Mavericks’ Davis injures hand

Anthony Davis has ligament damage in his left hand, and the Dallas Mavericks’ oft-injured big man is seeking multiple opinions on treatment options, the team said Friday without offering a time frame on a possible return.

Davis was injured late in a 116-114 loss at the Utah Jazz on Thursday night. The 10-time All-Star was in obvious pain on the bench before going to the locker room. The team said an MRI revealed the damage.

The possibility of a lengthy absence from the latest injury for Davis is a significant development for the Mavericks as they try to figure out how to move on from the trade for Davis that sent young superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers 11 months ago.

General manager Nico Harrison, the orchestrator of the deal, was fired in November after Dallas got off to a slow start. The Mavericks are 10 games under .500 and out of the playoff picture less than two years after playing in the NBA Finals.

There has been speculation about Davis getting traded again, but most of that has been predicated on him being healthy. The hand injury could sideline him until after the Feb. 5 trade deadline. Davis is averaging 20.4 points and 11.1 rebounds per game.

The 32-year-old Davis missed 18 of the Mavericks’ first 38 games this season with calf and groin injuries. He was nursing an abdominal injury when the Mavericks traded for him last February, and he re-aggravated it in his Dallas debut. Davis was sidelined for the next 18 games.

Another injury to Davis also could affect the franchise’s decision on when Kyrie Irving returns from last season’s knee injury. It’s possible the nine-time All-Star guard won’t play at all in 2025-26. Irving tore the ACL in his left knee on March 3 last year.

Brooks Koepka leaves LIV Golf

Five-time major champion Brooks Koepka, just over two weeks after defecting from Saudi-funded LIV Golf, has applied to have his PGA Tour membership reinstated.

The next step belongs to the tour, which has suspended players for joining the rival league, even if they never had PGA Tour membership.

Two people with knowledge of Koepka’s application confirmed Friday he has started the process to rejoin the tour. They spoke on condition of anonymity because it has not been made public. Koepka’s manager at Hambric Sports, Blake Smith, said he would not have a comment at this time.

ESPN first reported Koepka’s application. With one year left on his LIV contract, the Saudi-backed league announced Dec. 23 that he would no longer be part of the LIV Golf League and his captaincy of Smash had been turned over to Talor Gooch.

“Brooks is prioritizing the needs of his family and staying closer to home,” said Scott O’Neil, the CEO of LIV Golf, who described the departure as amicable and mutual.

The tour policy has been players having to sit out one year from their last LIV appearance, but that was only for nonmembers, such as Laurie Canter. The Englishman was a part-time LIV player, and he qualified for The Players Championship last March one year and a month after last playing a LIV event in Las Vegas.

Brian Rolapp, who took over as CEO of PGA Tour Enterprises last summer, will face one of his first early decisions on a pathway back for LIV Golf players wanting to return. His case will be reviewed by Rolapp, along with the policy board and player directors. That includes Tiger Woods, who chairs the Future Competition Committee.

Koepka, and other PGA Tour members who left for LIV and were seen as damaging the tour, presumably would face any number of penalties. But the tour’s longtime policy has been to never publicize discipline.

The application comes one day after Rolapp sent a memo to players that the Player Equity Program is being expanded to include current year performance. Koepka already was with LIV when the tour began its first-of-a-kind program, with equity grants first being awarded in April 2024.

Koepka’s departure in June 2022 was one of the biggest surprises, mainly because he was at a corporate function the week before he bolted for LIV encouraging the top players to rally around support for the PGA Tour.

But he also was at a crossroads in his career, hampered by injuries in his knees and his left hip. Koepka got his health in order and he won in Saudi Arabia later in 2022, then became the first LIV player to win a major at the 2023 PGA Championship.

He has suggested he might not have joined LIV if he were more certain of his health. Koepka also expressed frustration last year the rival league wasn’t as far along as he had hoped. A statement that accompanied his departure from LIV said, “Family has always guided Brooks’s decisions, and he feels this is the right moment to spend more time at home.”

His wife, Jenna, announced on social media in October that she had suffered a miscarriage. They have a 2-year-old son.

The PGA Tour offers a five-year exemption to players who win a major, and if the 2023 PGA Championship title is honored, that would make him exempt through 2028. Still to be determined is what kind of punishment the tour will dispense.

The PGA Tour season starts next week at the Sony Open, followed by The American Express in the California desert and the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. The next event would be the Phoenix Open, which Koepka won for his first PGA Tour title in 2015. He also won Phoenix in 2021.

Michigan RB Haynes enters portal

Big Ten rushing leader Justice Haynes is transferring again after an injury-shortened single season at Michigan.

Haynes, who played his first two college seasons at Alabama, announced on social media Friday that he planned “to return for another year of college football and enter the transfer portal.”

Haynes ran for 857 yards and 10 touchdowns, with more than 100 yards in six of his seven games during his only season with the Wolverines. He missed their last five games because of a right foot injury, but still qualified as the Big Ten leader with 122.4 yards per game and 7.1 yards per carry.

The 5-foot-11, 210-pounder from Alpharetta, Georgia, ran for 616 yards and nine touchdowns in 25 games for Alabama in 2023 and 2024. He started six games as a sophomore before transferring to Michigan.