LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Lakers have re-signed forward Metta World Peace.
The Lakers announced the deal Thursday with World Peace. He won a championship ring with the Lakers in 2010 when he was still known as Ron Artest.
He spent four seasons with Los Angeles, and he started all 23 games in the Lakers' championship run five years ago. Los Angeles released him through the amnesty clause in July 2013.
The 15-year NBA veteran has been out of the league since February 2014, when the New York Knicks waived him. He played in China and in Italy last season.
World Peace has been working out at the Lakers' training complex this summer. The defensive specialist has been challenging young forward Julius Randle in an entertaining series of practices and drills (see full story).
Additional rest days added to NBA Finals schedule
NEW YORK -- The NBA is adding additional rest days to its NBA Finals schedule, putting two days in between every game where travel is necessary.
Continuing one of Commissioner Adam Silver's goals of finding extra time off for players, the 2016 finals will begin June 2 and would end June 19 if a Game 7 is necessary.
NBA
A year after the finals returned to a 2-2-1-1-1 format after three decades of 2-3-2, the latest change moves Game 3 and Game 5 back a day. Last year, there was only one off day when teams changed cities, and they played again the night after arriving.
A seven-game finals would have gone 14 days under the 2-3-2 format and 15 days last year.
Silver has made player rest and recovery a priority, and this season's NBA schedule features fewer stretches of games on back-to-back nights, and four games in five nights (see full story).
Heat: Bosh off blood-thinners, cleared for camp
MIAMI -- Heat forward Chris Bosh says he no longer needs to take blood-thinning medication as part of his treatment regimen for a blood clot, meaning he will be able to fully participate when training camp opens next week.
Bosh missed the final 30 games of last season after a clot was discovered on his left lung. He says he has been cleared and released for contact again.
Athletes in contact sports typically cannot take blood thinners because of the higher risk of bleeding, the most common side effect of such drugs.
Bosh spoke Thursday at an event to announce his partnership with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, the makers of the blood-thinning drug Xarelto -- which he was taking. The Heat also have partnered with the company (see full story).
Pacers: George eager to show recovery complete
INDIANAPOLIS -- Paul George is starting to look more his old self.
The Indiana Pacers star seems a little bigger and a little stronger than he was before the gruesome leg injury that cost him most of last season. There is little doubt inside the Pacers' organization that George is healthy and ready to play at a high level this season.
Training camp opens Tuesday, almost 14 months after surgery to repair George's broken right leg. Coach Frank Vogel says George is 100 percent healthy and close to what he was when it comes to "explosiveness, rhythm and timing (see full story)."