Sports
USA Basketball announces men’s team lineup for the Paris Olympics

USA Basketball studied every men’s basketball game it played in for about twenty years, and a transparent trend eventually emerged. When the defense is not adequate, the Americans are likely to get into trouble.
With this in mind, the team for the Paris Olympics was created.
LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Tyrese Haliburton, Anthony Edwards and Kawhi Leonard were officially announced as members of the U.S. Olympic team on Wednesday – a bunch with nearly 200,000 NBA points, 84 All-Star appearances and 10 Olympic gold medals.
“You obviously need talent, but you want players who can fit in, fit in and can play the specific roles that you need,” USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill said Wednesday. “But I think defense was definitely a priority and having players who could lock down and defend a lot of sets in possession.”
The pondering is easy: Scoring should not be an issue, and if the defense does its job, the Americans – trying to win a fifth straight Olympic gold medal – can be hard to beat.
The group includes seven players with gold medals; Durant has three, James has two, and Adebayo, Booker, Holiday, Tatum and Booker each have one. A complete of 12 players averaged 24.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.6 assists during the season, and was 39% effective from three-point range.
“Of course, it is a great honor to represent your country,” Adebayo said. “But for me to be in this room as part of these 12 players who they say are the best 12 players to represent the United States, it’s a whole other level.”
The amount of talent on the American roster is astounding. Of the 12 chosen, seven finished the season ranked amongst the NBA’s top 15 per-game scorers. James is the league’s all-time scoring leader, Curry is the all-time three-pointer leader, Haliburton won the league title in assists per game this season, and 10 of them were All-Stars this season as well.
“The goal is to win gold,” Hill said. “They know it.”
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The timing of Wednesday’s announcement coincided with the U.S. Olympic Summit in New York and as Americans celebrated the start of the 100-day countdown to the opening ceremony in Paris. USA Basketball could have waited longer to make the announcement, but it surely didn’t see the point.
“There will be a lot of interest and a lot of people who will want to join us on this incredible journey that we will soon be on,” Hill said. “So if we know, why wait?”
The Americans remain No. 1 in the FIBA rankings in the world even after failing to medal in the last two World Cups – ending seventh in China in 2019 and fourth in Manila last summer.
They won gold at the Tokyo Olympics defeating France 87-82. Plenty of other countries can be vying for gold in Paris – host France amongst them, reigning world champions Germany, Serbia and Canada – but the U.S. squad is stacked with NBA stars that no other country can match.
“You hope they’ve never played together before,” Canadian Kelly Olynyk said when told about the U.S. lineup this weekend, “except for the last 12 All-Star games.”
Hill led the task of assembling the squad, which took about 18 months, and the whole plan was to finish the team well before training camp began in Las Vegas in early July. Players received the jerseys during visits by Hill or other USA Basketball officials in recent days, and in some cases received them during practices with their team.
“The common theme when we lost was not defending well enough,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. “It doesn’t sound like anything earth-shattering. We feel we will score points. We’ll have plenty of talent and we’ll find a way to score. But the international game is more physical and we have addressed that.”
Durant has been saying since last yr that he planned to play, which suggests he’ll aim to turn out to be the first male Olympic athlete in history to win 4 basketball gold medals. He and Carmelo Anthony are the only male athletes with three Olympic gold medals; there are six women, all Americans, who’ve at the least 4 Olympic gold medals in basketball. Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi each scored five, while Teresa Edwards, Tamika Catchings, Sylvia Fowles and Lisa Leslie each scored 4.

James can be in search of his fourth medal after winning bronze in 2004 and gold in 2008 and 2012. His other gold medalists include Davis (2012), Adebayo (2020), Booker (2020), Tatum (2020) and Holiday ( 2020). The 2020 gold medals were won in 2021 as the Covid-19 pandemic forced a year-long delay of the Tokyo Games.
Curry will play in the Olympics for the first time, as did Leonard and Embiid, who decided to play for the United States last yr after becoming American residents. The Cameroon-born center could also represent France at the Paris Games.
The other latest Olympians on the current squad are Haliburton and Edwards, each of whom played for the U.S. team that finished fourth at the World Cup in Manila last yr.
“I definitely wanted that experience,” Curry said. “I think the time is right.”
Over 40 players were considered for the team. Creating a squad of 12 players was difficult.
“I think everyone understands that these Olympics are going to be perhaps the most anticipated, given that it’s Paris, in terms of athletes wanting to go, players’ wives wanting to go, and everyone wanting to go,” Kerr said. “It definitely caused some really difficult decisions for us.”
Durant and Curry said in October that they desired to play this summer, Adebayo said then that he had already committed to the team and the assumption for a while was that if players like James desired to play, all that they had to do was say So.
American men have competed in basketball at the Olympic Games 19 times, winning 19 medals – 16 gold, one silver and two bronze.
Kerr can be the coach of the Parisian team, accompanied by Erik Spoelstra, Tyronn Lue and Mark Few. It’s still possible the roster could change before the summer if injuries or deep runs in the NBA playoffs force players to alter their minds about committing to the national team.
“We have a contingency plan,” Hill said, “and we have it at every position.”
Sports
Kyren Lacy, NFL Hopefful and former football star of LSU, dead with apparent suicide

Ex Louisiana State University (LSU) Footballer, Kyren Lacy, was discovered dead on April 12 about apparent suicide, in response to local cops in Houston.
According to ESPN, the 24-year-old wide receiver was avoidance Policemen after a member of the family called and said that he had just fired a weapon. The authorities of Harris said that policemen were chasing him and Lacy smashed his vehicle. When they approached the extraction of it from the automobile, they found that he died because of something that gave the impression to be a self -proclaimed gunshot wound. Rescuers announced him dead on the scene.
LSU published a press release regarding the death of the player.
“We are saddened when we learn about the tragic departure of a former Football-Football-Spatlete Kyren Lacy student,” said LSU in a written statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones, as well as his former teammates and coaches whom his death affected.”
The Football Football family mourns the loss of Kyren Lacy pic.twitter.com/me2gbz6ao8
– LSU football (@LSUFOOTBALL) April 13, 2025
Lacy was accused of responsibility for the death of a 78-year-old man, when he allegedly caused the disaster on December 17, 2024. The incident took place in Louisiana, and the authorities claim that Lacy had escaped from the scene, without giving a person or calling cops. He closed himself to cops on January 12 and was accused of neglecting the murder, crime and running and reckless operation of the vehicle. He was released in the quantity of $ 151,000, in accordance with police acts.
The great jury was to start out on April 14.
“We deeply confirm the tragic departure of Kyren Lacy. First of all, we ask that society and media give his family space and time needed to sadden this unimaginable loss in the room,” said Lacy’s lawyer, Matthew Ory.
informed that together with a press release for the Society Ory apparently placed Part of the fault for prosecutors for the implementation of the case wherein he was convinced that Lacy can be released and wouldn’t be accused after the evidence was provided.
“From the very beginning, the so-called investigation has taken on the appearance of an overzealous, targeted effort-what can only be described as a witch hunting-grayed on who Kyren was and the public profile he wore.”
“Kyren was a young man with an enormous promise and was crushed under the load of the irresponsible and prejudiced trial. A negative dam in social media, his Mugshot’s circulation by almost every rest, not a typical photo, a recent civil law lawyer, he lodged against them, who called one other defendant who was not accused of the crime, but the final tone The photo before she was not a probability that was rigorously defended, which was once.
According to ESPN, on December 19, two days after a tragic accident, Lacy declared for the NFL project. Once expected as a 6 -person potential ESPN receiver in December, after this incident, in a recent projection, last month he fell out of the highest ten.
Lacy played three seasons in LSU and had his best season last yr. He caught 58 passes on 866 yards and led a team with nine application.
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Sports
Black Sportswriters Hall of Fame to honor three legendary journalists in the inaugural event

History and heritage will probably be fully exhibited, because three legendary black athletes will probably be honored on April 12 in the inaugural class of Black Sportswriters Hall of Fame in North Carolina A & t.
The inaugural induction ceremony of the Black Sportswriters gallery will happen at Deese Ballroom on Saturday at 18:00, and tickets might be purchased online. Rob Parker, the first black sports columnist in The, developed an idea after conducting a master baseball class in North Carolina A&T in the spring of 2023.
“We have so many great current and former black sports athletes, and I have been working for 39 years and I know many of them, I work with many of them, and we have not received recognition for what we bring to the company,” said Parker. “I wanted to make sure that everyone is appreciated and people who are perfectly recognized.”
Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
William C. Rhoden, sports columnist for ESPN and Scape and former columnist; Michael Wilbon, co -hosting ESPN’s interruption and former columnist; A Claire Smith, the first woman who included Major League Baseball for Hartford Count, will probably be three inductes recognized on Saturday.
Thirty -two voters could nominate everyone, and every recipient needed a minimum of 75% of votes to win.
“If you told me before starting to vote, I could choose these three – the first three people who should come in – all three (that) they did it because Bill Rhoden, Claire Smith and Mike Wilbon are the three best who ever did it, so it’s amazing that they enter as the first induction class,” said Parker.

Michael Stewart/Wireimage
The event will happen at North Carolina A&T, because Parker was moved by students and their fascination with the sports journalism industry.
“The reason I chose North Karolina A&T was a few years ago, I made a master baseball class and I was very impressed with students and their questions and their concentration on MasterClass and the program of journalism as a whole,” said Parker. “I thought it would be a great place to present journalism in North Carolina A&T.”
Rhoden revealed his enthusiasm to the award.
“I am honored that I am included in the company of those as great as Claire Smith – which I have known for years – and Michael Wilbon – whom I have known for years – and the fact that this is the inaugural effort of sport, Rob Parker, whom I have known for years. This is simply a wonderful and unique honor,” said Rhoden.
Rhoden is the only recipient with a historically black college and university (HBCU).
“This means that Morgan (Stan) was great for me,” said Rhoden. “It was for me and the place where I was supposed to go. We all choose different paths to achieve our goals, but Morgan was an ideal place for me and my temperament and I met a person who started a journalistic career.”
When Parker sent a notification and voting for Black Sportswriters Gall of Fame, Smith felt humiliated when she realized that so many her peers, mentors and heroes took her into the conversation of the best sports journalistic company.
“When he informed me about the result of voting, I really returned to me, because, as I said, there were countless people at the vote, and even more people I met for 47 years, I think Hall of Famers,” said Smith. “And voting with this honor by my peers – I think my peers are Hall of Famers and voted for the inaugural occupation – they blew me up.”
For Rhoden, mentors like Lacy himself, the sports editor of the African American newspaper, and even Smith influenced his profession and helped to shape him in the sport she is today.
“There are many unknown heroes, such as Lacy himself, whom many people never know, but they really influence you,” said Rhoden. “There are so many people along the way. It is very important that people in your corner who will inform you that you are on the right track.”
Smith recognized Lacy and Larry Whiteside, a well -known baseball author that helped her achieve a distinction in her profession.
“Larry was always with me when I met him,” said Smith. “Larry or, as we called him on the sides,” he was simply someone I could watch and observe how he works on his craft and turned out to be an absolute art when it comes to writing, after which at all times have time to talk to the next generation. “

AP Photo/Rich Schultz
“Original six” pioneering athletes and editors – including Lacy, Whiteside, Wendell Smith, Bryan Burwell, Thom Greer and Ralph Wiley – will probably be posthumously honored in Hall of Fame.
“We want them to be honored as a group and we want the first six we put together,” said Parker. “We want to make sure that we remember the past, but we also want to celebrate people when they live when they can touch students at school, so this is the main goal of this.”
Smith said: “To mention this in the same sentence as Lacy and Wendell Smith is amazing. I remember how a baby seeing the newspaper delivered to the home of my grandparents in Catonsville, Maryland, after which I spotted that there are two differing kinds of newspapers in cities akin to Baltimore: historically black newspapers, after which most traditional newspapers.
“So quickly until 2025 and you see their names already in Hall of Fame and you know that in just a few days Bill and Mike and I, our names will be mentioned next to them – it’s just … humiliating.”
Parker hopes to extend Hall of Fame to the ceremony, special and championship events, in order that students can mix them with mentors.
“I hope that there will be several (events) … More things for students who will be able to learn from the best,” said Parker. “Combining students with mentors is the goal of Galeria Sława Black Sportswriters.”
Sports
Khanan Tales, Duke’s basketball star, can be deported in accordance with the new visa policy of Trump

In the previous tournament Marcha March Marzyt Kamaman Talosze became a rising star as a particular center of the first 12 months for Duke. After this weekend, it’s potentially in the air from the future of South Sudan in the country.
The new visa policy announced by Trump’s administration on Saturday goals to cancel visas for all passport owners in South Sudan in the United States and prohibiting further entries in the country, Al Jazeera reported. The transfer can affect a whole bunch of people who find themselves currently studying, working and living in the country.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the visa policy takes place in the “timely” in response to the refusal of the South Sudan government in order to just accept American deported from the United States, NBC News Reported.
“The transitional time of the South Sudan government stopped using the United States,” said Rubio in an announcement.
Frank Tramble, Vice President for Communication, Marketing and Public Affairs in Duke, said in an announcement The New York Timesthat the school is aware of the announcement of the State Department.
“We are looking for a situation and we work quickly to understand all the consequences for Duke students,” said Tramble.
An enormous visa ban was immediately broadcast with effect. Rubio said in an announcement that the policy would be checked “when South Sudan is fully cooperation.” Meanwhile, this country has also been harassed by a political conflict over the last decade, which caused violence, hunger and civil war, which killed a whole bunch of hundreds of people and left hundreds of thousands of more displaced ones.
According to New York TimesHe escaped from South Sudan as a toddler with his family to Uganda. Later, he was employed to Duke after the Scouts advisable a 7-foot basketball phenomenon, he participated in the NBA Academy Africa in Senegal.
Now the first -grade Duke risk is just not capable of return to the country if it goes away. He could also be forced to depart if the visa policy escalates to deport. However, this may occasionally not occur as this week, South Sudan agreed to just accept at the very least one deportee from South Sudan from the states.
The message appears as an 18-year-old, who was represented by South Sudan at the Olympic Games in Paris last summer and reached a median of 8.6 points in 39 matches this season, is to be the alternative of the first round in NBA Draft in June.
Last week, the center described its unlikely journey from Africa to Duke during a conversation NBC News During the final 4.
“It never really occurred to me that one day I would play for Duke,” he said. “I did not know that I was going to go to college,” and much more so “be able to play in the final four.”

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