Diplomats

The NBA today announced its celebrations of the first-ever World Basketball Day.&nbsp;
Established by the United Nations on August 23 during the FIBA World Cup, World Basketball Day will be observed annually on Dec. 21 &ndash; the day Dr. James Naismith first introduced the game of basketball at the Springfield YMCA in 1891.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The NBA family is thrilled to join the global basketball community in celebrating the first World Basketball Day,&rdquo; said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. &ldquo;More than 130 years after Dr. James Naismith invented the game at the Springfield YMCA, World Basketball Day is a reminder of basketball&rsquo;s ability to transcend borders, cultures and languages and unite people around the world.&rdquo;
Nearly 600 million people across the globe play basketball annually and basketball is the second-most popular sport in the world, while the number one team sport to play in the United States.&nbsp;
Alongside the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), USA Basketball and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the NBA family will honor the game and celebrate World Basketball Day through various programming such as youth clinics and respective social media campaigns &ndash; all demonstrating basketball&rsquo;s societal contributions.
This year the NBA will host the following global celebrations in observance of World Basketball Day:
Domestic
<ul style="font-weight: 400;">
<li>United Nations&rsquo; World Basketball Day Panel: As part of World Basketball Day, the Philippines will host a panel discussion to share the significance of the day and highlight the impact the game brings to everyone around the world at the United Nations on Dec 21.&nbsp; Panelists include Professor David Hollander, founder of World Basketball Day; a representative from the Philippine Embassy; John Doleva, Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame President; and Julius Erving, Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="font-weight: 400;">
<li>United Nations&rsquo; World Basketball Day Diplomats Pick-Up Games: On Dec. 21, friendly games between 30 diplomats from 20 different countries at the Vanderbilt YMCA in New York City. </li>
<li>Jr. NBA Clinic: In celebration of World Basketball Day, the Jr. NBA will host a clinic at the Harlem PAL Center, uniting 80 youth participants, ages 6-14, to learn the fundamentals of the game at the Harlem Police Athletic League in New York City.</li>
</ul>
International
<ul style="font-weight: 400;">
<li>NBA Cares Packing Project: On Dec. 15, as part of the first-ever Republika ng NBA Month, the NBA hosted an NBA Cares packing project at the NBA Community Court presented by TITAN in Mandaluyong City.&nbsp; NBA staff and partners assembled care packages for high school students from select public schools around the NBA Community Court ahead of World Basketball Day.&nbsp; Each package included a "Republika ng NBA" t-shirt, a pair of socks and slippers, Gatorade bottle, and vivo-branded backpack and water bottle. </li>
<li>NBA Basketball School Virtual Conversation: On Dec. 15, NBA Basketball School, a network of basketball development programs around the world for youth ages 6-18, held a virtual conversation with former WNBA player Mery Andrade and former NBA player Zaza Pachulia, who spoke about how basketball has positively impacted their lives, why they are excited about the inaugural World Basketball Day, and answered questions from the attendees. </li>
<li>NBA Egypt Hoops: On Dec. 21 at the Al Sadat School Gharbia in Egypt, NBA Egypt is setting out to provide public schools with the basic infrastructure which would allow students to practice and experience basketball.&nbsp; This includes installing two basketball hoops, providing three basketballs and doing basic refurbishments in some of the courts where national school competitions take place.</li>
</ul>

The NBA today announced its celebrations of the first-ever World Basketball Day.

NBA joins celebration of first-ever World Basketball Day

DENVER (AP) &mdash; It took 3,787 regular-season games and 29 trips to the playoffs, countless ripoffs of rainbow uniforms and even more &lsquo;yeah, buts&rsquo; than any city should have to stomach. Finally, 47 seasons into an entertaining, often frustrating and almost always overlooked journey in the NBA, Denver is at the center of the basketball world.
The Nuggets &mdash; yes, those&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nuggets-jokic-nba-playoffs-moe-english-issel-d9ad3489061168cedfd864113a02003f">sometimes-lovable and often-forgettable Nuggets</a>&nbsp;&mdash; are in the NBA Finals.
The way they made it says everything about their near half-century in the league, and just how different this team is from every Denver team, even the really good ones, that preceded it.
The Nuggets brushed aside their long-held irrelevance by completing their first sweep in 44 NBA playoff series. They&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-playoffs-2023-nuggets-lakers-9f7a28f73a56c431672d840c93185b60">did it against the Los Angeles Lakers</a>, the team that has caused them so much of their pain. Before the Western Conference finals, Denver was 0-7 in playoff series against the Lakers. Now, Denver is 1-7.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s almost like shock a little bit,&rdquo; Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon said, echoing a sentiment certainly being felt across the franchise&rsquo;s long-suffering fan base. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re just like unsure, like, are you sure we don&rsquo;t have more time on the clock? Are you sure we don&rsquo;t have another quarter to play or another game to play?&rdquo;
With all due respect to Dan Issel, Alex English, Carmelo Anthony and everyone else who ever wore rainbows, Nikola Jokic is the best player to put on a Denver uniform. He recorded his eighth triple-double of the playoffs in Monday night&rsquo;s 113-111 win over LA, surpassing a record for a single postseason held by none other than Lakers great Wilt Chamberlain.
Jokic, who was 0.2 assists short of averaging a triple-double this season, got beat out for his third straight MVP this season by Philly&rsquo;s Joel Embiid. Fans see it all as par for the course in a city where the team that debuted in the ABA as the Denver Rockets &mdash; not the better-known, better-respected Denver Broncos &mdash; really put the town on the national sports map. That was in 1967. The Broncos were still a laughingstock but the local basketball team put out a good product right away.
It was good enough to make the Nuggets a no-brainer when the ABA folded in 1976 and the NBA went picking through the wreckage to invite a few teams to join.
Between then and now, the city has seen its share of the spotlight. John Elway brought two Super Bowl titles home and Peyton Manning another. The Colorado Avalanche, who share a home (Ball Arena) and an owner (Stan Kroenke) with the Nuggets, have won hockey&rsquo;s Stanley Cup three times, including last year. Even the Colorado Rockies have been to the World Series. The Nuggets only trip this close to the title came in 1976 when they lost in the last ABA final to Julius Erving and the Nets.
David Thompson; Larry Brown; Doug Moe; English; Issel; Anthony; George Karl; Allen Iverson; Chauncey Billups. All those coaches and players spent time in Denver. None ever got too close to that NBA title trophy while here. Before this week, Denver made the NBA conference finals four times, and lost all four.
It conspired to make the place little more than flyover territory &mdash; a city with high altitude that the schedule makers often tuck into other teams&rsquo; itineraries as part of long road trips with more exciting final destinations &mdash; LA, New York, Miami.
But Denver? It was a great place to take a night off &mdash; or, put more diplomatically, for teams to exercise the 21st-century NBA practice of &ldquo;load management&rdquo; for their best players.
While NBA titles, and the fanfare that comes with them, have been built on the shoulders of megastars for decades, the Nuggets never were part of that scene.
In fact, Jokic was the exact opposite of that when he arrived in 2014. Rather, he was a doughy second-round draft pick known only to the insiders who followed the Serbian hoops scene.
&ldquo;Everybody gets cracked up into his stats but I don&rsquo;t think a lot of people talk about, like, this part of his game,&rdquo; LeBron James of the Lakers said after the sweep, as he pointed toward his head, indicating Jokic&rsquo;s mastery of the cerebral part of hoops. &ldquo;Maybe it&rsquo;s not talked about it, because a lot of people don&rsquo;t understand it, but I do. He&rsquo;s special.&rdquo;
Great as Jokic has been, it&rsquo;s the addition of another under-the-radar player, guard Jamal Murray, and his return to full health that helped get this team over the top.
Murray was a lottery pick out of Kentucky in 2016, the year Ben Simmons was the top pick and considered the NBA&rsquo;s Next Big Thing. Murray blew up in the bubble during COVID, bringing Denver within a series of the finals, only to see the Lakers snuff out another season. He missed the next two playoffs due to a devastating knee injury. These playoffs, Murray is feeling great. He averaged 32.5 points in the four-game sweep of LA.
&ldquo;I think our chemistry is at an all-time high, the way we play, the way we read the game without even speaking,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;We talk that language on the court.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just beautiful basketball, honestly.&rdquo;
With the Nuggets in their first NBA Finals after all these years, it will be hard to find anyone in Denver who would argue with that.

It took 3,787 regular-season games and 29 trips to the playoffs, but the Denver Nuggets are finally heading to the NBA Finals.

Nuggets make Denver a hoops town with first trip to NBA Finals

WASHINGTON (AP) &mdash; Russia freed WNBA star Brittney Griner on Thursday in a dramatic prisoner exchange, as the U.S. released notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout but failed to win freedom for another American, Paul Whelan, who has been jailed for nearly four years.
The swap, at a time of heightened tensions over Ukraine, achieved a top goal for President Joe Biden but carried a heavy price.
&ldquo;She&rsquo;s safe, she&rsquo;s on a plane, she&rsquo;s on her way home,&rdquo; Biden said from the White House, where he was accompanied by Griner&rsquo;s wife, Cherelle, and administration officials.
The deal, the second such exchange in eight months with Russia, procured the release of the most prominent American detained abroad. Griner is a two-time Olympic gold medalist whose monthslong imprisonment on drug charges brought unprecedented attention to the population of wrongful detainees.
Biden&rsquo;s authorization to release a Russian felon once nicknamed &ldquo;the Merchant of Death&rdquo; underscored the escalating pressure that his administration faced to get Griner home, particularly after the recent resolution of her criminal case and her subsequent transfer to a penal colony.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also confirmed the swap, saying in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that the exchange took place in Abu-Dhabi and that Bout has been flown home
Russian and U.S. officials had conveyed cautious optimism in recent weeks after months of strained negotiations, with Biden saying in November that he was hopeful that Russia would engage in a deal now that the midterm elections were completed. A top Russian official said last week that a deal was possible before year&rsquo;s end.
Even so, the fact that the deal was a one-for-one swap was a surprise given that U.S. officials had for months expressed their their determination to bring home both Griner and Paul Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive jailed in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges that his family and the U.S. government has said are baseless.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan,&rdquo; Biden said. &ldquo;We will keep negotiating in good faith for Paul&rsquo;s release.&rdquo;
Whelan&rsquo;s brother David said in a statement he was &ldquo;so glad&rdquo; for Griner&rsquo;s release but also disappointed for his family. He credited the White House with giving the Whelan family advance notice and said he did not fault officials for making the deal.
&ldquo;The Biden Administration made the right decision to bring Ms. Griner home, and to make the deal that was possible, rather than waiting for one that wasn&rsquo;t going to happen,&rdquo; he said.
In releasing Bout, the U.S. freed a a former Soviet Army lieutenant colonel whom the Justice Department once described as one of the world&rsquo;s most prolific arms dealers. Bout, whose exploits inspired a Hollywood movie, was serving a 25-year sentence on charges that he conspired to sell tens of millions of dollars in weapons that U.S officials said were to be used against Americans.
The Biden administration was ultimately willing to exchange Bout if it meant Griner&rsquo;s freedom. The detention of one of the greatest players in WNBA history contributed to a swirl of unprecedented public attention for an individual detainee case &mdash; not to mention intense pressure on the White House.
Griner&rsquo;s arrest in February made her the most high-profile American jailed abroad. Her status as an openly gay Black woman, locked up in a country where authorities have been hostile to the LBGTQ community, infused racial, gender and social dynamics into her legal saga and made each development a matter of international importance.
Her case not only brought unprecedented publicity to the dozens of Americans wrongfully detained by foreign governments, but it also emerged as a major inflection point in U.S.-Russia diplomacy at a time of deteriorating relations prompted by Moscow&rsquo;s war against Ukraine.
The exchange was carried out despite deteriorating relations between the powers. But the imprisonment of Americans produced a rare diplomatic opening, yielding the highest-level known contact between Washington and Moscow &mdash; a phone call between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov &mdash; in more than five months.
In an extraordinary move during otherwise secret negotiations, Blinken revealed publicly in July that the U.S. had made a &ldquo;substantial proposal&rdquo; to Russia for Griner and Whelan. Though he did not specify the terms, people familiar with it said the U.S. had offered Bout.
Such a public overture drew a chiding rebuke from the Russians, who said they preferred to resolve such cases in private, and carried the risk of weakening the U.S. government&rsquo;s negotiating hand for this and future deals by making the administration appear too desperate. But the announcement was also meant to communicate to the public that Biden was doing what he could and to ensure pressure on the Russians.
Besides the efforts of U.S. officials, the release also followed months of back channel negotiations involving Bill Richardson, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and a frequent emissary in hostage talks, and his top deputy, Mickey Bergman.
Griner was arrested at the Moscow&rsquo;s Sheremetyevo Airport in February when customs officials said they found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage. She pleaded guilty in July, though still faced trial because admitting guilt in Russia&rsquo;s judicial system does not automatically end a case.
She acknowledged in court that she possessed the canisters, but said she had no criminal intent and said their presence in her luggage was due to hasty packing.
Before being sentenced on Aug. 4 and receiving a punishment her lawyers said was out of line for the offense, an emotional Griner apologized &ldquo;for my mistake that I made and the embarrassment that I brought on them.&rdquo; She added: &ldquo;I hope in your ruling it does not end my life.&rdquo;
Her supporters had largely stayed quiet for weeks after her arrest, but that approach changed in May once the State Department designated her as unlawfully detained. A separate trade, Marine veteran Trevor Reed for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot convicted in the U.S. in a cocaine trafficking conspiracy, spurred hope that additional such exchanges could be in the works.
Whelan has been held in Russia since December 2018. The U.S. government also classified him as wrongfully detained. He was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison.
Whelan was not included in the Reed prisoner swap, escalating pressure on the Biden administration to ensure that any deal that brought home Griner also included him.

“She’s safe, she’s on a plane, she’s on her way home,” Biden said from the White House, accompanied by Griner’s wife, Cherelle.

WNBA star Griner freed in swap for Russian arms dealer Bout

MOSCOW (AP) &mdash; A Russian court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner of her nine-year prison sentence for drug possession, a step that could move her closer to a possible high-stakes prisoner swap between Moscow and Washington.
The eight-time all-star center with the WNBA&rsquo;s Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist was convicted Aug. 4 after police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow&rsquo;s Sheremetyevo Airport.
Griner, 32, was not at the Moscow Regional Court hearing but appeared via video link from a penal colony outside the capital where she is held.
At her trial, Griner admitted to having the canisters in her luggage but testified she packed them inadvertently in her haste to make her flight and had no criminal intent. Her defense team presented written statements saying she had been prescribed cannabis to treat chronic pain.
The nine-year sentence was close to the maximum of 10 years, and Griner&rsquo;s lawyers argued after the conviction that the punishment was excessive. They said in similar cases defendants have received an average sentence of about five years, with about a third of them granted parole.
While upholding the sentence, the court said Griner&rsquo;s prison time will be recalculated to reflect what she has already served in pre-trial detention. One day in pre-trial detention will be counted as 1 1/2 days in prison, so she still will have to serve about eight years in prison.
Griner&rsquo;s lawyers Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov said in an email that they were &ldquo;very disappointed&rdquo; with the decision because they still believe &ldquo;the punishment is excessive and contradicts to the existing court practice.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Britthey&rsquo;s biggest fear is that she is not exchanged and will have to serve the whole sentence in Russia,&rdquo; they said. &ldquo;She had hopes for today, as each month, each day away from her family and friends matters to her.&rdquo;
They said they had to discuss with Griner what legal steps they should take next.
Griner&rsquo;s arrest in February came at a time of heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington, just days before Russia sent troops into Ukraine. At the time, Griner was returning to play for a Russian team during the WNBA&rsquo;s offseason.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the decision &ldquo;another failure of justice, compounding the injustice of her detention,&rdquo; adding that &ldquo;securing her release is our priority.&rdquo;
Before her conviction, the U.S. State Department declared Griner to be &ldquo;wrongfully detained&rdquo; &mdash; a charge that Russia has sharply rejected.
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement that U.S. President Joe Biden &ldquo;is willing to go to extraordinary lengths and make tough decisions to bring Americans home.&rdquo;
The WNBA Players Association said the ruling was &ldquo;further verification that BG is not just wrongfully detained -&ndash; she is very clearly a hostage.&rdquo;
Reflecting growing pressure on the Biden administration to do more to bring Griner home, Blinken took the unusual step of revealing publicly in July that Washington had made a &ldquo;substantial proposal&rdquo; to get Griner home, along with Paul Whelan, an American serving a 16-year sentence in Russia for espionage.
Blinken didn&rsquo;t elaborate, but The Associated Press and other news organizations have reported that Washington has offered to exchange Griner and Whelan for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who is serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S. and once earned the nickname the &ldquo;merchant of death.&rdquo;
The White House said it has not yet received a productive response from Russia to the offer.
Russian diplomats have refused to comment on the U.S. proposal and urged Washington to discuss the matter in confidential talks, avoiding public statements. But some Russian officials have said a deal is more likely once appeals have been exhausted.
In September, Biden met with Cherelle Griner, the player&rsquo;s wife, as well as her agent, Lindsay Colas. Biden also sat down separately with Elizabeth Whelan, Paul Whelan&rsquo;s sister.
The White House said after the meetings that the president stressed to the families his &ldquo;continued commitment to working through all available avenues to bring Brittney and Paul home safely.&rdquo;
The U.S. and Russia carried out a prisoner swap in April. Moscow released U.S. Marines veteran Trevor Reed in exchange for the U.S. releasing a Russian pilot, Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was convicted in a drug trafficking conspiracy.
Moscow also has pushed for the release of other Russians in U.S. custody.
One of them is Alexander Vinnik, who was accused of laundering billions of dollars through an illicit cryptocurrency exchange. Vinnik was arrested in Greece in 2017 and extradited to the U.S. in August.
Vinnik&rsquo;s French lawyer, Frederic Belot, told Russian newspaper Izvestia last month that his client hoped to be part of a possible swap.
The newspaper speculated that another possible candidate was Roman Seleznev, the son of a Russian lawmaker. He was sentenced in 2017 to 27 years in prison on charges from a hacking and credit card fraud scheme.
&mdash;-
AP Basketball Writer Doug Feinberg in New York contributed.

A Russian court rejected an appeal by U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner of her nine-year prison sentence for drug possession.

Russian court rejects Brittney Griner appeal of her 9-year sentence

LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are healthy and heading into their fourth season together, giving the Los Angeles Clippers sky-high hopes that they'll win the franchise&rsquo;s first championship.
Leonard and George have yet to fully show what they can do together over an entire season, considering COVID-19 forced the NBA into a bubble in 2020 and then both of them got hurt.
Leonard was sidelined last season as he rehabbed from surgery to repair a partially torn ACL, and since the 2016-17 season, he hasn&rsquo;t played more than 60 games. George missed time with a right elbow injury, and has averaged just 44 games over the past three seasons in Los Angeles.
Despite their absences, the Clippers eked out a 42-40 record last season.
&ldquo;Talent-wise, we&rsquo;re pretty special,&rdquo; George said. &ldquo;This year is a great opportunity to win and to win big.&rdquo;
Leonard and George say their goal is to stay healthy and make a deep playoff run. And they now have veteran guard John Wall in the lineup, added over the summer to go with Norman Powell, who got hurt shortly after being traded from Portland last season. Powell previously played with Leonard in Toronto.
&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s put it all on the floor and see what we can do,&rdquo; Leonard said. &ldquo;We got a lot of talent here and I think we can make something happen.&rdquo;
The Clippers open the season on the road, kind of, taking on LeBron James and the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena on Oct. 20.
LOAD MANAGEMENT
Leonard&rsquo;s name has been synonymous with the term load management for years. The Clippers will watch him carefully early on, likely resting him as necessary and managing his minutes throughout the season.
That&rsquo;s where the team&rsquo;s depth will help. Eight players averaged double-figure scoring last season, so there&rsquo;s points to be had even with Leonard on the bench.
&ldquo;I hope it&rsquo;s just not too much pressure on him,&rdquo; George said. &ldquo;That he can go out there and just deliver and be himself.&rdquo;
WALL REBUILDING
Wall is eager to play a full schedule after not doing so over the last three years in Washington and Houston because of injuries and politics. At 32, the five-time All-Star knows his window to win a championship is closing.
&ldquo;I got a chip on my shoulder. I just feel like for my whole career a lot of people don&rsquo;t give me my respect,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I put in a lot of work. You&rsquo;re going to see a dog. That&rsquo;s what you got when you signed me.&rdquo;
George calls Wall &ldquo;a piece that was needed.&rdquo;
MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Ivica Zubac is the team's only true center. He rebounds and protects the rim, but if he's hurt, the team will be forced to play small. Isaiah Hartenstein, who was a key backup last season, joined the New York Knicks in free agency. Former UCLA player Moses Brown, who was invited to training camp, might help fill the void left by Hartenstein if he grabs the remaining roster spot.
MINUTE CRUNCH
With minutes at a premium because of the team's depth, coach Tyronn Lue will need to marshal his diplomatic skills. Players who aren't getting in games as often as they'd like are prone to grumble and that can lead to an unhappy locker room. The team's younger players gained valuable experience last season when Leonard and George were out.
&ldquo;It was almost a gift within the curse, that we were able to see what we have,&rdquo; George said.
LOOKING AHEAD
The early schedule has the Clippers playing 11 of their first 20 games at home. Their two longest trips of the season are a five-game stretch just before Christmas and a six-game Grammy getaway starting in late January.
They play the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors for the first time on Nov. 23 on the road. A week later, they get a visit from the New Orleans Pelicans, who knocked the Clippers out of the play-in tournament last season.

“Talent-wise, we’re pretty special,” Paul George said. “This year is a great opportunity to win and to win big.”

Leonard, George return, raise Clippers' hopes for first title

Lawyers for American basketball star Brittney Griner have filed an appeal of her nine-year Russian prison sentence for drug possession, Russian news agencies reported Monday, amid talks between the U.S. and Russia that could lead to a high-profile prisoner swap.
Griner, an eight-time all-star center with the WNBA&rsquo;s Phoenix Mercury and two-time Olympic gold medalist, was convicted Aug. 4 after police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow&rsquo;s Sheremetyevo Airport.
Griner admitted that she had the canisters in her luggage, but said she had inadvertently packed them in haste and that she had no criminal intent. Her defense team presented written statements that she had been prescribed cannabis to treat pain.
Her February arrest came at a time of heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington, just days before Russia sent troops into Ukraine. At the time, Griner, recognized as one of the greatest players in WNBA history, was returning to Russia, where she plays during the U.S. league&rsquo;s offseason.
Lawyer Maria Blagovolina was quoted by Russian news agencies on Monday as saying the appeal was filed, as was expected, but the grounds for it weren&rsquo;t immediately clear.
The nine-year sentence was close to the maximum of 10 years, and Blagovolina and co-counsel Alexander Boykov said after the conviction that the punishment was excessive. They said that in similar cases defendants have received an average sentence of about five years, with about a third of them granted parole.
Before her conviction, the U.S. State Department declared Griner to be &ldquo;wrongfully detained&rdquo; &mdash; a charge that Russia has sharply rejected.
Reflecting the growing pressure on the Biden administration to do more to bring Griner home, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken took the unusual step of revealing publicly in July that Washington had made a &ldquo;substantial proposal&rdquo; to get Griner home, along with Paul Whelan, an American serving a 16-year sentence in Russia for espionage.
Blinken didn&rsquo;t elaborate, but The Associated Press and other news organizations have reported that Washington has offered to free Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who is serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S. and once earned the nickname the &ldquo;Merchant of Death.&rdquo;
On Sunday, a senior Russian diplomat said talks about an exchange have been conducted.
&ldquo;This quite sensitive issue of the swap of convicted Russian and U.S. citizens is being discussed through the channels defined by our presidents,&rdquo; Alexander Darchiev, head of the Foreign Ministry&rsquo;s North America department, told state news agency Tass. &ldquo;These individuals are, indeed, being discussed. The Russian side has long been seeking the release of Viktor Bout. The details should be left to professionals.&rdquo;

Lawyers for U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner have filed an appeal of her nine-year Russian prison sentence for drug possession.

WNBA’s Brittney Griner appeals her Russian prison sentence

Bill Richardson, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and a frequent emissary in hostage negotiations, said Tuesday he was hopeful about the chances of a two-for-two prisoner swap that could result in Russia&rsquo;s release of WNBA star Brittney Griner and another jailed American, Paul Whelan.
In cases like this, Richardson said in an interview with The Associated Press, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s proportional &mdash; two-for two.&rdquo;
Richardson, who traveled to Russia in advance of the release by Moscow of Marine veteran Trevor Reed in an April prisoner swap, declined to discuss the current status of negotiations with Russia over Griner or Whelan or to explain what role he may be playing in the talks.
But he said he felt &ldquo;relatively positive&rdquo; for several reasons. For one, the conclusion of the criminal case against Griner last week &mdash; she was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison on drug charges &mdash; provides an opening for diplomatic negotiations to begin in earnest. Plus, he said, the U.S. and Russia have already shown a willingness to carry out prisoner swaps, as evidenced by the Reed exchange. And Griner&rsquo;s strategy of expressing contrition before a Russian court was important.
&ldquo;And that is why I think a two-for-two deal is hopefully a likely outcome,&rdquo; Richardson said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken took the unusual step of revealing publicly last month that the U.S. in June made a &ldquo;substantial proposal&rdquo; to get Griner and Whelan home. He did not elaborate, but the AP and other news organizations have reported that the U.S. has offered to free Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who is serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S. and once earned the nickname the &ldquo;Merchant of Death.&rdquo;
Russia made a counteroffer that the U.S. did not regard as serious, the White House has said.
It is not clear which other Russian could be included in a two-for-two deal, assuming it happens.
Griner, the most prominent American jailed by a foreign government, has acknowledged there were vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage when she was arrested at a Moscow airport in February. But she insisted that she had no criminal intent and that the canisters ended up in her luggage because she was packing hastily. Griner played for a Russian women&rsquo;s basketball team in the WNBA off-season.
Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan, was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison on espionage-related charges he and his family say are manufactured. The U.S. government regards both him and Griner as wrongful detainees.
Though Richardson said he was cautiously optimistic, and even though there is recent precedent for prisoner swaps, such deals aren&rsquo;t easy.
&ldquo;The relationship between the United States and Russia is quite toxic,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The geopolitical differences many times override the humanitarian issues that we need to deal with.&rdquo;

Bill Richardson said he felt “relatively positive” for several reasons regarding negotiations.

Veteran emissary Richardson hopeful for Griner, Whelan swap

American basketball star Brittney Griner was back in court on Tuesday for her trial for cannabis possession amid U.S. diplomatic efforts to secure her release.
During the hearing, prosecutors called a state narcotics expert who analyzed cannabis found in Griner&rsquo;s luggage. Her defense fielded a specialist who challenged the analysis, charging that it was flawed and didn&rsquo;t conform to official rules.
Griner was escorted into court in handcuffs and placed inside a cage in the trial in Khimki, a town on the northern edge of Moscow. While in the cage she held up personal photos.
The trial adjourned until Thursday, when closing statements are scheduled.
If convicted, the Women&rsquo;s National Basketball Association (WNBA) star and two-time Olympic gold medalist could face 10 years in prison. As her trial has progressed, the Biden administration has faced growing public pressure to get her released.
In an extraordinary move, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week spoke to his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, urging him to accept a deal under which Griner and Paul Whelan, an American imprisoned in Russia on an espionage conviction, would go free.
The Lavrov-Blinken call marked the highest-level known contact between Washington and Moscow since Russia sent troops into Ukraine more than five months ago, the direct outreach at odds with U.S. efforts to isolate the Kremlin.
People familiar with the proposal say it envisions trading Griner and Whelan for the notorious arms trader Viktor Bout. It underlines the public pressure that the White House has faced to get Griner released.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday that Russia has made a &ldquo;bad faith&rdquo; response to the U.S. government&rsquo;s offer, a counteroffer that American officials don&rsquo;t regard as serious. She declined to elaborate.
Griner has acknowledged there were vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage when she was arrested at a Moscow airport in February. But she insisted that she had no criminal intent and that the canisters ended up in her luggage because she was packing hastily. Griner played for a Russian women&rsquo;s basketball team in the WNBA off-season.
To bolster her case, her defense lawyers have presented testimony from doctors that she was prescribed cannabis as a treatment for pain. Medical marijuana treatment is not legal in Russia.
&ldquo;There are a lot of factors that will taken by the court into account,&rdquo; Griner&rsquo;s attorney Maria Blagovolina told reporters after Tuesday&rsquo;s hearing, adding that Griner &ldquo;admitted that she did bring something, but we need to know what she did bring.&rdquo;
While judges have leeway to consider mitigating factors under Russian law, acquittals are rare and account for less than 1% of cases in Russian criminal prosecutions.
A conviction, however, could potentially pave the way for Griner&rsquo;s exchange as Russian officials said it could only happen after the judicial process is completed.
Tom Firestone, a Washington attorney who formerly served as legal adviser at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, said Griner could be handed a tough sentence as a way for Russians &ldquo;to maximize their leverage in negotiations.&rdquo; He told The Associated Press that Russia &ldquo;may want to let this play out a little bit longer and try to extract more concessions.&rdquo;
Russian officials have scoffed at U.S. statements about the case, saying they show a disrespect for Russian law. They remained poker-faced, urging Washington to discuss the issue through &ldquo;quiet diplomacy without releases of speculative information.&rdquo;
Asked about the latest White House comment regarding the Russian counteroffer, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov wouldn&rsquo;t offer any details.
&ldquo;Any exchange of information on the subject should be discreet without any &lsquo;loudspeaker diplomacy,&rsquo;&rdquo; he told reporters. &ldquo;Public exchange of positions will not yield any result.&rdquo;

Brittney Griner was back in court on Tuesday for her trial for cannabis possession amid U.S. diplomatic efforts to secure her release.

Brittney Griner back in Russian court on cannabis charge

A lawyer for WNBA star Brittney Griner at her drug possession trial in Russia on Friday gave the court a U.S. doctor&rsquo;s letter recommending she use medical cannabis to treat pain.
Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and standout for the Phoenix Mercury, was arrested at Moscow&rsquo;s Sheremetyevo Airport in February after customs officials said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage. She faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted on charges of transporting drugs.
In court last week, Griner pleaded guilty and acknowledged possessing the canisters but said she had no criminal intent and said they were in her luggage because she packed hastily in her return to Russia to play for the UMMC Ekaterinburg basketball team during the WNBA&rsquo;s offseason.
In Russia&rsquo;s judicial system, admitting guilt doesn&rsquo;t automatically end a trial. Since that plea, her court sessions have focused on in-person and written testimony to her good character and athletic prowess.
Griner wore a Nirvana T-shirt as she sat inside the defendant&rsquo;s cage that is customary in Russian courtrooms. At one point, she held up a photo of fellow WNBA players wearing her name and No. 42 on their uniforms in tribute during part of Sunday&rsquo;s All-Star Game in Chicago.
&ldquo;The attending physician gave Brittney recommendations for the use of medical cannabis,&rdquo; said her lawyer, Maria Blagovolina. &ldquo;The permission was issued on behalf of the Arizona Department of Health.&rdquo;
Medical marijuana is not legal in Russia.
The defense on Friday also submitted tests she underwent as part of an anti-doping check, which didn&rsquo;t detect any prohibited substances in her system.
The next hearing of Griner&rsquo;s case was scheduled for July 26.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have said they are doing all they could to win her release, as well as that of other Americans the U.S. considers &ldquo;wrongly detained&rdquo; by Russia, including former Marine Paul Whelan who is serving 16 years on an espionage conviction.
Washington may have little leverage with Moscow, though, because of strong animosity over its military operation in Ukraine.
&ldquo;In the hearings yesterday and today what became very clear is the tremendous amount of respect and admiration both in the United States and here in Russia where Miss Griner has been playing basketball for seven years, not only for her professional achievements but for her character and integrity,&rdquo; U.S. Embassy charge d&rsquo;affaires Elizabeth Rood said outside the courthouse in the Moscow suburb of Khimki, where the airport is located.
The director and team captain of UMMC Ektaerinburg testified on her behalf on Thursday.
Russian media have speculated that Griner could be swapped for Russian arms trader Viktor Bout, nicknamed &ldquo;the Merchant of Death,&rdquo; who is serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S. after being convicted of conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens and providing aid to a terrorist organization.
Russia has agitated for Bout&rsquo;s release for years. But the wide discrepancy in the seriousness of their cases could make such a trade unpalatable to Washington. Others have suggested that Griner could be traded along with Whelan, who is serving 16 years in Russia on an espionage conviction that the U.S. has described as a setup.
The State Department&rsquo;s designation of Griner as wrongfully detained moves her case under the supervision of its special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, effectively the government&rsquo;s chief hostage negotiator. The classification has irritated Russia.
Asked about the possibility of Griner being swapped for a Russian jailed in the U.S., Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, the senior Russian diplomat, has noted that until her trial is over &ldquo;there are no formal or procedural reasons to talk about any further steps.&rdquo;
Ryabkov warned that U.S. criticism, including the description of Griner as wrongfully detained and dismissive comments about the Russian judicial system, &ldquo;makes it difficult to engage in detailed discussion of any possible exchanges.&rdquo;
Griner&rsquo;s detention has been authorized through Dec. 20, suggesting the trial could last months. Griner&rsquo;s lawyers, however, said they expect it to conclude around the beginning of August.

Brittney Griner's lawyer gave the court a U.S. doctor’s letter recommending she use medical cannabis to treat pain.

Brittney Griner's lawyer: WNBA star had doctor’s note for cannabis use

American basketball star Brittney Griner pleaded guilty Thursday to drug possession charges on the second day of her trial in a Russian court in a case that could see her sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
The abrupt guilty plea by the Phoenix Mercury center and two-time Olympic gold medalist came amid a growing chorus of calls for Washington to do more to secure her freedom nearly five months after her arrest in February amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine.
A senior Russian diplomat said earlier that no action could be taken by Moscow on Griner&rsquo;s case until the trial was over, and her guilty plea could be an effort by her and her advisers to expedite the court proceedings.
Griner, 31, was detained at Moscow&rsquo;s Sheremetyevo Airport while returning to play basketball in Russia, and police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage.
Speaking through an interpreter, Griner told the court she had no intention of committing a crime and had acted unintentionally because she had packed for Moscow in a hurry. The trial was then adjourned until July 14.
Griner emphasized &ldquo;that she had committed this act through negligence, unintentionally,&rdquo; her lawyer, Maria Blagovolina, said outside the court in the Moscow suburb of Khimki after the guilty plea.
&ldquo;We of course hope for the leniency of the court,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Considering all the circumstances of the case, taking into account the personality of our client, we believe that the admission of guilt should certainly be taken into account.&rdquo;
Blagovolina added that other defense witnesses would be questioned at a later session.
Griner was escorted to the courtroom in handcuffs and clad in a bright red T-shirt with the name &ldquo;Crenshaw&rdquo; and sweat pants. She also held a photo of her wife, Cherelle.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Griner&rsquo;s guilty plea &ldquo;will have no impact on any of the negotiations&rdquo; involving her case.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington would continue to work for the release of Griner, as well as other Americans held by Moscow, including former Marine Paul Whelan.
&ldquo;We will not relent until Brittney, Paul Whelan, and all other wrongfully detained Americans are reunited with their loved ones,&rdquo; he tweeted, noting that U.S. Embassy officials attended the trail again Thursday.
Elizabeth Rood, the embassy&rsquo;s deputy chief of mission, said after the hearing that she spoke to Griner in the courtroom and shared with her a letter from President Joe Biden that she read.
&ldquo;She&rsquo;s eating well, she&rsquo;s able to read books and under the circumstances she&rsquo;s doing well,&rdquo; Rood said.
&ldquo;I would like again to emphasize the commitment of the U.S. government at the very highest level to bring home safely Ms. Griner and all U.S. citizens wrongfully detained as well as the commitment of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to care for and protect the interests of all U.S. citizens detained or imprisoned in Russia,&rdquo; Rood said.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov bristled at the U.S. description of Griner as &ldquo;wrongfully detained&rdquo; and warned that &ldquo;attempts by the American side to make noise in public ... don&rsquo;t help the practical settlement of issues.&rdquo;
The White House said Biden called Cherelle Griner on Wednesday to assure her that he&rsquo;s doing all he can to win her release as soon as possible. They spoke after Biden read a letter from Griner in which she said she feared she&rsquo;d never return home.
Washington hasn&rsquo;t disclosed its strategy in the case and the U.S. may have little leverage with Moscow because of strong animosity over its actions in Ukraine. The State Department&rsquo;s designation of Griner as wrongfully detained moves her case under the supervision of its special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, effectively the government&rsquo;s chief hostage negotiator.
Asked about the possibility of Griner being swapped for a Russian jailed in the U.S., Ryabkov, the senior Russian diplomat, noted that until her trial is over &ldquo;there are no formal or procedural reasons to talk about any further steps.&rdquo;
He warned that U.S. criticism, including a description of Griner as wrongfully detained and dismissive comments about the Russian judicial system, &ldquo;makes it difficult to engage in detailed discussion of any possible exchanges.&rdquo;
&ldquo;The persistence with which the U.S. administration ... describes those who were handed prison sentences for serious criminal articles and those who are awaiting the end of investigation and court verdicts as &lsquo;wrongfully detained&rsquo; reflects Washington&rsquo;s refusal to have a sober view of the outside world,&rdquo; Ryabkov snapped.
Griner&rsquo;s trial was adjourned after its start last week because two scheduled witnesses did not appear. Such delays are routine in Russian courts and her detention has been authorized through Dec. 20, suggesting the proceedings could last months. Griner&rsquo;s legal team, however, said they expect the trial to conclude around the beginning of the August.
Although Griner&rsquo;s supporters initially kept a low profile, calls for Washington to act spiked after the trial&rsquo;s first day on July 1.
An organization called Win With Black Women wrote Biden saying Blinken has called Cherelle Griner, &ldquo;assuring her and stating publicly that Brittney&rsquo;s safe return was a matter of personal priority; however, we are concerned that the rhetoric does not appear to align with the actions taken to date. We urge you to make a deal to get Brittney back home swiftly.&rdquo;
Russian media have speculated repeatedly that Griner could be swapped for Russian arms trader Viktor Bout, nicknamed &ldquo;the Merchant of Death,&rdquo; who is serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S. after being convicted of conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens and providing aid to a terrorist organization.
Russia has agitated for Bout&rsquo;s release for years. But the wide discrepancy between Griner&rsquo;s alleged offense and Bout&rsquo;s global dealings in deadly weapons could make such a trade unpalatable to Washington.
Others have suggested that she could be traded along with Paul Whelan, the former Marine and security director serving 16 years in Russia on an espionage conviction that the U.S. has described as a setup.
Whelan&rsquo;s brother, David, said he did not have enough information to know whether Griner&rsquo;s plea would be good or bad news for her and his brother.
&ldquo;The conviction rate is so high in Russia, and so certain, that I could see the guilty plea as an attempt to just move the process forward,&rdquo; David Whelan said, noting the Russian government won&rsquo;t discuss &ldquo;any release of Ms. Griner until she is convicted, sentenced, and potentially appeals or seeks a pardon.&rdquo;
Her plea probably means that Washington and Moscow &ldquo;will be able to seek a resolution faster than they could have before. But it doesn&rsquo;t change the underlying calculus that the U.S. needs to find a concession that Russia will accept in order to return either or both Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan,&rdquo; he added.
Griner&rsquo;s agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas tweeted, &ldquo;Brittney Griner was a model of courage today&rdquo; who &ldquo;deserves our compassion, understanding, love, and support.&rdquo; Colas thanked Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for &ldquo;confirming their commitment to bring BG and all Americans home and hope that out of respect for the sanctity of sport internationally, BG can return home as soon as possible.&rdquo;
The WNBA players&rsquo; union said in a statement that it stood by Griner, noting the 99% conviction rate in Russian courts.
&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t navigate it or even understand it like our own legal system,&rdquo; said WNBAPA Executive Director Terri Jackson. &ldquo;What we do know is that the U.S. State Department determined that Brittney Griner was wrongfully detained for a reason and we&rsquo;ll leave it at that.&rdquo;
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said Griner &ldquo;has the wholehearted and unconditional support of the entire WNBA and NBA family, who eagerly await her safe return, and the league will recognize BG as an honorary starter at this weekend&rsquo;s WNBA All-Star Game.&rdquo;
Russia has shown no signs of backing off.
&ldquo;This is a serious offense, confirmed by indisputable evidence. ... Attempts to present the case as if the American was detained illegally do not hold up,&rdquo; Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexei Zaitsev said Wednesday.
&ldquo;The law has been violated, and arguments about the innocent nature of Griner&rsquo;s addiction, which, by the way, is punishable in some U.S. states, are inappropriate in this case,&rdquo; he said.

Griner told the court she had no intention of committing a crime and acted unintentionally because she had packed for Moscow in a hurry.

WNBA’s Brittney Griner pleads guilty at her drug trial in Russia

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Somewhere, Gregg Popovich must be pleased.
Ime Udoka and Steve Kerr played for Popovich with of the San Antonio Spurs, both served as assistant coaches under him, and neither makes any effort to hide the affinity they have for the NBA&rsquo;s career victory leader.
And now, Udoka and Kerr are about to go head-to-head &mdash; in the NBA Finals.
The title matchup is set: It&rsquo;ll be Udoka and the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics facing Kerr and the Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors, a series that begins Thursday night in San Francisco. The teams split their two regular-season meetings, each winning on the other&rsquo;s home floor.
The Warriors have been waiting for an opponent since this past Thursday after needing only five games to beat Dallas for the West title. The Celtics got there the hard way, winning Game 7 in Miami on Sunday night to capture the East.
&ldquo;We stayed with it. We believed in each other. We made a commitment on the defensive end," said Celtics forward Al Horford, who, after 141 playoff games, is headed to the NBA Finals for the first time. &ldquo;That was the biggest thing, defending."
For the Celtics, it&rsquo;s a chance at an 18th NBA championship &mdash; which would break the tie with the Los Angeles Lakers for the most in league history. For the Warriors, it&rsquo;s a chance at a seventh crown &mdash; which would break a tie with the Chicago Bulls for third-most in league history.
It&rsquo;s also a rematch of the 1964 finals, when Bill Russell and the Celtics topped the Warriors in five games.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve said it many times: You go to the finals, it&rsquo;s almost a two-month journey filled with stress and fatigue and everything else,&rdquo; said Kerr, who gave his team Friday and Saturday off before bringing them back to work Sunday. &ldquo;So, if you can get a little bit of a break, it&rsquo;s very meaningful. Hopefully, we can get healthy and have a few days of really good prep and be ready to go on Thursday.&rdquo;
Golden State won at Boston 111-107 on Dec. 17, behind 30 points from Stephen Curry. The Celtics rolled on Golden State&rsquo;s home floor in the rematch on March 16, winning 110-88 in the game in which Curry injured his foot &mdash; and that&rsquo;s where his regular season ended.
Curry was ready to go for the playoffs. So were the rest of the Warriors. They&rsquo;re 12-4 in the playoffs, getting through Denver, Memphis and Dallas to get to the title round.
&ldquo;It all starts with Steph,&rdquo; Kerr said.
Udoka has a chance to become the 10th coach to win a title in his first season. Eddie Gottlieb (1947 Philadelphia Warriors), Buddy Jeanette (1948 Baltimore Bullets), John Kundla (1949 Minneapolis Lakers), George Senesky (1956 Philadelphia Warriors), Paul Westhead (1980 Los Angeles Lakers), Pat Riley (1982 Los Angeles Lakers), Tyronn Lue (2016 Cleveland Cavaliers) and Nick Nurse (2019 Toronto Raptors) are eight of the coaches who have pulled off the feat.
The other name on that list is Kerr &mdash; who did it with Golden State in 2015, the start of this run of greatness from the Warriors. That was the beginning of six finals appearances in eight years, the two exceptions being when injuries and a roster reset kept them from the playoffs in 2020 and 2021.
&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t take it for granted,&rdquo; Curry said after the West title series. &ldquo;Nothing&rsquo;s ever guaranteed. We understand how hard it is to win. We&rsquo;ve said that until we&rsquo;re blue in the face the last two years. This is definitely special. Proud of everybody that is in that locker room, that came with it all year. Now we have an opportunity to go finish a job.&rdquo;
Udoka played for Popovich and later was a San Antonio assistant. Kerr played for the Spurs, then assisted Popovich with USA Basketball through last summer&rsquo;s Tokyo Olympics &mdash; when the Americans won a fourth consecutive gold medal.
The Warriors&rsquo; Draymond Green was on that Olympic team. So was Boston&rsquo;s Jayson Tatum. They celebrated winning gold together, and now they&rsquo;ll try to go through one another to get their fingerprints on the gold trophy that goes to the NBA champions &mdash; the Larry O&rsquo;Brien.
&ldquo;This is an opportunity that players dream of,&rdquo; Golden State's Andrew Wiggins said. &ldquo;To be put in a position to win it all.&rdquo;
And if nothing else, a Warriors-Celtics matchup made Green seem prophetic.
After the Warriors won the West, Green visited the TNT broadcast set after the game and was prodded by Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal to say which team from the then-undecided East title series that he would like to play.
Green began giving a diplomatic answer, saying that both the Heat and Celtics were tough. O&rsquo;Neal pressed him to be honest, and Green &mdash; never shy with words &mdash; gave in.
&ldquo;You&rsquo;re asking me who I want to play. I&rsquo;m gonna tell who I think we&rsquo;re going to play: We&rsquo;re going to play Boston,&rdquo; Green said Thursday night. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s who we&rsquo;re going to play.&rdquo;
He was right.
&nbsp;

The matchup is set: it will be the Boston Celtics facing the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals.

The Finals matchup: Celtics vs. Warriors for NBA title

Troy Barnies is an 11-year veteran of international basketball. He has played professionally in Turkey, Finland, Latvia and Hungary. This season, Barnies had been playing in Ukraine with MBK Mykola&iuml;v.
Last Sunday, after days of deliberation with his agent and family, Barnies took a shuttle from his city in Southern Ukraine, to the airport in Odessa, where he left the country on the eve of Russian invasion and war, flying to his wife&rsquo;s native Norway.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Since leaving, Barnies, a native of Maine, has been active on social media (<a href="https://twitter.com/TroyBarnies7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@TroyBarnies7</a> on Twitter), sharing information he is getting from his Ukrainian teammates and coaches.
This morning, I spoke with Barnies over the phone.
Well, this insane.
"It is getting worse today. The city I was living in, my teammates are still there. They aren&rsquo;t allowed to leave. A lot of my teammates aren&rsquo;t from that part of the country and they aren&rsquo;t allowed to leave the city. We are in a big group text with the players and management and I got a text from a coach today saying, &lsquo;Hey we need help.&rsquo; I know that took a lot for him. They just kind of want us to support them via social media. I mean, I can&rsquo;t call NATO. I am trying to spread the word, I guess."
I don&rsquo;t think NATO is going to help Ukraine.
"Yeah, neither do I. What I know, the Ukrainians aren&rsquo;t going to stop fighting. They aren&rsquo;t going to surrender their country. Even my teammates are saying that. They are going to fight to the end. They are going to die for their country. I don&rsquo;t know how this is going to pan out.&nbsp;I haven&rsquo;t stopped watching the news."
How were you feeling when you left the country?
"I have really close relationships with guys on this team. I love this team. I felt really welcomed in Ukraine. This is the only situation I would leave a country and a team for. I don&rsquo;t want to leave my job in basketball &ndash; something I sacrificed my whole life for.&nbsp;
"My first year in Turkey in 2011, there were small terrorist attacks going on in Istanbul &ndash; where I was living &ndash; but it was small; it was miniscule. It didn&rsquo;t get too much media attention. This is the worst it can get."
How do you react to American politicians and cable news praising Vladimir Putin &ndash; calling him a genius or savvy?&nbsp;
"I think it&rsquo;s disgusting.&nbsp;Firstly, you have no say in this now. Secondly, why are you taking sides with the clear bad guys? I am not very political. I don&rsquo;t like taking sides. I just like thinking what&rsquo;s right is right. I listen to people to get their opinions, but with this situation, there could have been a diplomatic solution. But it&rsquo;s total disregard for human life &ndash; this is insane. When I moved overseas and bounced around for a decade plus I&rsquo;ve learned to adapt to different cultures. I learn other cultures. My sympathy for other people outside my country grew a lot.&nbsp;
"If you have a heart, you will feel bad. They are humans just like us &ndash; obviously. Part of why I am doing a lot of social media with this situation is because it is the only way I can help. I want to spread the awareness. These people are just like us. I was just there. These guys are like brothers to me. This isn&rsquo;t just another world event. This is a big deal."
The Ukraine National Team had to play a game on Thursday. How do you play basketball under these circumstances?&nbsp;
"I haven&rsquo;t had it to the extent where I&rsquo;ve played a game when my family is in a war in dire need of help. Right before I left, last Thursday I had a game. With everything happening, when I got on the court, when I got on the court and stopped thinking about the outside world, I kind of flipped a switch. I could forget about the moment. But I can imagine some people handle it completely differently.
"It must have been hard. I can&rsquo;t imagine how tough that was."
What is the Ukrainian league like? What about Ukrainian fans?&nbsp;
"It&rsquo;s physical. The refs in that league let you get away with murder. Every country in Europe has their own style of play. In the Ukrainian league they use their bigs a lot. They post up. It isn&rsquo;t just outside guys shooting 3&rsquo;s. They are very aggressive. The league is actually similar to the Russian league. They are both very physical.&nbsp;
"The fans are crazy &ndash; awesome crazy. My city, Mykola&iuml;v, had the best fans in the country. Our gym was filled every home game. The city loves basketball."
I know this isn&rsquo;t what&rsquo;s important right now, but what are you going to do? What is the situation with your contract?&nbsp;
"It&rsquo;s obvious, I play professional basketball and I just had to leave a country that has been forced into a war. That&rsquo;s lingering over my head. With this situation I am in limbo. There is no way I am going to try to talk to my agent and management right now about my release papers and money owed to me. We are going to have to wait, it doesn&rsquo;t look like I am going back to Ukraine anytime soon.&nbsp;
"Right now, my agent said just relax, be with your wife, take some time off. I&rsquo;ll figure it out when the time is right."
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>

Noah Perkins talks with 11-year international pro Troy Barnies about the tragic events in Ukraine and how he's spreading awareness.

Troy Barnies on Russian invasion: 'Ukrainians won't stop fighting'

WASHINGTON (AP) &mdash; Kyle Kuzma missed a 3-pointer in the final seconds, and he could accept that.
He was less diplomatic about a play earlier in the fourth quarter, when someone on the Brooklyn bench appeared to reach out and deflect a pass that was headed toward Kuzma in the corner.
&ldquo;AAU basketball. That's what it looked like," Kuzma said.
That was one of the more printable things Kuzma said about that bizarre play, but Washington still had plenty of opportunities after that Wednesday night. The Wizards lost to the Nets 119-118 when Kuzma and Spencer Dinwiddie missed 3-pointers in the final seconds.
Washington trailed by as many as 16 points, but a 3-pointer by Kuzma cut the lead to one with 36 seconds left. That set the stage for a wild finish. Kyrie Irving missed a 3 for Brooklyn, but the Wizards couldn't secure the rebound. Then James Harden had a shot blocked by Montrezl Harrell, giving Washington the ball.
The Wizards didn't call a timeout, and the ball ended up with Kuzma, who missed from the left wing. Harrell's offensive rebound gave Dinwiddie a last-ditch shot against his former team, but that was off the mark as well.
Irving scored 22 of his 30 points in the first half for Brooklyn. The star guard made his season debut two weeks earlier. His refusal to get vaccinated against the coronavirus means he can&rsquo;t play in New York, but he was sharp on this night in Washington.
&ldquo;Obviously having him on the road has been a big plus for us," coach Steve Nash said. "Tonight he was brilliant.&rdquo;
LaMarcus Aldridge added 27 points for the Nets, and Harden had 18. Brooklyn won for only the fifth time in its last 12 games.
Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 23 points.
Official Ben Taylor told a pool reporter nobody on the crew saw a deflection from the Brooklyn bench on the pass toward Kuzma with 5:45 remaining, which created a steal for the Nets. Joseph Blair, Washington's acting coach, said he was in &ldquo;utter disbelief&rdquo; about the play.
Kuzma was more pointed.
&ldquo;It's just an unfortunate situation,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There's a couple guys out there that were (expletive) all night. So, got to live with it."
The Nets are without Kevin Durant because of a left knee injury, and Joe Harris has been out following left ankle surgery. With Irving and Harden, Brooklyn still has plenty of star power.
In fact, the Nets went 16-3 last season when they had Irving and Harden but not Durant. They dropped their first game <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-brooklyn-nets-cleveland-kevin-durant-5e1e58a44ce2af237d92c18de0c00c02">in that situation</a> this season, Monday against Cleveland.
Brooklyn led 74-62 after shooting 63% from the field in the first half. A 9-0 run by Washington in the fourth quarter cut the lead to one, but a layup by Irving started a 7-0 run by the Nets that made it 111-103.
&ldquo;I just feel like, even coming into halftime, the Wizards were very comfortable,&rdquo; Irving said. "It was a good test for us. I felt like we could have maintained the lead a little bit more.&rdquo;
The Nets improved to 16-5 on the road this season. Only Phoenix (17-4) has been better.
NO TIMEOUT
Blair chose to let things play out at the end, hoping the Wizards could catch Brooklyn in an unsettled situation with no timeout.
&ldquo;I considered it for sure, but I felt like we had such momentum when we got the rebound going the other way, we had them scrambling,&rdquo; Blair said.
FAMILIAR FACE
Dinwiddie scored 11 points. He was acquired by the Wizards this offseason after blossoming into a quality contributor in five seasons with the Nets.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
TIP-INS
Nets: DeAndre' Bembry (back), Nic Claxton (left hamstring) and Paul Millsap (personal) did not play.
Wizards: Blair coached Washington for a second straight game after coach Wes Unseld Jr. and assistant Pat Delany entered health and safety protocols. ... Beal had nine assists, his 13th straight game with at least five. That ties the longest streak of his career.
UP NEXT
Nets: Visit San Antonio on Friday night.
Wizards: Host Toronto on Friday night.

The Brooklyn Nets managed a 1-point win against Washington, as Kyle Kuzma and Spencer Dinwiddie missed late jumpers.

Nets hold off Wizards' rally, beat Washington 119-118

James Harden is having a weird season.&nbsp;
We're only four games into the campaign, but Harden has looked like a shell of himself. His stat line &mdash; 17.3 points (40/32/92 shooting splits), 7.0 rebounds, 8.3 assists (4.8 turnovers) &mdash; is well below the MVP-caliber, future-Hall-of-Famer standard he's set for himself.&nbsp;
The real kicker is the free-throw numbers. Shooting nearly 92% from the line is up his alley; he's a career 85.6% converter from the line. But having 12 free-throw attempts through four games isn't just an outlier; it's a stop-in-your-tracks-and-call-for-help development.&nbsp;
Or so it seems that way.
The primary theory seems to be that the NBA's emphasis on <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/how-the-nba-is-trying-to-eliminate-unnatural-foulbaiting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">curbing unsavory foul-drawing tactics</a> has rendered Harden powerless. That without his tricks, he's simply a very good player lacking the elite-level half-court counter (oodles of drawn fouls on a dime) to make him unguardable.&nbsp;
After the Nets' loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday, head coach Steve Nash gave the press (and the officials, and the league) a piece of his mind about the situation.
"I feel like he's unfairly become the poster boy of not calling these fouls," said Nash.&nbsp;
Harden agreed, but was more diplomatic about the ordeal.
"I'm not the one to complain about it," Harden says. "Sometimes, I feel like, coming into a game, it's already predetermined or I have a stigma of getting foul calls. But I just ask for the officials to just call what they see."
So that's it, right? The NBA is cracking down on foul tricks, thus hurting Harden and making him less effective. Problem solved.
... Not quite.
It's true that the rule changes have had an effect. The league-wide average of free-throw attempts this season (19.8) isn't just the <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats_per_game.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lowest mark in NBA history</a>, it would be the first time the league finished under 20 attempts per game.
There have been instances of Harden attempting to get to the line with his usual bag, only for those endeavors to end without a trip.
Here's Harden trying to draw a landing-space foul on a three-pointer with a subtle swing of his right leg.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/e8pqgu" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Here's a rip-through attempt against Davis Bertans that isn't rewarded:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/5e8yb0" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
But that isn't the only thing working against Harden. Heck, I'm here to argue that isn't even the most important thing working against Harden.
The issue is... well, Harden. He isn't getting to the line because he isn't getting to the rim with nearly the frequency we're used to. The fun part about that fact: that's a multipronged issue, too.
We'll start with the numbers.
21.2% of Harden's shot attempts have come at the rim this season, <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/season-stats/nba?EntityType=Player&amp;EntityId=201935" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per PBP Stats</a>. That's over seven percentage points lower than last year's mark (28.6), and well below his career average (30.3).&nbsp;
His rim rate is down, while his three-point rate (.470) has only risen slightly (.455) from last year. Where have the rest of the shots gone?
Floater range.&nbsp;
A whopping 31.8% of Harden's shot attempts have come from the "short mid-range" area. This may shock you, but that is both a rise from last season (23.7) and more than double his career average (13.7).
Harden has taken 17 runners through four games, per the good folks at Synergy. That wouldn't be a huge issue if the man was knocking 'em down, but he hasn't been (5-of-17, 29.4%) so far.&nbsp;
The next question is a simple one: Why is Harden leaning on his floater so much, as opposed to getting all the way downhill?
The short answer is "he can't get all the way downhill," but that requires a little context.
First, Harden doesn't have the same burst as a driver. That's how aging generally works, and it's also exacerbated by the fact that last season ended with a hamstring issue. It's clear that Harden is working himself back to form.
In addition to that, you have to give credit to defenses.
Look at who the Nets have faced early on: Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Charlotte and Washington. Aside from the Hornets, those teams utilize drop coverage &mdash; guard by fighting over or ducking under the screen, big man dropping back into the paint &mdash; as their base. The entire point of a drop is to wall off the rim, forcing ball-handlers into the type of shots that Harden is taking.
Further complicating matters is who is surrounding Harden in these lineups. This isn't a "Woe is Harden, he's playing with bums" argument because, come on, man. We aren't daft on this side.&nbsp;
What I will say, however, is that there is an obvious downside to Jevon Carter or Bruce Brown being on the perimeter instead of Kyrie Irving. Even Patty Mills, who has been on fire to start the year, doesn't garner Kyrie-esque attention. Defenses are able to cheat away from those guys whenever Harden attacks. That allows them to further dictate what Harden gets to do.
Peep this possession from the Sixers game.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/0fpzid" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
The Nets go with Chicago action &mdash; a pindown that flows into a handoff &mdash; to get Harden downhill. Joel Embiid makes an incredible block to end this possession, but why (aside from him being really freaking good) was he able to make the block?
Mills sets the initial screen from Harden before spacing in the strong-side corner. Mills' defender, Tobias Harris, simply doesn't give a bleep about him on the play. Harris is able to tag and "hold" on the roll, taking away the option for a potential lob (stop laughing) to Aldridge. And with Harris effectively switching on to Aldridge during the roll, Embiid's sole focus is on Harden.&nbsp;
How about this possession from the Hornets game?
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/03hrl3" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
No ball-screen here, just an early-offense attack while the matchups are a bit fried for the Hornets. Harden soundly beats PJ Washington off the dribble, but look at what happens next.&nbsp;
Gordon Hayward completely leaves Nic Claxton to cut off the drive. Miles Bridges completely leaves Carter in the corner &mdash; while Carter is a career 40.2% corner shooter, teams largely don't care due to volume &mdash; to take away the potential dump-off (or lob) to Claxton. Harden's only realistic option is to make the kick-out.
So if you're wondering why Harden's not getting to the line yet, it's a bit of a hodgepodge.
Harden has to make some adjustment to how the refs are calling things. He still has to get his legs fully under him, and even that doesn't mean we'll get the 2018-19 version of him. The current roster (and lineup) construction is allowing defenses to cheat more than they were able to last season.&nbsp;
There's quite a bit going on, though it's important to remember we're working with a four-game sample right now. Let's hold off on writing the obituary on Harden as a superstar driver of offense.

Nekias Duncan breaks down James Harden's weird start to the season with the Brooklyn Nets.

Why isn't James Harden getting to the free-throw line?

When asked to name the best player he had ever coached, Del Harris demurred, &ldquo;That&rsquo;s like asking: Who is my favorite child?&rdquo;
From Kobe Bryant to Magic Johnson to Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal to Yao Ming to Elvin Hayes to Steve Nash to Dirk Nowitzki to Calvin Murphy to Rick Barry, there were too many candidates for him to single one out.
It was a diplomatic answer from an affable character, an NBA lifer who coached over 1,000 games and was honored Friday with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Basketball Coaches Association.
&ldquo;When I speak to youngsters and tell them I was Kobe&rsquo;s first coach and Magic Johnson&rsquo;s last coach and that I was in Space Jam, that&rsquo;s all they need to hear,&rdquo; Harris said. &ldquo;But I coached five of the best 10 centers in the Naismith Hall of Fame, and I can tell you there is still a place for the big man in today&rsquo;s NBA game.&rdquo;
Harris, 83, began his collegiate coaching career in 1965 as the head coach at Earlham College. In nine&nbsp;seasons, he had a 175-70 record and led the Quakers to three conference championships and the 1971 NAIA tournament. It was while he was at Earlham that he made his first foray into international coaching. In 1969, Harris was invited to coach in the Superior League, Puerto Rico&rsquo;s premier professional league, where the majority of coaches were NBA, ABA or NCAA veterans. He was the first and only coach in league history to win three championships, and he compiled a 176-71 record in six summer seasons.
This success opened&nbsp;the ABA/NBA door and Harris was hired by Tom Nissalke to be his assistant coach with the Utah Stars and then the Houston Rockets before he was named the head coach of the Rockets in 1979.
Harris was an NBA head coach for 14 seasons with the Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers, forging a regular-season record of 556-457 (.549). In 1981, he led the Rockets to the franchise&rsquo;s first-ever NBA Finals series. When he won his 500th&nbsp;NBA game in 1997, he was just the 19th&nbsp;NBA coach to reach that milestone and his 556 wins currently ranks 29th&nbsp;in NBA history.
He was voted the NBA&rsquo;s Coach of the Year in 1995 in his first year with the Lakers. He was an assistant coach for 18 seasons and his teams averaged over 55 wins a year during his last 11 seasons as an assistant. Eight of Harris&rsquo; assistant coaches went on to become NBA head coaches and two others became NBA general managers.
Harris was coach of Yao Ming and the Chinese National Team at the 2004 Olympics, where his team defeated the reigning world champions, Serbia (they had won as Yugoslavia) to advance to the medal round for the first time at am Olympics.
He said that victory over Serbia, in a game both teams needed to win, helped him enjoy the quintessential moment of his Olympics experience.
&ldquo;That day, we had to win,&rdquo; Harris said. &ldquo;And we were in the toughest bracket of them all because we had the team that eventually won, Argentina, the team that eventually won silver, Italy, [plus] Spain and New Zealand, which was coming off a fourth place finish in the World Championship.
&ldquo;All of those guys went on to have great careers in the federation and Yao Ming is running [the league]. Li Nan is the national team coach, and other guys have coached teams that have won CBA (China Basketball Association) championships and are doing really well. I know there&rsquo;s a lot going on politically right now with China, but those were all super guys. &ldquo;
An author of numerous books on basketball that have been translated in five languages, Harris has coached five different national teams in FIBA competition. In 1974, he led Puerto Rico to a silver medal in the Copa Americas and the country&rsquo;s first ever gold medal at the CentroBasket Championship (Caribbean and Central America). In 1994, he assisted Ken Shields with the Canadian national team at the World Championships. He was an assistant to Rudy Tomjanovich&rsquo;s bronze-medal-winning Team USA squad at the World Championships in Greece in 1998.
And in 2011 and 2012, he assisted John Calipari with the Dominican Republic&rsquo;s national team, winning a bronze medal at the Copa Americas in 2011 and a gold medal at the 2012 CentroBasket Championships. Harris was also the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks for the inaugural McDonald&rsquo;s Championship in 1987, beating a talent-laden Soviet national team in the championship game.
How does he want to be remembered?
&ldquo;Mainly as a funny guy,&rdquo; Harris said. &ldquo;I was flexible. If my team was able to slow it down and pound it inside, we did that. And if was needed to play fast, we played fast. Adjustability and flexibility, that&rsquo;s kind of what I did best.&rdquo;

NBA lifer Del Harris was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Basketball Coaches Association on Friday.

Franklin & Marshall Diplomats