data-mm-id=”_arogqg0kq”>The Philadelphia 76ers are in trouble. Ben Simmons is out for an "extended" period of time. He will be reevaluated in two weeks, but no one expects him to be anywhere near ready to play in two weeks. Joel Embiid sprained his shoulder on Wednesday night and is still being evaluated. The good news and the bad news are the same thing. The Sixers are currently the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference, just a half-game behind the Miami Heat. The Celtics and Raptors are too far ahead for a healthy, cohesive version of the Sixers to catch up and the Nets and Magic are too far behind for Philadelphia to end up in a bottom seed in the darkest of timelines.Philadelphia has the third-easiest strength of schedule remaining. The Heat and Pacers have slightly tougher remaining schedules. No matter what happens, Philadelphia will end up in a winnable first round series if Embiid is healthy. It will be tough against Toronto or Boston, but still possible. If Simmons comes back, the Sixers will have the talent to lose to the Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals. And that is their ceiling in perpetuity unless they make a change or Giannis Antetokounmpo goes to Golden State. Time and time again, it looks like the Sixers are going to have to choose between Embiid and Simmons. It seems impossible to build around both of them and they increasingly sound like a team without a plan. In an interview with Basketball Insiders, Glenn Robinson made it sound like his expected role still hasn't been explained to him three weeks after he was acquired: ““All those things play a role, and then when you come here and your role’s not really explained or you don’t know what’s going on with the trade — it’s not like it was a trade where you come in and immediately have an impact. It’s a little different, so… this team is full of wings, full of guys who can play. So really, I don’t really understand it. But it’s a business, you’ve got to make it happen and go out and try to do your best every night.””The Sixers were a high-functioning mess for the last couple seasons, but things aren't going as well now. They'll make the playoffs, but any title expectations from the start of the season are long gone. After two straight 50+ win seasons, they're headed in the wrong direction. Blame the front office. Blame Brett Brown. Blame the guy who can't stay on the court or the guy who refuses to shoot threes. The end result remains the same.
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Jose Mourinho has managed in Portugal, England, Italy and Spain in his coaching career and he could be going to his fifth different country. Former Manchester United boss is open to an approach from the Bundesliga, as he confirmed to the Portuguese Record.
I would like to win a third Champions League with a third club and to win a fifth league in a fifth different country. But I do not always have what I want and my ambitions are not limited to this , Mourinho told Record.
The Portuguese already won the league titles in all of the four countries he has managed in, with Porto in Portugal, Chelsea in England, Real Madrid in Spain and Inter in Italy. On top of that, he has Champions League trophies from 2004 and 2010 to his name and now Germany is being mentioned…
Atletico Madrid host Barcelona on Saturday in the first showdown of the season between two of LaLiga s real title contenders.
The Catalans have won all seven of their opening matches and already have a five-point lead over second-placed Sevilla, placing them firmly in the driving seat in the title race.
Atletico, along with Barca and Valencia, are unbeaten in the top flight but will be nine points behind them if that run without defeat comes to an end at the Wanda Metropolitano.
This match has been a fascinating fixture since Diego Simeone took charge but he has a remarkably poor record in it, despite the success he has brought to the capital club since taking over in 2011.
But could this be his chance to turn the tide, now that Ernesto Valverde is in the…
Pep Guardiola has praised Manchester City s spirit to bounce back and overcome an Ipswich Town side he described as special .
Sammie Szmodics gave the visitors a shock lead in Saturday s Premier League contest at the Etihad Stadium, but City recovered to win 4-1.
Erling Haaland scored a hat-trick the first of those coming from the penalty spot while Kevin De Bruyne was also on target for the home side.
Ipswich gave Liverpool a tough time of things on the opening weekend, albeit losing 2-0, while they also gave the reigning champions a scare.
We played really good, but the opponents made an exceptional action and credit to them, Guardiola said at his post-match press conference.
When I see how we started, [I could see] how much respect we have fo…
According to a recent report from Corriere dello Sport, Mariano Diaz’s agents have offered him to Roma with the expectation being that he will end up earning a whopping €4.5 million every single year.
The Real Madrid forward just hasn’t been able to lock down a place in the starting XI, which many fans predicted could wind up being the case before too long. Real has a parade of top stars that could, and do, feature much more regularly in their plans than someone like Diaz who still needs time and room to grow.
Roma are on the verge of putting together a really strong squad from top to bottom, and they could build quite a lot of that around Mariano. Whether or not he wants to take the jump over to Italian football is a different matter altogether, but warming…
Manchester City will seek to reassert themselves against Manchester United in Wednesday s EFL Cup semi-final, with their status as the leading team in the rivalry for much of the past decade a source of pride to Pep Guardiola.
City have not finished below their neighbours in the Premier League since United s most recent Premier League title success in 2012-13, winning three subsequent top-flight crowns themselves.
Two of those came under Guardiola, United finishing a distant second in 2017-18 as City racked up a record-breaking 100-point haul.
The sides also met at the same stage of the EFL Cup last season, as City prevailed en route to a third consecutive Wembley success in the competition, although there have been signs that the local argument is starting to …
Bayern Munich have signed Ivan Perisic on a season-long loan from Inter, with an option to make the deal permanent next year.
The 30-year-old joined Inter in 2015 and has been a regular starter during his four years at San Siro, scoring eight goals in Serie A last term.
He will provide competition to Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman at the Allianz Arena and could be included in Bayern s opening league game against Hertha Berlin on Friday.
Head coach Niko Kovac has been in the market for at least one new wide forward following the departures of Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben at the end of the 2018-19 campaign.
have signed Croatia international Ivan Perišić. The World Cup runner up will join the club on loan from Inter Milan with immediate effect.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Juventus bounced back from their Fiorentina fiasco with a 4-1 win over Udinese at the Allianz Stadium on Sunday.
Andrea Pirlo s side suffered a humiliating 3-0 home defeat to La Viola before the mid-season break, but they kicked off 2021 with a win that ensured the gap to Serie A leaders Milan remained at 10 points.
Ronaldo put Juve ahead in the 31st minute with a fine strike after Udinese s Rodrigo de Paul had seen an effort ruled out by VAR.
Federico Chiesa and Ronaldo then made sure Juve avoided going three consecutive home games without a win for the first time since 2015-16.
Marvin Zeegelaar snatched a consolation for Udinese, but Paulo Dybala had the final say in stoppage time.
20 Cristiano has s…
According to a recent report from Marca, Real Madrid probably aren’t going to allow Dani Ceballos to join Valencia. The midfielder has informed the club that he wants to leave Arsenal early, and instead of Real taking him on themselves, Ceballos could wind up going elsewhere.
However, one thing that seems clear is that Madrid aren’t ready to just let him go off and join another La Liga club that serve as one of their rivals. While they may not see enough value in Ceballos for him to establish himself in their starting XI, they certainly know that under a different system, he could pose a whole lot of problems for a whole lot of teams across both Spanish and European football.
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According to a recent report from Calciomercato, Juventus are currently in contact with Mino Raiola over the possibility of securing a summer transfer for Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba. However, while they’re confident in pushing forward with the deal, they’re also having to hope that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men accept an offer between €90 million and €100 million which appears to be their limit.
The Old Lady haven’t been shy about their intention to try and re-sign Pogba, and in return, the Frenchman has made it crystal clear that it’s something he would more than likely entertain.
Even with that being the case, though, there’s still quite a lot of red tape that all parties need to get through before getting this deal over the finish lin…
Marcus Rashford deserves everything that s happening now , according to Manchester United team-mate Hannibal Mejbri.
After a difficult 2021-22 campaign, Rashford started this season strongly, and has carried that form into the World Cup with England in Qatar, where he has hit three goals.
The 25-year-old scored just five times in 32 Premier League games last season for United, but already has eight goals in 19 appearances in 2022-23.
Hannibal – who is spending the season on loan at Championship club Birmingham City – had also been playing at the World Cup with Tunisia, who were eliminated in the group stage.
Speaking to Stats Perform, the 19-year-old praised Rashford as a player and a person, with the United forward engaging in significant charitable…