Latest sports news: Karl-Anthony Towns’ mom has coronavirus, in coma; Clippers owner Steve Balmer to buy Forum

Karl Anthony-Towns announced late last night on his Instagram account that his mother is in a medically-induced coma after being diagnosed with the coronavirus.

“Sharing my story in the hopes that everyone stays at home!" Towns said on his Instagram account. "We need more equipment and we need to help those medical personnel on the front lines.”

Towns said his mother first noticed symptoms last week and later got tested. She experienced a fever and other symptoms before starting to feel better. However, the symptoms increased as the pain returned and eventually forced her into a medically-induced coma.

“This disease needs not to be taken lightly. It’s deadly," Towns said. "Me and my family are going to keep fighting this. My mother is the strongest woman I know.”

Steve Balmer has shown time and time again that he loves his Clippers. This time, he showed it with cash. Balmer decided to purchase the Inglewood Forum for $400 million dollars.

The former Microsoft CEO purchased The Forum from the Madison Square Garden Company. The Forum is known for being the previous home of the Lakers from 1967-1999.

The new Clippers arena project is expected to be a state-of-the-art 18,000-seat basketball arena. It is currently under environmental review by the city of Inglewood.

Blink twice if you’ve heard this before: A star New York Mets pitcher will miss the season.

Noah Syndergaard tore his ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and is expected to undergo Tommy John surgery. It’s a situation where you just shake your head and say, only the Mets.

I mean, where do we start?

Matt Harvey was a Cy Young candidate in 2013. He missed 2014 due to Tommy John surgery and after a resurgent 2015 season (2.71 ERA), Harvey hasn’t had an ERA below 4.86. He’s currently a free agent. Syndergaard won a World Series game as a 22-year old phenom and followed that with a 2.60 ERA in 2016. He suffered a partially torn lat muscle in 2017 that limited him to seven starts, and his ERA has increased each season since. Zack Wheeler missed the 2015 and 2016 seasons, and now he’s pitching for the Phillies. And Steven Matz has battled elbow and shoulder problems since 2015.

Those four and Jacob deGrom were supposed to form the most feared rotation in baseball for at least five seasons. Instead, it was a rarely seen group, and like so many times in the past, a curveball has been thrown into the Mets’ hopes of winning the NL East in 2020.

Cam Newton’s departure from Carolina had been expected, but it was officially confirmed Tuesday. The former no. 1 pick and 2015 NFL MVP started two games in 2019 before suffering a left foot injury that required surgery.

Newton’s skeptics have increased in the past two seasons, but he’ll have a chance to quiet them when he signs with a new team. He should be a starter at his next stop, and teams like the Chargers and Patriots could use him next season.

Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence is the face of college football, but it’s only so much a collegiate athlete can do with the NCAA strict rules. Lawrence and his girlfriend attempted to start a GoFundMe to raise money for COVID-19 victims, but the page was temporarily shut down by Clemson compliance to make sure the NCAA was on board.

The NCAA later clarified that student-athletes could help raise money for charities.

The International Olympic Committee has decided to postpone the 2020 Tokyo Olympics until 2021 due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The games are expected to be held no later than summer 2021.

Philadelphia-area athletes and coaches gave their thoughts on what the postponement means for Olympic hopefuls.

The postponement of the Olympics was the no. 1 topic in Philly sports news for about an hour.

Harris Blitzer and Sports Entertainment, owners of the Sixers, decided to cancel its plans to cut at-will employees making more than $50,000 salaries by up to 20%.

“After listening to our staff and players, it’s clear that was the wrong decision,” HBSE founder Josh Harris said Tuesday in a statement. “We have reversed and will be paying these employees their full salaries."

Joel Embiid also decided to pledge $500,000 to help COVID-19 relief, and he was also committed to helping Sixers employees affected by the proposed salary reductions.