Nov 7, 2019 4 min read

Memphis’ Wiseman gets order to play

Memphis center James Wiseman has a temporary restraining order to play while the heralded freshman fights an NCAA ruling that he’s ineligible to play for coach Penny Hardaway and the Tigers.

Memphis issued a statement Friday, less than an hour before the No. 14 Tigers played Illinois-Chicago, saying it is working with NCAA staff to fully restore Wiseman’s eligibility.

Wiseman was the No. 1 recruit nationally and is projected as the top pick overall in the 2020 NBA draft.

Memphis says Wiseman was declared eligible by the NCAA in May. More information and investigation led to information that Hardaway, who was then coach of East High School, gave $11,500 in moving expenses to help Wiseman’s family move from Nashville to Memphis in the summer of 2017.

Wiseman played for East High as a junior and helped Hardaway win his third straight Tennessee Class AAA title.

Players, unions sue over Pittsburgh tax

Current and former professional athletes and players’ unions have sued Pittsburgh over a tax levied on visiting pro athletes.

At issue are so-called “jock taxes” typically levied on professional athletes who work for short periods of time in cities.

The Pittsburgh lawsuit argues the city unfairly levies a 3% earned income tax on visiting professional athletes while taxing all other residents at 1%.

Attorney Stephen Kidder, representing the athletes, tells the Tribune-Review the tax violates the state and U.S. constitutions.

Dan Gilman, Mayor Bill Peduto’s chief of staff, declined to comment.

Those suing include former Pittsburgh Penguin Scott Wilson; Kyle Palmieri of the New Jersey Devils; former baseball player Jeff Francoeur; and the players’ associations of the National Hockey League, National Football League and Major League Baseball.

In the NHL

Nikita Kucherov got the Tampa Bay Lightning off to a fast start in Sweden.

Kucherov scored and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves to help Tampa Bay beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 on Friday night in the first of their two regular-season games in the Swedish capital.

The sold-out games at Ericsson Globe are part of the NHL Global Series.

Alex Killorn and Yanni Gourde also scored for the Lightning.

O.J. Simpson sues Vegas casino

O.J. Simpson is suing a Las Vegas hotel-casino that banned him in November 2017, alleging that unnamed employees defamed him by telling a celebrity news site he had been drunk, disruptive and unruly.

Simpson, on parole in Nevada for a 2008 conviction for armed robbery and assault with a weapon, filed the lawsuit Thursday against Nevada Property 1 LLC, corporate owner of the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

The complaint acknowledges that Simpson, after several hours with two friends at a steakhouse and a lounge in November 2017, received a notice from a security guard as they left. It prohibited him from returning to the Las Vegas Strip property. He says he was never given a reason.

In the NBA

Big nights by big men Nikola Vucevic and Jonathan Isaac carried the Orlando Magic to their first runaway victory of the season.

Vucevic dominated at the offensive end with 23 points, 16 rebounds and six assists. Isaac had 22 points and eight rebounds, but it was his four blocks and game-long presence around the rim that turned the game in Orlando’s favor, as the Magic beat the Memphis Grizzlies 118-86.

• Pascal Siakam matched his career high with 44 points, and the Toronto Raptors beat the New Orleans Pelicans 122-104.

Toronto used a 45-point second quarter to take control of the game and improved to 6-2. The Pelicans slipped to 1-7.