want to keep it that way.”.
It was revealed in July that Middleton, a three-time All-Star, had undergone arthroscopic surgery. He told reporters Monday that all is well. Middleton sprained his left ankle in a game in February and the right one in the Bucks’ first-round playoff defeat against the Indiana Pacers.
“After I took some weeks off, I just realized they weren’t healing the way I thought they should,” Middleton said. “(I) went to get it checked and just realized it needed the clean-up process to get ready for this coming season.”
He said he is feeling well.
“Feel great, I’ll leave it at that,” Middleton said. “Ready for training camp. Ready for the season.”
Middleton was limited to 55 regular-season games last season after he appeared in only 33 contests in 2022-23. He averaged 15.1 points, 5.3 assists and 4.7 rebounds in 2023-24.
Through 12 seasons, Middleton has career averages of 16.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.2 steals in 739 games (650 starts) with the Detroit Pistons (2012-13) and Bucks.
Detroit drafted Middleton in the second round (39th overall) in 2012. Traded to Milwaukee in July 2013, he helped the Bucks win the NBA championship in 2020-21.
The Bucks open the 2024-25 season Oct. 23 on the road against the Philadelphia 76ers.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Kraken hope to finish hat trick this time vs. red-hot Hurricanes
Feb 28, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Kraken right wing Jordan Eberle (7) celebrates after scoring a goal during the third period against the Vancouver Canucks at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Blake Dahlin-Imagn Images Business is presumably booming at the Seattle Kraken’s souvenir store.
Because a lot of fans are again unnecessarily in need of a new hat entering Monday’s game against the visiting Carolina Hurricanes.
For the second time in five weeks, Kraken fans rained their headwear down on the ice at Climate Pledge Arena thinking one of the home team’s players had netted a hat trick with three goals.
And for the second time, Matty Beniers nixed the party hats.
Back on Jan. 27 against Washington, a delayed penalty against Beniers — called by a linesman, so neither referee hand their arms raised — wiped away a hat trick by Jared McCann.
It happened again Saturday in a 5-1 victory against Vancouver.
Captain Jordan Eberle, who tallied on a breakaway in the second period, appeared to score a power-play goal at 11:56 of the third when he took a pass in the left-wing corner, skated to the front of the net and stuffed the puck past the Canucks’ goaltender and just inside the far post.
When Eberle scored into an empty net with three minutes left, fans littered the ice with their hats.
But they were unaware the official scorer had changed Eberle’s previous goal, which apparently glanced off the toe of Beniers’ skate.
“I think we owe the fans some hats,” said Eberle, who has a team-leading 22 goals this season.
After McCann’s fiasco, the Kraken announced a “Hat Tricked” promo which allowed 1,000 fans who were in attendance to fill out a form to receive a new hat.
There was no immediate word on whether the Kraken would do that again after Saturday’s mishap.
Eberle (two goals, one assist) and Chandler Stephenson (one goal, two assists) both had three-point nights for the Kraken, who snapped a two-game skid. Seattle currently holds the second and final wild-card spot in the Western Conference, three points ahead of the San Jose Sharks, Nashville Predators and Los Angeles Kings.
“I liked our consistency from start to finish,” Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. “It was nice for us putting some pucks on net. We had talked about shot mentality. I still think we can do a better job of that. … If you look at the first two goals, we’ve got traffic (net front), and that’s the way you’re going to have to score down the stretch.”
The Hurricanes, who are riding a five-game winning streak and have points in 12 straight (10-0-2), lead the Metropolitan Division and are first overall in the Eastern Conference with 82 points.
The Hurricanes are opening a four-game trip that will also take them to Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary in a span of six days.
They are coming off a 5-2 victory Saturday against visiting Detroit. Taylor Hall and Shayne Gostisbehere each had a goal and two assists in the win.
“There was a stretch there where we took our foot off the gas and it didn’t look so good, but I thought overall the D played really well,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said.
This will be the second and final regular-season meeting between the teams. Carolina rallied with two goals in the final 10 minutes to win 3-2 on Jan. 10 in Raleigh, N.C., snapping Seattle’s 10-game point streak (8-0-2).
–Field Level Media
Sports
Warriors star Steph Curry out at least 5 more games with knee injury
Feb 22, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) cheers from the bench during a game against the Denver Nuggets in the third quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images The Golden State Warriors on Sunday said Stephen Curry will miss the next five games before his right knee injury is re-evaluated.
Curry, who hasn’t played since Jan. 30, is officially out for Monday’s home game against the Los Angeles Clippers with “right patellofemoral pain syndrome,” also called “runner’s knee.” It’s an overuse condition that is marked by pain around the kneecap.
In addition to the Clippers game, Curry will miss the Warriors’ three-game road trip to Houston, Oklahoma City and Utah and a home game against Chicago on March 10. The soonest he could be back is March 13 against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Warriors have said Curry is making progress but is not doing work on the court yet.
Golden State (31-29) is in eighth place in the Western Conference and just 4-6 in the games Curry has missed before and after the All-Star break. The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Warriors 129-101 on Saturday.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Anders Lee's game-winner downs Panthers, caps another Islanders comeback
Mar 1, 2026; Elmont, New York, USA; New York Islanders left wing Anders Lee (27) controls the puck against the Florida Panthers during the first period at UBS Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Schneidler-Imagn Images Anders Lee scored the game-winning goal with 30.9 seconds left Sunday night for the surging New York Islanders, who overcame another two-goal deficit to beat the Florida Panthers, 5-4, in Elmont. N.Y.
Lee got a step on Aaron Ekblad, extended his stick to draw out goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and buried a forehand into the wide open left corner of the net.
Rookie Mathew Schafer scored twice while Carson Soucy and Bo Horvat also scored for the Islanders, who have won five straight games. New York has trailed 2-0 in each of its last three victories.
Goalie David Rittich made 29 saves.
Sam Bennett scored twice while Sandis Vilmanis and Sam Reinhart scored one apiece for the Panthers, who have lost seven of nine (2-7-0). Bobrovsky recorded 21 saves.
Vilmanis opened the scoring 3:44 after the opening faceoff, when he gloved a pass from A.J. Greer and backhanded a shot that trickled under Rittich’s legs.
Bennett doubled the lead by scoring six seconds into a power play with 5:06 left, when his shot from the left faceoff circle sailed past Rittich’s glove.
The Islanders began their latest comeback in unusual fashion with 1:59 remaining, when Schaefer’s shot from the right faceoff circle bounced before the crease, caromed over Bobrovsky’s head and glanced off the top post before bouncing off his back and into the net.
Soucy tied the score with a 4-on-4 goal 7:28 into the second. The defenseman took a drop pass from Simon Holmstrom, who was draped by the Panthers’ Gustav Forsling, and sent a shot under Bobrovsky’s glove.
Bennett gave the Panthers the lead again with 7:56 remaining, when his backhander from the middle of the right faceoff circle went under Rittich’s stick arm.
Horvat tied the score with 2:46 left with an angled shot from near the goal line that landed beneath Bobrovsky’s stick.
Schaefer gave the Islanders their first lead by scoring from the slot with 9:31 left in the third. This gave Schaefer 20 on the year at just 18 years old, making him the youngest defenseman to ever record 20 goals in a season and the youngest since Dion Phaneuf (20 years old) did it for the Calgary Flames in 2005-06.
With Bobrovsky pulled for an extra attacker, Reinhart tied it back up with 1:58 remaining.
–Field Level Media
