Westhead leaves for Seattle

Paul Westhead is leaving the WNBA champion Phoenix Mercury to return to the NBA, accepting an assistant coaching job with the Seattle SuperSonics on Thursday.

Westhead, 68, also won the NBA championship in 1980 as a rookie coach with the Lakers. He is the only coach to win titles in both leagues.

Westhead joins friend P.J. Carlesimo for the second time, serving as his assistant from 1997-99 at Golden State.

Utah Jazz forward Carlos Boozer could miss the start of training camp next week while his son recovers from a bone-marrow transplant in Miami.

Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden, the top draft pick in June, made his first appearance since undergoing microfracture surgery on his left knee Sept. 13 that will cost him the season.

He said he had talked to Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin, who have had the surgery and warned him not to rush back.

“You know, it is a setback, but I’m excited to be able to scout the NBA for the whole year, and just know that next year when I come in I’m going to be 20 years old, I’m going to be very mature, and I’m going to be ready to play,” Oden said.

James Dolan, the owner of the New York Knicks, dismissed executive Anucha Browne Sanders in retaliation for accusing Coach Isiah Thomas of boorish behavior and to scare other unhappy employees, an attorney said in closing arguments at the trial over her $10 million sexual harassment suit in New York.

Defense attorneys argued Browne Sanders was doomed by her own failure to adapt to an organizational shake up that began with Thomas’s hiring in 2004.

The jury was expected to begin deliberations today.

New York forward Renaldo Balkman will miss at least four weeks because of a stress reaction in his right ankle.