Racers

Two weeks after winning the women&rsquo;s NCAA national title, Paige Bueckers has taken her act to the WNBA.
The Dallas Wings picked the historic UConn guard to be their 1st overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft Monday night at The Shed in New York City.
Bueckers, who led the Huskies to their 12th national title, becomes the sixth player from the school to get drafted no.1 overall. She joins Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles, Maya Moore, and Breanna Stewart in the exclusive list.
Now, Bueckers will be teaming up with WNBA All-Star Arike Ogunbowale to form a dynamic backcourt for the Dallas Wings as they try to rebuild and get back to championship contention as soon as possible.
The draft also highlighted the league's growing international presence, with French center Dominique Malonga selected second by the Seattle Storm and Lithuanian guard Justė Jocytė picked fifth by the expansion team Golden State Valkyries.​
USC star Kiki Iriafen and Notre Dame mainstay Sonia Citron rounded up the top 5 picks of the first round after they were selected by the Washington Mystics.
Check out the complete recap of the draft below:
<h4>First Round</h4>
<ol>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Dallas Wings &ndash; Paige Bueckers (G, UConn)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Seattle Storm &ndash; Dominique Malonga (C, France)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Washington Mystics &ndash; Sonia Citron (G, Notre Dame)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Washington Mystics &ndash; Kiki Iriafen (F, USC)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Golden State Valkyries &ndash; Justė Jocytė (G, Lithuania)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Washington Mystics &ndash; Georgia Amoore (G, Virginia Tech)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Connecticut Sun &ndash; Aneesah Morrow (F, LSU)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Connecticut Sun &ndash; Saniya Rivers (G, NC State)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Los Angeles Sparks &ndash; Sarah Ashlee Barker (G, Alabama)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Chicago Sky &ndash; Aj&scaron;a Sivka (F, Slovenia)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Chicago Sky &ndash; Hailey Van Lith (G, TCU)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Dallas Wings &ndash; Aziaha James (G, NC State)​</li>
</ol>
Note: The Las Vegas Aces forfeited their first-round pick due to a league rules violation.
<h4>Second Round</h4>
<ol>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Las Vegas Aces &ndash; Aaliyah Nye (G, Alabama)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Dallas Wings &ndash; Madison Scott (F, Ole Miss)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Minnesota Lynx &ndash; Anastasiia Olairi Kosu (F, UMMC Ekaterinburg)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Chicago Sky &ndash; Maddy Westbeld (F, Notre Dame)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Golden State Valkyries &ndash; Shyanne Sellers (G, Maryland)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Atlanta Dream &ndash; Te-Hina Paopao (G, South Carolina)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Indiana Fever &ndash; Makayla Timpson (F, Florida State)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Indiana Fever &ndash; Bree Hall (G, South Carolina)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Los Angeles Sparks &ndash; Sania Feagin (F, South Carolina)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Chicago Sky &ndash; Aicha Coulibaly (G, Texas A&amp;M)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Washington Mystics &ndash; Lucy Olsen (G, Iowa)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Minnesota Lynx &ndash; Dalayah Daniels (F, Washington)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Connecticut Sun &ndash; Rayah Marshall (F, USC)</li>
</ol>
<h4>Third Round</h4>
<ol>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Los Angeles Sparks &ndash; Serena Sundell (G, Kansas State)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Dallas Wings &ndash; JJ Quinerly (G, West Virginia)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Los Angeles Sparks &ndash; Liatu King (F, Notre Dame)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Seattle Storm &ndash; Madison Conner (G, TCU)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Golden State Valkyries &ndash; Kaitlyn Chen (G, UConn)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Dallas Wings &ndash; Aaronette Vonleh (F, Baylor)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Washington Mystics &ndash; Zaay Green (G, Alabama)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Indiana Fever &ndash; Yvonne Ejim (F, Gonzaga)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Seattle Storm &ndash; Jordan Hobbs (G, Michigan)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Las Vegas Aces &ndash; Harmoni Turner (G, Harvard)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Atlanta Dream &ndash; Taylor Thierry (G, Ohio State)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Minnesota Lynx &ndash; Aubrey Griffin (F, UConn)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">New York Liberty &ndash; Adja Kane (F, Landerneau Bretagne Basket)​</li>
</ol>

The Dallas Wings picked Paige Bueckers to be their 1st overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft Monday night at The Shed in New York City.

2025 WNBA Draft: Paige Bueckers goes no.1 to the Dallas Wings

The NBA has officially announced the reserves for the 2025 All-Star Game, set to take place on February 16 at the Chase Center in San Francisco. These selections, chosen by the league's head coaches, will join the previously announced starters in the newly formatted All-Star mini-tournament.&nbsp;
Eastern Conference Reserves:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Guards:</li>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">Darius Garland, Cleveland Cavaliers</li>
</ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Frontcourt:</li>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">Pascal Siakam, Indiana Pacers&nbsp;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers</li>
</ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Wildcards:</li>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">Damian Lillard, Milwaukee Bucks</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">Tyler Herro, Miami Heat</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
THE 2025 EAST ALL-STAR RESERVES: ⭐️ Cade Cunningham ⭐️ Damian Lillard ⭐️ Tyler Herro ⭐️ Darius Garland ⭐️ Evan Mobley ⭐️ Jaylen Brown ⭐️ Pascal Siakam <a href="https://t.co/KH8E1XAoh0">pic.twitter.com/KH8E1XAoh0</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1885117401114820767?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2025</a></blockquote>

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Western Conference Reserves:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Guards:</li>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">James Harden, Los Angeles Clippers</li>
</ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Frontcourt:</li>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">Jaren Jackson Jr., Memphis Grizzlies</li>
</ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Wildcards:</li>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">Alperen Sengun, Houston Rockets</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">Jalen Williams, Oklahoma City Thunder</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
THE 2025 WEST ALL-STAR RESERVES: ⭐️ Anthony Edwards ⭐️ Anthony Davis ⭐️ James Harden ⭐️ Jaren Jackson Jr. ⭐️ Alperen Şeng&uuml;n ⭐️ Jalen Williams ⭐️ Victor Wembanyama <a href="https://t.co/g1Sa3l4rcE">pic.twitter.com/g1Sa3l4rcE</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1885122220240101829?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2025</a></blockquote>

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These reserves will complement the All-Star starters announced last week, which include prominent players such as LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Nikola Jokic.&nbsp;
This year's All-Star Game introduces a new format featuring a mini-tournament with four teams competing in three games. The 24 All-Star selections will be divided into three teams, each drafted by TNT's Inside the NBA analysts&mdash;Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kenny Smith. The fourth team will comprise the winners of the Rising Stars Challenge, led by honorary general manager Candace Parker. Each game will be played to a target score of 40 points, adding a fresh competitive element to the event.&nbsp;
The 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend promises to deliver an exciting showcase of basketball talent, blending seasoned superstars with emerging players in an innovative and engaging format.

The NBA has officially announced the reserves for the 2025 All-Star Game.

NBA announces 2025 All-Star Game reserves

Kevin Durant joined an exclusive list of NBA legends on Saturday night as he became one of 8 players to score 29,000 total career points or more, in the Phoenix Suns&rsquo; 114-102 win over the Dallas Mavericks.
The Suns&rsquo; superstar reached the mark in the 4th quarter of the game off a pass from Tyus Jones for a pull-up transition three.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Kevin Durant surpasses 29,000 career points with this 3, becoming just the 8th player in NBA history to reach the mark! 👏 <a href="https://t.co/e6qT9O0Wo2">pic.twitter.com/e6qT9O0Wo2</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1850391347099783662?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 27, 2024</a>
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</blockquote>
Durant, in turn, is now in elite company together with LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki, and Wilt Chamberlain.
Durant, a 14-time NBA All-Star, now has a total of 29,010 points after tallying 31 markers against the Mavericks. He has a career scoring average of 27.3 points per game in 1,064 games played over his 17-year NBA career.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to give credit to the people who have helped me since I was a kid,&rdquo; Durant said post-game about the accomplishment. &ldquo;Teammates who passed me the ball, set screens for me, coaches who drew up plays for me. I&rsquo;m glad to be able to do this in front of these guys and this crowd, but I have more to do.&rdquo;
Durant is now 10th on the all-time NBA scoring list, and with the way he&rsquo;s still scoring the ball, he will likely climb up more ladders in the scoring history list for the remainder of his career.
Other than Durant, LeBron James continued racking up NBA history by having his 8th triple-double after being 35 years or older when racked up 32 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 assists in the Lakers&rsquo; 131-127 win over the Kings.
LeBron at one time had 14 straight for the Lakers in the 4th quarter, and scored 16 overall as he led LA&rsquo;s comeback from down 10 late in the 3rd quarter.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A vintage LeBron game in the <a href="https://twitter.com/Lakers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Lakers</a> 3rd straight win: 👑 32 PTS (16 in 4th) 👑 14 REB 👑 10 AST 👑 4 3PM 👑 12-22 FGM <a href="https://t.co/kDAuPZ274b">pic.twitter.com/kDAuPZ274b</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1850409431126716669?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 27, 2024</a></blockquote>

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Even at their age, KD and LeBron are at the peak of their games with each and every stellar outing they produce night after night.

Kevin Durant joined an exclusive list of NBA legends on Saturday night as he became one of 8 players to score 29,000 points.

Kevin Durant becomes 8th player in NBA history to score 29,000 points or more

The Minnesota Lynx have stolen Game 1 vs the New York Liberty after a cardiac comeback win in overtime, 95-93, to draw first blood in the 2024 WNBA Finals.
After a dominant first half from New York, Minnesota stormed back behind a huge scoring surge in the 4th quarter to take the lead in the dying seconds of the game.
The Liberty led by 15 with 5 minutes left in the game before the Lynx unleashed their furious run. It was led by Courtney Williams, who sank back-to-back threes with under 2 minutes to go. One of them was a four-point play as Williams got fouled by Sabrina Ionescu to give Minnesota the go-ahead lead late.
Breanna Stewart had a chance to win it for the Liberty in regulation but she missed the free throw that could&rsquo;ve given New York the lead and the win, sending the game into OT.
In overtime, 2024 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Napheesa Collier showed her wares that she&rsquo;s not just a defensive player when she gave the Lynx the final lead for the final tally on a tough fadeaway jumper.
Stewart had a chance again to send the game to a 2nd overtime but she missed a point-blank layup at the buzzer.
Collier finished with 21 points on 10-16 shooting with 8 rebounds and 4 assists to lead Minnesota&rsquo;s comeback. Williams chipped in 23 points as the team&rsquo;s leading scorer while Kayla McBride added 22 markers.
Stewart and Ionescu, New York&rsquo;s two superstars, scored 18 and 19 points respectively but struggled from the field overall (6-21 and 8-26) as the Liberty lost home court advantage following Game 1&rsquo;s loss. Jonquel Jones spearheaded the Liberty with 24 points and 10 rebounds but it was not enough to stop the Lynx&rsquo;s comeback.
Game 2 will still be at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY on Monday, October 14 at 3:00 p.m.

Minnesota have stolen Game 1 vs New York after a cardiac comeback win in overtime, 95-93, in the 2024 WNBA Finals.

Lynx strike first in 2024 WNBA Finals after after thrilling comeback win

New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart has been named the 2023 Kia WNBA Most Valuable Player, the WNBA announced today.&nbsp;
This is the second Kia WNBA Most Valuable Award for Stewart and the first for a member of the Liberty. Stewart previously earned the honor in 2018 with the Seattle Storm.
Stewart becomes the eighth player in WNBA history to win the award multiple times, joining three-time winners Lauren Jackson, Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes and two-time winners Cynthia Cooper, Elena Delle Donne, Candace Parker and A&rsquo;ja Wilson.
Stewart received 20 first-place votes, 23 second-place votes and 17 third-place votes from a national panel of 60 sportswriters and broadcasters, earning 446 total points. Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas finished in second place with 439 points (23 first-place votes, 12 second-place votes and 25 third-place votes). Las Vegas Aces center A&rsquo;ja Wilson, the 2020 and 2022 Kia WNBA Most Valuable Player, was third with 433 points (17 first-place votes, 25 second-place votes, 17 third-place votes and one fourth-place vote).
Players were awarded 10 points for a first-place vote, seven points for a second-place vote, five points for a third-place vote, three points for a fourth-place vote and one point for a fifth-place vote.&nbsp;
With Stewart and Thomas separated by seven points, this marks the second-smallest margin between the first- and second-place finishers in the history of the award; the closest finish was a two-point difference between MVP Swoopes (327 points) and runner-up Jackson (325) in 2005. The 13 points separating Stewart and Wilson represent the smallest margin between first- and third-place vote-getters for MVP in WNBA history, surpassing the 45-point difference between MVP Parker (234) and third-place finisher Delle Donne (189) in 2013.
In addition, this is the second time in WNBA history that the MVP runner-up received more first-place votes than the award recipient. In 2005, Jackson received 20 first-place votes and Swoopes received 16.
In her seventh WNBA season and first with the Liberty, Stewart&nbsp;averaged 23.0 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.57 blocked shots and 1.45 steals in 34.1 minutes in 40 games. She ranked second in the WNBA in scoring, third in rebounding, 16th&nbsp;in assists, fourth in blocks and minutes and eighth in steals.&nbsp;The four-time All-WNBA First Team selection also finished second in efficiency (27.6) and third in double-doubles (20).
Behind Stewart, New York (32-8) recorded the second-most wins in a season in league history, posted its largest average margin of victory (13.16) in a season and earned the No. 2 seed in the 2023 WNBA Playoffs presented by Google. The Liberty will continue the pursuit of its first WNBA championship when it hosts the Sun in Game 2 of the Semifinals tonight (8 p.m. ET, ESPN). Connecticut leads the series 1-0.&nbsp;
The 6-4 Stewart was named the WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month for three of the four possible months of the 2023 WNBA season, May, July and August, when New York posted a combined 21-4 record. In addition, she was honored as the Eastern Conference Player of the Week six times.
For the second consecutive year, Stewart was the No. 2 vote-getter in fan voting for the AT&amp;T WNBA All-Star Game, where she captained Team Stewart to a 143-127 victory over Team Wilson. She also helped New York win the third annual WNBA Commissioner&rsquo;s Cup presented by Coinbase, with the Liberty defeating the Aces 82-63 on the road in the championship game on Aug. 15.
Additional highlights of Stewart&rsquo;s 2023 season include:
<ul style="font-weight: 400;">
<li>Posted her first four regular-season games of 40 or more points, setting a WNBA single-season record and matching Diana Taurasi for the most in a career.</li>
<li>Scored a career-high and franchise-record 45 points in 30 minutes in a 90-73 win over the Indiana Fever on May 21, the most points ever by a WNBA player in 30 minutes or fewer.</li>
<li>Registered 43 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in a 99-95 victory against the Phoenix Mercury on July 5, marking the second game of at least 40 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in WNBA history.</li>
<li>Became the first player in WNBA history to have at least 25 points, five rebounds and five assists in a half, doing so in the first half of a 95-84 win over the Atlanta Dream on July 27.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Set single-season franchise records for total points (919) and rebounds (371) and finished with the second-most points in a season by a WNBA player.</li>
<li>Became the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 4,000 points (196 games).</li>
</ul>
Stewart, a native of North Syracuse, N.Y, and a four-time NCAA champion at the University of Connecticut, was selected by the Storm with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 WNBA Draft presented by State Farm. She signed with the Liberty as an unrestricted free agent prior to the 2023 season. Stewart holds career averages of 20.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.50 blocks and 1.36 steals.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
In honor of being named the 2023 Kia WNBA Most Valuable Player, Stewart will receive $15,450 and a specially designed trophy by Tiffany &amp; Co.
Below are the voting results for the 2023 Kia WNBA Most Valuable Player Award:
&nbsp;

New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart has been named the 2023 Kia WNBA Most Valuable Player, the WNBA announced today.

New York Liberty's Breanna Stewart wins 2023 WNBA MVP award

Former No. 2 overall pick Jabari Parker is turning heads after taking some shots at the NBA.
The former phenom recently signed a one-year contract with FC Barcelona and when asked why he decided to join the EuroLeague rather than continue his NBA career, he didn't mince words.
"I just want to be a part of something legitimate. I want to be a part of [a league where] &lsquo;every game matters.' Sadly, the NBA is a business and there are 10-12 teams that try to win every game and the other half try to get a draft pick," Parker told <a href="https://www.eurohoops.net/en/trademarks/1557757/jabari-parker-longed-to-be-a-part-of-something-legitimate-in-a-new-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EuroHoops</a>. "Where does that leave good players? You either have to be super good or bad to lose games. It&rsquo;s no excuse to see DeMarcus Cousins, Dwight Howard or John Wall, guys who are potentially going into the Hall of Fame&hellip; not have a job.
"We are seeing the league getting watered down, unfortunately. It&rsquo;s a lot of things that are out of our control. EuroLeague and the fans are expecting a lot, and we as players expect a lot from ourselves and we want to compete."
Parker didn't stop there. He also argued that EuroLeague rosters might be better than NBA rosters from top to bottom since there are more veterans.
"Euroleague might have, arguably, some of the better players consistently on a team," Parker <a href="https://www.eurohoops.net/en/trademarks/1557757/jabari-parker-longed-to-be-a-part-of-something-legitimate-in-a-new-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. "In the NBA, you have a lot of counterparts that don&rsquo;t really contribute to a talent, maybe [it's] political, maybe a favor, whatever. Out here, you have to play; you have to be able to be good, you have to have some experience and you see it with teams like us: [Alex] Abrines played with OKC, Jan [Vesely] played in the Wizards, Sato (Tomas Satoransky)&hellip;
"This is not like baseball where you have veterans that stay on a team; there is no minor league. Where is the room for experienced guys and veterans [on NBA rosters]? That arguably says that you do have some better talent [in the EuroLeague], just from the experience. If you have a roster full of guys that have been pro for 10-plus years, how are rookies or two-year guys exceeding them? You see that around Europe, with many other teams, not only ourselves. Real Madrid has some really good guys on their team too."
Parker's last NBA stint came to an end in January of 2022, when he was waived by the Boston Celtics. Rather than continuing to wait on an NBA call, Parker decided to sign abroad instead.
"I knew I wanted to play this season and I didn&rsquo;t want to wait," Parker <a href="https://www.eurohoops.net/en/trademarks/1557757/jabari-parker-longed-to-be-a-part-of-something-legitimate-in-a-new-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explained</a>. "I didn&rsquo;t want to have to go through the extenuating process of trying to figure out an NBA team that was going to take a chance on me.
"As soon as we had the conversations with [FC Barcelona director] Mario Bruno Fern&aacute;ndez, I got down here. They pretty much gave me an offer that I couldn&rsquo;t refuse. I decided this was the best place for me."
Parker has suited up for six NBA teams: the Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards, Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings and Celtics.
Throughout his eight-year NBA career, the 28-year-old averaged 14.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 0.9 steals while shooting 49.4% from the field, 32.6% from three-point range and 74.3% from the free-throw line.&nbsp;

Former No. 2 pick Jabari Parker didn't mince words when discussing his move to the EuroLeague and how it compares to the NBA.

Jabari Parker: NBA is 'watered down,' less legitimate than EuroLeague

Throughout NBA history, there have been plenty of supremely talented teams. However, only a select few managed to string together multiple championships, revolutionize how the game is played and dominate to the point that they defined their era.&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s extremely difficult to create a dynasty, but these six teams earned that distinction.
Boston Celtics (1957-1969)
While it&rsquo;s difficult for today&rsquo;s NBA fans to fathom, the Boston Celtics managed to win 11 championships in just 13 seasons. Celtics head coach and general manager Red Auerbach pulled off a draft-day trade in 1956 that changed the franchise forever, with Boston acquiring No. 2 overall pick Bill Russell in exchange for Cliff Hagan and Ed Macauley. Russell would become one of the most dominant defenders and rebounders of all-time, and when paired with Bob Cousy, John Havlicek and Sam Jones among others, the Celtics became an unstoppable force.&nbsp;
Today, winning three-straight championships is considered an astonishing feat, yet these Celtics managed to win eight consecutive titles from 1959 to 1966 &ndash; a record that is virtually impossible to break. While it was certainly a very different era of basketball, Boston deserves a ton of credit for revolutionizing the game and sustaining that level of dominance for more than a decade.
Los Angeles Lakers (1980s)
The 1980s belonged to the "Showtime" Lakers, a dynamic and star-studded team led by Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Under head coach Pat Riley's leadership, the Lakers thrilled fans with their fast-paced style of play. From 1980 through 1991, the Lakers won five championships and made nine NBA Finals appearances.
Magic&rsquo;s unparalleled playmaking abilities and Kareem&rsquo;s automatic skyhook made these Lakers nearly unstoppable on the court. The Lakers&rsquo; rivalry with the Celtics (and Magic Johnson&rsquo;s personal rivalry with Larry Bird) added another layer of excitement to the NBA, culminating in memorable NBA Finals matchups and moving NBA playoff games to live broadcasts rather than being on tape delay.&nbsp;HBO&rsquo;s show &ldquo;Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty&rdquo; has introduced the Showtime era to a new generation of fans.&nbsp;
Chicago Bulls (1991-1998)
On June 19, 1984, the Chicago Bulls selected Michael Jordan with the No. 3 overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft. It didn&rsquo;t take long for Jordan to make his mark on the league, as he won Rookie of the Year and became a household name. Jordan was the lynchpin of the Bulls&rsquo; dynasty and became the biggest sports star that the world had ever seen. Coached by Phil Jackson, MJ and Scottie Pippen led the Bulls to six championships in eight years, thanks to two different three-peats. In the 1995-1996 season, the Bulls amassed a record-setting 72 wins, solidifying their status as one of the greatest teams in NBA history (although the record would later be broken by another team featured on this list).&nbsp;
These Bulls teams captured the imagination of fans worldwide. The Bulls&rsquo; dynasty and Team USA's "Dream Team" (which featured Jordan and Pippen alongside other NBA superstars like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone and Charles Barkley) deserve a lot of credit for making basketball popular across the globe. Just as &ldquo;Winning Time&rdquo; is bringing the Showtime Lakers back into the spotlight, ESPN&rsquo;s docuseries &ldquo;The Last Dance&rdquo; became a huge hit and showcased Jordan&rsquo;s dominance and popularity to younger fans who never got a chance to watch him play live.
San Antonio Spurs (1999-2014)
The San Antonio Spurs, guided by the steady hand of coach Gregg Popovich, enjoyed an extended period of excellence. By now, you&rsquo;re probably realizing that dynasties tend to start when a team drafts a special player. For the Spurs, that player was Tim Duncan, who is often regarded as the greatest power forward in NBA history. While Duncan wasn&rsquo;t a flashy player, he was incredibly consistent and capable of taking over games offensively and defensively.&nbsp;
Duncan and Popovich captured five NBA championships between 1999 and 2014. They managed to win across different eras, first with David Robinson, Avery Johnson and Sean Elliot, then with Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Bruce Bowen, and later with Kawhi Leonard, Parker and Ginobili among others. The Spurs' success was built on fundamentals, exceptional team chemistry and a selfless approach to the game. Their sustained success over more than a decade solidified them as a modern NBA dynasty.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/200413-shaquille-oneal-kobe-bryant-cs-1211p.jpg" alt="" width="683" height="458" />
Los Angeles Lakers (2000-2002)
The Lakers of the early 2000s were an unstoppable force, combining the dominant inside presence of Shaquille O'Neal and the scoring prowess of Kobe Bryant. Coached by the legendary Phil Jackson, this superstar tandem led Los Angeles to three consecutive NBA championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
Teams had to pick their poison against these Lakers, as Shaq and Kobe were nearly impossible to defend one-on-one. Shaq dominated with his imposing size and physicality in the paint, while Kobe made teams pay with his unmatched scoring ability and constantly evolving skill-set. Together, they formed one of the most formidable duos in NBA history, complementing each other's strengths on the court (while often butting heads off the court). Who knows how many more championships the Lakers would have won if Shaq and Kobe managed to get along and make things work in L.A.&nbsp;
Golden State Warriors (2014-2022)
The Golden State Warriors' dynasty has been a breathtaking display of offensive brilliance and finesse. Led by Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, the Warriors revolutionized the game with their three-point shooting, fast-paced style of play and small-ball lineups. Head coach Steve Kerr, who won five championships as a player with the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs dynasties, helped the Warriors capture four NBA championships in eight years (2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022).&nbsp;
The Warriors won 73 games in 2016, breaking the previous record set by the Bulls. And as if this team wasn&rsquo;t already scary enough, Golden State signed Kevin Durant and became even more unstoppable. Even after Durant left in 2019, the Warriors managed to win another championship, beating the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals last year. The Warriors revolutionized the modern NBA, and their dynastic run may not even be over. After all, Curry, Thompson, Green and Kerr are still around and the team recently added veterans Chris Paul, Cory Joseph and Dario Saric in hopes of chasing a fifth ring.

Alex Kennedy looks back on six of the most unstoppable dynasties throughout NBA history.

Exploring the most dominant dynasties throughout NBA history

Throughout NBA history, rivalries have served as the lifeblood of the sport, igniting passions and captivating fans. These matchups have defined eras and showcased the very best the sport has to offer.
Today, let's delve into the greatest rivalries in NBA history.
Los Angeles Lakers vs. Boston Celtics
This stands as the pinnacle of NBA rivalries. Spanning multiple decades, these two storied franchises have collided in the NBA Finals a remarkable 12 times, with the Celtics winning nine times and the Lakers winning just three. From Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird to Kobe Bryant vs. Paul Pierce, the Lakers-Celtics clashes have captivated fans worldwide across various eras.
Chicago Bulls vs. Detroit Pistons
The 1990s witnessed a fierce rivalry between the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons. The Bulls, led by Michael Jordan, sought to dethrone the physical and rugged Pistons, who were known for their "Bad Boy" image. The intense battles between these teams showcased the contrasting styles of finesse and brute force and introduced the "Jordan Rules" strategy to the world, making their matchups some of the most memorable in NBA history.
New York Knicks vs. Miami Heat
The rivalry between the New York Knicks and Miami Heat in the 1990s symbolized the fierce competition between two Eastern Conference powerhouses. The physicality and intensity of their matchups, featuring iconic players such as Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway, created a rivalry that brought out the best in both teams. This year, the Heat and Knicks matched up in the postseason for the first time since 2012, renewing their rivalry and introducing younger fans to the history between these two teams.
Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State Warriors
Any teams that meet in the NBA Finals in four consecutive years are going to develop a rivalry of some sort. From 2015 through 2018, these teams battled for the Larry O'Brien trophy, with the Warriors winning three titles and the Cavaliers winning one (coming back from down 3-1 to ruin Golden State's 73-win season). These Finals' matchups featured star power -- with LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love facing off against Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green (and eventually Kevin Durant) -- as well as iconic moments and dramatic storylines. The Cavs-Warriors rivalry not only captivated fans but also fueled debates about team-building, basketball philosophies and the NBA's changing landscape.
Boston Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers
During the 1980s, the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers engaged in a heated rivalry for Eastern Conference dominance. Led by Larry Bird and Julius Erving, respectively, these two powerhouses clashed in multiple playoff series, producing high-stakes and fiercely contested matchups that had fans on the edge of their seats.
Los Angeles Lakers vs. San Antonio Spurs
The Lakers and Spurs established themselves as powerhouses in the 2000s. The rivalry between these two teams epitomized excellence, as Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal and the Lakers battled for NBA supremacy against Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and the Spurs. Their meetings in the playoffs often showcased high-level basketball and strategic brilliance, leaving an indelible mark on the league.
Which NBA rivarly is your favorite? <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tweet us your thoughts here</a>!

Basketball News looks back on the greatest rivalries in NBA history.

Examining the 6 biggest rivalries in NBA history

SAN ANTONIO (AP) &mdash; The first dinner that Victor Wembanyama had in his new home city was filled with San Antonio royalty. Gregg Popovich was there, of course. So were Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Manu Ginobili and Sean Elliott.
NBA champions, all of them.
Wembanyama now starts his quest to join their club.
Even as the welcomes for Wemby continued Saturday &mdash; one at San Antonio&rsquo;s iconic downtown River Walk, another at the arena &mdash; the French teen who has been labeled a generational basketball talent already was thinking about what comes next. He&rsquo;s got a visit to Nike headquarters in Oregon in the next few days, appointments to see some houses in San Antonio that he might be calling home for the next few years and then practices for the NBA Summer League.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got a lot to do,&rdquo; Wembanyama said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s all right. It&rsquo;s OK. It&rsquo;s all going to fit in.&rdquo;
He&rsquo;s excited, and rightly so. He put on a Spurs uniform on Saturday for the first time and will play in one for the first time sometime in early July in either Sacramento or Las Vegas; San Antonio plays in both of those summer leagues. He offered high-fives to hundreds of Spurs employees who showed up at the arena on Saturday to welcome him, smiling the whole way.
&ldquo;These are exciting times,&rdquo; Spurs CEO R.C. Buford said.
They come with the biggest expectations. The morning party on the River Walk took place at the spot where the Spurs&rsquo; championship celebrations usually are centered. And the news conference that followed at the arena came with Wembanyama seated on a stage that just happened to be at the same end of the court as San Antonio&rsquo;s five NBA championship banners.
&ldquo;To Victor, I wanted to say to you directly, we&rsquo;re excited to grow with you, support you, challenge you, especially Coach Pop &mdash; there&rsquo;ll be a lot of challenging days &mdash; on your journey through life and basketball,&rdquo; Spurs general manager Brian Wright said as he sat to Wembanyama&rsquo;s left. &ldquo;Your talent is obvious, but as we got to know you, the maturity, the approach, the character really showed us how special of a young man you are.&rdquo;
It was part of a whirlwind first 20 hours or so in San Antonio for Wembanyama,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/spurs-wembanyama-draft-nba-11b2b43bc27076ab5036769bf5d4160b">who flew in from the NBA draft on Friday</a>&nbsp;and had dinner with Popovich and some former players that night. Wembanyama said he learned more about the NBA in those two hours than he had learned in the last few years.
&ldquo;Honestly, that was one of the best dinners of my life,&rdquo; Wembanyama said. &ldquo;And not because of the food. The food was good. But the people was crazy.&rdquo;
Saturday started with Wembanyama enjoying a bag of the city&rsquo;s famed breakfast tacos &mdash; bacon and egg, and bean and cheese, he said &mdash; before heading to the Arneson River Theater for the day&rsquo;s first introductory event. Robinson was there, sitting in the front row. So was San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg, wearing a Wembanyama jersey.
There&rsquo;s someone driving around San Antonio with a Wemby license plate. There&rsquo;s a burger with foie gras on the menu at a local sports bar, as a tribute to Wembanyama. There&rsquo;s a mural of him on the outside of a business directly across the street of another mural featuring Duncan, Ginobili and Tony Parker. There&rsquo;s even a mariachi band that already has a song about Wembanyama.
&ldquo;The fans have been the best at their job,&rdquo; Wembanyama said. &ldquo;I can only hope to be at their level.&rdquo;
The Spurs also introduced&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-draft-2023-wembanyama-report-card-2b66d099d445bf3f1f8e3c697dcc9efb">second-round pick Sidy Cissoko</a>&nbsp;on Saturday &mdash; another player from France who has known Wembanyama for about a decade. Cissoko played in Spain before ending up with the G League Ignite, and he already has endeared himself to San Antonio, a city with a strong Latin influence, by taking questions in English, French and Spanish.
&ldquo;The hoop gods have been incredibly generous to San Antonio for a long time, and they blessed us again with Victor and Sidy,&rdquo; Buford said.
Wembanyama said he hasn&rsquo;t had much time for sleep, and he&rsquo;s looking forward to things calming down a bit so he can get back into his basketball routine &mdash; one that has been understandably disrupted in recent days. But first, there was luggage to unpack, more people to meet, more jerseys to sign.
It was hectic. It&rsquo;s going to be hectic for a while. And Wembanyama says he&rsquo;s enjoying it all.
&ldquo;This is the life I wanted,&rdquo; Wembanyama said. &ldquo;This is what I worked for and it&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ve been wanting for a long time. So, it feels normal to me.&rdquo;

The 48 hours after Victor Wembanyama was drafted No. 1 overall by the San Antonio Spurs have been a whirlwind.

Spurs, fans welcome No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama to San Antonio

One year ago, Jeremy Sochan walked across the stage at Barclays Center and shook Adam Silver&rsquo;s hand after the San Antonio Spurs selected him with the No. 9 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
Now, after an terrific season that earned him an All-Rookie Second-Team selection, Sochan is returning to New York and attending the NBA Draft once again&nbsp; &mdash; this time as a media correspondent for the NBA&rsquo;s app and social-media accounts.
Sochan will conduct red-carpet interviews with this year's top prospects, including No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama, who will soon be Sochan&rsquo;s teammate. Wembanyama is the most hyped-up prospect since LeBron James, and all eyes will be on San Antonio next season after adding the potential superstar.
The Spurs will have one of the most promising young cores in the NBA, and the pieces fit together incredibly well. Sochan, Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell will perfectly complement Wembanyama&rsquo;s skill-set, and all four players are age-23 or younger. It&rsquo;s an exciting time to be a Spurs fan, and it certainly seems that San Antonio has found its next franchise cornerstones.
As a rookie, Sochan turned heads with his dyed hair and one-handed free throws. However, he also proved he belongs in the NBA and flashed glimpses of brilliance throughout the campaign.&nbsp;
The 19-year-old averaged 11.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.2 stocks while shooting 45.3% from the field, 24.6% from three and 69.8% from the free-throw line. Over the final month of the season, Sochan was even better, averaging 16.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.2 steals, while shooting 48.3% from the field and 76.9% from the charity stripe.
Before Sochan transitions to interviewer mode, he spoke to Basketball News&rsquo; Alex Kennedy as the interviewee and discussed Wembanyama&rsquo;s game, his advice for the incoming rookies, the Spurs&rsquo; terrific young core, his interest in broadcasting, his one-handed free throws and more.
After a successful rookie season that culminated in an All-Rookie Second-Team selection, what advice would you give to this incoming class of rookies?
Jeremy Sochan: &ldquo;Stand your ground, but also listen, be open to [feedback] and be coachable. Just be able to go into an organization and show them that you want to work hard and that you want to be there. Also, listen to your elders &ndash; your coaches and your vets &ndash; because that&rsquo;s going to help you. The other thing is consistency. They&rsquo;re coming from a season where they&rsquo;ve played 30 or 40 games, and now they&rsquo;re going into a season where they&rsquo;re playing 82 games (plus the playoffs, if you make it). Just try to be consistent because it&rsquo;s a lot of games and it wears down on your body, so try to do everything to help that.&rdquo;
Victor Wembanyama is one of the most hyped-up prospects in NBA history. His size and length are obviously crazy, but what aspects of his skill-set impress you and what are some things that should help him in the NBA?&nbsp;
Sochan: &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s just the footwork for his size, the mobility for his size and the touch for his size. I think that all adds up into him being an all-around player, and his height just gives him so many advantages, for real. I think [his skill-set] is really exciting and it&rsquo;s going to be really good for him.&rdquo;
I&rsquo;ve talked to scouts and executives who believe that you and Victor will complement each other really well. Do you feel that your skill-sets are a good fit? And how can you guys help each other on the court?
Sochan: &ldquo;Of course, if it happens&hellip;&rdquo;
Oh, right. Assuming he&rsquo;s a Spur, how would you guys help each other on the court?
Sochan: &ldquo;Yeah, assuming it happens, I think we both have a lot of versatility, especially on the defensive side. He&rsquo;s a rim protector and he&rsquo;s very lengthy, and then I&rsquo;m very destructive and I can play 1 through 5, so I think there&rsquo;s a lot of potential there. And then offensively, I feel like I&rsquo;ll be able to get him into good spots and be able to play-make for him and make the game easy for him. I think we complement each other&rsquo;s games really well and I think it&rsquo;s really exciting if, potentially, that happens.&rdquo;
Again, assuming Wembanyama is the pick, he&rsquo;ll join this young core in San Antonio that already consists of you, Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell, Tre Jones, Zach Collins, Malaki Branham, Romeo Langford and Blake Wesley among others. What do you think of all this young talent, and where does this group rank among the best young cores in the NBA?
Sochan: &ldquo;I think the thing about our young core is that we all want to be around San Antonio, we all want to work together and we all want to be better. I think we&rsquo;re all very motivated to just work. We have [the opportunity] to be around the Spurs and just work, and I think that really helps. Personally, I think we&rsquo;re one of the best young cores in the league. I&rsquo;m not a guy that likes to rank [teams] and stuff, but I definitely think we&rsquo;re up there."
Gregg Popovich is arguably the best coach in NBA history and the Spurs are known for getting the most out of players. Sometimes, legends like Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili will stop by to work out with you guys. What can you share about your experience in the Spurs&rsquo; organization and how they help players realize their full potential?
Sochan: &ldquo;I think they&rsquo;re just really keen and want to help us with opportunities, and it&rsquo;s all very team-based. They&rsquo;re always communicating with the players and showing us the way. The Spurs have a winning culture; they&rsquo;ve won for so long so they know the blueprint. They give us that blueprint and try to find players who actually want to work for that. That&rsquo;s what they&rsquo;re really good at, finding those kinds of players [who will buy in]. They help us a lot.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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You and Victor played against each other back when you were 15 and he was 14. Your team won, and you <a href="https://twitter.com/JeremySochan/status/1658907669879574528">joked on Twitter</a> that neither of you were good back then. Do you have a relationship with Victor and when did you realize he could be a special player?
Sochan: &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t really have a relationship like that, but I&rsquo;ve talked to him a couple times. And like you said, we played against each other so there is a relationship in that sense, but it&rsquo;s nothing crazy. But yeah, I played against him back then, and he already had a lot of potential, so it&rsquo;s exciting to see how he grew and how popular he got over the years. I think he&rsquo;s a very exciting prospect and he&rsquo;s going to do a lot of good stuff for himself.&rdquo;
Paolo Banchero, Walker Kessler, Bennedict Mathurin and Jalen Williams served as media correspondents during the NBA Finals, and now you&rsquo;re going to be the league&rsquo;s NBA Draft correspondent tonight. I know you&rsquo;ve done some interviews before, like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT9CQNvQvyw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">your chat with Tony Parker</a>. Are you hoping to do more broadcasting or media stuff in the future?
Sochan: &ldquo;Potentially! If I get the opportunity to do it, then why not? I feel like I&rsquo;m pretty good at it; I&rsquo;m natural. So yeah, if there&rsquo;s an opportunity, I&rsquo;ll do it.&rdquo;
Did you do any research about the players or prepare any questions? What kind of prep goes into being an NBA Draft media correspondent?
Sochan: &ldquo;(laughs) Yeah, I&rsquo;ve been able to prep a bit and do some research on the players. I&rsquo;ve talked to the people around me who know a bit more than I do. And sometimes it&rsquo;s just on the go too and just being able to do it [on the fly]. But yeah, I&rsquo;m excited to be here for the draft. It&rsquo;s kinda cool to come back here after a year and still remember everything [from my draft night], just all of the emotions and stuff. And [it&rsquo;s fun] just to be here for all of this year&rsquo;s draft prospects too.&rdquo;
You let fans <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1671237507634147332" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vote on what color you&rsquo;ll dye your hair</a> for tonight&rsquo;s NBA Draft. When did you start dying your hair and using that as a way to express yourself?
Sochan: &ldquo;I probably started two years ago or two-and-a-bit years ago. It was just something that I always wanted to do, just to be able to showcase [who I am] and be myself. And it shows people that you can do whatever with your body and be proud of it. Just be confident!&rdquo;
Your one-handed free throws really worked and improved your free-throw percentage over the course of the season. I actually <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/will-onehanded-or-underhand-free-throws-ever-catch-on-in-the-nba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote an article</a> about how it could influence other players to make the same change. Would you recommend shooting one-handed to players who want to improve their free-throw percentage?
Sochan: &ldquo;Yeah, why not? The thing is, if it&rsquo;s working and it helps your shot, why not do it? When I started doing it, I feel like a lot of people were like, &lsquo;Why are you doing that? or, &lsquo;It looks weird,&rsquo; or whatever. Or they&rsquo;d ask like, &lsquo;How did you do it mentally?&rsquo; But I&rsquo;m going to do anything [to improve] my game and help me. If that helps, I&rsquo;m going to do it. And who cares if people laugh at you? Who cares if there are critics who talk about it? It is what it is at the end of the day and if it&rsquo;s helping me, I&rsquo;m going to do it.&rdquo;

Jeremy Sochan opens up to Alex Kennedy about his rookie year, Victor Wembanyama's game, San Antonio's young core and more.

Q&A: Jeremy Sochan on Victor Wembanyama, Spurs' young core, more

PARIS (AP) &mdash; Adieu France, hello America.
They were hugs of goodbye &mdash; not of joy &mdash; for Victor Wembanyama as he bid farewell to his teammates and the French league, before jetting off for what&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-draft-2023-wembanyama-396be2a8eeb0be8e3323bb509405695c">many predict</a>&nbsp;will be a glittering NBA career.
Wembanyama&rsquo;s performance &mdash; 22 points, seven rebounds and four blocks &mdash; couldn&rsquo;t prevent his Boulogne-Levallois team losing 92-85 to Monaco in a must-win Game 3 in the best-of-five French league championship series on Thursday.
To accommodate escalating interest in seeing the 19-year-old&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-basketball-las-vegas-6f4ac3d44f624ef36ddb00e314cf0401">French prodigy</a>, Game 3 &mdash; and 4 if they had won &mdash; were switched from a 4,000-seat venue to Court Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros, home of the French Open tennis championship which seats&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/LNBofficiel/status/1669390713434275842" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more than 14,000</a>.
Fans sang &ldquo;Merci, Wemby&rdquo; as&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wembanyama-nba-lottery-draft-french-finale-e8d2b9e7cf97ab22df549a03d1124456">the hugely popular Wembanyama</a>&nbsp;waved and clapped at them.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry for the fans who love to see a show,&rdquo; Wembanyama said on beIN Sports television after the game. &ldquo;Of course I&rsquo;m proud of what I&rsquo;ve managed to do along with my coach (Vincent Collet), in bringing the team to the finals. But I&rsquo;m not satisfied.&rdquo;
Next week, the San Antonio Spurs are expected to make the 7-foot-3 Wembanyama&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-draft-lottery-2023-victor-wembanyama-7ac2a47737c20c0df4543e1626407e47">the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft</a>, where he&rsquo;ll follow in the footsteps of France great Tony Parker and Hall of Famers David Robinson and Tim Duncan.
With Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadiv&eacute; among the crowd &mdash; likely with an eye on&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-mock-draft-wembanyama-c9dfd3d19592e1de44f5957ea2aa8b48">Wembanyama teammate Bilal Coulibaly</a>&nbsp;ahead of the draft &mdash; the Mets opened up big leads but with 50 seconds left the score was tied at 85-85. Jordan Loyd, a former NBA player with the Toronto Raptors, sank two 3-pointers to end Wembanyama&rsquo;s hopes of signing off with a French crown.
Ranadiv&eacute; told beIN Sport that Wembanyama is &ldquo;amazing&rdquo; but that &ldquo;I&rsquo;m also excited about Bilal. Young guy, lot of skills, so French basketball is in great shape.&rdquo;
Wembanyama, who opened the scoring with&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/LNBofficiel/status/1669413577068019712" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a reverse alley-oop dunk</a>, looked sad as he hugged his teammates while Monaco celebrated.
&ldquo;Wemby had a great game, but this team&rsquo;s unbelievable,&rdquo; said Loyd, who finished with 22 points.
Everything had pointed to a special night for Wembanyama and then a Game 4 on Saturday. Wembanyama clenched his fist when his pass inside for Devante Jones made it 24-10, then drew roars when he used his giant frame to block a shot early in the second quarter.
The &ldquo;Wemby, Wemby&rdquo; chants became louder when&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/LNBofficiel/status/1669432798598381573" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">he hit a 3-pointer</a>&nbsp;to make it 47-37, louder still when&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/LNBofficiel/status/1669431516190101504" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">he dished to Coulibaly</a>&nbsp;for a dunk early in the third quarter.
It was not enough, though, and it was &ldquo;Wemby&rdquo; who put Elie Okobo on the foul line to give Monaco its first lead, 82-81, with just over three minutes left.
Loyd &mdash; not Wembanyama &mdash; ended up with&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/LNBofficiel/status/1669449924562305028" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the MVP award</a>&nbsp;and the winners&rsquo; medal on the court where Novak Djokovic made men&rsquo;s Grand Slam history last Sunday with&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/novak-djokovic-grand-slam-titles-french-open-6f822dca855478163696538f37ff534b">his 23rd men&rsquo;s major title</a>.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/chicago-bulls-nba-sports-detroit-pistons-paris-ba85137c70a09ac5efcea7f5e8e472a1">Wembanyama&rsquo;s journey to greatness</a>&nbsp;in his sport, however, might only just be starting.

With today's loss to Monaco, Victor Wembanyama will leave his teammates and the French league to prepare for his NBA career.

Wembanyama bids adieu to France with a defeat as NBA Draft nears

DENVER (AP) &mdash; Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra practically snickered when asked about neutralizing the effective two-man game played by Denver Nuggets teammates Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
&ldquo;Yeah, where do you start? You have two guys that can score 50 in a playoff game. One guy is a triple-double machine that loves to get guys involved,&rdquo; Spoelstra said.
&ldquo;You go down the list of myriad of things you can do defensively, you have to check off some things that you don&rsquo;t really want to do because of both their ability to score and Jokic&rsquo;s ability to create something off-script.&rdquo;
Spoelstra knows what the Heat are up against; it&rsquo;s nothing new for Denver. The Nuggets&rsquo; potent duo has been nearly unstoppable in powering Denver&rsquo;s 13-3 run through the playoffs, including a&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-finals-2023-heat-nuggets-jokic-278674ca5c096db5880b812c7cc348dc">104-93 win in Game 1</a>.
A win Sunday night would make them just the second team this century to win its first 10 home games in a single postseason. The Nuggets&rsquo; run to what they hope is their first NBA championship is being fueled by Jokic and Murray.
They&rsquo;re entering the pantheon of pick-and-roll royalty of standard-bearers John Stockton and Karl Malone. But the Nuggets do it with a different twist.
Whereas Malone set up almost all of the screens for Stockton when they were Utah Jazz teammates, Denver&rsquo;s version is ambidextrous, doubling the difficulty of deciphering much less defusing it.
&ldquo;Three, four years ago, the No. 1 pick-and-roll combo in the entire NBA was Nikola and Jamal,&rdquo; Nuggets coach Michael Malone recalled. &ldquo;And most people would just assume that it was Nikola setting for Jamal. It was actually the opposite. It was Nikola handling and Jamal setting.
&ldquo;The reason it was so effective, aside from the obvious &mdash; two really talented players &mdash; is that Jamal is big, strong, physical and not afraid of contact. Some guys like to slip out of every screen because they don&rsquo;t want to make that contact, they don&rsquo;t want to give themselves up,&rdquo; the coach added. &ldquo;Jamal from early in his career here, he&rsquo;s shown that he&rsquo;s willing to go and set a screen on a big guy, small guy, doesn&rsquo;t matter, because he&rsquo;s tough.
&ldquo;The second part of that is he also knows that if Nikola has the ball and he screens, his man has to help, which will give him separation. If you want to simplify the game of basketball, it comes down to separation.&rdquo;
Both Murray and Jokic are three-level scorers who can shoot 3-pointers, make midrange jump shots and drive to the basket. Their Game 1 performance put them in some elite company.
Heading into the series opener, only Michael Jordan in 1991 and Russell Westbrook in 2012 had at least 25 points, 10 assists and five rebounds in an NBA Finals debut. Jokic and Murray added their names to that list Thursday night &mdash; Murray had 26 points, 10 assists and six rebounds and Jokic extended his NBA record with his ninth triple-double in these playoffs, getting 27 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds.
The only other pair of teammates to have 25 points and 10 assists in an NBA Finals game was Magic Johnson and James Worthy, who did it for the Los Angeles Lakers against Boston in Game 1 in 1987.
Murray and Jokic have been refining their on-court relationship since Murray&rsquo;s rookie season in 2016, a year after Jokic joined the Nuggets as the now-hard-to-fathom 41st overall draft pick. Murray was backing up Gary Harris and Jokic was coming off the bench behind Jusuf Nurkic.
&ldquo;We would actually come into the game together, and we would run post-ups or just simple give-and-goes ... and I&rsquo;d say then we kind of developed a chemistry,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;Soon we both started, we started playing off each other. We started to figure out where we like the ball, when we liked the ball, when I&rsquo;m going to pass, when he&rsquo;s going to pass, when he&rsquo;s driving, when to relocate, where to relocate.&rdquo;
Heat guard Kyle Lowry, who is in his 16th NBA season, is hard-pressed to come up with a better point guard/big man combo.
&ldquo;Jamal and Jokic, they&rsquo;re deadly because they both can score and pass the ball,&rdquo; said Lowry, noting he played against the San Antonio Spurs&rsquo; &ldquo;great combination&rdquo; of Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re big targets, and they have a great feel for each other.&rdquo;
Nuggets guard Ish Smith has been on a record 13 teams in 13 NBA seasons and said he has never seen anything quite like Denver&rsquo;s duo. Smith said what makes Jokic and Murray so effective is both players are the antithesis of superstars who&rsquo;d rather go 1-on-1 in isolation.
&ldquo;It wouldn&rsquo;t work if Nikola was selfish and, &lsquo;I need the ball,&rsquo; and Jamal was a guy that was like, &lsquo;I need the ball all the time,&rsquo;&rdquo; Smith said.
The Heat know they have to at least slow down the Nuggets.
&ldquo;We have proven that we can win and overcome regardless of how the game is going,&rdquo; Spoelstra said. &ldquo;Ideal situation would be if it&rsquo;s on our terms and we are controlling the tenor of the game, but we have also won games where we haven&rsquo;t been able to do that for the entire game.&rdquo;

The Nuggets’ potent duo has been nearly unstoppable in powering Denver’s 13-3 run through the playoffs.

Nuggets’ 2-man game of Jokic, Murray setting new pick-and-roll standard

The NBA announced that 242 players have filed as early-entry candidates for the 2023 NBA Draft. Here is the complete list.

NBA announces 242 early-entry candidates for 2023 NBA Draft

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) &mdash; Anthony Edwards had 33 points in 25 minutes and the Minnesota Timberwolves routed San Antonio 151-131, the most points allowed in regulation under Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, on Saturday at the Moody Center.
Minnesota shot 56% on 3-pointers while making a season-high 24 3s.
&ldquo;From the beginning of the game I feel like everybody was hitting and it just carried over,&rdquo; Edwards said.
Karl-Anthony Towns added 22 points, Mike Conley had 20 points and Rudy Gobert had 10 points and 13 rebounds for Minnesota.
The Timberwolves won for the sixth time in nine games. Minnesota will finish no lower than ninth in the Western Conference but still have a chance of finishing eighth ahead of New Orleans, who they host Sunday.
Julian Champagnie had 24 points to lead San Antonio, which will finish with one of the league&rsquo;s three worst records. Keita Bates-Diop added 22 points and Tre Jones had 21 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds.
The Spurs&rsquo; final home game of the season was played in Austin. The Spurs played their final two games at the Moody Center on the campus of the University of Texas as part of the Spurs&rsquo; regional outreach initiative.
San Antonio struggled offensively with its entire starting lineup out with injury except for Jones.
&ldquo;Minnesota was really hot from 3,&rdquo; Popovich said. &ldquo;They must have had close to 25 3s. I mean, big, but guys did well. They had 21 assists in the first half. Played physically, lot of guys got minutes that normally don&rsquo;t get those minutes. Great learning situation for everybody.&rdquo;
Minnesota led by as many as 33 points in the second half after being tied at 35 in the first quarter.
&ldquo;Come out and be aggressive (in the second half)," Edwards said. "Do what we normally do, blow stuff up. In the first half we were just kind of letting them get into their action. Came out and blew stuff up and that pretty much changed the intensity of the game.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Timberwolves: Minnesota co-owner Alex Rodriguez was sitting courtside near former San Antonio star Tony Parker. Popovich greeted Rodriguez prior to tip-off. &hellip; The Timberwolves split their four-game series with the Spurs this season. The average margin of victory in each game was 12.5 points.
Spurs: Washington scored the most points against San Antonio under Popovich, defeating the Spurs 157-153 in double overtime on Feb. 25, 2022. &hellip; Popovich said the team sent C Zach Collins home after the finger he recently received stitches on began swelling. &ldquo;Looks like some sort of infection,&rdquo; Popovich said. Collins will not play in the Spurs&rsquo; finale Sunday in Dallas. &hellip; Starters Keldon Johnson (sprained right foot), Jeremy Sochan (sore right knee) and Devin Vassell (injury management for left knee) all sat out with injuries. Also missing were reserve wings Doug McDermott (sprained right ankle) and Devonte&rsquo; Graham (left adductor strain). &hellip; San Antonio honored former All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge following the first quarter. Aldridge recently announced his retirement after playing 16 seasons in the league, including 5 1/2 with the Spurs. Aldridge starred at Texas before being drafted by the Portland Trailblazers in 2006. &hellip; San Antonio finished 14-27 at home this season. The Spurs were 16-25 at home last season.
WE&rsquo;LL BE BACK
Popovich said the Spurs are eager to return to Austin after selling out both games at the Moody Center.
The Spurs had 16,023 attend Thursday&rsquo;s game and attracted 16,148 Saturday after allotting more standing-room only tickets.
&ldquo;Obviously, people enjoy it,&rdquo; Popovich said of a return. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s great to see the place packed like that. It&rsquo;s a great town, so hopefully we will be doing it more.&rdquo;
UP NEXT
Timberwolves: Host New Orleans on Sunday.
Spurs: At Dallas on Sunday.

Anthony Edwards had 33 points in 25 minutes and the Minnesota Timberwolves routed the San Antonio Spurs 151-131 on Saturday.

Anthony Edwards scores 33, Timberwolves beat Spurs

Here's the list of NCAA players who have as of April 6 filed for consideration as a candidate for the 2023 WNBA Draft

2023 WNBA Draft: Full list of prospects who have entered

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; The transfer portal. Name, image and likeness deals. Sixth-year seniors. Conference realignment. The ever-shifting prospects of the one-and-done rule.
The once semipredictable ground that underpinned college basketball has been changing at lightning speed over the past 24 months, leaving coaches and their bosses scrambling to adjust to whatever comes next.
The NCAA Tournament closes out Monday when UConn plays San Diego State, and will go down as one of the most unpredictable ever. Unanswered is the question of whether the shifting landscape in college sports was the reason for all bracket madness or simply background noise for an event that is always hard to handicap.
Either way, things are changing and coaches are trying to adjust on the fly.
&ldquo;These might be some of the greatest challenges we&rsquo;re facing with the portal and NIL and just lack of direction and rules and regulations,&rdquo; said Mark Few of Gonzaga, a perennial powerhouse that has reached the Sweet 16 in eight straight seasons.
The four teams that made it to Houston &mdash; Florida Atlantic and Miami saw their seasons end Saturday &mdash; got here in part because they adapted quickly. All four added players from the transfer portal, some of whom were given an extra year of eligibility due to the pandemic, and some of whom were lured by the promise of sponsorship money under the loosely regulated NIL system.&nbsp;
Very few coaches want to go on record saying that allowing players to earn money through NIL or to freely move around in a billion-dollar business that imposes no such restrictions on the coaches themselves is a bad thing.
Few also want to touch on the bottom line of conference realignment, which is placing familiar schools in strange places &mdash; Texas in the Southeastern Conference and UCLA and USC in the Big Ten &mdash; in the service of generating more revenue.
And none want to be painted as dinosaurs who don&rsquo;t believe players should share in the game&rsquo;s considerable financial windfall.
Some, however, concede they are uneasy about the implications of all this.
&ldquo;I wish someone would understand the effect of the system,&rdquo; Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. &ldquo;The story is the number of kids who have been adversely affected by the climate as it is today.&rdquo;
Hamilton is not the only coach concerned by a recent NCAA study that showed 43% of Division I athletes who enter the transfer portal &mdash; taking advantage of their newfound ability to switch schools without having to sit out a year &mdash; end up without a place to play.
&ldquo;Is it great that 43% of young people decided to remove themselves from an experience of a lifetime?&rdquo; said UMass coach Frank Martin. &ldquo;People talk about a lot of the great things happening for young students now, but nobody really talks about that.&rdquo;
Now, the one-and-done rule, which used to be considered one of the biggest destabilizers in college sports, is barely a blip on the radar. For most of the past year, the NBA had made it a priority to eliminate the 17-year-old rule from the upcoming collective bargaining agreement. But that got scuttled at the last minute, and the rule will remain.
&ldquo;However it all shakes out, what I want is whatever is best for the kids,&rdquo; said Kentucky coach John Calipari, who for years has embraced the one-and-done system.
Calipari said he&rsquo;s more concerned about &ldquo;27-year-olds playing against 19-year-olds.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I think that&rsquo;s an issue that we&rsquo;re going to have to deal with that we&rsquo;re totally avoiding,&rdquo; he said.
The extra year of eligibility granted because of COVID-19, combined with redshirt years being handed out for varying reasons, has, indeed, extended some players&rsquo; careers into their mid-20s.
Exhibit A: Since the NBA trade deadline last month, the Houston Cougars, who came into the tournament as a No. 1 seed and were ousted in the Sweet 16, had a starting five that was older than the starters for NBA&rsquo;s rebuilding Houston Rockets.
Exhibit B: Including 25-year-old guard Adam Seiko, San Diego State has four key contributors who are in their fifth or sixth year of college.
The NCAA is taking somewhat of a passive approach to all of the issues. It has largely refused to get into the regulation of NIL deals, instead leaving it to state governments to decide. Last week, Congress held the latest in a series of hearings that resolved nothing, even as the NCAA asks for a national standard.
&ldquo;I think one athletic director said that the only truth about NIL is that everybody lies,&rdquo; the NCAA&rsquo;s new president, Charlie Baker, said in a brief interview at the Final Four.
Baker would like to see the creation of a registry of contracts, financial literacy programs for families, a certification process for agents and a uniform standard contract for NIL deals.
For now, though, NIL and the portal have produced a free-for-all.
It played out at FAU, where coach Dusty May said some of his players were being approached while the team was in the middle of its run.
In another instance, after a run to the Sweet 16 last season, Maryland&rsquo;s women lost five players, including two who made it to the Final Four with their new teams this year. (The Terps still made the Elite Eight this year.)
Before the tournament started, Belmont women&rsquo;s coach Jamey Givens, whose Bruins missed the tournament after upsetting Oregon in the first round, last year put a fine point on it, tweeting good luck to all the teams in the tournament &mdash; &ldquo;except for those who have been actively recruiting off our roster all spring.&rdquo;
Martin, a former high school math teacher who got fired at South Carolina five seasons after reaching the Final Four, has long leaned into the importance of athletes getting an education. He is also a realist and an optimist, trying to thread the needle in a rapidly changing landscape.
&ldquo;For the most part, we tend to be fairly intelligent people who adapt,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and we&rsquo;ll figure it out, and we&rsquo;ll adapt, and we&rsquo;ll grow.&rdquo;

The once semipredictable ground that underpinned college basketball has been changing at lightning speed the last two years.

As Final Four closes, basketball on unpredictable ground

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; It wasn&rsquo;t so much that social media was criticizing his son. That happens sometimes &mdash; especially after a loss like THAT.
But when a post came up suggesting Terrance Williams II, a junior forward for Michigan, be left for dead in a ditch, his dad decided enough was enough. Terrance Williams Sr.&rsquo;s profanity-laced response to all the haters was, in many ways, an expected byproduct of social media vitriol that bubbled up after the Wolverines blew an eight-point lead in a one-point loss to Vanderbilt earlier this month &mdash; not in the NCAA Tournament but in the NIT.
&ldquo;You actually root for them when they&rsquo;re good,&rdquo; Williams Sr. said of the Michigan fans in an interview with The Associated Press two days after the season-ending loss. &ldquo;But then they make a mistake, and a game doesn&rsquo;t go your way and you turn to hate. That&rsquo;s unacceptable.&rdquo;
The episode was just one of countless examples of the toxic minefield that athletes, coaches, friends and family face all too often on social media, all of it amplified for college basketball players when the calendar flips to March and the madness begins.
College administrators and coaches alike have warned for several years that students and athletes are facing increasing mental-health challenges exacerbated by the pandemic. And never have there been more outside voices that not only scrutinize every move players make on the court, but impact their emotional well-being away from it.
&ldquo;The feedback right now, it can be so harsh and it&rsquo;s so immediate, and I think that&rsquo;s the hardest part,&rdquo; said Melissa Streno, a Denver-based mental health consultant for high-level athletes. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the immediacy of the feedback from people they don&rsquo;t even know. And it can be so impactful on their identity and how they see themselves as a player on the court.&rdquo;
Turning off social media is one option, but it&rsquo;s not really practical, not with the way society interacts in the 21st century. And many athletes use social media to open the door to cash. It comes with a toll.
A survey conducted by the NCAA in the fall of 2021 found spikes among athletes who experienced mental exhaustion, anxiety and depression compared with a similar survey two years earlier &mdash; before the pandemic, and also before name-image-likeness deals became an everyday reality of college sports. The survey also found that despite a growing recognition of mental health as something to be addressed, fewer than half the respondents felt comfortable seeking support from a counselor on campus.
Even so, those counselors have been busy; a growing number of questions they field from the players involve how to manage social media.
&ldquo;For some of them, social media brings pressure to put out information, to create content, build their brand and that can cause anxiety,&rdquo; said Charron Sumler, a former college basketball player who is now an athletic counselor at Ohio State. &ldquo;On the flip side, there&rsquo;s the input where they&rsquo;re receiving messages. And with phones in the locker room, sometimes they&rsquo;re receiving that negative feedback and content before they&rsquo;ve even had a chance to debrief with their coaches or with themselves.&rdquo;
Just this month, Virginia&rsquo;s Kihei Clark started trending for the wrong reasons when his ill-advised pass at the end of a first-round March Madness game against Furman allowed the Paladins to make the game-winning 3-pointer that sent the Cavaliers home.
After the game, Clark sat in the locker room and patiently answered every question. Predictably, social media was destroying him before the final buzzer even sounded.&nbsp;
Among those who knew the feeling was Matthew Fisher-Davis. He was the Vanderbilt guard who, thinking the Commodores were trailing, fouled a Northwestern player in the waning seconds of a first-round game in 2017. In fact, Vanderbilt was ahead by one; Northwestern made both free throws after the foul and won by a point.
Before the next season, Fisher-Davis released a slickly produced video showing him working out, the main theme of which was: &ldquo;Everybody&rsquo;s got something to say.&rdquo;
&ldquo;It gets to the point where, the stuff coming from outside the locker room doesn&rsquo;t make anything easier,&rdquo; Fisher-Davis told the AP in an interview this month.
Stanford&rsquo;s Haley Jones was named most outstanding player at the women&rsquo;s Final Four after helping the Cardinal win the national title in 2021. Two weeks ago, when Stanford made an early exit from this year&rsquo;s March Madness, Jones&rsquo; performance &mdash; and her prospects for the upcoming WNBA draft &mdash; were being dissected, sometimes cruelly, on social media.
&ldquo;Right after every game. I know what I did well, and I know what I didn&rsquo;t do well,&rdquo; said Jones, who is part of a program called Game 4 Good that focuses on mental wellness for athletes. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t need to go and listen to thousands of people who don&rsquo;t know me tell me these same things, and probably say it in a lot meaner way.&rdquo;
On rare occasions, players get ripped for doing something good.
In an episode that illustrates the parallel explosive growth of both social media and online sports wagering, TCU&rsquo;s Damion Baugh was the object of scorn in the second round this month when he launched a shot at the buzzer from near the halfcourt logo in a game that had already been sealed by Gonzaga.
Baugh&rsquo;s 3 went in. It trimmed TCU&rsquo;s final deficit to three, which allowed the Horned Frogs to cover the 4.5-point spread. That shot did nothing to change the brackets, but it did flip millions of dollars across the country and Baugh was roundly ripped on Twitter.
Baugh barked back: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t get how y&rsquo;all mad because I played until the last buzzer.&rdquo;
Former Ohio State guard E.J. Liddell also felt compelled to defend himself after he missed a late free throw that was key to an upset loss to Oral Roberts two years ago.
&ldquo;Honestly, what did I do to deserve this? I&rsquo;m human,&rdquo; he said in a post in which he posted screenshots of some of the insults directed at him, including a death threat.
Even one of social media&rsquo;s biggest stars, Oregon&rsquo;s Sedona Prince, who became famous after her video outlining the disparity between men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s weight rooms at the 2021 NCAA Tournaments went viral, had to take a brief break last year from TikTok.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not any different because I&rsquo;m on TikTok. I&rsquo;m still a person,&rdquo; Prince said in a tearful video since taken down, while acknowledging her mental health had been declining.
Streno, the mental health consultant, said social media can exacerbate depression and anxiety.
During a three-month stretch last spring, at least five college athletes died by suicide. Among the reasons given by friends and family were the constant pressure of performing at a high level, the pressure to maintain a certain weight or physique, the fear of being perceived as weak because of injuries and the limited social opportunities because of the demands of a sports schedule.
Given the amount of daily interaction athletes have with friends and family on social media apps, Streno said it&rsquo;s more realistic to coach players on how to deal with feedback than simply advising them to shut down everything.
&ldquo;If it were as simple as &lsquo;don&rsquo;t look at your phone,&rsquo; then this wouldn&rsquo;t be an issue,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But there&rsquo;s such a quick, immediate, &lsquo;Oh, this must mean this about me. I&rsquo;m not good enough, or I&rsquo;m not living up to this level.&rsquo; And then your mind can kind of start going down into this spiral.&rdquo;
Williams, the father of the Michigan forward, said his son does a good job of shutting out social media during the season. After the events of this month, the dad planned on going dark for a while, too.
&ldquo;People said he didn&rsquo;t play well, and I get that,&rdquo; Williams said. &ldquo;But when you say my son, who I&rsquo;ve raised and who I love tremendously, that you wish him to be dead in a ditch, that&rsquo;s when I&rsquo;ve got to turn the switch.&rdquo;

There is a toxic minefield that athletes, coaches, friends and family face all too often on social media when the calendar flips to March.

A different March Madness: Online hate for the athletes

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) &mdash; Madison Scott hit a pair of free throws with 23 seconds left that gave Mississippi the lead for good, Angel Baker scored 13 points, and the Rebels delivered on their declaration to get defensive, stunning top-seeded Stanford 54-49 on Sunday night to reach the NCAA Tournament&rsquo;s Sweet 16 for the first time in 16 years.
Behind the entire game, Stanford called timeout with 28 seconds left then Hannah Jump turned the ball over and Scott converted. Haley Jones lost the ball out of bounds on the Cardinal&rsquo;s last possession with a chance to tie then again in the waning moments.
Marquesha Davis hit a pair of free throws with 15.4 seconds to play as Ole Miss overcame not making a field goal over the final 5:47, going 0 for 8.
These upstart Rebels (25-8) advance to the Seattle Regional semifinal next weekend, while Tara VanDerveer&rsquo;s Stanford team (29-6) is eliminated far earlier than this group envisioned &mdash; the season ending on the Cardinal&rsquo;s home floor.
GREENVILLE 1 REGION
No. 1 SOUTH CAROLINA 76, No. 8 SOUTH FLORIDA 45
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) &mdash; Zia Cooke scored 21 points and Aliyah Boston had her 81st career double double as South Carolina shook off a slow start to power past South Florida.
The Gamecocks improved to 34-0 with their 40th straight win overall and moved four victories away from a second straight national title. They&rsquo;ll head to Greenville, where they won the Southeastern Conference Tournament two weeks ago, to play for a spot in the Final Four.
Boston, the program career record holder for double doubles, finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds, coming out of her final game at home to a huge ovation.
South Florida (27-7) entered looking for a program-record 28th win this season and its first berth in the Sweet 16, but after a feisty start, couldn&rsquo;t hang with the Gamecocks.
No. 2 MARYLAND 77, No. 7 ARIZONA 64
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) &mdash; Diamond Miller scored 13 of her 24 points in the third quarter to help Maryland to a victory over Arizona.
The Terrapins (27-6) advance to the Sweet 16 for a third straight year and the 11th time under coach Brenda Frese. Maryland trailed by a point after two quarters but ran past the Wildcats (22-10) in the second half.
Shyanne Sellers scored 15 points and Faith Masonius gave the Terps a lift with 12.
Frese was coaching against her alma mater. She played at Arizona and graduated in 1993.
Cate Reese led Arizona with 19 points.
No. 3 NOTRE DAME 53, No. 11 MISSISSIPPI STATE 48
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) &mdash; Lauren Ebo had 10 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks to help Notre Dame beat Mississippi State.
Maddy Westbeld added nine points and 15 rebounds for the Irish, who blew an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter before making the plays down the stretch for the win.
Mississippi State scored eight straight points to open the fourth quarter and tie the game at 41. Ebo scored the first Irish basket of the final period on an offensive putback with 4:38 remaining.
The Irish regained the lead for good on a pair of KK Bransford free throws with 3:49 left in the game, which gave Notre Dame a 45-43 advantage. The Irish held onto the lead the rest of the way.
GREENVILLE 2 REGION
No. 2 UTAH 63, No. 10 PRINCETON 56
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) &mdash; Alissa Pili had 28 points and 10 rebounds to lead Utah to a win over Princeton.
Jenna Johnson added 15 points for the Utes, who made only one 3-pointer but still advanced to their first Sweet 16 since 2006.
Kaitlyn Chen scored 19 points, Grace Stone had 16 and Ellie Mitchell finished with 18 rebounds, including 10 on the offensive end, for Princeton (24-6).
Down the stretch, the game turned into an old-fashioned rockfight. The teams combined to miss 15 consecutive field goal attempts at one point, but Utah (27-4) got to the free throw line to advance and face No. 3 seed LSU.
No. 3 LSU 66, No. 6 MICHIGAN 42
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) &mdash; Angel Reese dismantled Michigan on both ends of the court with 25 points, 24 rebounds, six blocks and three steals to help LSU beat the Wolverines.
Reese, a 6-foot-3 All-America forward, did most of her damage with gauze wedged under her upper lip after a shot to her mouth drew blood in the opening minutes of the game.
Alexis Morris scored 11 and LaDazhia Williams had 10 points and 10 rebounds for LSU (30-2), which never trailed and held Michigan (23-10) to its lowest point total of the season.
SEATTLE 3 REGION
No. 1 VIRGINIA TECH 72, No. 9 SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 60
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) &mdash; Georgia Amoore scored 21 points and Virginia Tech held off South Dakota State.
Elizabeth Kitley added 14 points and 14 rebounds for the Hokies (29-4), who won their 13th consecutive game, to advance to the Sweet 16 for just the second time in program history. They will play the winner of Monday&rsquo;s matchup between No. 12 seed Toledo and No. 4 seed Tennessee.
Virginia Tech also set a school record with its 29th win, breaking the mark of 28 set by the 1998-99 squad &mdash; the only other team in school history to advance to the Sweet 16.
Myah Selland led South Dakota State (29-6) with 17 points and nine rebounds.
SEATTLE 4 REGION
No. 2 IOWA 74, No. 10 GEORGIA 66
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Caitlin Clark had 22 points and 12 assists while Monika Czinano added 20 points to help Iowa beat Georgia.
The Hawkeyes (28-6) advance to the ninth Sweet Sixteen in program history.
Gabbie Marshall added 15 points and McKenna Warnock had 14 for Iowa, which erased the memory of last season&rsquo;s second-round home loss to No. 10 seed Creighton.
Clark, a first-team Associated Press All-American, was held scoreless for 13 minutes in the first half, but scored 14 second-half points as the Hawkeyes finally shook off the 10th-seeded Lady Bulldogs (22-12). She made just 6 of 17 shots, but either scored or assisted on nearly every point by the Hawkeyes in the second half.
Georgia, a No. 10 seed, got within 68-66 on a 3-pointer from Audrey Warren with 2:17 left in the game, but the Lady Bulldogs would not score again, committing three straight turnovers and missing a layup.
Diamond Battles led Georgia with 21 points. Brittney Smith and Javyn Nicholson each had 12 points.

A recap of Sunday's slate of women's March Madness includes the Rebels upsetting the top-seeded Cardinal.

Ole Miss stuns Stanford, reaches first Sweet 16 in 16 years

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) &mdash; DJ Horne had 20 points and Arizona State raced to a big halftime lead and scored the most points ever in a First Four game, burying Nevada 98-73 on Wednesday night.
Desmond Cambridge Jr. &mdash; a Nevada transfer &mdash; scored 17 points as Arizona State (23-12) led 53-26 at the half and then kept up the pressure on the way to the rout. The first-half output was a season high for Arizona State, which advanced as a No. 11 seed to face TCU in a West Region first-round game on Friday in Denver.
Arizona State hit 67.7% of its shots from the floor and forced 10 turnovers in the first half, piling up a 22-2 run over eight minutes to pull away.
Will Baker scored 17 and Tre Coleman had 14 for the Wolf Pack (22-11). One of Nevada&rsquo;s top players, Kenan Blackshear, picked up three fouls early and sat on the bench for more than five minutes of the opening half. Averaging 14.4 per game, he was held to four points.
FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON 84, TEXAS SOUTHERN 61
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) &mdash; Ansley Almonor scored 23 points and Fairleigh Dickinson earned its first NCAA Tournament win in four seasons.
Fairleigh Dickinson shot 50% and advanced to the East Region to play top-seeded Purdue in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday.
Joe Munden Jr. scored 17 points, Demetre Roberts had 15, Grant Singleton finished with 13 and Sean Moore 10 for Fairleigh Dickinson (20-15).
John Walker III led Texas Southern (14-21) with 22 points. Joirdon Karl Nicholas added 10.

The First Four of the 2023 Men's NCAA Tournament concluded with victories by the Sun Devils and the Knights on Wednesday.

Arizona State races to early lead, beats Nevada 98-73

SAN ANTONIO (AP) &mdash; Christian Wood had 27 points and 13 rebounds and the Dallas Mavericks overcame a series of blunders at the end regulation to beat the San Antonio Spurs 137-128 in overtime Wednesday night without injured All-Stars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.
Dallas&rsquo; Maxi Kleber threw an inbounds pass out of bounds on a full-length heave with 1.8 seconds remaining in regulation. Keldon Johnson, who missed a pair of free throws with 1.8 seconds, tied it 121 on an alley-oop dunk off an inbounds pass from Malaki Branham.
Wood had five points in overtime as Dallas fights to remain in the top 10 in the Western Conference. The Mavericks entered the game in ninth place with the same record as the 10th-place Los Angeles Lakers and a game ahead of the Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans.
Dwight Powell and Jaden Hardy had 22 points each and Josh Green added 21 points for Dallas, which snapped a three-game skid.
Johnson had 27 points to lead the short-handed Spurs.
Playing the second game of a back-to-back, the Spurs were without starters Devin Vassell Jeremy Sochan and Zach Collins along with Keita Bates-Diop and Charles Bassey. But as they did in setting a franchise record with 22 3-pointers in a rousing victory over Orlando on Tuesday night, San Antonio responded with a balanced scoring effort.
Branham had 20 points, Romeo Langford had 17 points and four others scored in double figures.
TIP-INS
Mavericks: Dallas has won six straight against San Antonio. The Mavericks&rsquo; previous loss to the Spurs was April 11, 2021, in San Antonio. &hellip; Doncic and Irving were both in attendance, sitting at the end of the Mavericks bench. &hellip; Jaden Hardy has scored 20 points in all three of his career starts for the Mavericks. In a back-to-back set against Memphis, Hardy had 22 points on March 11 and 28 points on March 13.
Spurs: San Antonio confirmed that C Charles Bassey suffered a non-displace fracture in his left patella. The injury occurred at the close of the first quarter of Tuesday&rsquo;s victory over Orlando. Bassey will miss the remainder of the season. &hellip;. San Antonio is 2-1 during its six-game homestand. &hellip; Of the 13 games the Spurs have remaining, 10 are against a team in the playoffs or play-in tournament if the season ended today. &hellip; Johnson made his 200th career start in 219 career games with the Spurs. Only Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Tony Parker, Willie Anderson and Sean Elliott have 200 starts in fewer games for the Spurs.
UP NEXT
Mavericks: At Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night.
Spurs: Host Memphis on Friday night.

Christian Wood had 27 points and 13 rebounds as the Mavericks beat the Spurs 137-128 in overtime on Wednesday night.