Sports
Lakers' Luka Doncic in question as road trip continues at Wizards
Jan 28, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) dribbles beside Cleveland Cavaliers guard Sam Merrill (5) in the first quarter at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images The Los Angeles Lakers continue a season-long eight-game road swing on Friday when they take to the nation’s capital to face the Washington Wizards.
Los Angeles fell to 3-2 on its eight-game, 14-day odyssey with a 129-99 blowout loss at Cleveland on Wednesday. The 30-point margin of defeat marked the Lakers’ most lopsided of the season.
Compounding problems on Wednesday was the exit of Luka Doncic in the first quarter with an apparent left leg injury sustained when he fell from Cleveland’s elevated court. The All-NBA guard returned to the lineup and scored 29 points in almost 30 minutes of action, but told reporters following the contest that “obviously, (I) wasn’t 100 percent.”
Doncic’s status for Friday is unclear as of Thursday. The NBA’s leading scorer at 33.6 points per game, the potential absence of Doncic adds to recent woes with 26.6-point per game scorer Austin Reaves sidelined since Dec. 25 with a calf injury.
With injuries impacting the rotation, Lakers coach JJ Redick said that against Cleveland “substitution patterns got a little bit out of whack.”
In addition to the uncertainty in the immediate future from injuries, the longer-term outlook for LeBron James is another hot topic for Los Angeles ahead of Friday’s contest. Cameras captured a visibly emotional James during a tribute video played in his return to Cleveland, where he spent tenures from 2003-10 and 2014-18 before joining the Lakers.
“I don’t know what the future holds,” James said. “Just try to live in the moment and not take it for granted; try to be present.”
After missing the campaign’s first 14 dates, the 41-year-old James is averaging 22 points and 5.9 rebounds per game — both season-long lows for the 21-time All-NBA honoree after his 2003-04 rookie year.
James finished with 11 points on 3-of-10 shooting and committed six turnovers on Wednesday.
Washington, meanwhile, comes into Friday’s matchup chasing a feat it has yet to reach in 2025-26: scoring a third consecutive win.
The Wizards earned a 109-99 win on Thursday over the flailing Milwaukee Bucks, coming on the heels of a 115-111 defeat of Portland on Tuesday.
This marks just the third time this season Washington has won consecutive games. In their two previous attempts to score a third straight victory, the Wizards lost by 14 and 26 points to Phoenix and Minnesota.
Friday’s pursuit of three in a row is Washington’s first since trading CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert to Atlanta for Trae Young. The four-time All-Star Young has yet to debut for the Wizards since the Jan. 7 deal was announced, remaining sidelined with a quadriceps injury that has shelved him since Dec. 27.
This week’s wins over the Trail Blazers and Bucks are Washington’s first victories since shipping out McCollum and Kispert. Second-year big man Alex Sarr recorded double-doubles in both contests, following up his 29-point, 12-rebound performance on Tuesday with 16 points and a career-high 17 boards vs. Milwaukee.
“Just trying to find energy, do what we usually do. … That’s very fun,” Sarr said in his postgame interview with NBA on Prime. “We just have to see what worked for us and keep it rolling.”
One thing that’s worked for Washington this week has been the scoring of Kyshawn George, who went for 19 and 23 points the last two outings.
–Field Level Media
Sports
World Curling takes action after Sweden accuses Canada of cheating
Ben Hebert, Marc Kennedy and Brett Gallant of Canada in action during their match against Sweden at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium on Friday. CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — World Curling said on Saturday that it would have officials monitoring for rule violations during the rest of the competition at the Olympics after Sweden’s men’s team accused Canada of cheating in a tense round-robin game.
Tensions boiled over on Friday when Brad Jacobs’ Canada entry beat Sweden 8-6, with Niklas Edin’s rink alleging their opponents were double touching the stone during the contest.
World Curling has introduced electronic handles on stones at the Games, which flash red if players are still making contact with the stone beyond the hog line — the point where curlers must let go during delivery.
However, the sensor for detecting violations is in the handle, with Sweden claiming Canada’s players were touching the granite, where there are no sensors.
“It is not possible for World Curling to have game umpires positioned to observe all hog lines for every stone delivery,” World Curling said in a statement.
“However, beginning with the Saturday (Feb. 14) afternoon session, two officials will move between all four sheets and observe deliveries.”
World Curling also clarified its rules on deliveries, saying: “During forward motion, touching the granite of the stone is not allowed. This will result in the stone being removed from play.”
After Sweden and Canada asked officials to keep an eye on their opponents’ deliveries early on, there was a heated exchange between the teams’ thirds Marc Kennedy and Oskar Eriksson toward the end of the game.
Eriksson told Kennedy he would show him a video replay of him touching the stone repeatedly. The Canadian responded with an expletive.
“World Curling spoke with the Canadian officials to issue a verbal warning regarding the language used by a Canadian men’s player during the game,” the sport’s governing body said.
“During that meeting it was made clear to those officials that further inappropriate behavior… would result in additional sanctions.”
Curling Canada CEO Nolan Thiessen said it was a poor choice of words from Kennedy
“I think heat of the moment, I would allow for as well,” Thiessen told reporters.
“Something was said in his ear which got him going. Head games get played in a lot of sports and things get said in competitive sport and I think this was one of those situations. Do I wish Mark didn’t drop an F-bomb? Yeah.”
Swedish media on Friday tore into Kennedy, accusing the 2010 Olympic champion of cheating while also releasing videos and images of him appearing to touch a stone while it was crossing the hog line.
Asked about the video, Thiessen replied: “I was surprised that there was a live video on the hog line outside of OBS (Olympic Broadcasting Services) rules.
“That seems odd to me. But nevertheless, you know, I think they (the Canada team) are concentrating on the game today.”
The Swedish Curling Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
–Reuters, Special to Field Level Media
Sports
Switzerland's Kevin Fiala undergoes surgery on injured leg
Feb 5, 2026; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Los Angeles Kings left wing Kevin Fiala (22) warms up before a game against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images Kevin Fiala underwent surgery on his left leg after being removed from the ice on a stretcher late in the third period of Switzerland’s 5-1 loss to Canada on Friday in a Group A preliminary round game in the Milan Cortina Olympics.
The Swiss Ice Hockey Federation announced the surgery on Saturday for Fiala, a forward for the Los Angeles Kings, and said he will miss the remainder of the Olympics.
Fiala was injured after getting his legs tangled with Canada’s Tom Wilson with just less than three minutes left in the game. Fiala was unable to get to his feet and medical personnel attended to him after a stoppage in play.
“Obviously it doesn’t look very good,” Switzerland coach Patrick Fischer said after the game. “Tough moment for Kevin and the whole team, obviously.”
Fiala, 29, has recorded 40 points (18 goals, 22 assists) in 56 games this season with the Kings, who reside three points in back of the Anaheim Ducks for the final wild-card spot in the NHL’s Western Conference.
“We need that guy on my team back home, big time,” said Canada defenseman Drew Doughty, who plays for the Kings.
For Fiala’s career, the 2022-23 All-Star has 229 goals and 299 assists across 707 games. He is in his 12th NHL season.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Australian takes gold, 2 US women medal in dual moguls
Jaelin Kauf of United States in action during the women’s dual moguls final on Saturday. She won the silver medal at the Milan Cortina Olympics. LIVIGNO, Italy — Australia’s Jakara Anthony won the gold medal in the women’s freestyle skiing dual moguls at the Winter Olympics on Saturday, redeeming herself after a disappointing loss three days earlier in the single-format moguls.
Anthony, 27, became the first Australian to earn two Winter Olympics gold medals when she overtook American Jaelin Kauf under heavy snow in the northern Italian town of Livigno. Kauf earned silver, and bronze went to fellow American Elizabeth Lemley.
“This one is really different to the last one because I picked this up after the heartbreak of the other day,” Anthony said of her new medal, which joins the one she earned in the single moguls in Beijing in 2022.
Dual moguls is a new sport at the Olympics, pitting skiers together in a head-to-head elimination format in which two competitors race side-by-side through parallel bump fields. Speed counts, but so do turns and aerial maneuvers.
Anthony crossed the finish line a fraction of a second before Kauf but had to wait for the judges’ final assessment. She smiled and pumped her arms in the air when she saw she had earned a score of 20, compared to Kauf’s 15. A throng of Australian supporters cheered and waved yellow inflated kangaroos on the side of the mountain.
At the medal ceremony, Anthony broke into a wide smile as she celebrated her historic second Olympic gold.
Anthony had been the favorite to win the singles but wobbled out of line in her second run to finish eighth. In the single moguls, riders tackle the course solo and the highest score wins.
Heavy snow fell throughout the women’s dual moguls finals, hindering visibility for the skiers.
Kauf’s second-place run gave the 29-year-old her third Olympic silver medal. She finished second in the singles at the Milan Cortina Games and at Beijing in 2022.
“I was really going for gold, but I guess ‘Silver Jae’ has a ring to it, so I’m living up to the name,” Kauf said.
The 20-year-old Lemley, the surprise gold medalist in the singles, made it to the podium in the dual moguls despite a crash in the semifinals. She hurt her elbow but was determined to keep going, she said.
“I was able to just push the pain out of my head and ski as if it was any other run,” she said.
Singles bronze medalist Perrine Laffont of France finished fourth in the dual event.
–Reuters, Special to Field Level Media
