Tag: 400m

76ers spend $400M in contracts for Paul George, Maxey

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FILE – Los Angeles Clippers forward Paul George (13) dunks during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Atlanta Hawks in Los Angeles, Sunday, March 17, 2024. George will sign a four-year, $212 million contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, a person with knowledge of the move told The Associated Press early Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, FIle)

PHILADELPHIA — Paul George ditched LA and decided to help form a new Big Three in Philly with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. Of course, Maxey needed to stick around to complete the talented trio — and the Philadelphia 76ers went all in on lavish, long-term contracts to make that happen.

Up first, George agreed overnight to a four-year, $212 million free-agent contract after the nine-time NBA All-Star spurned the Los Angeles Clippers. Maxey was on deck, and the first-time All-Star soon agreed in principle by sunrise Monday to a five-year, $204 million extension.

The 76ers threw down the gauntlet while most of the NBA was sleeping — committing more than $400 million in salary to two players they believe position them as the top contender to dethrone the NBA champion Boston Celtics.

Here they come, team of the year?

Hold up.

READ: NBA: Paul George set to join 76ers on $212 million deal

The 76ers have been down this high-priced, high-expectations road before without a championship to show for their efforts. They have failed to find the right pieces to field a winner around their franchise player Embiid, falling short in their star hunting with Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler, James Harden, Al Horford and a list that goes on and on.

They’ll try again, this time with George in tow — not as the elite centerpiece he was asked to be in the past with Indiana, Oklahoma City and the Clippers, but in a complementary role to Embiid, hopeful his 34-year-old legs can hold up over the long haul to ease some of the burden on the 2023 NBA MVP. The 76ers were a bottom feeder when Embiid was hurt last season — and he’s often injured — so rolling the dice on a player widely considered the best available on the free-agent market was a chance team president Daryl Morey was willing to take.

George and Maxey intend to sign their contracts shortly after the league’s moratorium on signings is lifted on Saturday, a person with knowledge of the deals told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not yet finalized. Though the ink hasn’t hit the contracts yet, the 76ers already are a sports betting darling, jumping to an 8-1 favorite to win the 2025 title behind Boston and Denver, per BetMGM Sportsbook.

“We’re planning on being the best team in the East next season,” Morey said last week during the draft.

George at least should keep them in the mix in the East and give them a viable No. 1 scoring option when Embiid is out.

READ: NBA: 76ers president Daryl Morey has big plans for Embiid, Maxey

The 76ers finished 31-8 in the regular season with Embiid — about a 65-win pace — and a woeful 16-27 without him.

The Sixers were a play-in tournament team this season and lost to New York in the first round. The Knicks also made an early splash in their bid to remain in the championship picture. They agreed to a $210 million deal with OG Anunoby and are set to acquire Mikal Bridges from Brooklyn in deals that only increased the pressure on Morey to take a big swing at the free-agent fence.

Morey and the 76ers devised this plan as far back as a year ago when they asked Maxey to play out the final year of his rookie contract and wait a summer for an extension to free up the salary cap space needed to pursue free agents. Morey then took on only expiring contracts and draft picks in his deals throughout the season — notably in trading Harden to the Clippers and signing veteran Kyle Lowry to a short-term deal — that left the 76ers with essentially only Embiid and Maxey as the lone key holdovers on the roster once the season ended and roughly $65 million in cap space this summer.

Philadelphia 76ers' Tyrese Maxey NBA

Philadelphia 76ers’ Tyrese Maxey (0) gestures after making a 3-point basket during the second half of Game 2 in an NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the New York Knicks, Monday, April 22, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

“This offseason’s a big one,” Morey said after the 76ers were knocked out of the playoffs. “I owe it to the fans, to ownership, to everybody to get this team where we’re in a place where we’re competing for championships.”

George — who has averaged 20.8 points over a 14-year career — wanted to move on from the Clippers and declined a player option in his contract for $48.8 million in 2024-2025 that ended a five-year stretch with the team in which he averaged at least 21.5 points each season.

READ: NBA: 76ers waste another season of Joel Embiid’s prime

The Clippers’ attempt at winning it all with their Big Three of George, Kawhi Leonard and Harden fell flat.

“The gap was significant,” the Clippers said Sunday night in a news release. ”We understand and respect Paul’s decision to look elsewhere for his next contract.”

He looked all the way across the U.S. to Philadelphia.

George joins a Sixers team that has been a perennial underachiever, even as Embiid blossomed into one of the top players in the NBA. Philadelphia has not won an NBA title since 1983 or even advanced out of the second round of the playoffs since 2001.

Embiid, set to play this summer for Team USA at the Paris Olympics, fueled rumors that George was headed to Philly during a TV appearance together during the NBA Finals.

“Hopefully this offseason, we find a way to get better, and you know,” Embiid said, pausing to side-eye George, “add some pieces.”

The 76ers did strengthen their roster with the expected addition of center Andre Drummond and Eric Gordon and the return of Kelly Oubre Jr. in more deals expected to be announced as early as Saturday. The 76ers are also high on first-round draft pick Jared McCain out of Duke. And George is an upgrade in talent over the departed — and much-maligned — Tobias Harris.

Maxey was named the league’s most improved player this season. His scoring rose for the third consecutive year, and he finished the regular season averaging 25.9 points, 6.2 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game — all career bests.

George is a six-time member of the All-NBA Team. He’s a four-time member of the NBA All-Defensive Team and was the league’s most improved player in 2013. He was a finalist for both NBA MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in 2019, when he led the league with 2.21 steals per contest. George also has never played in an NBA Finals.

Much like Embiid’s, George’s injury history should give the 76ers reason for some concern. George played 76 games last season, the first time he played more than 56 since 2018-19.

Still, with few available options, and money to burn, the 76ers had little choice but to chase an aging — yet still elite — star such as George.

“It’s a big offseason for us,” Morey said in May. “We obviously have two great studs to build around in Joel and Tyrese.”



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They hope they found a third one in George.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone sets 400m hurdles world record

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Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone poses for a photo after winning the women’s 400-meter hurdles final during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials, Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

EUGENE, Oregon — For the better part of two years, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone all but disappeared from the 400-meter hurdles course.

Turns out, she wasn’t hiding or looking for something else to do. Just getting better at what she does best.

The 24-year-old Olympic champion lowered the world record for the fifth time Sunday, closing out U.S. Olympic trials with 10 leaps over the barriers, then an all-out sprint toward the finish line in 50.65 seconds. She broke her last record by .03 seconds.

READ: Sydney McLaughlin dominates 400m, breaks world record

This one came on the last day of trials at Hayward Field. Her first record came back in 2021 — also on the last day of trials and also at Hayward Field.

In fact, this marked the fourth of her five world records she’s set on the track at the University of Oregon, which has hosted the lion’s share of American track’s greatest moments over the past quarter century.

To say she expected this, though, would not be the case.

“Just shock. Honestly shock,” said McLaughlin-Levrone, who covered her mouth in amazement when she crossed and saw the time. “I know when it first came up it said, ‘50.67.’ I was like, ‘There’s just no way.’”

Then, the clock adjusted down two ticks.

“I wasn’t expecting that time,” she said.

READ: Sydney McLaughlin breaks own 400m hurdles record

Counting the two preliminary rounds at trials this week, this was only McLaughlin-Levrone’s fourth 400-meter hurdles race of the season. Unlike other times when she’s taken the track, there wasn’t a huge amount of buzz about her mark of 50.68 — set at world championships in 2022, also here at Hayward — going down this time.

A closer look shows this was all simply part of the plan.

She spent her time working on the shorter hurdles, along with 200- and 400-meter sprints, both of which she had hinted might be in her future as her main event. Really, what all those races were doing were making her better at her main job. All of them are good for speed. The short hurdles helped her master the difficult art of jumping off either foot.

“She ran in Atlanta, and she was having problems attacking the hurdles and getting her steps together” because of all her newfound speed, hurdling great Edwin Moses said of McLaughlin-Levrone’s first 400-hurdles race of 2024. “I told her I’d had similar problems and that her brain just had to catch up with her physicality.”

It did, and in an event that used to be decided by steps or slivers, McLaughlin-Levrone’s victory came by 1.99 seconds over Anna Cockrell and 2.12 over Jasmine Jones.

“She’s really fast and she’s really strong, it’s hard to put it any other way,” Cockrell said.

The latest record doesn’t so much reset the storyline for the Olympics — McLaughlin-Levrone would’ve been the big-time favorite either way — as it forces track to once again rethink what’s possible.

Now, instead of a much-anticipated showdown with Femke Bol of the Netherlands, the conversation will turn to when the 50-second mark might come tumbling down in this race. Maybe as soon as Aug. 8, which is the date of the Olympic final in Paris.

“It could happen,” Moses said. “She might need a couple more races, but that’s about it.”

It’s been a remarkable journey that has happened remarkably fast.

From 2003-19, the world record in this event stayed stuck at 52.34. American Dalilah Muhammad broke it twice in 2019 — the second time at world championships in a race that demoralized McLaughlin-Levrone and sparked her move over to coach Bobby Kersee.

Kersee changed everything for her. One of the biggest adjustments was dropping her to 14 strides between the early hurdles. It was a game-changer that has put her in a class by herself but also forced her to rework her takeoffs, which is where the work on the short hurdles has helped.

“I’ve said it before, (she) just ran a world record and it’s like we’re not even shocked at this point,” said Muhammad, the 2016 Olympic champion who finished sixth Sunday. “She’s just an amazing talent, a generational talent for sure. I didn’t know I’m the only one to beat her, so kudos to me.”

In addition to leaving trials with the world record in hurdles, she’s also the world leader this year in the flat 400.

McLaughlin-Levrone ran 48.75 in New York at the start of June — just more speed work, but also a daunting sign for any country that hopes to challenge the U.S. in the 4×400 relay come Paris.

McLaughlin-Levrone started running all those 400s and 200s shortly after the close of world championships in 2022 in Eugene, the time she lowered the world record to 50.68.

At the time, she hinted that all those races might be the future for her. Not until a few weeks ago did she say she was going back to her first love.



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Then, on a calm night in Oregon, she pulled down the curtain on the 2024 Olympic trials, and threw a little jolt into track at the same time: All those other races weren’t just for kicks.

“The 400 hurdles is a mixture of all of it,” she said. “It’s the short hurdles combined with the 4, combined with the 2. You need that endurance, that speed and that technicality. So those were definitely just building blocks along the way to get us through.”