Former NBA All-Star and reigning Big3 MVP Joe Johnson is in Philadelphia preparing for a workout Thursday with the 76ers, a source told ESPN's The Undefeated.

Johnson, 38, also is receiving interest for potential workouts from the LA Clippers, the Milwaukee Bucks, the Denver Nuggets and the New Orleans Pelicans. Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry and executive vice president David Griffin watched Johnson play in the Big3 league in New Orleans last week.

Johnson was a seven-time NBA All-Star who averaged 16 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game from 2001 to 2018, playing for seven teams.

He most recently played in the NBA during the 2017-18 season with the Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets.

Johnson returning to the NBA through the Big3 would be huge for the three-year-old league, because it has not previously had a player sign with the NBA.

Johnson and the Triplets face the Killer 3s for the Big3 championship on Sunday in Los Angeles.

Johnson was named MVP of the 2019 Big3 season after leading the league in points (175), assists (31), 4-point shots made (four) and total field goals (63) and finishing second in 3-pointers made (16).

"Joe Johnson playing in the Big3 has been a dream come true for basketball fans around the world," league founder Ice Cube told The Undefeated.

All-Star outfielder Mike Trout is dealing with a minor foot issue and is not in the Los Angeles Angels' lineup Wednesday against the Texas Rangers.

Manager Brad Ausmus said the injury, at the base of Trout's foot, is not considered serious. He said the team is just being careful with a planned day off heading into Thursday's off day.

Trout hit his league-leading 43rd home run Tuesday night, a solo shot in a 5-2 win over the visiting Rangers. It gave him 100 RBIs on the season.

Trout has a 1.356 OPS and 11 home runs against Texas this season. Wednesday night, he would have faced Ariel Jurado, against whom he has gone 4-for-6 with three home runs and five RBIs.

Wednesday night is the last time the two teams play this season, so Trout will not have an opportunity to pad his stats. But he doesn't need much help in a season that could rank as his best ever offensively.

With 28 games left in the season, the two-time MVP has set a career high in homers, and he leads the league in WAR (8.1), on-base percentage (.436), walks (101), runs created (138), times on base (247), AB per homer (10.4) and several other statistical measures.

The Cleveland Indians plan to activate right-hander Carlos Carrasco on Sunday when rosters expand as long as his bullpen on Thursday goes well, manager Terry Francona told SiriusXM's MLB Network Radio on Wednesday.

Carrasco will be used out of the bullpen when he returns, Francona said.

Carrasco has made three minor league appearances during his rehabilitation assignment, most recently pitching for Triple-A Toledo last Sunday when he allowed two hits and a run in an inning pitching out of relief. Overall, he has allowed two hits and a run in 3 2/3 innings pitched.

He was diagnosed in June with chronic myeloid leukemia, a treatable form of cancer.

Carrasco, 32, was 4-6 with a 4.98 ERA in 12 starts before he made the announcement that he was being treated for leukemia.

DUQUOIN, Ill. – The driver with the most feature wins on the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds Magic Mile is returning this weekend, doing double duty at the one-mile dirt oval.

Three-time ARCA Menards Series Southern Illinois 100 winner Ken Schrader is slated to pilot his own No. 52 Ford in Saturday night’s 100-mile event.

Schrader, a six-time winner of the Bill Oldani Memorial UMP Modified event, is also slated to contest the 20-mile affair for that class, with heat races Saturday and the finale Sunday.

Schrader’s mile track debut came in 1979 at DuQuoin in the 100-mile USAC Stock Car event. After terrorizing local short tracks in sprint cars and stock cars it was only a matter of time before the popular driver began moving up in the professional ranks.

It was fitting that his first appearance on one of the big dirt tracks came at a facility he and his father visited, the one closest to his Fenton, Mo., home.

Ken’s first USAC race for Henry Sieveking had mixed results. He qualified third and started directly behind A.J. Foyt. However, the Ford Granada soon developed mechanical issues and he was forced out after 28 miles.

He finished fifth in the 1980 stock car race, and 16th in 1981. He also made his first appearance in a dirt champ car on the Magic Mile in 1981 finishing 11th.

Finishes of 12th, third, 28th and 30th followed.

NASCAR called in 1985 and Schrader ended up as the premier series rookie of the year. From there, Schrader’s NASCAR obligations kept him from running at DuQuoin for 15 years, until he returned in 2001 to contest the ARCA race, where he finished fourth.

It wasn’t until 27 years after his first appearance at DuQuoin that Schrader was able to enter victory lane. He won the 2006 Southern Illinois 100 from the pole and repeated again in 2007 and 2013.

Add in six wins in the Oldani Memorial, plus a crate late model win in 2006, and his 10 main event victories put Schrader at the top of the DuQuoin Magic Mile victory list.

Schrader’s last ARCA appearance at DuQuoin came in 2016, when he started second and finished third. His last appearance in a dirt champ car was in 2017, when he finished 19th for owner Dennis McQuinn.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Buffalo Sabres defenseman Matt Hunwick is expected to miss this season due to a neck condition that bothered the 12-year veteran for much of last season.

General manager Jason Botterill based Hunwick's prognosis on offseason medical evaluations in making the announcement Wednesday, about two weeks before the Sabres report to training camp.

Hunwick was initially hurt last summer and the injury forced him to miss the first two months of the season. He was limited to playing 14 games.

Buffalo acquired the 34-year-old with forward Conor Sheary in June 2018 as part of a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Hunwick has 25 goals and 119 points in 535 career games. He is entering the final year of his contract and set to make $1.75 million.

Hunwick's chances of making Buffalo's season-opening roster were uncertain after the team acquired Colin Miller and Henri Jokiharju in separate trades this summer.

The Sabres are expected to place Hunwick on the long-term injured list, which will allow the team to free up space under the salary cap. Buffalo was projected to be about $1 million over the $81.5 million salary cap after re-signing defenseman Jake McCabe and goalie Linus Ullmark earlier this month.

The pots for the Champions League group-stage draw have been finalised after the conclusion of the final qualifying round ties on Wednesday.

Ajax, Club Brugge and Slavia Prague took the final three slots in the group stage, which begins on Sept. 17-18.

Three English clubs will be seeded in this year's competition, with Premier League champions Manchester City joined by the holders of the two European trophies -- Liverpool and Chelsea. Pot 1 also features the other champions of the top six European leagues.

- Champions League draw: All you need to know

Pots 2-4 are drawn up using UEFA's coefficient system, which ranks European performance over the past five seasons.

POT 1: Liverpool, Chelsea, Barcelona, Manchester City, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Zenit St Petersburg

POT 2: Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, Shakhtar Donetsk, Ajax, Benfica

POT 3: Lyon, Bayer Leverkusen, FC Salzburg, Olympiakos, Club Brugge, Valencia, Inter Milan, Dinamo Zagreb

POT 4: Lokomotiv Moscow, Genk, Galatasaray, RB Leipzig, Slavia Prague, Red Star Belgrade, Atalanta, Lille

One team from each pot will be drawn into one of the eight groups, which can feature no more than one team from each country. The top two teams will advance to the round of 16.

The draw takes place on Thursday at 6 p.m. CET, midday ET.

Worcestershire v Nottinghamshire Match abandoned

No team has successfully defended the T20 Blast, but Worcestershire Rapids took a significant step towards becoming the first when they secured their quarter-final spot courtesy of a third abandoned game at New Road this season. Given that they adopted the "Rapids" moniker in a knowing nod towards the long and sad association between heavy rainfall and the ground it might seem a fitting way to progress.

The point was all they needed to guarantee progress and they can now earn a home tie with victory against Northamptonshire Steelbacks on Friday as long as Nottinghamshire Outlaws lose at home to Durham Jets. As well as any cricketing advantage, the additional home fixture would be worth around £100,000 to the club, some compensation for the loss of the group matches to the weather.

Alex Gidman, the first team coach, praised his side for overcoming a number of setbacks in recent weeks. Not least, given the importance of taking pace off the ball, has been the loss to injury of three spinners in Brett D'Oliveira, Ben Twohig and George Rhodes. Moeen Ali's omission by England has provided strong recompense: 140 runs and six wickets at a strike rate of one every 11 balls in his three matches.

In all, as many as 12 of the 18 counties have lifted the cup in its 16 seasons. Gidman knows a thing or two about the pressures of trying to retain trophies having been a young allrounder at Gloucestershire over the turn of the century, when they won seven one-day competitions in six years. Success, he thinks, brings its own complications.

"Defending it has been harder this season," he admitted. "We have found that teams are slightly better prepared either individually or collectively with certain plans. They have a better idea of how our guys perform and that sort-of happened too in the good old days at Gloucester. Teams know what to expect and pay you a bit more respect."

One example might be Pat Brown, a sensation last season with his quiver-full of variations which helped to bring 31 wickets. This time he has taken 13, not helped by the abandonments of course, and far from a disgrace for a lad who turned 21 only last week. He has just not been quite as prolific, even though he is, again, the county's leading wicket-taker in the format.

If you are going to learn then it may as well be from the best, and Gidman revealed that he has encouraged the squad to take heed of England's white-ball example under Eoin Morgan. "I told someone the other day that I genuinely think we've improved this season," he said, "and one thing we have taken from England is to embrace the fact we are champions, not fear it.

"Why wouldn't we try to draw from them given what they have done? They are literally the world champions, so it makes complete sense to copy the language and behaviours associated with them. And I'm very proud of our side. To make it to the quarters with a game to spare is a great effort. When teams have tried the different tactics I talk about, we've overcome them."

Which does beg a topical question: who is Worcestershire's Ben Stokes? Gidman seems to sense a headline as he pauses and smiles, but he whispers his answer anyway. "Moeen."

As well as both reaching the last eight in T20, Worcester and Nottinghamshire, the would-have-been opponents here, share a less illustrious feature. Both are enduring dreadful first-class campaigns, with Nottinghamshire 42 points adrift at the bottom of the Championship first division and Worcester next to bottom of the second. If they are still there in a month's time it will represent their lowest finish since 1992.

One theory is that the white balls offer little movement so batsmen are able to hit through the line without fear of repercussion. In truth, the nature of the format would probably demand they do so anyway. But when the red ball seams and jags, the same approach can all too easily lead to a clatter of wickets. Interestingly, Worcestershire have qualified for quarter-finals in five of the last six white-ball competitions, but were relegated in the Championship in 2018.

If this suggests they have concentrated on the shorter formats, it is a charge they would deny. They won their first two four-day games this season, but the top five has subsequently chopped, changed and struggled to perform. And so T20 is their one chance of success.

Gidman said: "It was a huge day for the club last year and to win the first trophy for donkeys' years [actually, since 2007] was a very proud moment for everyone. I think in the back of everyone's minds here the desire to do it again this year is very strong."

Surrey Stars 132 for 1 (Lee 75, Sciver 50*) beat Lancashire Thunder 97 for 7 (McGrath 41, Jones 3-24) by 35 runs

Lizelle Lee and Nat Sciver smashed stunning half-centuries to fire Surrey Stars to reduced-overs victory over Lancashire Thunder, by 35 runs, as the defending champions ended the Kia Super League in rip-roaring style at Blackpool.

Openers Lee and Sciver, the Stars captain, amassed a sensational 127 partnership in just two balls short of the allotted nine overs after rain prevented a start at Stanley Park until 5pm. The Stars, unable to defend their title having only previously won two of their nine games, finished with 131 for 1 before the winless Thunder replied with 97 for 7, of which Australian Tahlia McGrath hit 41 off 19 balls and Hannah Jones took three wickets.

South African Lee crashed 75 off only 28 balls with 13 fours and three sixes, while England allrounder Sciver reached 50 off 26 with a boundary of the last ball of the innings from international team-mate Kate Cross.

With the Hundred replacing the KSL for next summer, this was both sides' final game, and it included a combined total of 33 fours and nine sixes.

Lee, whose fifty came in only 17 balls in the fifth over, hit 70 of her 75 runs in boundaries, with her strike-rate of 267.85 the highest of the competition so far by some way. Both Lee and fellow right-hander Sciver played strongly all around the innings and hardly mishit a shot. They pulled, cut and hit over the top and down the ground with great authority.

Cross, having earlier won the toss, took the only wicket of the innings when she bowled Lee late on in the ninth over, but she conceded 42 in her two overs.

The 127 partnership is the second-highest by any pair in this season's Super League behind the 133 Western Storm openers Rachel Priest and Smriti Mandhana shared in a victory over Yorkshire at York earlier this month.

Lancashire's hopes of finishing on a high were dashed long before the halfway mark in the game. They finish 2019 winless, with nine defeats and a tie and have finished bottom of the table for three seasons out of four.

In four years, they have only won six times. Five of those came last year when they narrowly missed out on Finals Day. But McGrath had some fun in the chase, nonetheless.

She hit six fours and a huge six, over mid-wicket and out of the ground, in seven balls faced against seamers Eva Gary and Marizanne Kapp, taking the Thunder to 38 without loss after three overs. But she fell to off-spinner Bryony Smith, who struck twice in the fifth over to remove McGrath and fellow opener Eve Jones caught at long-off.

Another offspinner Jones then struck three in the seventh over to get Sune Luus caught at long-on by Lee - her second catch - and Indian Harmanpreet Kaur and Cross stumped, leaving the score at 71 for 6. Gray and Grace Gibbs also struck.

CLEVELAND -- Suspended Browns running back Kareem Hunt will not be permitted inside the team's facility while serving his eight-game ban for physical altercations.

The team had asked the NFL to allow Hunt to be around teammates, arguing he could use the extra support.

League spokesman Brian McCarthy said Hunt, who signed with Cleveland in March after being released by Kansas City in December, can't be at the facility starting at 4 p.m. Saturday. That's when teams are required to submit 53-man rosters.

Hunt was suspended for two off-field incidents, one in which he shoved and kicked a woman. He's eligible to return to the team in November.

Browns receiver Antonio Callaway can be in the building during his four-game suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy, but he can't practice.

Quarterback Baker Mayfield said it was "tough to hear" that Hunt won't be allowed to interact with his teammates.