Basketball

World Peace out — The Los Angeles Lakers’ push for the playoffs just got a whole lot tougher. Lakers forward Metta World Peace, the team’s best perimeter defender, is scheduled to have surgery today to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. He’ll miss a minimum of six weeks, the team announced Wednesday. That means that even if the Lakers get into the playoffs — they’re in eighth place in the West, just a game ahead of Utah for the final spot — he’d be sidelined for at least the first round and probably more.

Smart staying at VCU — Shaka Smart and VCU have agreed in principle to a deal to keep the coach at the school. Athletic director Ed McLaughlin says the details are still being finalized, but that it extends a contract already scheduled to run through 2020. Smart’s record is 111-37 in four years, the sixth-most wins in the country over that stretch. With openings at places such as UCLA, Southern Cal and Minnesota, McLaughlin says VCU wanted to give him a new deal to be proactive in the face of certain interest from other programs.

Baseball

Wainwright gets $97.5M — Adam Wainwright and St. Louis have agreed to a new contract that guarantees the Cardinals’ ace an additional $97.5 million over five years through 2018. Wainwright had been eligible to become a free agent after the World Series. A 31-year-old right-hander, Wainwright was 14-13 with a 3.94 ERA last year after missing the Cardinals’ World Series championship season in 2011 because of elbow surgery.

Yankees worth $2.3B — Forbes estimated the New York Yankees have the highest value in Major League Baseball for the 16th straight year at $2.3 billion, and the average for an MLB team increased by 23 percent in the last year to $744 million. The magazine said Wednesday the Yankees’ value increased from $1.85 billion last year. The Los Angeles Dodgers are second at $1.62 billion — nearly $400 million below the price paid for the team last May.

McCarver to retire — Baseball analyst Tim McCarver said Wednesday he will retire from his position at Fox after this season. The 71-year-old former All-Star catcher has worked 28 consecutive Major League Baseball postseasons on network television dating to 1984, providing analysis for a record 23 World Series.

Cycling

Ullrich talks doping— Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich says he played a role in “what happened in cycling” but did not offer a clear confession about doping. Ullrich wrote in his blog on Eurosport that “everyone can make his own opinion about what happened in cycling and I also contributed my role in that.” But he says he wouldn’t make any public confessions like longtime rival Lance Armstrong, who was stripped of his seven Tour titles. The German won the Tour in 1997 and finished runner-up five times, three times behind Armstrong.

— From wire reports