PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia 76ers team president Daryl Morey expressed optimism on Friday that reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid would return from a knee injury in time for a possible postseason run.

“We’re hopeful,” Morey said before the 76ers hosted the Atlanta Hawks and three days after Embiid underwent surgery on his left knee. “Feedback has been more good than bad since we first heard about what led to his procedure. So, we’re hopeful and we’re building the team to make it better this year. Obviously, it’s not at 100 percent. But with Joel playing at an MVP level, hopefully, he could get back to that. And this is a year that we have a real shot.”

Asked if his approach would have been different depending on Embiid’s injury news, Morey was clear.

“If the hope wasn’t there in Joel, I think it would have changed things dramatically,” Morey said. “We’re very hopefully. Obviously for sure, it’s not 100 percent. It’s something that is probably unfortunately a good chunk short of 100 percent. But we thought it was the right thing.

“There’s a lot of ways to not win the title. Winning a title is hard; Joel not coming back at the level we hope is one of the ways we can’t win a title this year, most likely. … But you always want to be among the best teams and that means taking risk on the injury front and that’s where we are at right now.”

Embiid, averaging 35.3 points and 11.3 rebounds in 39 games, has missed the last five games since Golden State forward Jonathan Kuminga fell on his left leg, injuring the meniscus that required surgery on Tuesday. The initial report from the 76ers said that Embiid would be “re-evaluated” in four weeks. Before that, Embiid had been held out because of left knee swelling in Philadelphia’s two previous games.

Morey declined to describe the exact procedure that Embiid had, which would have provided a clue to the significance of the injury.

Morey said he struck out in a bid to fill Embiid’s shoes and upgrade the team’s backup center position from Paul Reed. He said he was shocked that no ‘bigs’ were dealt before the trade deadline.

Instead, Morey picked up veteran guards Buddy Hield and Cameron Payne in separate deals. Philadelphia acquired the two as part of four deals that included the departure of Patrick Beverley, Danuel House, Furkan Korkmaz and Jaden Springer, as well as forward Marcus Morris Sr. The 76ers also shipped out four second round picks in those moves while receiving two back in trades with Milwaukee and Boston.

“Our priority was to get a big, but we wanted to add to our playoff rotation this year,” Morey said.

Hield will likely be a key 3-point shooting threat for Philadelphia, helping to assist All-Star Tyrese Maxey, who has seen defenses swarm to him after the Embiid injury.

“We have to win games and it’s going to be a battle,” Morey said. “But we were focused on playoffs, we have a rotation that we know can win at a super high level and that he was the only player who moved teams that would play a big role in our rotation. What he brings to the table is pretty obvious.”

Hield and Payne were available against the Hawks on Friday night. Maxey was held out because of an illness.

The NFL’s exclusively streaming playoff game will return next postseason. The service, however, will be different.

Amazon’s Prime Video has replaced NBCUniversal’s Peacock as the streamer, two people with knowledge of the situation confirmed to USA TODAY Sports. They were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Neither the NFL nor Amazon had comment.

NBCUniversal paid a reported $110 million for the first-ever streaming-only playoff game, which featured the Kansas City Chiefs hosting the Miami Dolphins in the wild-card round. It became the most-streamed live event ever in the U.S. with an average of 23 million viewers.

Prime Video, the exclusive streamer of “Thursday Night Football,” will take the reins from Peacock. The change stems from the the fact Prime Video hit specified metrics throughout the season that allowed it to secure the rights, one person familiar with the discussions said. “TNF” averaged nearly 12 million viewers in 2023, an increase of 24% compared to its first year of exclusive “TNF” rights.

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The financial terms of the agreement between the NFL and Amazon for the playoff game have not yet been reported.

PHOENIX — The moment the gates opened at 9 a.m. Friday, more than 100 fans poured into the Los Angeles Dodgers’ spring training complex, waiting to get their first glimpse at the team’s newest stars. 

Despite the unseasonably cold and wet conditions, fans gathered around the mud to check out Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and the Dodgers’ pitchers and catchers for their first official workout of the year. 

The crowd ballooned to more than 500 fans by late morning. Fans wore their new Ohtani jerseys. There were Yamamoto jerseys. There were Japanese headbands. Just the sight of Yamamoto had fans shrieking in excitement. 

“I couldn’t wait for this day,’ said longtime Dodgers fan Steve Douma, 59, who was one of the first to enter the complex. “It’s a day we’ve all been waiting for. Gosh … why even have a season? It’s my team, but they’ve got to win. 

“We go to the postseason every year, but this time, we’ve got to get to the Series. Gotta go to the Series.’ 

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This team has the highest expectations of perhaps any team since the Yankees’ dynasty a quarter-century ago. 

After spending $1.2 billion this winter, with a franchise-record payroll of about $310 million, the Dodgers enter the spring as baseball’s team to beat.

This is the year they are fully expected to win their first World Series championship in a full season since 1988. 

The expenditures, the hype, lead to surreal and perhaps unfair expectations. 

Dodgers manger Roberts knows what’s at stake, and instead of hiding from the pressure, is fully embracing it, calling the Dodgers and Los Angeles “the epicenter of sports and baseball.’

“It’s going to raise the bar, I think, for all of us,’ Roberts said. “I’d like to think everyone standing before me [about 70 reporters] are fans of this game of baseball and there’s a lot more eyeballs on the Dodgers and Major League Baseball. 

“I expect our players and the organization to elevate their game and I think that the responsibility with more eyeballs means the expectations greater. So, I think that that’s a good thing for all of us.’

Really, they’ve got no choice. 

“We have to embrace it,” Dodgers second baseman Mookie Betts said at DodgerFest last weekend. “Every team that we play against, they’re going to come for the Dodgers. We have to embrace that and fight back. 

“Nobody is going to roll over. Nobody is going to say, ‘Those guys have the best players and they’re better than us.’’

Hey, it’s nice to have bosses who are filthy rich and are willing to use their financial muscles to build the best team money can buy. 

There’s a reason why future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw decided to return for at least one more season, maybe more, after seriously contemplating retirement for the first time this past winter. 

“This offseason has been pretty amazing to watch, honestly,” Kershaw said Thursday before his one-year contract with a player option became official Friday. “There’s definitely a part of me that wanted to be a part of that. Part of this team. Winning an offseason doesn’t mean anything, but it’s a pretty good clubhouse of guys. The talent is probably the best I’ve ever been a part of.’

The spending created a lot of angst among opposing fans and players but a whole lot of pride inside that Dodgers’ clubhouse, which features four former MVPs in Ohtani, Betts, Kershaw and Freddie Freeman.

“We’re trying to win,’ Dodgers infielder Max Muncy said at DodgerFest. “We’re assembling a good team. … If people want to call us the villains, that’s fine. It doesn’t change who we are in the clubhouse. It doesn’t change who we are to our fans. It doesn’t change who we are in the stadium. 

“We’ve got to go out there and perform.” 

The Dodgers have been baseball’s greatest regular-season team the past 11 seasons, winning 10 NL West titles and averaging 99 victories in the 10 full seasons, but those first-round ousters the past two years was an absolute gut-punch. 

They knew something needed to be done, and they dropped $1.2 billion hoping to find that cure. 

“It’s a privilege,’’ Dodgers veteran outfielder Jason Heyward said in the quiet in front of his locker Friday morning. “People can say we have a target on our back, or whatever, but it is what it is. 

“We are the Dodgers.’

The Dodgers now have a lethal lineup with their top three hitters – Betts, Freeman and Ohtani – combining for 112 homers, 125 doubles and 304 RBI last season. 

Roberts hasn’t decided the top of the batting order, but the fans have let it be known that they’d prefer to have Betts leading off, followed by Freeman and Ohtani. 

It’s an embarrassment of riches, but the Dodgers aren’t about to apologize. 

“The Texas Rangers won the World Series last year with $500 million combined between their infielders [Corey Seager and Marcus Semien],’ Heyward said, “and no one complained. So no one should complain now. 

“It doesn’t guarantee anything, but it’s a good starting point.’’ 

The Dodgers’ first spring training game is Feb. 22 in Phoenix. 

Thre regular seasons starts March 20 in Seoul, Korea. 

Their first postseason game is tentatively scheduled the first week of October. 

The World Series begins in late October. 

And the parade, well, could come in early November. 

The mission officially began on Friday. 

“We’re ready,’ Roberts said. “I couldn’t be more excited.’

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The biggest name that moved at Thursday’s NBA trade deadline was Gordon Hayward, a former All-Star who’s now a role player.

No offense to Hayward. He’s a quality player and going from the rebuilding Charlotte Hornets to the contending Oklahoma City Thunder makes him important in the Western Conference title chase.

But this year’s trade deadline lacked the fireworks of the 2023 trade deadline when Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant were traded from the Brooklyn Nets, the Los Angeles Lakers reshuffled their roster, acquiring D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura among others, and the Minnesota Timberwolves added veteran Mike Conley.

The biggest names discussed in potential trades ahead of Thursday’s deadline – Dejounte Murray, Kyle Kuzma, Andrew Wiggins – remained put with teams unable to strike deals.

Here’s why it was a tempered NBA trade deadline:

The price of doing business was too high

In trades involving Rudy Gobert from Utah to Minnesota and Kevin Durant from Brooklyn to Phoenix, multiple first-round picks were given up to acquire All-Star caliber players. That set the market, unrealistically so, but as Lakers vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka said after he was unable to reach a trade deadline deal, “the market is the market.”

Chatter was that the Washington Wizards wanted two first-round picks for Kuzma, and while the Lakers and Atlanta Hawks engaged multiple times on a potential deal that would send Murray to the Lakers, Atlanta is trying to recoup draft picks they gave up to get Murray from San Antonio. The Lakers, who had just one first-round pick to trade, didn’t have the draft capital to meet the Hawks’ demands.

Teams want to remain competitive

Let’s take the Chicago Bulls. They are 25-27, in ninth place in the East and with a chance to make the postseason play-in and even crack the top six for a guaranteed playoff spot. They could have traded DeMar DeRozan, Alex Caruso and/or Nik Vucevic.

But they didn’t.

‘We want to stay competitive,’ Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas told reporters Thursday. ‘We have an obligation to this organization and to this fanbase and to this city to stay competitive and compete for the playoffs. And that’s what we are doing.’

That doesn’t mean the Bulls will compete for a title. But in an Eastern Conference that has parity, injuries and teams in flux, there are pathways to some success.

There isn’t an appetite for a long, painful rebuilding process.

All-NBA caliber players weren’t available via trade

Teams simply didn’t see a player out there who was available in a trade, worth multiple first-round picks and could make a team a title contender. They’re going to wait until after the season and see how those picks can be used at the draft for that kind of player. That’s the Lakers’ plan.

New collective bargaining agreement has an impact

Without getting too deep into the salary cap weeds, the new 2023 collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and National Basketball Players Association has made some trades more difficult to execute.

The new luxury tax rates starting in 2025-26 are more onerous for teams $10 million or more over the luxury tax line. Instead of paying $2.50 for every dollar over the luxury tax line between $10 million and $14.99 million, teams will pay $3.50 and instead of paying $3.25 for every dollar over the luxury tax line between $15 million and $19.99 million, teams will pay $4.25. For repeat tax teams – those teams that pay a luxury tax in three of the previous four seasons – the tax grows even higher.

ESPN front office insider Bobby Marks used this example for last season’s Golden State Warriors. Under the new tax rates, instead of a $163 million tax payment, it would have been nearly $220 million. They would have paid almost $60 million more. It’s enough to give a franchise like the Warriors reason to reconsider that kind of spending.

Plus, teams approximately $7 million over the luxury tax line will have restrictions on their ability to build a roster, limiting what they could do in trades and the use of exceptions to the salary cap. Like all new CBAs, teams are cautious until they fully understand the ramifications.

Bill O’Brien is leaving Ohio State only three weeks after he was hired as the Buckeyes’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

He was announced Friday as the next coach at Boston College, replacing Jeff Hafley who left to become the Green Bay Packers’ defensive coordinator last week. 

O’Brien, a 54-year-old native of Massachusetts who was the offensive coordinator with the New England Patriots last year, had been widely perceived as the front-runner in recent days.

Along with his ties to the Northeast, he has previous head coaching experience with the Houston Texans from 2014-20 and Penn State from 2012-13, leading the Nittany Lions in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal.

The departure leaves a sizable hole on Ryan Day’s coaching staff at Ohio State as he had intended to turn over play-calling responsibilities to O’Brien, a significant shift in his role leading the Buckeyes.

Day has largely called the offense since he arrived as an assistant in 2017 and continued after he was promoted to replace Urban Meyer.

But it might not take Day long to fill the vacancy as reports mentioned Chip Kelly as the likely replacement after he resigned as UCLA’s coach later Friday. The Los Angeles Times reported that Kelly had accepted the position.

Day has known Kelly for more than two decades, dating back to when he was a quarterback at New Hampshire from 1998-2001 and Kelly was the Wildcats’ offensive coordinator.

Kelly also hired him as his quarterbacks coach with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2015 and San Francisco 49ers in 2016.

Another assistant coaching vacancy had already remained after Day fired special teams coordinator Parker Fleming last month.

He said this week that he is looking at an assistant for the defense or special teams in a search that could last another week.

Chip Kelly has stepped down as UCLA’s head football coach to become the new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Ohio State.

Both programs announced the respective news on Friday.

Hired in 2018 after four seasons as an NFL head coach, Kelly ends his UCLA tenure with a 35-34 record overall and 26-26 mark in Pac-12 play.

At Ohio State, Kelly will replace Bill O’Brien, who is becoming Boston College’s head coach.

‘Earlier this morning, coach Chip Kelly informed me of his decision to depart UCLA,’ athletic director Martin Jarmond said in a statement. ‘I want to sincerely thank Chip for his service to UCLA football and our student-athletes across the past six seasons.’

The Bruins started slow under Kelly, posting a combined 10-21 record through his first three years, before breaking through with eight wins and a bowl bid in 2021. The Bruins did not play in the Holiday Bowl against North Carolina State that season due to COVID-19 positives in the team. UCLA won nine games in 2022, including an appearance in the Sun Bowl, and finished No. 21 in the US LBM AFCA Coaches Poll.

But even with the recent success, the program never reached or even approached the heights of Kelly’s previous stint at Oregon and stumbled this past season.

The Bruins have had major struggles on offense, offsetting the performance of a defense that ranked among the best in the Power Five and Bowl Subdivision. UCLA scored just seven points in a loss to Utah and scored a combined 17 points in losses to Arizona State and Arizona. The Bruins started three different quarterbacks due to injury and poor performance. Ethan Garbers led the team’s Week 12 win against rival USC. But Garbers was hurt early in UCLA’s disappointing regular season-ender vs. Cal and the team managed just seven points again as it finished 7-5. The Bruins defeated Boise State in the LA Bowl in what turned out to be Kelly’s final game.

This lack of offensive punch stands in contrast to Kelly’s unforgettable four-year run at Oregon, where he posted a 46-7 record, won three conference championships and played for the 2010 national championship, losing a close game to Auburn. During this time with the Ducks, Kelly revolutionized the way college teams approach offensive football, ushering an era of spread concepts that have gripped the sport across all levels of competition.

He also spent four seasons in the NFL, three with the Philadelphia Eagles and the last with the San Francisco 49ers. Kelly’s teams with the Eagles won 10 games in each of his first two years, making one playoff appearance, but were 6-9 when he was fired with one game left in the 2015 season. He was quickly hired by the 49ers and went 2-14 in his one year.