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• Curry says Warriors built the NBA's last great dynasty after Thompson exit

  Stephen Curry believes the dynasty built by the Golden State Warriors throughout his career will be the last of its kind in the NBA.

  Curry has won four NBA championships with the Warriors since being drafted seventh overall in 2009, leading them to glory in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022. 

  Golden State missed the playoffs for just the third time in the last 12 seasons in 2023-24, finishing 46-36 then losing a Play-In tie against the Sacramento Kings.

  Between 2014 and 2022, the Warriors made the NBA Finals on six occasions, having failed to do so in 39 years after winning the 1974-75 championship.

  Klay Thompson and Draymond Green have, alongside Curry, formed the spine of the Warriors' lineup throughout that period, but the former left for the Dallas Mavericks last week after 13 years in San Francisco.

  Speaking to ESPN's Malika Andrews, Curry said: "Obviously defining a dynasty can take a lot of different looks.

  "People thought this was over in 2019, but 2022 was an amazing championship because we defied the odds. That's 11 years, almost 12 years, of championship relevancy built around a certain core."

  Asked whether the Warriors' achievements during that period will be replicated, Curry said: "I don't think it will, just because it's very hard to keep things together in this league. There's a lot more player movement. 

  "Me, Klay and Draymond, we complemented each other so well for so long. We all brought something different to the table, so we'll see. 

  "Records are meant to be broken. Dynasties come in all different shapes and sizes, so we'll see."

  While Thompson has made the decision to leave the Bay Area, Curry – who has two years remaining on his own contract – wants to stick around for the rest of his career, as long as the team can be competitive.

  "Being in one place for my whole career, I know it's really hard to do that," he said. "I want to be greedy and say we can be relevant and be in the mix and give ourselves a realistic chance to win while I'm still growing these grey hairs and doing high school visits in the Bay for my daughter. 

  "It's crazy. It's just the nature of where I'm at. But yes, all that is to say I love the Bay and the Bay is home and I never want that to change."

• Erica Belvit heartbroken after missing out on Jamaican Olympic team despite winning national title

  Jamaican hammer thrower Erica Belvit has expressed her deep disappointment at not making the Jamaican team for the 2024 Paris Olympics, despite winning at the national championships just over a week ago. Belvit’s winning throw of 68.28m defeated Nayoka Clunis (66.63m) and Marie Forbes (63.14m), who finished second and third, respectively.

  However, Clunis, having thrown a season’s best of 71.83m that exceeded the World Athletics 'B' standard of 70.00m, and who is ranked 25th in the world, has been selected for the Olympic team. Belvit, on the other hand, did not meet the B standard and is ranked 57th, rendering her ineligible for selection.

  Taking to Instagram, Belvit shared her emotional journey and the challenges she faced this season.

  “I don’t really have many words to describe this season other than ‘I tried my best’. Because I did,” Belvit wrote. “I came out of this season a National Champion, but I unfortunately could not put it together to qualify for the Olympics this year.”

  The distraught hammer thrower revealed that her season was marred by a car accident just before it began, which resulted in her wearing a neck brace for nearly a month due to nerve issues in her neck and shoulders. Despite these setbacks, she persevered, balancing rest and training in an effort to reach her peak performance. However, time was not on her side.

  “I tried so hard to allow my body the rest I could afford while continuing my training to the best of my ability. But the clock was running out and it became clear that my ‘best’ just wasn’t going to be good enough,” she lamented.

  

  Belvit’s emotional struggle was palpable as she described the toll it took on her mental health. “I’ve never really thought of myself as a crier; this season broke that (and me) down for sure. I cried for and grieved this season for weeks; every single day. Woke up, crying. Falling asleep, crying. Before, during, and after trainings, crying. In airports, on planes, crying. Because I love to throw, and I couldn’t fathom that the dream I had to make it to this Olympic Games was dying right in front of me.”

  The heartbreak was compounded by her exclusion from Jamaica’s team for the World Championships in Budapest last year, making the missed Olympic opportunity even more painful. “I felt like I needed to get there, especially after not being selected to go to Worlds last year,” she added.

  Despite the setback, Belvit expressed gratitude to those who supported her throughout her journey. “Thank you to everyone who has shown support and love throughout this season and my entire career. Thank you to @wilfredo_dejesus for sticking with me through this season. Thank you to @rskim7296 at @reformpt_natick for your amazing work - I couldn’t have gotten back into competition shape this quickly without you. To the special few who spoke life into me and picked me up when I didn’t have strength, I love you.”

  Looking ahead, Belvit remains uncertain about her future but is determined to take time to recover mentally. “I’m not really sure where I go from here; I definitely need some time to get my mental together. Only God knows what’s next,” she concluded.

   

• Bronny 'doesn't give a f***' says LeBron

  Bronny James "doesn't give a f***" what people think of him, his father LeBron has warned.

  LeBron and his eldest son will team up for the Los Angeles Lakers next season, after Bronny was selected as the No.55 overall pick in the NBA Draft.

  But LeBron, the NBA's all-time leading points scorer, has warned the media not to expect Bronny to struggle under pressure or fail to cope with any criticism.

  "I don't know if people really understand Bronny," James told ESPN.

  "He doesn't care. I actually care a little bit. When I came in [as a rookie], I wanted people to like me, and some of the things that people were saying about me kind of bothered me early on in my career. He doesn't give a f***.

  "He does not care about nobody. He doesn't even listen to that stuff. He's like the coolest.

  "He's the complete opposite of his dad. His dad will say something [to address the critics]. This bro does not care. Everything that's being said about him, he really does not care."

  LeBron, though, believes his son, who is 19, has shown a fantastic mentality and attitude to make his own way in basketball.

  "Just imagine if you were a kid, you were born into a situation where your dad was super famous, super wealthy and you the kid still had the drive to want to be able to accomplish things for yourself," James added.

  "I personally don't know if I would've been able to do that if the roles were reversed.

  "When I was coming up, I had no choice. I literally had no choice. I had to make it out for me. My mom, my family, my hometown, my city.

  "Bronny has all the choices in the world. If Bronny wants to stop right now or never played basketball or just wanted to be a gamer or wanted to be a chef or wanted to do whatever, he could have done that.

  "People don't understand how hard that is and the commitment for him to be coming out of heart surgery less than a year ago, for him to be able to be in the NBA, the kid, he's special."