The Milwaukee Bucks are attempting to limit the noise surrounding the health and cloudy future of their superstar by taking care of matters on the court.

Playing without two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks will bid for their sixth win in seven games on Friday when they return from the All-Star break to face the host New Orleans Pelicans.

Sidelined since Jan. 23, Antetokounmpo was expected to miss four-to-six weeks with a strained right calf. It will be exactly four weeks on Friday.

“I’m healthy today, I just got to check the boxes,” Antetokounmpo said on NBA Today earlier in the week. “I gotta play 1-on-1, 3-on-3, 5-on-5. The moment I do that, that can be the next game.”

The Bucks lost their first three games without Antetokounmpo before picking up mostly positive results over their last six games, including a 141-137 overtime decision versus New Orleans on Feb. 4 in Milwaukee

Ryan Rollins erupted for 27 points and AJ Green had 20 in that game to help the Bucks overcome a sizzling display by the Pelicans’ Trey Murphy III, who highlighted his career-high 44-point performance with a franchise-best 12 3-pointers.

Milwaukee spread the wealth in its last game before the break, with seven players scoring in double digits in a 110-93 victory over the host Oklahoma City Thunder on Feb. 12.

Ousmane Dieng recorded his first career double-double after collecting a season-high 19 points and 11 rebounds against his former team in the Thunder. Green had 17 points and Bobby Portis added 15 to go along with 12 boards for the Bucks.

“We’re playing for Milwaukee,” Portis told Sirius XM NBA Radio. “I’m playing for Milwaukee. I take pride in being a Buck. I love the city of Milwaukee. They call me the mayor of Milwaukee.”

The Pelicans rebounded from their overtime loss to the Bucks by winning two of their final three games before the All-Star break.

Murphy scored 19 points in New Orleans’ 123-111 home loss to the Miami Heat on Feb. 11 before exiting the contest with soreness in his right shoulder. Murphy, who averages a team-best 22.1 points and 1.5 steals per game, is expected to return to the court for Friday’s game.

Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen have fared well during their rookie seasons, with the former averaging 13.2 points while the latter is contributing 12.2 points to go along with team-best averages in rebounds (7.2) and assists (4.1).

Queen, however, got the last laugh in the NBA Rising Stars competition as he helped Team Vince defeat Fears’ Team Melo in the title game.

Both players are ready to take the experience of playing in that spotlight into the second half of the Pelicans’ season.

“We’re gonna come back a lot more confident,” Fears said on the Pelicans podcast. “We’re gonna be around (our teammates). We’re just gonna continue to keep working and it’s going to open our eyes for sure.”

Said Queen: “I’m excited to come back. We’ve got three home games. Win those three and get back on the right track.”

–Field Level Media

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said all 104 matches of the 2026 World Cup will be “sold out” despite tickets available for the tournament running from June 11 to July 19.

“The demand is there. Every match is sold out,” Infantino told CNBC in an interview Wednesday from U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla.

Infantino said there had been 508 million ticket requests in four weeks from more than 200 countries for about seven million available tickets.

“(We’ve) never see anything like that — incredible,” he said.

The 48-team World Cup is taking place across 16 host cities in the United States, Mexico and Canada, with MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., as the site of the World Cup final.

The head of the sport’s governing body said that tournament locations contribute to what soccer supporters’ associations have complained are exorbitant ticket prices.

“I think it is because it’s in America, Canada and Mexico,” he said. “Everybody wants to be part of something special.”

Also affecting prices are resale websites, which take the official ticket that has a fixed price and use “dynamic pricing” leading to the cost to fluctuate.

“You are able as well to resell your tickets on official platforms, secondary markets, so the prices as well will go up,” Infantino said. “That’s part of the market we are in.”

A report in the Straits Times said that a Category 3 seat — the highest section in the stadium — for Mexico’s match against South Africa in the tournament opener on June 11 in Mexico City was listed at $5,324 in the secondary market. The original price was $895.

The same seat category for the World Cup final on July 19, originally priced at $3,450, was advertised for $143,750 on Feb. 11, per the report.

In December, FIFA designated “supporter entry tier” tickets with a $60 price to be allocated to the national federations whose teams are playing. Those federations are expected to make those tickets available “to loyal fans who are closely connected to their national teams,” FIFA said in a press release.

The last time the U.S. served as a World Cup host in 1994, tickets ranged from $25 to $475. At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, prices ranged from $70 to $1,600 after the matches were announced.

Infantino in his comments this week estimated that the 2026 World Cup will raise $11 billion in revenue for FIFA, with “every dollar” to be reinvested in the sport in the 211 member countries.

He said the economic impact for the United States would be around $30 billion “in terms of tourism, catering, security investments and so on.” Infantino also estimated the tournament will attract 20 million to 30 million tourists and create 185,000 full-time jobs.

–Field Level Media

The high-profile homecoming for Jaren Jackson Jr. will not materialize.

When the Memphis Grizzlies sent the veteran forward to the Utah Jazz shortly before the Feb. 5 trade deadline, they realized the schedule-makers had built in an intriguing mid-February matchup.

But when the Grizzlies play the visiting Jazz on Friday, Jackson will not be in uniform. The former Defensive Player of the Year, in his eighth NBA season, underwent successful surgery earlier this week in Salt Lake City to remove a localized pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) growth from his left knee. A physical performed after the trade revealed the growth.

Jackson, the league’s top defender in 2022-23, will be out for at least four weeks, according to the Jazz, and could return to the court later this season.

In his team debut on Feb. 7 against the Orlando Magic, he had 22 points, three assists and three steals in 25 minutes. He is averaging 19.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 48 games, all but three with the Grizzlies.

Jackson, John Konchar and Vince Williams Jr. went from the Grizzlies to the Jazz on Feb. 3. Memphis received Walter Clayton Jr., Kyle Anderson, Taylor Hendricks, Georges Niang and three first-round draft picks.

Utah coach Will Hardy has only worked with Jackson briefly, but he said the Jazz knew the quality person and player they were getting.

“When we traded for Jaren, obviously there is so much talk about (Jaren) the player,” Hardy said. “And I’m very excited about the player. But what we are trying to build as an organization and a program, Jaren’s character, and who he is as a person, is just as important.

“That has been evident since the day that he (joined the Jazz). He is a high-character guy. He has a good sense of humor. He also has a respect level that comes with him because of how he has played during his career.”

Letting go of another key member of the Grizzlies’ core was difficult for Memphis general manager Zach Kleiman, but it could be a move that pays dividends.

“We felt good about the return (for Jackson) and we felt it healthier for the organization to turn the page as much as we were able to and be able to build this team with a clear mind as to what we’re trying to achieve going forward, which is pivoting to a younger build,” Kleiman said. “We’re not shying away from that. That’s where this team is.”

While the Grizzlies adjust to life without Jackson for the first time since he was taken with the No. 4 pick in the 2018 draft, they are hoping to snap a four-game losing streak without star guard Ja Morant.

Sidelined with a left elbow sprain since Jan. 23, Morant missed the team’s last 11 games and is expected to miss another two weeks. He has only appeared in 20 games because of a variety of injuries.

With Morant out, guard Ty Jerome recently returned from a right calf injury that had him unavailable from the start of the season. In his six games back, Jerome has averaged 19.7 points in 20.2 minutes.

Other contributions have come from Jaylen Wells, Cam Spencer and Cedric Coward, who were selected to play in last Friday’s Rising Stars mini-tournament at NBA All-Star Weekend. Coward was withheld from action due to knee soreness.

Jazz standout Keyonte George missed six of the final seven games before the break due to injuries to each ankle. He is averaging 23.8 points in 48 games.

–Field Level Media