Ankle injury slows Carter

From combined dispatches

Orlando Magic guard Vince Carter was sidelined against the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night with a sprained left ankle.

Carter was first injured Friday against New Jersey. Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said Carter aggravated the ankle Tuesday against Detroit. Carter’s status is day-to-day.

The 32-year-old was Orlando’s biggest acquisition this summer. The Magic acquired Carter from New Jersey in a trade that sent Courtney Lee, Rafer Alston and Tony Battie to the Nets. Orlando also received Ryan Anderson.

Meanwhile, small forward Mickael Pietrus returned to the Orlando lineup after missing two straight games with flulike symptoms.

PACERS: Indiana will honor late co-owner Mel Simon with a jersey-retirement ceremony before Friday’s game against the Wizards.

The Pacers said the banner will bear Simon’s name but not a number. It will hang alongside the retired jerseys of former players Reggie Miller, Mel Daniels, Roger Brown and George McGinnis and ex-coach Bobby “Slick” Leonard.

Simon, who died in September at 82, bought the woebegone franchise with his brother, Herb, in 1983.

DONAGHY: Disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy is a free man after serving most of a 15-month sentence in a gambling scandal.

Pat Berdan, a consultant working with Donaghy, said he was released from Hernando County Jail in Brooksville, Fla. Donaghy had been jailed there since August after officials said he violated travel restrictions while living at a halfway house in the Tampa area.

A New York judge sentenced the ex-referee in July 2008 after Donaghy said he took thousands of dollars from a professional gambler in exchange for inside tips on games - including games he worked.

MAVERICKS: Nancy Lieberman is set to become the first female head coach of an NBA Development League team.

A news conference is scheduled Thursday to introduce Lieberman as the first coach of the team that will begin play during the 2010-11 season in Frisco, a suburb about a half-hour north of downtown Dallas.