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Magic

Orlando Magic young superstar Paolo Banchero will be sidelined indefinitely due to a torn right oblique, according to ESPN&rsquo;s Shams Charania.&nbsp;
The 6-foot-10 forward will be re-evaluated in 4-6 weeks with his return depending on his response to treatment.&nbsp;
ANALYSIS: This is a tough break for the Magic currently with a 3-2 record. Banchero has been a big part of that, averaging over 29 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists in 5 games. He had a good start to the season, scoring 50 points, 13 rebounds, and 9 assists to become the second youngest player since LeBron James to have that statline.&nbsp;
Now the Magic will be scrambling and look to their bench to supplant Banchero&rsquo;s production. This could mean additional minutes for Jonathan Isaac, who has not played that much to start the year. This could also mean more offensive load for Banchero&rsquo;s co-star Franz Wagner, as he would be tasked to lead and score more for Orlando. Rookie forward Tristan da Silva would also likely get some run off the bench as players like Jett Howard, Caleb Houstan, and Anthony Black move up the rotational hierarchy.&nbsp;
This would be an interesting month of November for the young Magic as they try to keep in step with the East.

Orlando Magic young superstar Paolo Banchero will be sidelined indefinitely due to a torn right oblique.

Paolo Banchero out indefinitely due to torn right oblique

Amidst a multitude of former and current NBA stars, the basketball world celebrated and honored the career of Goran Dragic in a heartfelt farewell game in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Dubbed the &lsquo;Night of the Dragon&rsquo;, Dragic played a charity basketball game in his home country with fellow Slovenian and NBA player Luka Doncic. Dragic&rsquo;s former teammates and NBA legends Steve Nash (Phoenix) and Chris Bosh (Miami) were also in attendance while European stars Dirk Nowitzki and NBA MVP Nikola Jokic were on Doncic&rsquo;s team.&nbsp;
Proceeds from the charity game and adjacent events went toward the Botrstvo v sportu program of the Friends of Youth Foundation Ljubljana Moste-Polje and the Goran Dragic Foundation.
&ldquo;The Dragon&rdquo; also played a 1v1 against his brother Zoran Dragic in a wholesome moment with a mini-soccer game and on-court moments with his family also taking place, making the event memorable and meaningful for Dragic, who retired from the NBA a year ago.&nbsp;
Dragic had a lengthy career in the NBA, spending seasons with the Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets, and the Miami Heat. He was also a legend in the Slovenian basketball scene, having led Slovenia to a historic EuroBasket 2017. Dragic became an all-star in Miami and was a key cog in the team&rsquo;s historic run to the 2020 NBA Finals.&nbsp;
The former second-round pick averaged between 16 and 21 points per game in five different seasons while playing 946 total games. His 4,405 career assists rank 97th all-time. Dragic&rsquo;s No. 3 is retired by the Slovenian basketball team.

Amidst former and current NBA stars, the basketball world celebrated and honored the career of Goran Dragic.

Former and current NBA stars come out to support Goran Dragic’s farewell game

The 2024 NBA Free Agency underway. Here's everything you need to know about the makings and the moves around the NBA.

2024 NBA Free Agency Tracker: All the signings and deals in the offseason

NBA free agency has died down and the 2023-24 NBA season is nearly three months away. This is why August is known as the dog days of the NBA calendar.
However, NBA fans will be able to watch some of their favorite players in action very soon, as the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup tips off tomorrow.
From Nov. 2021 through Feb. 2023, 80 countries battled for a spot in the World Cup but only 32 national teams qualified. There are a ton of NBA players participating, as Team USA has a talented young roster and they'll be facing stars such as Luka Doncic, Karl-Anthony Towns, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lauri Markkanen and Rudy Gobert.
Here's everything you need to know about the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
WHEN IS IT?
World Cup games will be played Aug. 25 through Sept. 10. There have been a number of warm-up games in recent weeks, but the real action tips off tomorrow.
First Round (Group Phase): Aug. 25-30 Second Round (Group Phase): Aug. 31 - Sept. 4 Quarterfinals: Sept. 5-6 Semifinals: Sept. 8 Final: Sept. 10 Third-Place Game: Sept. 10
The <a href="https://www.nba.com/news/fiba-basketball-world-cup-2023-schedule" target="_blank" rel="noopener">full schedule of games can be found here</a>.
WHERE IS IT?&nbsp;
For the first time ever, the FIBA Basketball World Cup will feature three host countries: the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.
WHICH COUNTRIES QUALIFIED?
These are the 32 countries that will be participating in the 2023 FIBA World Cup: Angola, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cape Verde, China, Cote d&rsquo;Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iran, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mexico, Montenegro, New Zealand, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Serbia, Slovenia, South Sudan, Spain, United States and Venezuela.
These are the groups for the first round:
Group A:&nbsp;Angola, Dominican Republic, Philippines, Italy
Group B:&nbsp;&nbsp;South Sudan, Serbia, China, Puerto Rico
(Groups A and B will play their games at Araneta Coliseum in the Philippines)
Group C:&nbsp;Team USA, Jordan, Greece, New Zealand
Group D:&nbsp;Egypt, Mexico, Montenegro, Lithuania
(Groups C and D will play their games at Mall of Asia Arena in the Philippines)
Group E:&nbsp;Germany, Finland, Australia, Japan
Group F:&nbsp;Slovenia, Cape Verde, Georgia, Venezuela
(Groups E and F will play their games at Okinawa Arena in Japan)
Group G:&nbsp;Iran, Spain, Cote d&rsquo;Ivoire, Brazil
Group H:&nbsp;Canada, Latvia, Lebanon, France
(Groups G and H will play their games at Jakarta Arena in Indonesia)
WHICH NBA PLAYERS ARE COMPETING?
There are quite a few NBA players participating in this tournament. The <a href="https://www.nba.com/news/fiba-world-cup-roster-tracker-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">full list can be found here</a>, but below are the national teams that feature notable NBA players:
Group A
Dominican Republic: Karl-Anthony Towns (Minnesota Timberwolves), Lester Quinones (Golden State Warriors)
Philippines: Jordan Clarkson&nbsp;(Utah Jazz)
Group B
China: Kyle Anderson&nbsp;(Minnesota Timberwolves)
Serbia: Bogdan Bogdanovic (Atlanta Hawks), Aleksej Pokusevski (Oklahoma City Thunder), Nikola Jovic (Miami Heat)
Group C
Greece: Thanasis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks)
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United States: Paolo Banchero (Orlando Magic), Mikal Bridges (Brooklyn Nets), Jalen Brunson (New York Knicks), Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves), Tyrese Haliburton (Indiana Pacers), Josh Hart (New York Knicks), Brandon Ingram (New Orleans Pelicans), Jaren Jackson Jr. (Memphis Grizzlies), Cameron Johnson (Brooklyn Nets), Walker Kessler (Utah Jazz), Bobby Portis (Milwaukee Bucks), Austin Reaves (Los Angeles Lakers)

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Group D
Lithuania: Jonas Valanciunas (New Orleans Pelicans)
Montenegro: Nikola Vucevic (Chicago Bulls)
Group E
Australia: Josh Giddey (Oklahoma City Thunder), Patty Mills (Atlanta Hawks), Matisse Thybulle (Portland Trail Blazers) Josh Green (Dallas Mavericks), Joe Ingles (Orlando Magic), Dyson Daniels (New Orleans Pelicans), Dante Exum (Dallas Mavericks), Jock Landale (Houston Rockets), Xavier Cooks (Washington Wizards)
Finland: Lauri Markkanen (Utah Jazz)
Germany: Franz Wagner (Orlando Magic), Dennis Schroder (Toronto Raptors), Moritz Wagner (Orlando Magic), Daniel Theis (Indiana Pacers),&nbsp;
Japan: Yuta Watanabe (Phoenix Suns)
Group F
Georgia: Goga Bitadze (Orlando Magic), Sandro Mamukelashvili (San Antonio Spurs)
Slovenia: Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks)
Group G
Brazil: Raul Neto (Cleveland Cavaliers)
Spain: Santi Aldama (Memphis Grizzlies), Usman Garuba (Atlanta Hawks)
Group H
Canada: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder), R.J. Barrett (New York Knicks), Dillon Brooks (Houston Rockets), Lu Dort (Oklahoma City Thunder), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Minnesota Timberwolves), Dwight Powell (Dallas Mavericks)
France: Rudy Gobert (Minnesota Timberwolves), Nicolas Batum (Los Angeles Clippers), Evan Fournier (New York Knicks), Frank Ntilikina (Charlotte Hornets)
Latvia: Davis Bertans (Oklahoma City Thunder)
HOW TO WATCH
FIBA recently announced that all 92 World Cup games will be available across ESPN's platforms. Six games will air on ESPN2 (including Team USA's three first-round games), while the other 86 games will be available on ESPN+.
FIBA&rsquo;s official streaming service, <a href="https://www.courtside1891.basketball/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Courtside 1891</a>, will also air the games live and on-demand. If you're interested in Courtside 1891, FIBA is offering our readers 20% off their World Cup bundle. Follow the instructions below if you'd like to use the 20% discount:
<ul style="font-weight: 400;">
<li><a href="https://www.courtside1891.basketball/choose-a-package" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click this link</a> and you&rsquo;ll get a prompt to register</li>
<li>You&rsquo;ll then be redirected to the choose-a-package page</li>
<li>Select the &lsquo;Max &ndash; World Cup Bundle&rsquo;&nbsp;</li>
<li>Use the discount code FIBAWCAK to get 20% off</li>
</ul>
Enjoy the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, and hopefully the dog days of summer will fly by quickly!

The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup tips off tomorrow. Here's everything you need to know about the tournament.

Everything you need to know about the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup

Earlier this summer, the Golden State Warriors turned heads when they acquired Chris Paul from the Washington Wizards in exchange for Jordan Poole, Patrick Baldwin Jr., Ryan Rollins, a 2023 first-round pick, 2027 second-round pick and cash considerations.&nbsp;
After averaging 13.9 points, 8.9 assists and 4.3 rebounds last season, the 38-year-old Paul is looking to add a championship to his resume and prove that he can still produce at a high level.&nbsp;
This might be the most unique role of Paul's 19-year career. Not only do the Warriors already have a Hall-of-Fame-caliber backcourt with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, Draymond Green regularly handles floor-general duties. This means the Point God will have to adapt.
Given Golden State's personnel, many have considered the possibility of Paul coming off the bench, including Warriors coach Steve Kerr. Back in August, Kerr said Paul's role is something that would be decided during training camp.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think that&rsquo;ll be a case where you get three weeks of training camp before that first game," Kerr said, according to <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/38136099/steve-kerr-warriors-adding-chris-paul-look-all-kinds-starter-combinations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN's Tim Bontemps</a>. "We&rsquo;ll just look at all kinds of different combinations.&nbsp;The main thing is we know all those guys are going to play a lot of minutes. 
"But the luxury of having Chris Paul to add to this group that we've been lucky enough to have for a decade [is] pretty remarkable. He is one of the great competitors in the game. He's one of the great point guards of all-time. I think he's a great addition for us, because of his ability to control games, control tempo, take care of the ball."
When Paul was asked about potentially coming off the bench, he seemed irritated and asked the reporter his own question: &ldquo;You coaching?&rdquo;&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Chris Paul responds to potentially coming off the Warriors&rsquo; bench: <a href="https://t.co/FbDd0SGqLm">pic.twitter.com/FbDd0SGqLm</a>
&mdash; Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCSWarriors/status/1678234187982327809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 10, 2023</a></blockquote>

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The 12-time All-Star has never been a reserve. Counting the regular season and playoffs, Paul has played in 1,363 NBA games and he's started every single one. Paul&rsquo;s hesitation may be enough to prevent the Warriors from bringing him off the bench to start the season. Regardless, inserting Paul into the starting lineup could prove beneficial if done correctly. 
Yes, Paul will have to adjust and learn how to play alongside Golden State's other starters. However, he has shown that he's willing to make sacrifices and give someone else the keys to the offense. During his stint with the Houston Rockets, Paul shared play-making duties with James Harden. While Paul and Harden were unsuccessful in their quest for a title (thanks in large part to the Warriors), Paul proved he could be effective in that role &ndash; splitting creation duties and playing off-ball at times.
However, Paul's best days are clearly behind him, and it's possible that the Warriors will ask him to accept a sixth-man role. Some legends have a difficult time transitioning to a lesser role as they get older, while others are fine with coming off the bench. Last season, there was a lot of discussion surrounding Russell Westbrook's role with the Los Angeles Lakers, and the future Hall-of-Famer ultimately came off the bench in 49 of his 52 games with the Lakers before getting traded in February.
Paul has a history of accelerating the development of his young teammates, and Golden State's second unit features a number of talented prospects who could benefit from his tutelage (including Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody and Brandin Podziemski). 
With all this in mind, it will be interesting to see how Kerr and his staff decide to utilize Paul entering opening night and whether he remains in that role for the entirety of the season.

Will Chris Paul start next to Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson or will Paul have to come off the bench for the first time in his career?

Breaking down the new-look Warriors: Will Chris Paul start?

One of the most underrated honors in all of basketball is the NBA&rsquo;s Most Improved Player award. 
The league is full of young, developing talents, so being selected as the player who made the biggest strides is an incredible accomplishment. This award can also be a testament to getting your career back on the right track, as was the case with last year's recipient Lauri Markkanen. Many people were ready to give up on Markkanen becoming a star-caliber player, but a change of scenery allowed him to emerge as an All-Star and post career-highs across the board with the Utah Jazz. 
The race for this year's Most Improved Player award will be very interesting, as the last few drafts featured a plethora of talent. Here are my top-five candidates for the Most Improved Player award entering the 2023-24 NBA season:
1. Mikal Bridges, Brooklyn Nets
Mikal Bridges' play became one of the most fascinating storylines during the second half of last season. Bridges was known as an elite second or third option, but he stepped up as the Brooklyn Nets' No. 1 scorer after they acquired him from the Phoenix Suns as part of the Kevin Durant blockbuster trade. Whenever a team is trading one of the best players of all-time, it's difficult to get equal value in return. However, this deal ended up being a win-win. As soon as Bridges was traded to Brooklyn, he made an immediate impact on both ends. The Nets were projected to fall in the standings and miss the playoffs. However, Bridges had something to say about that. 
In 27 games with Brooklyn, Bridges averaged 26.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2.5 threes and a steal, while shooting 47.5% from the field, 37.6% from three and 89.4% from the free-throw line. These are elite numbers. On the season, Bridges played 83 games and averaged 20.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists. These are still great numbers, but it's clear that he took his game another level during the small sample size we saw of him in Brooklyn. If he can produce at that level over a full season and continue to thrive as the Nets' first option, he will, without a doubt, win the Most Improved Player award. <a href="https://www.vegasinsider.com/nba/odds/most-improved/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars and BetMGM</a> currently have Bridges as the favorite to win the award.
2. Alperen Sengun, Houston Rockets
One of the most underrated candidates for this award is the young Turkish star Alperen Sengun. In just two seasons, Sengun has become one of the better offensive centers in the league. The Houston Rockets big man was very productive in 28.9 minutes per game, and he could take a massive leap this season. He finished last year averaging 14.8 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.9 assists, which is already very solid for a young center. However, his per-36 averages were 18.4 points, 11.2 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.2 blocks and 1.2 steals &ndash; fantastic numbers for a second-year player. 
With his minutes likely increasing and Sengun continuing to develop, he could be in for a huge season. The Rockets are looking to climb up the Western Conference standings after adding Fred VanVleet, Amen Thompson and Dillon Brooks this summer, and Sengun could play a major role in their turnaround. Sengun has the fourth-best odds in the Most Improved Player race <a href="https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/navigation/nba?tab=player-awards" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on FanDuel</a>.
3. Austin Reaves, Los Angeles Lakers
Despite entering last season as a role player for the Los Angeles Lakers, Austin Reaves has become a household name among NBA fans. Prior to his game being on display with Team USA as they compete for the World Cup, Reaves put on a show in the postseason for the Lakers. During the regular season, Reaves averaged 13.0 points, 3.4 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.3 threes on 52.9/39.8/86.4 shooting splits. 
Then, in the playoffs, Reaves made a huge leap and averaged 16.9 points, 4.6 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 2.4 threes on 46.4/44.3/89.5 shooting splits. He displayed abilities that were far beyond those of a role player, and he will prove to be a very important piece for this Lakers team next season. Reaves&rsquo; success didn&rsquo;t go unnoticed, as the Lakers signed him to a four-year, $53 million contract this offseason. Reaves has the fourth-best Most Improved Player odds <a href="https://sportsbook.draftkings.com/leagues/basketball/42648?category=awards&amp;subcategory=most-improved-player" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on DraftKings</a>.&nbsp;
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4. Shaedon Sharpe, Portland Trail Blazers
It&rsquo;s pretty rare to see a player win the Most Improved Player award in their second season. In fact, it has only happened seven times in NBA history, and the last sophomore to win the award was Monta Ellis back in 2007. That said, if any of this year's sophomores can do it, it&rsquo;s Portland Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe. With all of the drama surrounding Damian Lillard's trade request this summer, the Blazers aren&rsquo;t exactly in the best position heading into next season. But Sharpe might be able to thrive in this environment, especially if the Blazers' impending rebuild leads to significantly more playing time. 
Sharpe played just 22 minutes per game last season, and his per-36 numbers were impressive for a rookie: 16.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.1 threes and 1.9 assists. Sharpe should absolutely play 30 minutes per game next season, and he will have an opportunity to join the 20 points-per-game club. He could make a leap similar to what we saw from Tyrese Maxey in his second season. Sophomores have a tough time winning this award, especially if they were drafted very high, since drastic improvements are expected in their second season. Sharpe was the No. 7 overall pick in last year's draft, so he'll need to really turn heads in order to win this award.
5. Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons
While Cade Cunningham has the second-best odds to win the Most Improved Player award <a href="https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/navigation/nba?tab=player-awards" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on FanDuel</a>, he is a very hard player to evaluate in this context. Cunningham has already played elite basketball in his young NBA career, but he appeared in just 12 games last season, leaving us with a very small sample size to analyze. The Detroit Pistons have certainly made improvements to their roster, but it remains to be seen whether they'll help Cunningham's stats (since he'll be surrounded by more weapons to distribute to) or hurt them (since they'll take away some of his touches). 
That said, he will likely be an elite scorer regardless of his supporting cast. Having him listed this low isn&rsquo;t a slight; he'll very likely emerge as a star next season. It&rsquo;s just hard to imagine him showing more improvement than other players on this list, partially because he's already looked so good at times. It's also worth noting that just one No. 1 overall pick has won the Most Improved Player award in NBA history: Pervis Ellison in 1992. Cunningham&rsquo;s biggest concern in terms of improvement this season should be games played. 
Honorable Mention: Josh Giddey, Scottie Barnes, Paolo Banchero, Tyrese Maxey, Jordan Poole

Hunter Simpson shares his top-five candidates for the Most Improved Player award entering the 2023-24 NBA season.

5 NBA players to watch in the 2023-24 Most Improved Player race

Most NBA teams have a young core of some sort, but some are better than others.
Each year, teams try to add to their young nucleus through the draft. The 2023 NBA Draft just featured the most highly-anticipated prospect since LeBron James in Victor Wembanyama, plus a number of other talented rookies like Scoot Henderson, Brandon Miller and the Thompson twins.
Entering the 2023-24 season, which team has the best young core? Today, we'll rank the five best cores from around the league. The criteria is simple: players must be age-25 or younger to be considered.
5. Orlando Magic&nbsp;
The Magic landed young star Paolo Banchero with the No. 1 overall pick last season, pairing him with 2021 lottery pick Franz Wagner to form a nice one-two punch. Cole Anthony had high expectations entering the league, but he hasn't quite become the player that fans wanted him to be. One player who has exceeded expectations is Wendell Carter Jr. After a shaky start to his career with the Chicago Bulls, Carter has found his place on the Magic and is considered one of the better young starting centers in the NBA. He isn't the only player who turned his career around after landing in Orlando, as Markelle Fultz is playing his best basketball and has a nice redemption story of his own. Other young players who have an opportunity to make an impact going forward are Orlando's recent lottery picks Anthony Black and Jett Howard, both of whom are 19 years old. Orlando has consistently been one of the worst teams in the league for several years now and while their rebuilding roster is solid, it isn&rsquo;t quite as good or enticing as some of the other teams on our list.
Notable Players: Paolo Banchero (20), Franz Wagner (23), Wendell Carter Jr. (24), Anthony Black (19), Jett Howard (19), Markelle Fultz (25), Cole Anthony (23), Jalen Suggs (21), Jonathan Isaac (25), Caleb Houstan (20)
4. New Orleans Pelicans
The Pelicans are the only young core on this list with postseason experience, as they made the playoffs in 2021-22 and made the play-in tournament last season. Their young core is largely carried by four players: Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy III and Herb Jones. Ingram has become a terrific scorer, and he's coming off a season in which he averaged career-highs in points (24.7) and assists (5.8). While Williamson has been one of the best players in the NBA when healthy, we haven&rsquo;t seen him on the court very much since he was drafted in 2019. Murphy is a terrific shooter and Jones has had a very solid start to his career as well, making a name for himself as a lockdown perimeter defender. New Orleans has a few other young players with potential including Dyson Daniels, Jordan Hawkins and Kira Lewis Jr., but they have yet to prove themselves. Ingram, Williamson, Murphy and Jones are the main reason why the Pelicans are ranked here.
Notable Players: Brandon Ingram (25), Zion Williamson (23), Trey Murphy III (23), Herb Jones (24), Dyson Daniels (20), Jordan Hawkins (21), Kira Lewis Jr. (22)
3. Houston Rockets
The Rockets have one of the more underrated young cores in the NBA, as their lack of success has prevented them from getting much recognition. Fortunately for the Rockets, their main issue has been lack of experience, and the team addressed it this offseason. They had money to spend and they brought in some veterans to help lead the team, most notably Fred VanVleet. That said, their young core is still extremely talented and got even better through this year&rsquo;s draft. The key for this Rockets team to succeed is to make sure these young players continue to develop at a high rate, which is where new head coach Ime Udoka and his staff come in. They have multiple players on their roster with All-Star potential, and it's possible they'll compete for a play-in spot by the end of the season.
Notable Players: Jalen Green (21), Jabari Smith (20), Alperen Sengun (21), Amen Thompson (20), Tari Eason (22), Kevin Porter Jr. (23), Cam Whitmore (19)
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2. San Antonio Spurs&nbsp;
The Spurs undoubtedly have one of the NBA's best young cores. No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama has made San Antonio the team to watch this season. That said, they likely won&rsquo;t be a playoff team for at least another year. While it's possible that they'll shock everyone, it will be difficult for Wembanyama to lead them to the postseason as a rookie. He will likely need at least a year to adjust to the NBA and develop before taking that next leap in his career. Wembanyama isn&rsquo;t the only young star on the Spurs, as they have already started developing fellow cornerstones Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson, who have made quite an impression. Throw in Tre Jones, Jeremy Sochan, Malaki Branham, Romeo Langford and Blake Wesley, and it's clear why the Spurs are this high. Other young players who have shown promise are Charles Bassey and Julian Champagnie, both of whom came over from the Philadelphia 76ers&rsquo; organization. These two players have displayed a ton of potential, particularly in the G League and Summer League, and they could be solid contributors for years to come.&nbsp;
Notable Players: Victor Wembanyama (19), Keldon Johnson (23), Tre Jones (23), Devin Vassell (22), Jeremy Sochan (20), Malaki Branham (20), Romeo Langford (23), Zach Collins (25), Blake Wesley (20), Julian Champagnie (22), Charles Bassey (22), Dominick Barlow (20), Sandro Mamukelashvili (24)
1. Oklahoma City Thunder
The Spurs were a hard core to beat but, to nobody&rsquo;s surprise, the Oklahoma City Thunder have the best young core in the NBA. Not only do they have the youngest starting lineup in the league, it is filled with young stars. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has emerged as one of the best guards in the league, while Josh Giddey and Rookie-of-the-Year runner-up Jalen Williams just had a terrific season. Chet Holmgren, the No. 2 overall pick in last year's draft, hasn't played yet but he will undoubtedly make an immediate impact and could give OKC a Rookie-of-the-Year finalist for the second year in a row. Despite how young the Thunder are, they could make a serious playoff push this season, with Shai at the steering wheel. Perhaps what's scariest about the Thunder is that they have 35 draft picks over the next seven years, including 15 first-rounders, so their already-impressive young core is still a work in progress.
Notable Players: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (25), Chet Holmgren (21), Josh Giddey (20), Jalen Williams (22), Cason Wallace (19), Luguentz Dort (24), Aleksej Pokusevski (21), Isaiah Joe (24), Tre Mann (22), Jaylin Williams (21), Ousmane Dieng (20), Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (22), Keyontae Johnson (23)

Entering the 2023-24 season, which NBA teams have the best young core? Hunter Simpson ranks the best cores from around the league.

Ranking the NBA's top-5 young cores entering the 2023-24 season

The NBA today released its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nba.com/schedule?cal=all&amp;pd=false" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nba.com/schedule?cal%3Dall%26pd%3Dfalse&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1692389495539000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3UKMdLdmCgRuwOVnoqJhZk">complete game schedule</a>&nbsp;and broadcast schedules for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nba.com/schedule?bc=TNT&amp;cal=all&amp;pd=false" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nba.com/schedule?bc%3DTNT%26cal%3Dall%26pd%3Dfalse&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1692389495539000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0dl47ggg01xhI9Slh8akFg">TNT</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nba.com/schedule?bc=ESPN&amp;cal=all&amp;pd=false" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nba.com/schedule?bc%3DESPN%26cal%3Dall%26pd%3Dfalse&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1692389495539000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3Zq8KLI6FwgBYxw8RssYGU">ESPN</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nba.com/schedule?bc=ABC&amp;cal=all&amp;pd=false" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nba.com/schedule?bc%3DABC%26cal%3Dall%26pd%3Dfalse&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1692389495539000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0XDRAL9gESfsLL555jZVej">ABC</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nba.com/schedule?bc=NBA%20TV&amp;cal=all&amp;pd=false" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nba.com/schedule?bc%3DNBA%2520TV%26cal%3Dall%26pd%3Dfalse&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1692389495539000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3u39ptiXTP6ec6QWyexVit">NBA TV</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://pr.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2023/08/2023-24-ESPN-Radio-Schedule.pdf" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://pr.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2023/08/2023-24-ESPN-Radio-Schedule.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1692389495539000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3uOxPbew4nRhWTgpaioXEZ">ESPN Radio</a> for the 2023-24 regular season. The day-by-day and team-by-team schedules are available at <a href="https://www.nba.com/schedule" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nba.com/schedule&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1692389495539000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1kVm4DNQD4gQCT4klGOgI7">NBA.com/schedule</a>.
The 78th NBA regular season will tip off on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023, and conclude on Sunday, April 14, 2024. The 2024 NBA Play-In Tournament will take place from Tuesday, April 16 &ndash; Friday, April 19, followed by the start of the 2024 NBA Playoffs presented by Google Pixel on Saturday, April 20.&nbsp; Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals presented by YouTube TV is set for Thursday, June 6.&nbsp;
The regular-season schedule includes defined dates and opponents for 80 of each team&rsquo;s 82 games, along with two games designated as TBD dates and opponents.&nbsp; Those two games for each team, to be played the week of Dec. 4, will be determined based on the results of Group Play games in the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament.&nbsp; The Group Play game schedule (Nov. 3-28)&nbsp;<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-announces-group-play-schedule-for-inaugural-inseason-tournament" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nba.com/news/2023-nba-in-season-tournament-schedule&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1692389495539000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2Wy3gv1TGdjjW8ITK3MXNW">was announced</a>&nbsp;on Aug. 15.&nbsp;
Kia NBA Tip-Off 2023
The first five days of the 2023-24 NBA regular season (Oct. 24-28) will feature 10 national television games as part of Kia NBA Tip-Off 2023, with two doubleheaders each on TNT and ESPN and one on NBA TV.&nbsp; Those games will showcase 14 different teams, three rematches from the 2023 NBA Playoffs and rosters that currently include 17 NBA All-Star selections from last season and seven recipients of the Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award.&nbsp;
The regular season will begin on Tuesday, Oct. 24 with a doubleheader on TNT, marking Warner Bros. Discovery Sports&rsquo; 40th&nbsp;consecutive year of NBA coverage.&nbsp; In the first game, the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets will receive their championship rings before hosting the Los Angeles Lakers in a rematch of last season&rsquo;s Western Conference Finals (7:30 p.m. ET).&nbsp; In the second game, the Phoenix Suns will visit the Golden State Warriors (10 p.m. ET) as three-time NBA All-Star Bradley Beal of Phoenix and 12-time NBA All-Star Chris Paul of Golden State make regular-season debuts with new teams and Paul faces the team for whom he played the previous three seasons.&nbsp;&nbsp;
ESPN will tip off its 22nd&nbsp;straight season of NBA telecasts on Wednesday, Oct. 25 with a doubleheader, which begins with the Boston Celtics visiting the New York Knicks (7 p.m. ET) in a matchup of teams that reached the Eastern Conference Finals and Eastern Conference Semifinals, respectively, last season.&nbsp; The San Antonio Spurs will host the Dallas Mavericks in the second game (9:30 p.m. ET), marking the NBA regular-season debut of 2023 first overall draft pick Victor Wembanyama of San Antonio.&nbsp;
On Thursday, Oct. 26, intraconference rivalries will highlight TNT&rsquo;s doubleheader as the Milwaukee Bucks host the Philadelphia 76ers (7:30 p.m. ET) and the Suns take on the Lakers in Los Angeles (10 p.m. ET).&nbsp; ESPN&rsquo;s doubleheader on Friday, Oct. 27 will have the Miami Heat meeting the Celtics in Boston (7:30 p.m. ET) and the Warriors visiting the Sacramento Kings (10 p.m. ET) &ndash; rematches from seven-game playoff series in last season&rsquo;s Eastern Conference Finals and Western Conference First Round, respectively.
NBA TV will begin its live game coverage of the new season on Saturday, Oct. 28 as the Knicks visit the New Orleans Pelicans (7 p.m. ET) and the Suns host the Utah Jazz (10 p.m. ET).
Christmas Day
The NBA will feature five games on Christmas Day (Monday, Dec. 25) for the 16th year in a row, with ABC or ESPN televising each matchup.&nbsp; The 76th&nbsp;edition of the NBA on Christmas Day will tip off on ESPN as the Bucks face the Knicks in New York (noon ET).
The next two games will air on both ABC and ESPN.&nbsp; The two most recent recipients of the Larry O&rsquo;Brien Trophy will go head-to-head when the 2022 NBA champion Warriors visit the 2023 NBA champion Nuggets (2:30 p.m. ET).&nbsp; Next, the Lakers will host the Celtics (5 p.m. ET) as the longtime rivals meet on Christmas Day for the first time in 15 years.&nbsp;
The Christmas Day schedule will conclude with two more games on ESPN, with the 76ers taking on the Heat in Miami (8 p.m. ET) and the Mavericks playing the Suns in Phoenix (10:30 p.m. ET).
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
On Monday, Jan. 15, the NBA family will celebrate one of its most important traditions by honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.&nbsp;
The celebration will include four nationally televised games.&nbsp; In a TNT doubleheader, the Atlanta Hawks will face the Spurs (3:30 p.m. ET) and the Grizzlies will meet the Warriors (6 p.m. ET) as Atlanta and Memphis continue their traditions of hosting games on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.&nbsp; NBA TV will also air two games: Houston Rockets at 76ers (1 p.m. ET) and Oklahoma City Thunder at Lakers (10:30 p.m. ET).&nbsp;
NBA Rivals Week
Classic and budding rivalries between teams and players will take center stage for the second annual NBA Rivals Week in January.&nbsp; Rivalries will be the focus of all 11 nationally televised games across four networks (TNT, ESPN, ABC and NBA TV) over five days from Tuesday, Jan. 23 &ndash; Saturday, Jan. 27.&nbsp;
NBA Rivals Week will culminate with an ABC tripleheader on Jan. 27, including 2023 Conference Semifinals rematches between the Heat and Knicks in New York (3 p.m. ET) and the Lakers and Warriors in San Francisco (8:30 p.m. ET).&nbsp; In between those two games, reigning Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid and the 76ers will visit two-time Kia NBA MVP Nikola Jokić and the Nuggets (5:30 p.m. ET) in a matchup of centers who have been the top two finishers in MVP voting in each of the last three seasons.&nbsp;&nbsp;
The complete game and broadcast schedule for NBA Rivals Week is available&nbsp;<a href="https://pr.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2023/08/2023-24-NBA-Rivals-Week-Schedule.pdf" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://pr.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2023/08/2023-24-NBA-Rivals-Week-Schedule.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1692389495539000&amp;usg=AOvVaw34hW93kiZuMlb7GIJyI3uH">here</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Election Day
For the second consecutive season, no NBA games have been scheduled for Election Day (Tuesday, Nov. 7) as the league will continue to encourage fans and the broader NBA community to make a plan to vote and participate in the civic process.&nbsp; As part of this initiative, the NBA will share important resources from voting organizations and highlight the civic engagement work of teams in their markets.
Final Day of Regular Season
All 30 teams will play on the final day of the regular season (Sunday, April 14).&nbsp; In an effort to maximize competitive fairness, the seven games between Eastern Conference teams will begin at 1 p.m. ET, and the seven games between Western Conference teams and the one cross-conference game will start at 3:30 p.m. ET.&nbsp;&nbsp;ESPN will televise a doubleheader, with the matchups to be determined at a later date.
NBA Global Games
NBA TV will televise both Global Games on the 2023-24 regular-season schedule.&nbsp; As previously announced, the Hawks will meet the Orlando Magic in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nba.com/news/hawks-magic-mexico-city-game-on-nov-9" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nba.com/news/hawks-magic-mexico-city-game-on-nov-9&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1692389495539000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3b23BLw0qM8P4gkW7YsOFM">The NBA Mexico City Game 2023</a>&nbsp;on Thursday, Nov. 9 at the Arena CDMX in Mexico City (9:30 p.m. ET), and the Brooklyn Nets will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nba.com/news/nets-cavaliers-regular-season-game-paris-2024" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nba.com/news/nets-cavaliers-regular-season-game-paris-2024&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1692389495539000&amp;usg=AOvVaw03nCIevQ5K0lMxDJpqcSdX">The NBA Paris Game 2024</a>&nbsp;on Thursday, Jan. 11 at the Accor Arena in Paris (2 p.m. ET).
NBA In-Season Tournament
NBA-In-Season Tournament Group Play games for all 30 teams will take place on Tuesdays and Fridays in November, with TNT, ESPN and NBA TV&nbsp;<a href="https://ak-static.cms.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2023/08/NBA-In-Season-Tournament-National-TV-Schedule-as-of-8-15-23.pdf" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://ak-static.cms.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2023/08/NBA-In-Season-Tournament-National-TV-Schedule-as-of-8-15-23.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1692389495540000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3hCducKp9wMT86T8Fxi6kF">combining to televise 16 games</a>.&nbsp; Eight teams will advance to the Knockout Rounds, which consist of single-elimination games in the Quarterfinals (Monday, Dec. 4 and Tuesday, Dec. 5), Semifinals (Thursday, Dec. 7) and Championship (Saturday, Dec. 9).&nbsp; The national broadcast schedule for the Knockout Rounds will be announced at a later date.&nbsp;&nbsp;
More National Television Matchups
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">2023 NBA Finals rematches between the Nuggets and Heat will take place on Thursday, Feb. 29 in Denver on TNT (10 p.m. ET) and on Wednesday, March 13 in Miami on ESPN (7:30 p.m. ET). </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">The top two picks in the 2023 NBA Draft &ndash; No. 1 pick Wembanyama of the Spurs and No. 2 pick Brandon Miller of the Charlotte Hornets &ndash; are scheduled to meet for the first time in the regular season when San Antonio hosts Charlotte on Friday, Jan. 12 on ESPN (10 p.m. ET). </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Also on Jan. 12, ESPN will present the first nationally televised matchup between twin brothers and NBA rookies Amen Thompson of the Rockets and Ausar Thompson of the Detroit Pistons &ndash; the fourth and fifth picks in the 2023 NBA Draft, respectively &ndash; when Houston visits Detroit (7:30 p.m. ET). </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Three-time NBA Hustle Award recipient and 2021-22 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart of the Grizzlies, who played the previous nine seasons with the Celtics, will play his first game in Boston as a visitor on Sunday, Feb. 4 on ESPN (6 p.m. ET).&nbsp;&nbsp; </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">The first national television matchup between the top two picks in the 2022 NBA Draft &ndash; No. 1 pick and 2022-23 Kia NBA Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero of the Magic and No. 2 pick Chet Holmgren of the Thunder &ndash; is set for Tuesday, Feb. 13 in Orlando on TNT (7:30 p.m. ET).&nbsp; </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Leading into NBA All-Star 2024, TNT will feature a single game on Thursday, Feb. 15, with the Bucks visiting the Grizzlies (8:30 p.m. ET).&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Additional Schedule Highlights
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">All 30 teams are scheduled to make at least one appearance on TNT or ESPN in the 2023-24 regular season.&nbsp;The NBA on TNT, ESPN, ABC and NBA TV will present flexible scheduling throughout the regular season to provide the most compelling matchups to a national audience. </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">The team average for back-to-backs involving travel between games has been reduced to a record-low 9.0.&nbsp; The previous low was 9.6 last season. </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Primetime weeknight doubleheaders across TNT (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and ESPN (Wednesdays and Fridays) will again be played at 7:30 p.m. ET/10 p.m. ET except for one instance during the first week of the season. </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">ABC will televise 16 games as part of its two weekend series,NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC(which tips off with the Jan. 27 tripleheader during NBA Rivals Week) and&nbsp;NBA Sunday Showcase&nbsp;(which begins with Celtics at Heat on Feb. 11 at 2 p.m. ET). </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">NBA TV will featureCenter Courtthroughout the season, the network&rsquo;s marquee night of programming, which incorporates enhanced viewing options into an originally produced telecast.&nbsp; In the season debut of the franchise, the Warriors will visit the Pelicans on Monday, Oct. 30 (8 p.m. ET).&nbsp;&nbsp; </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">ESPN Radio will broadcast 25 games in the regular season, including Nuggets-Lakers on opening night, Knicks-Bucks and Nuggets-Warriors on Christmas Day, and Hawks-Spurs on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">NBA League Pass will offer live, out-of-market games all season through the NBA App, NBA.com, connected televisions and TV providers.&nbsp; Fans can unlock direct access to stream matchups featuring their favorite teams and players with NBA League Pass (blackout restrictions apply).&nbsp; For more information, visit<a href="https://nba.com/leaguepass" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://nba.com/leaguepass&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1692389495540000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3Q2AbUj62xoWwlMkvv_tP5">NBA.com/leaguepass</a>. </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">The regular season will feature 39 games that will air in primetime in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) as part of &ldquo;NBA Saturdays and NBA Sundays presented by NBA 2K23.&rdquo;&nbsp; </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">The 2024 NBA Finals presented by YouTube TV and the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals will be exclusively televised by ABC and ESPN/ABC, respectively.&nbsp; TNT will exclusively televise the 2024 Western Conference Finals and the 2024 NBA All-Star Game, which will be played on Sunday, Feb. 18 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">NBA games and programming are available in 214 countries and territories in more than 50 languages.</li>
</ul>

The NBA released the complete schedule for the 2023-24 regular season.

NBA releases schedule for 2023-24 regular season

We may be entering uncharted waters regarding the James Harden situation in Philadelphia.&nbsp;
The 10-time All-Star spoke at an Adidas media event in China earlier today and had some choice words about 76ers president Daryl Morey.
&ldquo;Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he&rsquo;s a part of," Harden said. "Let me say that again: Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he&rsquo;s a part of again."
This comes in response to <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/38180876/76ers-ending-trade-talks-james-harden-sources-say" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN&rsquo;s Adrian Wojnarowski's report</a> on Saturday that the Sixers were <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/report-sixers-ending-trade-talks-involving-james-harden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">taking Harden off the trade market</a> and expecting Harden to show up for training camp.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
James Harden: &ldquo;Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be part of an organization that he&rsquo;s a part of. Let me say that again: Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be part of an organization that he&rsquo;s a part of again.&rdquo; 😳 <a href="https://t.co/r2Gv07wAH7">pic.twitter.com/r2Gv07wAH7</a>
&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1691039621776379904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 14, 2023</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

The root of Harden&rsquo;s displeasure with Morey and the front office comes from the team&rsquo;s unwillingness to offer him a long-term maximum-level contract extension, according to Wojnarowski.&nbsp;
The Sixers had preliminary conversations with the Los Angeles Clippers, Harden&rsquo;s desired destination, but no deal came close to materializing. This was partially due to the Clippers' unwillingness to part ways with Terance Mann as well as Morey's insistence in getting a star-level return for a player of Harden&rsquo;s caliber.
Despite being reportedly taken off the trade market, Harden&rsquo;s desire to play elsewhere has not changed, and he still does not plan to report to training camp, according to <a href="https://theathletic.com/4771337/2023/08/12/james-harden-sixers-trade/?access_token=126038&amp;redirected=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Athletic&rsquo;s Sam Amick</a>. Given his recent comments, one would certainly not expect Harden to change his mind anytime soon.
Harden has already shown his ability to &ldquo;stir the pot&rdquo; when it comes to forcing his way to a new destination. In 2020, Harden requested a trade from the Houston Rockets and when they didn't deal him prior to the start of the season, he responded by showing up late and out-of-shape to training camp and making disparaging comments toward his teammates once the season started. These actions ultimately led to the Rockets dealing the star guard to Brooklyn, where he asked out again just a year later.
However, Harden&rsquo;s request out of Philadelphia differs for two main reasons: his contract and Morey.&nbsp;
In June, he unexpectedly accepted his $35.6 million player option for the 2023-24 season and, in turn, asked to be sent elsewhere. Under this contract agreement, Harden is set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. If the star guard is adamant about not playing again for the Sixers, he may face some challenges in holding out of training camp.
As relayed by <a href="https://twitter.com/BobbyMarks42/status/1691064721825513474" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN&rsquo;s front office insider Bobby Marks</a>, the NBA&rsquo;s Collective Bargaining Agreement has specific guidelines for players withholding their services in the final year of their contract.
&ldquo;Withholding services: A player who withholds playing services called for by a Player Contract for more than thirty (30) days after the start of the last season covered by his Player Contract shall be deemed not to have &lsquo;complet[ed] his Player Contract by rendering the playing services called for thereunder,&rdquo; Marks <a href="https://twitter.com/BobbyMarks42/status/1691064721825513474" target="_blank" rel="noopener">conveyed</a> on Twitter. &ldquo;Accordingly, such a player shall not be a Veteran Free Agent and shall not be entitled to negotiate or sign a Player Contract with any other professional basketball team unless and until the Team for which the player last played expressly agreed otherwise.&rdquo;
In simpler terms, if Harden chooses to hold out for more than 30 days into the regular season, he will no longer be able to hit free agency next summer because he would not have completed the terms of his contract (unless the Sixers let him). Not to mention, the star guard would incur a significant amount of fines if he has a lengthy holdout. To my knowledge, this clause has never needed to be applied in NBA history to this point.
Harden may have no choice but to show up for training camp due to these restrictions. But would the Sixers even want him at camp if he is going to be a nuisance, much like he was in Houston back in 2020? Just two years ago, Philadelphia had to deal with the Ben Simmons situation, where he created a toxic atmosphere that led to the organization sending him home until his trade request was met later that season.&nbsp;
However, the reason Simmons&rsquo; trade request lasted all the way through the 2021-22 trade deadline is because Morey insisted on a star-level return for the young three-time All-Star. The trade just so happened to reunite him with his old colleague from his days in Houston: James Harden.
Morey and Harden&rsquo;s relationship dates back to when Houston acquired Harden from the Oklahoma City Thunder in the summer of 2012. The two were able to reach two Conference Finals during their run together and were presumed to have a good working relationship. Morey even acquiesced to Harden&rsquo;s request to trade for his former OKC teammate Russell Westbrook, a move that did not prove to be successful.
When Harden was brought to Philadelphia, he worked with Morey to sign a team-friendly contract during the summer of 2022 to leave room for the team to sign valuable pieces like PJ Tucker and Danuel House. As part of this deal, it has been suggested that the team gave Harden a &ldquo;wink-wink&rdquo; deal on a new long-term contract that would&rsquo;ve been extended this past offseason (which might explain Harden's comment).
Given the lack of any talks on a long-term deal, the relationship has since soured to the point of Harden directly calling Morey a liar. But that shouldn&rsquo;t stop Morey and the Sixers from trying to bring Harden back into the fold.&nbsp;
The only solution for Philly if they wish to compete for a championship in 2023-24 is bringing Harden back. The trade market has made clear that a Harden return package would not meet either of the Sixers' desired outcomes of keeping them in title contention or keeping cap flexibility for next summer. If they let Harden hold out, triggering the Withholding Services Clause or even allowing him reach free agency next summer, they would relinquish much of their cap flexibility that they hope to have next offseason.
We would be remiss if we didn&rsquo;t mention the other domino in the City of Brotherly Love: Joel Embiid. If the 76ers pull the trigger on a Harden deal, they may have to waste a prime year for Embiid, which will only stretch his patience to win a title in Philadelphia thinner. Remember, earlier this offseason, Embiid <a href="https://twitter.com/ajtorres1230/status/1680762456082202624?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>: "I just want to win a championship, whatever it takes. I don't know where that's going to be, whether that's in Philly or anywhere else, I just want to have a chance to accomplish that."
Lastly, anytime a player bashes a front-office member in a very public way, the league office should take notice. Expect them to monitor this situation closely to see if there were any possible under-the-table discussions, promises or agreements that violated league rules, similar to <a href="https://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/01/nba-joe-smith-illegal-contract-timberwolves" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a situation that occurred in the early 2000s with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Joe Smith</a>. If the NBA discovers there was any kind of agreement on a future long-term deal between Harden and the Sixers prior to him signing his team-friendly deal in 2021, then Philadelphia could face serious punishment.
Overall, this situation has become an absolute mess. Both sides have some form of leverage over the other, and neither seems to be in the &ldquo;right.&rdquo; The NBA seemingly never sleeps, and it seems as though we will have to keep an eye on what Harden or the 76ers' next moves might be.&nbsp;

Blake Stern examines a specific clause in the NBA's CBA and how it may throw a wrench in James Harden's plan to holdout.

Examining what the CBA says about James Harden's plan to holdout

With the NBA&rsquo;s 2023 free-agency period pretty much wrapped up, why not take a look at how projecting next year's free-agent market? Obviously, a lot can change between now and then, but let&rsquo;s examine each team&rsquo;s cap situation and how much cap room they project to have next summer.&nbsp;
Next year&rsquo;s free-agency class could feature some big names, including Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam, Tyrese Maxey (restricted), Paul George, LeBron James, James Harden, Jrue Holiday, OG Anunoby and DeMar DeRozan.&nbsp;
For the purposes of this exercise, I&rsquo;m going to separate teams into four spending-power tiers: Cap Space Teams, Non-Tax MLE Teams, Luxury Tax Teams and Second Apron Teams. Also, let's assume that the salary cap will be set at $149,623,000 and the luxury tax will come in at $181,823,000, the maximum 10% jump from this upcoming season set under the new CBA.
CAP SPACE TEAMS
Teams in this tier are currently projected to have cap space next summer. They have spending access to their cap space, Bird Rights, the Room Exception (projected at $8,495,000) and the Veteran Minimum Exception.
San Antonio Spurs ($77,195,776 under the cap) If Victor Wembanyama is 70% as good as he&rsquo;s hyped up to be entering this season, one would figure that the Spurs will spend big or at least make a meaningful impact on the free-agent market next summer. They project to have an enormous amount of cap space, so it&rsquo;s very possible we&rsquo;ll see San Antonio take on some more bad contracts in trades to give them even more draft capital. Also, they&rsquo;ll want to retain Devin Vassell, who will be a restricted free agent next offseason once the Spurs extend his qualifying offer.
Philadelphia 76ers ($73,034,842 under the cap) The Sixers are perhaps the most interesting team in terms of their 2024 offseason outlook. By letting Tyrese Maxey hit restricted free agency next summer rather than extending him this year, Philadelphia gave themselves serious cap flexibility. Tobias Harris and James Harden both have expiring contracts, so the Sixers will have to use their cap space to replace their production. A Harden trade would obviously change their projected cap room, but it remains to be seen what they&rsquo;ll get back for the former MVP and how much it&rsquo;ll impact their books.
Toronto Raptors ($60,339,034 under the cap) After losing Fred VanVleet, the Raptors are walking a tightrope when it comes to whether they&rsquo;ll compete or rebuild. They face some tough decisions. Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby are both set to hit free agency next summer, so Toronto needs to decide whether they want to extend or trade their best players. Not to mention, Precious Achiuwa and Gary Trent Jr. also need new contracts.
Orlando Magic ($58,010,944 under the cap) Orlando has a lot of options for next summer, but the Magic may start with retaining many of their own players. Franz Wagner will likely receive a big contract extension, while Markelle Fultz and Cole Anthony will be up for new contracts. Given that Orlando has a logjam in their backcourt &ndash; with Fultz, Anthony, Jalen Suggs and Anthony Black &ndash; it&rsquo;ll be interesting to see what they do with Fultz and Anthony. The Magic will still have plenty of room to add quality talent for yearly average values over the NTMLE.
Detroit Pistons ($57,781,166 under the cap) Detroit may approach the 2024 offseason similar to how Houston approached this summer, as a young team hoping to use its massive cap space on good veterans in order to take bigger steps toward playoff contention. With that said, the first priority for the team will be agreeing to a contract extension with Cade Cunningham.
Utah Jazz ($50,315,319 under the cap) The Jazz find themselves in a unique position where they could go in two directions. After committing a three-year deal to Jordan Clarkson, they can use their cap space to give 2023 Most Improved Player Lauri Markkanen a contract extension. If they want to have significant cap space for next summer instead, they can hold off on giving Markkanen an extension until free agency is settled.
Washington Wizards ($47,123,801 under the cap) Despite their cap space next year, don&rsquo;t expect Washington to be a big player in 2024 free agency. In the beginning stages of a rebuild, the Wizards will probably keep their sights on collecting more draft capital. They do have an interesting decision coming up with recent trade acquisition Tyus Jones, whom they&rsquo;ll likely want to keep long-term.&nbsp;
Charlotte Hornets ($41,300,515 under the cap)&nbsp; They may lose some 2024 cap space if they eventually re-sign PJ Washington this offseason, but watch out for Charlotte to be one of the many small-market teams with money to spend next summer. With LaMelo Ball in the first year of his max contract extension, Charlotte may cash in on a marquee player to keep their young star happy.
Brooklyn Nets ($33,048,185 under the cap) The Nets do have the potential to have significant cap space next summer if they choose not to re-sign most of their own free agents. However, the Nets will more than likely focus on exploring the trade market and retaining big man Nic Claxton before reaching next year&rsquo;s free agency. Spencer Dinwiddie and Royce O&rsquo;Neale will also hit free agency next offseason.
Indiana Pacers ($20,488,005 under the cap) Indiana could get to an even higher number in cap space if they decline Bruce Brown&rsquo;s $23 million team option next season. If Brown has a good year, the Pacers would likely keep him on a long-term deal that would consume a good chunk of their space. Other impending free agents they might like to keep include Obi Toppin, Aaron Nesmith and Jalen Smith.
Oklahoma City Thunder ($10,264,814 under the cap) The Thunder will likely continue to utilize the strategy of taking on short-term, bad-money contracts in exchange for draft capital. As they inch closer to contention, they will be looking at some big-money extensions for many of their young pieces, including one for Josh Giddey next year.&nbsp;
NON-TAX MLE TEAMS
Teams in this tier are currently projected to be over the salary cap but under the luxury tax. They have spending access to Bird Rights, the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception (projected at $13,644,000), the Bi-Annual Exception (projected at $4,968,000) unless used in 2023-24, and the Veteran Minimum Exception.
Chicago Bulls ($19,465,689 under the cap) The Bulls could potentially operate as a cap-space team if they elect to let DeMar DeRozan and Patrick Williams walk in free agency, but that seems unlikely. In addition, the Bulls could potentially create more space if Lonzo Ball&rsquo;s knee injury is considered career-ending by an NBA/NBPA-appointed physician. (Ball would still be paid, it just wouldn&rsquo;t count against the cap).&nbsp;
Sacramento Kings ($210,669 under the cap) The Kings used up most of their cap space by signing Domantas Sabonis to a big four-year extension that ties him with the team through 2028. As long as they are competitive, they will likely pursue quality pieces with their Non-Tax MLE to support Sabonis and De&rsquo;Aaron Fox. They will also likely try to keep Malik Monk and look at extension options for Davion Mitchell.
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New Orleans Pelicans ($487,911 over the cap) The Pelicans are fairly set with their core of CJ McCollum, Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram under contract through 2025. Ingram and McCollum are both extension-eligible this offseason, but the Pelicans may wait on dishing out extensions to maintain flexibility under the tax. New Orleans must also monitor Jonas Valanciunas&rsquo; free agency and a possible extension for Trey Murphy III.&nbsp;
Atlanta Hawks ($1,658,172 over the cap) Similar to the Kings, the Hawks wiped away their cap space when they signed Dejounte Murray and De&rsquo;Andre Hunter to four-year, $120 million and four-year, $90 million extensions, respectively. Already pushing past the salary cap, the Hawks may face a money crunch as they broach the luxury tax line. Retaining restricted free agents Onyeka Okongwu and Saddiq Bey next offseason may be tricky.
Los Angeles Clippers ($5,018,261 over the cap) The Clippers are in an interesting spot with George and Leonard both needing new deals, which they will likely get despite their inability to stay on the floor. Many veterans with big salaries will come off the books next year, like Marcus Morris, Nic Batum and Robert Covington. The question is whether the Clippers will continue to commit significant capital to a roster that hasn&rsquo;t met its lofty expectations.
Miami Heat ($7,751,630 over the cap) The Miami Heat are in a holding pattern with their roster as they engage in a Mexican standoff with the Blazers on a Damian Lillard trade, which could see them skyrocket into the deep tax. Outside of the Dame situation, Jimmy Butler will likely look for another big extension this offseason, which will pay him max money deep into his late 30s. They will also have to contend with potentially losing Caleb Martin, who has a player option for 2024-25.
Houston Rockets ($8,734,919 over the cap) The biggest spenders of this past offseason, the Rockets made big moves for Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks. Houston could get back into the cap-space tier again if they choose to part ways with Kevin Porter Jr. and his non-guaranteed $15.9 million salary. Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun will also be up for extensions.&nbsp;
Cleveland Cavaliers ($11,399,749 over the cap) The Cavs are pretty set going into the 2023-24 season and beyond with two max guys (Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell) and key guys on fairly big deals (Jarrett Allen, Caris LeVert and Max Strus). They will likely give Evan Mobley a big extension next offseason, which could push them into the luxury tax in the near future. For next offseason, their only notable free agent is Isaac Okoro.
New York Knicks ($11,400,861 over the cap) This morning, the Knicks inked Josh Hart to a four-year contract extension that pushed them over the cap for 2024-25. Their main concerns for next summer are Immanuel Quickley and Isaiah Hartenstein, who are both up for new contracts. They will likely be able to avoid the tax by declining their team option on Evan Fournier or trading his expiring contract for another expiring deal.
Dallas Mavericks ($13,566,153 over the cap) The Mavericks are not likely to seek pathways to cap space next summer after doubling down on their trade for Kyrie Irving by re-signing him to a three-year, $120 million deal. They should look to retain Josh Green, who will be a restricted free agent. Luka Doncic&rsquo;s happiness looms over all of the Mavs&rsquo; moves, as ESPN&rsquo;s Tim McMahon <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/mavs-fear-luka-doncic-may-request-trade-unless-they-build-contender">reported in April</a> that the Mavericks are worried about Doncic potentially seeking a trade elsewhere as soon as next year.
Los Angeles Lakers ($15,380,636 over the cap) The Lakers had a pathway to almost two max slots in the unlikely scenario that they decided to pivot from the LeBron-AD era. However, that option is out the window with them inking Davis to a three-year supermax extension that will keep him with the team through 2028. LeBron James&rsquo; decision to stay with the team or leave will ultimately dictate how the Lakers approach spending next offseason.
Portland Trail Blazers ($20,567,876 over the cap) Portland is in the midst of turning the page to a new era as they look to accommodate franchise cornerstone Damian Lillard&rsquo;s trade request. If they do end up trading Lillard, expect their cap numbers to come down slightly, but not enough to get any meaningful space. Whether Lillard is traded for the Miami package or something else, Portland shouldn&rsquo;t be a major player in free agency for a while.&nbsp;
LUXURY TAX TEAMS
Teams in this tier are currently projected to be over the salary cap and luxury tax. They have spending access to Bird Rights, the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception (projected at $5,500,000), and the Veteran Minimum Exception.
Minnesota Timberwolves ($14,474,085 under the tax) The Timberwolves have paid the luxury tax only once since 2007. They should be a tax team once again, with Karl-Anthony Towns' supermax extension and Anthony Edwards' max extension kicking in. In addition, Minnesota will need to use significant capital to keep players like Jaden McDaniels, Mike Conley and Kyle Anderson, all of whom will be free agents in 2024.
Golden State Warriors ($9,696,462 under the tax) While the Warriors are currently under the tax, they are likely going to re-sign 2024 free agent Klay Thompson to a long-term deal at a lower number or at least use his Bird Rights to acquire another piece at a similar number. Golden State can cut some costs by releasing Chris Paul after the season, as his $30 million salary for 2024-25 is non-guaranteed.
Milwaukee Bucks ($6,142,529 under the tax) The Bucks re-signed Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez to big-money deals, committing to the players who won them the 2021 title. Another one of those players, Jrue Holiday, is set to reach free agency and will likely demand max money. In addition, Giannis Antetokounmpo becomes eligible for a supermax extension of up to three years in October and can sign a four-year supermax extension next offseason.
Denver Nuggets ($6,732,627 over the tax) The defending champs have their core of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon locked in through the 2025 offseason. They&rsquo;ve already lost Bruce Brown and Jeff Green this summer and will be forced to work around the edges with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope potentially heading for free agency next summer.
Boston Celtics ($7,306,800 over the tax) The trade for Kristaps Porzingis pushed the Celtics into the luxury tax for the first time since 2018, and that was before they signed Jaylen Brown to a five-year supermax extension. With Jayson Tatum&rsquo;s own supermax extension on the horizon next year, the Celtics figure to be a tax team, and potentially a second apron team, for the foreseeable future.
SECOND APRON TEAMS
Teams in this tier are currently projected to be over the salary cap, luxury tax and second luxury tax apron ($17.5 million over the tax). They have spending access to just Bird Rights and the Veteran Minimum Exception. The second apron was introduced in the new CBA and prevents teams from using the Taxpayer MLE, trading first-round picks seven years away, signing buyout free agents and taking back more salary than they send out in trades among other restrictions.
Memphis Grizzlies ($13,829,477 over the tax) For the first time under owner Robert Pera, the Grizzlies will be paying the luxury tax. While Memphis probably won&rsquo;t reach the second apron, they are not likely to have enough spare capital to use their Tax MLE and be able to fill out their roster without going over it. Their core of Ja Morant, Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. are locked up to big money, long-term deals that will keep Memphis among the league's biggest spenders for likely the next decade-plus.
Phoenix Suns ($27,039,607 over the tax) Phoenix is by far the most limited team when it comes to spending, and they will be for the next few seasons after trading for Bradley Beal&rsquo;s behemoth contract. With four max contracts, including two supermax contracts, the Suns have blown through the second apron. Like this past offseason, the supporting cast around their core four will be mostly minimum-salary contracts.

How much cap room is your favorite NBA team projected to have next summer? Blake Stern breaks down where all 30 teams stand.

Which NBA teams project to have the most cap space in 2024?

CHICAGO (AP) &mdash; Victor Wembanyama is now set to begin his NBA career with the San Antonio Spurs, after they won the NBA draft lottery and the No. 1 overall pick on Tuesday night.
The Spurs were one of three teams with the best odds &mdash; 14% &mdash; to land the No. 1 pick, which they&rsquo;ll almost certainly use on Wembanyama. The 7-foot-3 French 19-year-old is one of the most highly touted prospects in NBA history and will be expected to make an immediate impact on the league.
And he had a message for San Antonio.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to win a ring ASAP,&rdquo; Wembanyama told ESPN after the lottery results. &ldquo;So be ready.&rdquo;
It&rsquo;s the third time the Spurs have won the lottery, and on both previous occasions they made picks that paid off for decades. They chose David Robinson in 1987, Tim Duncan in 1997, and those selections were a major part of how the Spurs became a team that won five NBA titles under coach Gregg Popovich.
&ldquo;Our future was already bright,&rdquo; Spurs managing partner Peter J. Holt said. &ldquo;Now, it&rsquo;s going to be through the moon.&rdquo;
General manager Brian Wright called it &ldquo;an incredible day&rdquo; for the franchise and the fans.
Charlotte will pick second, Portland moved up to third, and Houston fell to fourth.
&ldquo;This draft is a deep, talented one,&rdquo; Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin said. &ldquo;We know picks one through six there&rsquo;s always gems to be found, but to move up into the top three is really exciting.&rdquo;
As for getting the No. 1 pick in a year like this?
&ldquo;People talk about generational talents and you only think on-court skill, but it&rsquo;s bigger than that,&rdquo; Wright said. &ldquo;Peter talked about his ability to be a great teammate, his ability to think the game, unique challenges. You see him doing things that you wouldn&rsquo;t have even guessed someone could do &mdash; his approach, his professionalism. I think when you use the word generational talent, it extends beyond just your ability to put the ball in the basket. And he&rsquo;s unique in so many ways.&rdquo;
The Spurs were 22-60 this season, tied for the second-worst record in the NBA. Popovich and the Spurs have had incredible success with international players in the past &mdash; most notably, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, who owns the French team that Wembanyama played for last season.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s an incredible young man,&rdquo; NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told ESPN as part of its draft lottery broadcast. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s 19 years old and I didn&rsquo;t take out a yardstick or meter stick or whatever they use in France, but he seemed all of 7-4 to me. &hellip; He clearly appears to be a generational talent.&rdquo;
Wembanyama finished his regular season with Boulogne-Levallois of France&rsquo;s top pro league earlier Tuesday, his 22-point effort good enough for him to clinch the league&rsquo;s scoring title. It was shortly past 2 a.m. Wednesday in Paris when the lottery results were revealed, and Wembanyama was gathered with family and friends for a celebration.
&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t really describe it,&rdquo; Wembanyama said in his interview with ESPN, adding &ldquo;it&rsquo;s a really special moment.&rdquo;
Finally, he knows where his NBA journey will begin. His agents did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Associated Press.
&ldquo;I think the team that has the first choice isn&rsquo;t going to get it wrong,&rdquo; said Vincent Collet, Wembanyama&rsquo;s coach in France and also the coach of the French national team &mdash; which Wembanyama is expected to play for this summer at the World Cup and next summer at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Detroit had the worst record in the NBA and was one of the three teams with the best odds of winning. The Pistons wound up falling all the way to fifth, the worst of their possible outcomes.
The rest of the lottery order: Orlando will pick sixth, Indiana seventh, Washington eighth, Utah ninth, Dallas 10th, Orlando (from Chicago as part of an earlier trade) in 11th, Oklahoma City 12th, Toronto 13th, and New Orleans 14th.
Wembanyama is wrapping up his third professional season in France and has been the consensus top pick for months. He has the height of a center, the shooting touch of a wing and the passing ability of a point guard.
He wasn&rsquo;t at the lottery because of his game schedule in France. But many of the other top prospects &mdash; Scoot Henderson of the G League Ignite, Brandon Miller of Alabama, twin brothers Amen and Ausar Thompson of the Overtime Elite program &mdash; were in the room to watch the lottery results get unveiled and get a little better idea of where they may be heading to start their NBA careers.

Victor Wembanyama is now set to begin his NBA career with the San Antonio Spurs, after they won the NBA draft lottery on Tuesday.

Spurs win NBA Draft Lottery and right to draft Victor Wembanyama

Academy Award winner Michael Douglas loves basketball. He&rsquo;s a big Miami fan, mainly because of his relationship with Heat President Pat Riley. He&rsquo;s followed the game for decades.
He&rsquo;s gone to a couple French league games in recent weeks for one reason:&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-basketball-las-vegas-6f4ac3d44f624ef36ddb00e314cf0401">Victor Wembanyama,</a>&nbsp;the 7-foot-3 French phenom who is already capturing the basketball world&rsquo;s imagination and attention.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen Victor play twice in person and twice on television,&rdquo; Douglas, who has been working near Paris playing the role of Benjamin Franklin, told The Associated Press. &ldquo;And I went specifically to just see him play.&rdquo;
As Douglas said in his famous role as Gordon Gekko, &ldquo;I wanna know where he goes.&rdquo;
So does everybody else. Finally, the answer is coming. On Tuesday night, Chicago plays host to the NBA draft lottery, an event where 14 ping-pong balls go into a hopper, and the numbers of the first four balls to pop out will be matched to a combination assigned to a team.
That team wins the No. 1 pick. Spoiler alert: They&rsquo;ll use it to choose Wembanyama on June 22.
&ldquo;Pray for Victor,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/SeanTPendergast/status/1627126316431540224" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Houston owner Tilman Fertitta</a>&nbsp;told Houston television station KPRC back in February at a Mardi Gras celebration, when the Rockets were in the second half of their dreadful season and with the team well on its way to the lottery at that point.
He didn&rsquo;t say Wembanyama. He didn&rsquo;t have to. Everybody knows what he meant.
The Rockets, San Antonio and Detroit&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wembanyama-nba-draft-spurs-ee1a9bd2232173666d3302bb491c7c5c">all have the best chance of landing Wembanyama</a>&nbsp;&mdash; 14% apiece, or about 7-1.
The odds decrease a bit as one goes down the line of the other lottery hopefuls: Charlotte (12.5%), Portland (10.5%), Orlando (9%), Indiana (6.8%), Washington (6.7%), Utah (4.5%), Dallas (3%), Chicago (1.8%), Oklahoma City (1.7%), Toronto (1%) and New Orleans (0.5%).
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&ldquo;I&rsquo;m alive. I have ears and I can see TV and there&rsquo;s a lottery. Yes, I&rsquo;ve thought about it,&rdquo; San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said on the day his team&rsquo;s season ended in April. &ldquo;Duh. Did you think I didn&rsquo;t, that I live in a phone booth?&rdquo;
NBA rules prohibit teams from discussing draft-eligible players publicly, until they&rsquo;re announced as candidates for the draft. Key word there: publicly. They&rsquo;ve all been talking among themselves about Wembanyama for a couple of years now, trying to find the new ways to describe a skyscraper of a teen who can shoot, pass, dribble and defend.
So have a ton of NBA players, even the game&rsquo;s biggest stars. LeBron James famously called Wembanyama &ldquo;an alien,&rdquo; and Giannis Antetokounmpo &mdash; who said he enjoyed hearing that Wembanyama counts him among his favorite players &mdash; insisted that the kid should make immediate impact in the NBA.
&ldquo;At the end of the day, as we know, NBA players also will want to make sure that when someone gets so much hype, that they let him know what it&rsquo;s about,&rdquo; NBA great and soon-to-be Basketball Hall of Famer Pau Gasol said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to be challenged. But great players thrive off of challenge, right? So, I expect him to continue to progress and continue to get better and continue to show why people are so excited about him at this point.&rdquo;
There are some other sure-fire lottery picks in this draft that should make teams better as well &mdash; among them, Alabama&rsquo;s Brandon Miller, twin brothers Amen and Ausar Thompson of the Overtime Elite program, and Scoot Henderson of the G League Ignite. It was announced Monday that&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/stephen-curry-scoot-henderson-nba-draft-20cc165a9d8516ad940cc519a5494072">Henderson will be mentored on and off the court by four-time NBA champion Stephen Curry</a>&nbsp;of the Golden State Warriors.
&ldquo;I have been watching Scoot and his family for a while now, and I am beyond impressed with what he has accomplished thus far, and excited to watch him take control of his future and grow,&rdquo; Curry said while announcing the alliance with Henderson &mdash; whose team played against Wembanyama&rsquo;s team last fall in a pair of exhibitions near Las Vegas, part of the buildup toward this draft.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-russell-westbrook-draft-20110cf4506dd900f48d84fefd673077">Henderson exudes confidence,</a>&nbsp;and believes he&rsquo;s earned the right to be in the No. 1 conversation.
&ldquo;I think I can make a big difference,&rdquo; Henderson said.
Wembanyama won&rsquo;t be at the lottery; his French team, Boulogne-Levallois, has a game Tuesday. It&rsquo;ll be a little after 2 a.m. Wednesday in Paris when the results are announced.
It&rsquo;ll be the start of a new chapter,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wemby-victor-wembanyama-nba-draft-f5be654cce544c675559bad526220a9e">as his current one is coming to a joyful end.</a>&nbsp;The winding-down of his French career has been a celebration, and it&rsquo;ll only continue.
Wembanyama&rsquo;s pro career started with the French club Nanterre. His Metropolitans 92 team went to Nanterre last week and got an 82-72 victory &mdash; and it seemed like none of the home fans cared that their team lost.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/Agence_Comsport/status/1656051950083776513?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wembanyama went into the stands after the game,</a>&nbsp;hugging Nanterre fans and posing for pictures, before returning to the court and hugging team officials and others as tears welled in his eyes.
They are saying &ldquo;au revoir.&rdquo;
The NBA is about to say &ldquo;bonjour.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I found Victor highly intelligent, he speaks English well, taught himself by English speaking television shows,&rdquo; Douglas said. &ldquo;He has a close-knit family and is very tight with his management team. He seems to have an inquisitive mind, interested in many things off the court.&rdquo;
And as for what Douglas tells Wembanyama about what awaits, his answer was simple: Enjoy.
&ldquo;The pressure of being No. 1 is a high-quality problem,&rdquo; Douglas said. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t let it overwhelm the joy of the moment. Victor is an impressive all-around young man.&rdquo;
Let the journey begin.

On Tuesday night, one lucky NBA team will land the No. 1 pick and the right to draft potential superstar Victor Wembanyama.

Victor Wembanyama to learn NBA destination at Tuesday's Draft Lottery

Philadelphia 76ers center and league scoring champion Joel Embiid earned his first NBA MVP trophy Tuesday night, topping two-time winner Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets.
The 29-year-old from Yaound&eacute;, Cameroon, averaged 33.1 points to win his second straight scoring title, averaged 10.2 rebounds and tied a career high with 4.2 assists per game. Embiid played in 66 games, the second-highest total of his career, but again has been hit with injuries in the playoffs. Embiid has been&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/76ers-embiid-injury-b72b1fe4e0cea17fc478be83c5c4534d">sidelined with a sprained right</a>&nbsp;knee that cost him one game of the playoff sweep against Brooklyn and the opening game of the Eastern Conference semifinals against&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/76ers-celtics-nba-playoffs-0f96443546f1fdbeae8aeaa4ce146c76">Boston, which was won by Philadelphia on Monday night.</a>
Jokic finished runner-up and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks was third. Embiid received 73 first-place votes. Jokic received 15 first-place votes, and Antetokounmpo got 12.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a long time coming,&rdquo; Embiid said. &ldquo;A lot of hard work. I&rsquo;ve been through a lot. I&rsquo;m not just talking about basketball. I&rsquo;m talking about my life. My story. Where I come from. How I got here and what it took for me to be here.&rdquo;
The&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/sixers/status/1653538793180332033?s=46&amp;t=-ELqRXA-wk5r0LdHkAiIBg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">76ers watched on TV in Boston and erupted in applause and started chanting &ldquo;MVP! MVP!</a> &rdquo; as the big man buried his head in his hands as he sat in a chair. Embiid was in tears as teammates James Harden, Tobias Harris and Tyrese Maxey mobbed him in celebration.
Embiid then vowed &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be back&rdquo; for the playoff series against the Celtics.
But as for Game 2 on Wednesday night?
&ldquo;We shall see,&rdquo; Embiid said.
Embiid has been determined to win -- and campaigned for -- the MVP trophy for years. The third overall pick of the 2014 draft, Embiid missed his first two full seasons with injuries before settling in as one of the top big men of his generation. He was at his best this season when he totaled three 50-point games, including a career-high 59 against Utah in November. He had 13 total 40-point games.
When Embiid totaled 52 points and 13 rebounds in a win against the Celtics in April, coach Doc Rivers boldly declared, &ldquo;The MVP race is over.&rdquo;
Embiid certainly didn&rsquo;t argue that night with his coach or Sixers teammates who stumped on his behalf.
&ldquo;They&rsquo;re probably right,&rdquo; Embiid said. &ldquo;But we have bigger goals in mind.&rdquo;
Embiid is the first 76er to win league MVP since Allen Iverson in 2001. Julius Erving in 1981, Moses Malone in 1983 and Wilt Chamberlain from 1966-1968 are other 76ers to win NBA MVP awards.
Embiid&rsquo;s injury could be the deciding factor in the 76ers&rsquo; chase for the NBA championship. The Sixers are trying to win their first NBA title since 1983 and advance past the second round for the first time since 2001 &mdash; which was the last time a Sixer won the MVP award.
Allen Iverson was named league MVP in 2001. Other 76ers to capture the league&rsquo;s top individual award: Julius Erving, 1981; Moses Malone, 1983; and Wilt Chamberlain, 1966-1968.
Embiid, who graduated from a Florida high school and played a season in college at Kansas, has been every bit the dominant force in the NBA over the past seven seasons. Once the poster child for load management, Embiid has played 134 regular-season games the last two seasons and his 30.6 points last season made him the first international player ever to win an NBA scoring title. He&rsquo;s a six-time All-Star and was runner-up each of the last two seasons to Jokic.
Antetokounmpo won in 2019 and 2020. Jokic in 2021 and 2022.
Now, the award belongs to Embiid, who didn&rsquo;t pick up a basketball until he was a teenager in Africa, when a friend informed him that very few 7-footers succeed in soccer.
A few months later, Embiid was lured to a basketball camp in the capital of Yaounde run by NBA veteran Luc Mbah a Moute, one of just two players from Cameroon to have played in the NBA. Mbah a Moute persuaded Embiid&rsquo;s parents to let him move 6,000 miles to Florida, and helped enroll him at Montverde Academy, one of the best high school programs in the country. He played just 28 games in his lone season at Kansas before leaving for the NBA.
&ldquo;I am absolutely thrilled for Joel on winning the MVP award. He is the real deal and deserves every bit of recognition that comes his way,&rdquo; Rivers said. &ldquo;He embodies everything that the honor stands for. His drive to improve is unmatched, and like the saying &lsquo;a dream doesn&rsquo;t become reality through magic, it takes hard work&rsquo;, he&rsquo;s put in the work.&rdquo;
Embiid, who became an American citizen last year, was known early in his career for sucking down Shirley Temples but has worked with sports dietitians to develop healthier eating habits and streamlined his workouts.
Sixers fans can enjoy him for years. Embiid&rsquo;s four-year, $196 million contract extension doesn&rsquo;t kick in until next season and takes him through 2026-27.
The affable center became the face of the 76ers&rsquo; rebuilding effort more commonly known as The Process. He embraced the nickname and is introduced before every home game as Joel &ldquo;The Process&rdquo; Embiid.
He can now add MVP.
Billboards went up around Philadelphia of Embiid with the slogan &ldquo;MVPIID&rdquo; and Sixers fans serenaded him with &ldquo;MVP!&rdquo; chants from pregame introductions all the way to his final free throw attempts.
Embiid, who shares with his long-time girlfriend a son named in the honor of his late brother, holds career averages of 27.2 points and 11.2 rebounds in 394 career starts. He&rsquo;s a four-time All-NBA selection and three-time All-Defensive Team selection.
This is the fifth consecutive year an international player has been MVP, extending the longest streak in NBA history. It&rsquo;s also the second time that international players finished 1-2-3 in MVP voting; the first time was last season.
Embiid becomes the second winner from Africa, joining Hakeem Olajuwon, the Nigerian who won for Houston in 1994.

Philadelphia 76ers center and league scoring champion Joel Embiid earned his first NBA MVP trophy on Tuesday night.

NBA MVP: 76ers’ Joel Embiid wins league’s top individual honor

MIAMI (AP) &mdash;&nbsp;The reactions from Victor Oladipo&rsquo;s Miami Heat&nbsp;teammates&nbsp;told the story as he sat on the court,&nbsp;holding onto his left knee as fans watched in stunned silence.&nbsp;Kyle Lowry&nbsp;yelled a profanity.&nbsp;Max Strus&nbsp;covered his face with a towel.&nbsp;Jimmy Butler&nbsp;held his head in his hands, staring at the floor.
They feared he was hurt badly. They were right.
The Heat announced Sunday that Oladipo tore his left patellar tendon, a diagnosis that came after an MRI earlier in the day. The injury ends Oladipo&rsquo;s season and calls his availability for the start of next season &mdash; and likely beyond &mdash; into serious doubt. He will need a third major surgery in just over four years, the previous two coming after a quadriceps injury over his right knee.
No timetable will likely be known until after the surgery.
&ldquo;Yes, there are injuries. That is a part of this game. We understand that,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Sunday before the team learned of the diagnosis. &ldquo;But the human side of it, when you see somebody that&rsquo;s overcome so much and he&rsquo;s done it time and time and time again, and he always does it with an incredible positive spirit and a smile on his face even last night &hellip; that&rsquo;s why I admire him so much.&rdquo;
Oladipo&rsquo;s is the second significant injury for the Heat in the first three games of this postseason against Milwaukee. Eighth-seeded&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.nba.com/playoffs/2023/east-first-round-1">Miami holds a 2-1 lead</a>&nbsp;over the top-seeded Bucks going into Game 4 on Monday night. Tyler Herro was lost for at least six weeks, which probably means the rest of the season no matter how far Miami advances, when he broke his right hand in Game 1 at Milwaukee.
Herro&rsquo;s injury seemed to open a door for Oladipo to have a bigger role in Miami&rsquo;s guard rotation; Oladipo played 26 minutes in Game 2 and 19 before getting hurt in Game 3.
Oladipo has missed 255 of a possible 374 games since initially getting hurt while playing for Indiana in 2019. He&rsquo;s been listed as inactive for 226 of those games, the second-most in the NBA over that span behind Orlando&rsquo;s Jonathan Isaac.
&ldquo;The physical toll of rehab is tough but mentally, it&rsquo;s even tougher,&rdquo; said Heat center Cody Zeller, who played with Oladipo in college at Indiana and has been close with him for years. &ldquo;And he&rsquo;s always so positive. He&rsquo;ll attack this rehab like he has the others. Mentally, I don&rsquo;t know how he does it. There&rsquo;s a lot of long days, a lot of slow days and it&rsquo;s tough to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I&rsquo;m just sick for him.&rdquo;
The injury came shortly after&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT/status/1649953651824431104?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Oladipo pulled off perhaps one of his top highlight-reel plays</a>&nbsp;of the season, controlling a rebound at one end, dribbling downcourt at full speed, blowing past three Milwaukee players on his way to the rim and scoring &mdash; punching the air in celebration to end that play.
The next shot he took was his last: He drove down the lane, getting past two Bucks, then appeared to slip as he tried to plant for his jump and&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/BallyHEAT/status/1649955318187655168?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">grabbed at his knee right away</a>&nbsp;as he landed.
&ldquo;I think of all these times behind the scenes when no one&rsquo;s watching,&rdquo; Spoelstra said. &ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;ve had a front-row seat to that on all these off days the last three years, on weekends when no one is here &mdash; but he&rsquo;s on the training table, and then working his way to the weight room, usually like a four- or five-hour process and then finishing up with all the post-rehab work. &hellip; Those can be very frustrating times, but you never would see that on his face.&rdquo;
Miami&rsquo;s guard rotation is now very thin. Gabe Vincent and Kyle Lowry are the point guards. Strus and Duncan Robinson &mdash; who has been in and out of the rotation this season, but had 20 points in Game 3 &mdash; will be the primary shooting guards. There aren&rsquo;t many other options.
Oladipo,&nbsp;who has a $9.5 million player option for next season,&nbsp;was a two-time All-Star with Indiana before&nbsp;getting hurt in January 2019.&nbsp;He returned a year later, wasn&rsquo;t anywhere near the same player and Indiana traded him to Houston in January 2021. The Rockets didn&rsquo;t keep him long before&nbsp;moving him to Miami,&nbsp;with whom Oladipo played four games in March 2021 before getting hurt again.
Oladipo appeared in just eight regular-season games in the 2021-22 season while recovering from a second surgery to repair his right quadriceps tendon. He got into 15 playoff games for Miami last season, then agreed on a two-year deal to stay with the Heat last summer.
He played in 42 games this season with Miami, his most in any regular season since 2017-18.
&ldquo;Never count him out,&rdquo; Robinson said. &ldquo;But it hurts.&rdquo;

The Heat announced Sunday that Victor Oladipo tore his left patellar tendon, a diagnosis that came after an MRI earlier in the day.

Heat's Victor Oladipo tears patellar tendon, latest injury setback

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash; De&rsquo;Aaron Fox scored 38 points in his long-awaited playoff debut and the Sacramento Kings celebrated their return to the postseason after a record 16-year drought by beating the defending-champion Golden State Warriors 126-123 on Saturday night.
The first playoff meeting between the Northern California neighbors lived up to the hype and delighted the raucous crowd that had been waiting for a playoff game since 2006.
The inexperienced Kings closed the game strong against a Warriors team that won four titles in the previous eight seasons.
After Stephen Curry hit a corner 3-pointer to give Golden State a 114-112 lead with about four minutes left, the Kings responded with seven in a row starting with a 3-pointer from Fox, who led the league in clutch points in the regular season.
The Warriors didn&rsquo;t go away and cut the deficit to one on a layup by Curry in the final minute. But Andrew Wiggins missed a corner 3 for the lead in the closing seconds of his first game in more than two months.
Malik Monk made two free throws to make it 126-123 with 2.9 seconds left. Curry missed a runner from 3 at the buzzer, giving the Kings their first playoff win since April 30, 2006, against San Antonio.
Monk finished with 32 points off the bench and Domantas Sabonis had 12 points and 16 rebounds.
Curry led the Warriors with 30 points, Klay Thompson added 21 and Wiggins and Poole scored 18 apiece.
It was a festive environment in success-starved Sacramento where fans gathered outside the arena hours before the start of the Kings first playoff game following an&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/sacramento-kings-nba-playoffs-87163d6dd4a50388340b118497f6e2b1">NBA record 16-year drought</a>.
The arena was deafening starting in pregame warmups with some fans even bringing back the cow bells that were so common during their playoff runs two decades ago.
The excitement appeared to take a toll on the inexperienced Kings, who struggled shooting the ball early. Sacramento missed its first seven 3-pointers, shot just 39.2% in the first half and trailed Golden State 61-55 at the half.
The Warriors built the lead to 10 points in the third quarter before Sacramento ended the quarter on a 15-4 run fueled by 10 points from Trey Lyles to take a 91-90 lead into the fourth.
WIGGINS&rsquo; RETURN
Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins showed few signs of rush&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-playoffs-warriors-wiggins-ea707b98d3a89d7f1be08d8bfae3bfe7">in his first game</a>&nbsp;in more than two months after leaving the team to deal with an undisclosed family matter.
Wiggins came off the bench after starting his first 657 games in the NBA and made an immediate impact. He had his first shot attempt blocked but hustled back for a block of his own on the defensive end.
The only thing missing from his game was the outside shot as he was 1 for 8 from 3.
TIP-INS
Warriors: Golden State opened a series on the road for the fourth time in 25 playoff series under Steve Kerr. The Warriors won Game 1 and the series in the 2018 Western Conference Finals against Houston and the second round against Memphis last season. Golden State lost the opener of the 2019 Finals and the series to Toronto.
Kings: Monk&rsquo;s 15 points in the second quarter were the most for a Sacramento reserve in one quarter of a playoff game since at least 1997. ... Sacramento starters missed their first 15 attempts from 3-point range before Fox hit one late in the third quarter.
UP NEXT
Game 2 is Monday night in Sacramento. The Warriors haven&rsquo;t fallen behind 2-0 in a playoff series since the second round of the 2007 playoffs against Utah.

The Kings celebrated their return to the postseason after a record 16-year drought by beating the defending-champ Warriors 126-123.

De'Aaron Fox leads Kings past Warriors 126-123 in playoff return

Gregg Popovich placed his left thumb on the inside of his right wrist, paused for a couple of moments and then confirmed that, yes, he has a pulse.
It was also an indication when asked that yes, he is thinking about Victor Wembanyama.
There are very specific rules that teams must follow right now when it comes to mentioning the name of the 7-foot-3 French phenom with big-man height and elite guard skills who will be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft. Essentially, since the 19-year-old is not officially in the draft yet, they can&rsquo;t mention him.
So they don&rsquo;t. And they don&rsquo;t have to, either. Everyone knows what the teams who&rsquo;ll be in the NBA lottery next month are hoping to have happen when those 14 ping-pong balls go into a hopper and determine the future for Wembanyama and the team that&rsquo;s lucky enough to draft him.
&ldquo;If I have a pulse and I&rsquo;m in basketball, I&rsquo;m probably going to think about the ping-pong balls or the lottery, I guess. I can do that, right? It&rsquo;s not against the rules,&rdquo; said Popovich, the San Antonio coach and all-time NBA wins leader. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t talk about any players or anything, I guess. But I&rsquo;m alive. I have ears, and I see TV. There&rsquo;s a lottery, yes. I&rsquo;ve thought about it. Duh.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Duh&rdquo; would also be the appropriate answer when the lottery winner gets asked what they&rsquo;ll do with the No. 1 pick. There is no debate. Wembanyama is the pick. A team that was really bad this season is probably going to get really good really fast.
They were woeful for Wemby. Now they&rsquo;re waiting for Wemby.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a freak,&rdquo; soon-to-be Hall of Fame inductee Dirk Nowitzki said. &ldquo;I mean, unbelievable. You always think you&rsquo;ve seen it all during your life and your career and history of the league, and then somebody else comes along. Kevin Durant comes along, a 7-foot-2 two-guard. Now we have a 7-foot-4 two-guard. &hellip; This kid is unbelievable.&rdquo;
Playing for the Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans 92, Wembanyama leads the French league with averages of 21.3 points. 9.9 rebounds and 3.1 blocks. He makes going viral an everyday thing; his latest break-the-Internet moment was when he took a 3-pointer, missed it short, followed the shot and slammed it home in one motion, completely unbothered by the players who were in his way.
&ldquo;Yeah, I&rsquo;ve seen him,&rdquo; Houston forward Jabari Smith Jr. said. &ldquo;Yeah, he&rsquo;s a problem.&rdquo;
The teams with the three worst records this season &mdash; Detroit, Houston and San Antonio &mdash; have the best odds of winning the lottery, 14% apiece. Detroit got here by having its worst season in more than 40 years. Houston has now had back-to-back seasons of 60 losses. San Antonio had its third-worst season ever.
They were never in the playoff race, though never drew any public scorn from the NBA office for trying to tank with hopes of improving draft odds, either &mdash; unlike Dallas, which faces a league investigation now for giving up on its play-in tournament chances with two games remaining. The team that wins the lottery will say it was all worth it. The others will feel at least some pang of disappointment, whether they say it or not.
&ldquo;Talent-wise, I think he&rsquo;s something that we&rsquo;ve never seen before,&rdquo; said Tony Parker, the former Spurs guard who&rsquo;ll be going into the Hall of Fame later this year &mdash; and owned the team that Wembanyama played for in France last season.
It&rsquo;s not just Wembanyama who will be coveted at this draft, though he is far and away the top prospect. This shapes up as a loaded draft at the top with G League Ignite standout Scoot Henderson and Alabama&rsquo;s Brandon Miller expected to be the second and third picks in some order. It&rsquo;s conceivable that in any other year, they would be vying to be picked first.
&ldquo;Looks good to me,&rdquo; Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said of the top of the draft class. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s legal or not legal to say. The very top of (the draft) is very impactful.&rdquo;
Most experts would agree that Henderson and Miller are more than consolation picks. Teams that lands one of them should also get better, and that&rsquo;s why no team is betting it all on the lottery.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not really worried about where the ball drops,&rdquo; Detroit general manager Troy Weaver said. &ldquo;Would I celebrate with everybody? Absolutely, but I don&rsquo;t walk around like that.&rdquo;
Wembanyama &mdash; who keeps a relatively low public profile, rarely doing even postgame interviews despite worldwide interest in his every move &mdash; knows he captured the league&rsquo;s attention long ago. LeBron James respectfully called him an alien last fall, Durant raves about Wembanyama&rsquo;s game and French center Rudy Gobert said he knew at least three years ago that the teenager would be an enormous star.
Even Giannis Antetokounmpo marvels at Wembanyama, predicting he could be &ldquo;one of the best to play this game.&rdquo;
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to get ready for this kid,&rdquo; Antetokounmpo said.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s cool to see Giannis saying this stuff,&rdquo; Wembanyama said when he sat down with the NBA&rsquo;s social media team a few weeks ago and was shown the clip of Antetokounmpo&rsquo;s comments. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s probably like my favorite player.&rdquo;
Paolo Banchero was the No. 1 pick last year. He entered the league with massive expectations and delivered; he&rsquo;s the frontrunner to win rookie of the year after a strong opening season with the Orlando Magic. And he knows what Wembanyama will go through &ndash; on some level, anyway.
&ldquo;His hype is a lot bigger than my hype,&rdquo; said Banchero, who led Duke to the Final Four in his only year in college. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to have it probably worse than I did, but I&rsquo;d tell him to just enjoy it. I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;s dreamed of this for a while and a lot comes with it, but it&rsquo;s also a lot that you gain from it, a lot of good things as well. I&rsquo;d tell him embrace it all and shoot, have fun. It&rsquo;s going to be a dream come true for him.&rdquo;
A dream come true for the lucky team, too. And answers start coming soon. The draft lottery is May 16, the same day that Wembanyama&rsquo;s French season is scheduled to end. The draft is June 22. Summer league starts in early July; anticipation of Wembanyama playing in Las Vegas again after two ballyhooed games there this past fall is already building. He intends to play in the Basketball World Cup for France starting in August. And then his rookie season starts in October.
For one team, all the losing this season will be quickly forgotten, based on how four ping-pong balls land.
&ldquo;This can be his league,&rdquo; Nowitzki said, &ldquo;for a long, long time.&rdquo;
___
AP Sports Writers Kristie Rieken in Houston, Schuyler Dixon in Dallas, Noah Trister in Washington, Larry Lage in Detroit and Michael Marot in Indianapolis, along with Associated Press Writer Raul Dominguez in San Antonio, contributed to this story.

Playing for the Metropolitans 92, Wembanyama leads the French league with averages of 21.3 points. 9.9 rebounds and 3.1 blocks.

The losing is done, and teams are now waiting for Wembanyama

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Adama Sanogo stood on the sideline watching his UConn teammates dribble out the final seconds to secure the program&rsquo;s fifth NCAA championship. He looked eager, ready to sprint in at the first chance.
When the horn sounded, reserve Andrew Hurley used both hands to spike the basketball near midcourt and start the celebration &mdash; only to see Sanogo run straight in and secure it like a fair catch.
&ldquo;I need that ball. That&rsquo;s a ball I want to save for my kids, my grandkids,&rdquo; Sanogo told The Associated Press. &ldquo;I need that ball.&rdquo;
It was fitting for the first souvenir to go to the big man who had been the rugged interior presence all season for the Huskies.
Sanogo finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds in Monday night&rsquo;s 76-59 win against San Diego State in the national title game. The 6-foot-9, 245-pound big man from Mali was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four after tallying his fourth double-double in six tournament games, making him the centerpiece of the Huskies&rsquo; dominant run to title No. 5 &mdash; just as he had been all season, really.
While teammates cut down the nets, Sanogo confessed that he had been planning all day to keep track of the ball at the horn if UConn completed its dominant tournament run.
&ldquo;He was sitting on that one, I guess, before the game,&rdquo; Hurley said with a chuckle.
And with Sanogo&rsquo;s play, was there really any question who deserved that ball?
&ldquo;Oh, he has every right to keep it,&rdquo; guard Nahiem Alleyne said when told Sanogo snagged the ball. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the most outstanding player of this tournament. He&rsquo;s been a dominant force this whole tournament. I mean, without this guy, we wouldn&rsquo;t be here, simple as that.&rdquo;
After coming into the game averaging team-highs of 17.2 points and 7.6 rebounds, he was efficient, going 5 for 9 from the field and 7 for 8 from the foul line. He was active, with five of his rebounds coming on the offensive glass. And it all came from a player who has spent recent weeks managing a strict fast from dawn until sunset to observe Ramadan as a Muslim.
&ldquo;He wanted to step up,&rdquo; forward Alex Karaban said. &ldquo;He wanted this moment so badly.&rdquo;
For Sanogo, it was the end of a yearlong push after a first-round exit from the NCAA Tournament in a loss to New Mexico State. That included getting to visit with former UConn great Emeka Okafor &mdash; the top big man on the program&rsquo;s 2004 title winner &mdash; last fall and picking his brain about what it would take to win a championship.
Roughly seven months later, Okafor was standing on the court, watching the Huskies players cut down the nets and pose for trophy photos.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s just done an excellent job being just a foundation,&rdquo; Okafor said.
&ldquo;He did it defensively, he did it offensively. He made big plays when you needed it. And this past weekend he did it while fasting. I think that&rsquo;s just a testament to his mindset, his will and his dedication to achieving the goal set to achieve at the beginning of the year.&rdquo;
His biggest offensive rebound came after UConn&rsquo;s once-comfortable lead had shrunk, the pressure rising. Tristen Newton drove into the paint and launched a floater that bounced off the back of the rim, only for Sanogo to jostle a San Diego State rebounder for position and bat the ball with his right hand off the backboard and straight through the net for a 58-50 lead with 7:12 left.
It was part of a night when the Huskies squandered most of a 16-point first-half lead, but kept coming up with key plays &mdash; a stop here, a basket there &mdash; after the Aztecs kept repeatedly pushing back and got as close as five with 5 1/2 minutes left.
Ultimately, UConn reestablished its comfortable margin down the stretch, allowing coach Dan Hurley to sub out his top-of-lineup guys to enjoy the finish from the bench. That included Sanogo checking out with 30.2 seconds left and walking straight to Hurley, who was already locked in a hug with Karaban.
It didn&rsquo;t matter. The big man wrapped his arms around both Hurley and Karaban to turn it into a brief group hug to share the moment.
Well, except for making sure to snatch that ball once the horn sounded.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m definitely keeping it,&rdquo; he said with a big smile. &ldquo;Yeah, definitely, definitely.&rdquo;

“I need that ball. That’s a ball I want to save for my kids, my grandkids,” Sanogo told The Associated Press.

Sanogo snags ball, MOP honors for UConn in NCAA title win

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; UConn topped off one of the most impressive March Madness runs in history Monday night, clamping down early and breaking it open late to bring home its fifth national title with a 76-59 victory over San Diego State.
Adama Sanogo had 17 points and 10 rebounds and Tristen Newton also had a double-double with 19 points and 10 boards for the Huskies (31-8), who became the fifth team&nbsp;since the bracket expanded&nbsp;in 1985 to win all six NCAA Tournament games by double-digits on the way to a championship.
They won the six games by an average of an even 20 points, only a fraction less than what North Carolina did in sweeping to the title in 2009.
UConn built a 16-point lead late in the first half, only to see the Aztecs (32-7) trim the lead to five with 5:19 left. But Jordan Hawkins (16 points) answered with a 3 to trigger a 9-0 run and the only drama left was whether UConn would cover the 7.5-point spread and go six-for-six with double-digit wins.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
UCONN HAS WON THE MEN&rsquo;S NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP 🏆 What a dominant tournament from the Huskies 😤 <a href="https://t.co/S5J5ROU1NJ">pic.twitter.com/S5J5ROU1NJ</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1643096089275367424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Keshad Johnson had 14 points for San Diego State, which came up one win shy in its first trip to the Final Four.
UConn set the stage for this one over an 11:07 stretch in the first half during which the Aztecs didn&rsquo;t make a single basket. Unable to shoot over or go around this tall, long UConn team, they missed 14 straight shots from the floor.
They went from leading by four to trailing by 11, and when they weren&rsquo;t getting shots blocked (Alex Karaban had three and Sanogo had one) or altered on the inside, they were coming up short &mdash; a telltale sign of a team that was out of hops after that draining 72-71 buzzer-beater win over Florida Atlantic two nights earlier.
UConn fan Bill Murray was one of the few celebrities on hand to watch the Huskies make it five for five in title games in one of the most unexpected Final Fours in history. This one marked the last that Jim Nantz would call after 37 years behind the mic.
He&rsquo;s had a lot of UConn stories to tell, though this certainly wasn&rsquo;t the most dramatic.
Even with that brief bout of uncertainty midway through the second half, UConn never truly let the Aztecs, who overcame a 14-point deficit in the semifinal, start thinking about any more last-second dramatics.
This was a team built strictly for 2023 &mdash; replenished by coach Dan Hurley, who went to the transfer portal to find more outside shooting after back-to-back first-round exits in the tournament.
And yet, there was something decidedly old-school about the way the Huskies took care of business in the early going.
They didn&rsquo;t even think much about 3-point shooting at the start, instead skip passing into Sanogo on the post and wearing down SDSU while building the early lead.
The Aztecs were too good a team to cave and an over-pursuing defense is what triggered the late run to within five. A team built on defense only shot 32% from the floor.
And after its late run, they started getting burned and Hurley and Co. were hugging it out on the bench before the buzzer.
UConn&rsquo;s latest coronation makes Hurley the third coach to bring a trophy home to Storrs, Connecticut. He joins Jim Calhoun (1999, 2004, 2001) and Kevin Ollie (2014).

The Connecticut Huskies have won their fifth national championship, defeating San Diego State 76-59 on Monday night.

UConn beats San Diego State 76-59 to win 5th national championship

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Lamont Butler hit the biggest shot in San Diego State history, putting the Aztecs in the national championship game for the first time.
The next step, in Monday&rsquo;s title game, will be a difficult one.
UConn has been the dominant team all through the bracket, delivering one beatdown after another while showing no weaknesses &mdash; even on a short turnaround.
The Huskies snatched the euphoria right out of Gonzaga last week in the Elite Eight, ruining the Zags&rsquo; vibes after their last-second win over UCLA two days earlier. Baylor did the same thing to Gonzaga in the 2021 national title game, bullying the Zags two days after Jalen Suggs&rsquo; miracle shot.
&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t stop,&rdquo; UConn guard Jordan Hawkins said after scoring 13 points against Miami on Saturday night. &ldquo;We keep putting our foot on their neck. We have a really tough team.&rdquo;
The Huskies got to the title game by breaking their opponents&rsquo; will.
UConn won its first four NCAA Tournament games by at least 15 points and wrecked Miami&rsquo;s first Final Four appearance by dominating the Hurricanes at both ends in a 72-59 win.
The Aztecs have done it with defense.
San Diego State shut down four straight NCAA Tournament opponents and leaned on its D in the second half to overcome a 14-point deficit to ruin Florida Atlantic&rsquo;s first Final Four. Butler provided the heroics, hitting a buzzer-beater in the 72-71 win that had all of San Diego celebrating.
The first buzzer-beating game-winner by a trailing team in Final Four history now puts the Aztecs within a win of the Mountain West Conference&rsquo;s first national title.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t consider ourselves a mid-major,&rdquo; San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re a high-major program.&rdquo;
UConn (30-8) will be vying for its fifth national title since 1999, but first since Dan Hurley was hired to bring back the program after its fall from grace.
UConn won its fourth title under Kevin Ollie in 2014, but spiraled downward in the wake of recruiting violations and Ollie&rsquo;s ugly departure.
When Hurley took over in 2018, UConn was 170th on the KenPom analytics rankings and low on the national relevance scale.
The knock on Hurley&rsquo;s Huskies then turned to UConn&rsquo;s meager Marches; two first-round NCAA Tournament burnouts, including to No. 12 seed New Mexico State last year.
UConn had an uneven 2022-23 season, climbing to No. 2 in the AP Top 25, tumbling back toward irrelevance with six losses in eight games.
The Huskies turned into the best team in the maddest of Marches that culminated in the most unexpected Final Four, putting them in position to tie Duke and Indiana for fourth on the all-time championships list.
&ldquo;The group has shown their quality so many times in terms of the level that we could play at,&rdquo; Hurley said. &ldquo;And I think we experienced everything in that month of January, it&rsquo;s a battle-tested team.&rdquo;
For San Diego State (32-6), Monday&rsquo;s title game will be the culmination of the program building Steve Fisher started and Dutcher pushed forward.
Fisher had built San Diego State into a mid-major power, leading them to six straight NCAA Tournaments. When he retired in 2017, the reins were handed to Dutcher, his assistant back to Michigan&rsquo;s national championship with the Fab Five in 1989.
Dutcher kept many of the same principles Fisher had, adding an extra dash of defensive devilry.
San Diego State appeared ready to break through in 2020, on its way to a likely No. 1 seed before the pandemic wiped out the NCAA Tournament.
The Aztecs suffered first-round NCAA Tournament flameouts the next two seasons before becoming defensive dominators this year.
San Diego State was fourth in the KenPom.com defensive efficiency ratings while winning 27 games during the regular season. The Aztecs took it to new lows in the NCAA Tournament, holding their first four opponents to 57 points per game and 17% shooting from the 3-point arc.
Upstart FAU appeared to have solved San Diego State&rsquo;s defense in the first half of Saturday night&rsquo;s first semifinal, stretching its lead to 14 midway through the second half.
The Aztecs got back to being dirty (in a good way) to get back in it and Butler finished if off with one of the most memorable shots in NCAA Tournament history.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to the national championship,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not things many people do.&rdquo;

The fifth-seeded Aztecs will meet the red-hot, fifth-seeded Huskies in the national championship game Monday.

March Madness: San Diego State to meet UConn in title game

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; One short year ago, college basketball was getting ready for the game of a lifetime: North Carolina vs. Duke at the Final Four.
And this year? Well, to put it kindly, who the heck are these guys?
The NCAA Tournament, the annual event that has told and sold and made marketing gold out of the story of underdogs and busted brackets has, for 2023, produced an extreme rendition of what happens when&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-final-four-uconn-fau-6ca1aeceb20e4d9cde254e52ea77430f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">all that cherished unpredictability</a>&nbsp;plays itself out to the end.
In one Final Four meeting Saturday, it will be San Diego State against Florida Atlantic. In the other, it will be Miami vs. UConn.
&ldquo;I expect the prognosticators to pick us fifth at the Final Four,&rdquo; Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May said in a nod to the reality that nobody really expected the Owls, or any of these teams, to be here.
Of the four programs descending on Houston this week, only one has ever sniffed a Final Four before. It&rsquo;s the first time in 53 years that has happened.
With its four national titles and some famous names from the past, including Jim Calhoun, Kemba Walker&nbsp;and Rip Hamilton, the name &ldquo;Connecticut&rdquo; certainly should ring a bell, even if it might not tread all the way into true blueblood territory.
Miami?&nbsp;That was a program that was literally shut down for 14 years in the 1970s and 1980s due to lack of interest. The school was too busy building a football program that would become (in)famous for winning with a certain panache.
May&rsquo;s Florida Atlantic&nbsp;program? It&rsquo;s a relative new kid on the block, a member of Division I since 1993 that is based in the retirement community of Boca Raton, a locale better known for its 4:30 dinner specials than its 7 p.m. tipoffs.
San Diego State?&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/final-four-san-diego-state-46eefb6f73d12368b158126d5365cb0a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In their defense</a>, maybe this shouldn&rsquo;t be the Aztecs&rsquo; first Final Four. In 2020, they were 30-2 and generally slotted in as a No. 1 seed, albeit still an underdog to a stacked Kansas team that was the odds-on favorite. Then COVID hit and wiped that season off the boards.
&ldquo;There are a lot of really good teams in college basketball, and the difference between winning and losing is paper thin,&rdquo; San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said.
Will anyone, outside of the truest of diehards, bother to watch?
As of Thursday, a pair of seats in the nosebleed section for Saturday&rsquo;s doubleheader &mdash; the most-anticipated day on the college hoops calendar &mdash; were going for around $100 each on the secondary market. A year ago, shortly after the Duke-Carolina matchup was set, the average price for those same seats nearly doubled to $800 a ticket.
There has been a lot of debate and even some handwringing about how one of America&rsquo;s greatest sporting events produced a 4 seed, two 5s and a 9 &mdash; for a seed total of 23, which is the second-highest in history &mdash; that between them boast not a single McDonald&rsquo;s All-American nor one consensus top-30 recruit.
The transfer portal, which allows players to come and go from school to school without having to sit out a year, might be the best explanation. Miami coach Jim Larranaga called it basketball&rsquo;s form of &ldquo;speed dating,&rdquo; a get-rich-quick scheme that, with the right timing, chemistry and luck, can make a roster very good (or very bad) very quickly.
Some other possibilities: an NCAA selection committee that some say is divorced from reality; the ever-shifting landscape caused by name-image-likeness (NIL) deals that give players more leverage (and money); and, for sure, an abundance of flawed teams &mdash; including Alabama, Houston and Kansas &mdash; that were overvalued and placed at the top of the heap this year.
But before jumping to grand conclusions about matchups like these becoming the &ldquo;new normal&rdquo; at the Final Four, former Duke star and current TV analyst Jay Bilas reminds us that we are a scant 365 days removed from a completely different sort of get-together.
&ldquo;I love the one about the narratives that you don&rsquo;t need those McDonalds guys to win,&rdquo; Bilas said. &ldquo;OK, so don&rsquo;t recruit the best players, and see how that goes for you. I just don&rsquo;t understand how all this gets this way.&rdquo;
A year ago, the tournament felt perfect. The country got its dose of Cinderella &mdash; namely, when 15 seed Saint Peter&rsquo;s made a first-of-its-kind run into the Elite Eight. Then, a sense of perfectly timed normalcy took over.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski got to close out his career at the Final Four, and&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-north-carolina-tar-heels-mens-basketball-duke-blue-devils-mens-basketball-sports-north-carolina-26014ae4edf5d2649b3543ab3b43528f">the end</a>&nbsp;came against none other than archrival North Carolina. Joining those power programs in New Orleans last year were Kansas and Villanova, two more of the country&rsquo;s great programs with seven national titles between them. The total seed value of those four teams: 13, with most of that accounted for by the Tar Heels, who got in as an 8 after knocking out Saint Pete&rsquo;s.
So, will 2023 be remembered as the year when chaos took over for good, or just a minor blip in the proceedings while all those Jayhawks and Blue Devils reload?
&ldquo;The tournament is about a lot of different things to a lot of different people,&rdquo; Bilas said. &ldquo;Some people love it for the brackets, some people love it for the basketball. But no matter who&rsquo;s in the Final Four, the bandwagon is always wide open, and you can jump on it whenever you want.&rdquo;

Of the four teams descending on Houston, only one has ever sniffed a Final Four before — the first time that's happened in 53 years.