Stoudemire ruled out for playoffs

The Phoenix Suns will be without power forward Amare Stoudemire if they reach the NBA playoffs after his eye surgeon said he won’t be back this season.

“Not this season, not at all,” Dr. Pravin Dugel, who operated on Stoudemire’s detached retina, told the Arizona Republic about the player’s prospects of returning to the court.

It had originally been hoped that Stoudemire could recover in about eight weeks from the injury he suffered to his right eye Feb. 18 against the Clippers.

“It’s very difficult to explain to anyone how serious this is,” the surgeon said. “The healing is excruciatingly slow and delicate.”

Stoudemire averaged 21.4 points and 8.1 rebounds this season.

Daly has cancer

Former Detroit Pistons coach Chuck Daly has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Daly, 78, coached the Pistons to NBA championships in 1989 and 1990. He also was the coach of the 1992 gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic squad. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994.

Etc.

Charles Barkley will serve only three days in jail for driving under the influence in Scottsdale, Ariz., after a judge reduced his original 10-day sentence. A judge decided that seven days should be suspended if the TNT analyst completes an alcohol treatment program. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s office says Barkley is scheduled to report to jail this morning. . . . Washington Wizards guard DeShawn Stevenson had season-ending surgery to repair a herniated disk. He will start rehabilitation in two weeks and is expected to resume basketball activity in three to four months. Stevenson averaged 6.6 points and 3.1 assists in 32 games.