Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green reacted Monday to his recent exclusion from consideration for the USA men’s basketball team that will compete at the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris.
National team managing director Grant Hill explained last week that while the four-time All-Star’s “contributions have been significant” to Team USA in the past, the decision was made to keep him out of the field “in lieu of what’s transpired this year.”
The two-time Olympic gold medalist has been suspended multiple times in the last year, including an indefinite suspension after striking Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic during a December contest. Green ended up missing 12 games before being reinstated and four more during his ramp-up to return to action.
He was in counseling sessions during his suspension and those are expected to continue.
Green said in early January that that during his recent time away from the game he considered retiring, but after a “long, great conversation” with Adam Silver, the commissioner talked him out of it.
When discussing Hill’s decision on Monday, the 33-year-old added “If I’m not good enough for that roster, just say I’m not good enough.” Green also said he would’ve liked the opportunity to win a third gold medal, after helping the Americans capture first place at both the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the 2021 event in Tokyo.
“I’ll say this, disappointed? Yeah, of course, like, to have an opportunity to play in three Olympics,” he said.
Green is one of only four active NBA players with multiple Olympic gold medals, joining Warriors teammate Chris Paul, Kevin Durant of the Suns and LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers (all of whom are among the 41 finalists this year).
According to a report by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press, there are 26 current players in the league with a gold medal and the Michigan State product is one of 13 who didn’t make the initial list of invitees.
Zach LaVine’s injured right foot is likely to keep him out through the trade deadline. That opens the door for a surprising trade destination. LaVine is a two-time All-Star and two-time dunk champion, but his Chicago Bulls have played much better this year with him on the sidelines.
When LaVine got injured on Nov. 28, the Bulls were 5-14. Since then, they’ve gone 17-11, enough to get them to ninth place in the Eastern Conference, firmly in the play-in race. Fifth-year guard Coby White has emerged this year as an excellent point guard, starting alongside All-Defensive guard Alex Caruso.
The combination has stabilized Chicago’s defense and given them two three-point shooting threats. When your team is better without the player who’s in the second year of a five-year, $215M contract, that’s a bad sign. That’s why the Bulls are open to moving LaVine and getting his huge deal off their books. But if LaVine still isn’t doing any basketball activities, it seems unlikely that a contender would risk trading for him without seeing him in action. Enter the Detroit Pistons. Detroit has plenty of young talent, but very few wins.
They also have plenty of payroll space, with over $60M in expiring contracts coming of the books. LaVine might be overpaid at $46M per year from 2024-27, but he’s also a better player than the Pistons can hope to attract in free agency. Would the Bulls trade Lavine if, as reported, Cade Cunningham, Ausar Thompson, Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren are all “off the table”?
It really depends on which team is willing to compromise before the deadline. The Pistons may well be the only team willing to deal for an injured LaVine, and their offer may only include sharpshooter Bojan Bogdanović, and not one of their prized young players. The Bulls are certainly listening to offers for LaVine. But if and until he’s healthy, the Pistons offer might be the best they can get.
CBS’ halftime show for Sunday’s AFC Championship Game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens went viral when the six-person crew spent a portion of the program working without lights: One-time NFL Most Valuable Player Boomer Esiason was at the desk and explained during Monday’s edition of the WFAN “Boomer and Gio” show what went wrong.
I’m always glad I have to be the one who answers these things…since I’m here every Monday after the AFC Championship Game, when something goes awry, I have to answer it,” Esiason said, per Ryan Chichester of Audacy. “As I was told, when we do these shows on the sidelines, there are about 100 different wires leading to so many different things, and believe it or not.
I was told that somebody tripped over a wire and pulled the electric out of the socket to the lightbox.” Sean Keeley of Awful Announcing noted that Esiason and company did their best to handle what was a difficult situation for multiple reasons until the lights resumed working before the halftime show turned things over to commentators Jim Nantz and Tony Romo: “Not only did we not have lights, we didn’t have electric to our monitors,”
Esiason revealed on Monday morning. “As we’re speaking over what was supposed to be the highlights of the first half that we never saw…when we came back, you couldn’t see (host James Brown).” According to the Barrett Sports Media website, Esiason added during Monday’s show segment that the setback for halftime of Sunday’s contest “was hilarious.”
One wonders if CBS executives fail to see any humor regarding what occurred at M T Bank Stadium considering the network has the broadcast rights for the Super Bowl LVIII matchup between the Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 11. “Because of the amount of wires and you have all sorts of tarps on the sidelines — you have things covering wires — you could see how it could happen, and it happened,” Esiason said about Sunday’s technical difficulties.
What can I tell you? I don’t know. It was live TV — you’ve just got to go through it; you’ve just got to slam right through it.” CBS now has roughly two weeks to do anything and everything necessary to ensure such an issue doesn’t take place in front of a worldwide audience on the second Sunday of February.
Defending national champion LSU is having a rough week. Four days after losing to Associated Press No. 1 South Carolina, No. 9 LSU (18-4, 5-3 in SEC) was stunned on the road, losing to unranked Mississippi State, 77-73.
The Tigers entered the game as a 9.5-point favorite. Per ESPN’s “SportsCenter” social media account, it was the first win for Mississippi State (17-5, 4-3 in SEC) against a top-10 opponent since 2018.
It was also the first time LSU head coach Kim Mulkey lost consecutive games with the Tigers since her first season in Baton Rouge in 2021-22. LSU was a popular pick in the preseason to repeat as NCAA Tournament champs, and while it has the talent to go on a deep run in March, its play of late has been concerning.
Over their last five games, the Tigers are 2-3. Their lack of depth has been exposed in the past two losses. Against the Bulldogs, the Tigers’ bench was outscored 35-6. On Thursday against the Gamecocks, the game turned when power forward Angel Reese, who had 20 points and 18 rebounds on Monday, fouled out with 4:02 remaining. Transfer guard Hailey Van Lith’s play has been disappointing as well.
During the team’s last five games, she’s averaged 9.6 points per game while shooting 29.6%. For a team with limited options behind her, it can’t afford her dry spell to last much longer. In December, Mulkey announced guard Kateri Poole, who played a pivotal role during last year’s NCAA Tournament run, was no longer with the team.
As choppily as the year began, it’s only fitting that LSU must weather another storm. The Tigers lost their opener to Colorado, and Reese spent four games away from the team for unspecified reasons in November. They successfully maneuvered through that minefield, but the SEC is proving to be much more daunting.
