Victor Wembanyama is headed to the San Antonio Spurs.
The Spurs won the NBA draft lottery on Tuesday in Chicago, giving them this year's No. 1 overall draft pick and the opportunity to add a franchise-altering player in Wembanyama.
The 19-year-old French prospect – considered by some to be the best since LeBron James entered the league two decades ago – will almost surely be selected as the top overall pick during next month's draft.
San Antonio finished last season 22-60 and entered the lottery with a 14 per cent chance of claiming the No. 1 pick.
Wembanyama will be the latest in an esteemed line of big men taken atop the lottery by San Antonio.
The other two times the Spurs selected first overall, they picked David Robinson in 1987 and Tim Duncan in 1997 – both NBA champions and Hall of Famers.
Wembanyama will also follow in the legacy of countrymen Tony Parker and Boris Diaw by playing for the Spurs, an organisation known for embracing international players.
Playing in France this season, Wembanyama averaged 21.6 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.1 blocks for the Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans 92.
"I believe he's going to be a hall-of-famer," said Will Weaver, an opposing French League coach and former assistant with the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers.
"I coached Kevin Durant, Jarrett Allen. I've been around a lot of good, big men that have a lot of unique skills. I just see his professionalism and competitiveness."
The NBA has yet to acquire an official measurement of Wembanyama, but he is thought to stand anywhere from 7-foot-2 to 7-foot-5.
"He's an incredible young man," NBA commissioner Adam Silver told ESPN during its draft lottery broadcast.
"He's 19 years old and I didn't take out a yardstick or meter stick or whatever they use in France, but he seemed all of 7-4 to me. He clearly appears to be a generational talent."
Wembanyama uses his formidable size to protect the paint and block shots, while flashing ball-handling skills and shooting touch on the offensive end of the floor – a combination that has made him perhaps the most hyped prospect in NBA history.
San Antonio's elation is balanced by the relative disappointment of the other teams in the lottery.
The Charlotte Hornets were awarded the second overall pick. The Portland Trail Blazers will pick third, and the Houston Rockets fourth.
The Detroit Pistons, who finished the season with a league-worst 17-65 record, fell to No. 5.
While Wembanyama is clearly the coveted prize in this year's draft, the class also features several other promising young players, including embattled Alabama forward Brandon Miller and point guard Scoot Henderson, who played last season for the G League Ignite.
The 2023 NBA Draft will take place on Thursday, June 22 in New York.
Kerr demands improvements from Team USA as Olympic opener looms
United States coach Steve Kerr wants to see higher levels of intensity from his team as their Olympics campaign approaches.
Kerr was unhappy with the lacklustre displays from his side in their warm-ups against Germany and South Sudan.
Germany led 71-68 at the end of the third quarter before LeBron James conjured up 11 points in the final four minutes to give the USA a 92-88 win, while South Sudan were 20 seconds away from pulling off one of the biggest shocks in basketball history, before eventually falling to a 101-100 loss.
The USA face a dangerous Serbia side featuring reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic on Sunday, and Kerr is adamant that improvements are required if they are to win a fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal.
He said: "It's got to be 40 minutes of force and attention and focus, and we can't let teams outplay us effort and energy-wise like we did the other night against Germany, like we did against South Sudan.
“We have another level. I think we have another two levels that we can get to, but it's a collaboration, always.
"We can show them, 'Let's do this, let's do that. Let's learn personnel.'
"We got to know the shooters, know the non-shooters, all that stuff. So that's where we can help them. Where they can help themselves is just effort and energy play after play, after play. This is different."
Kerr is a four-time NBA champion as a coach, and was part of the triumphant Olympics team in Tokyo in 2021, but the Golden State Warriors boss knows the experience of the Games will only be enhanced if the USA were to come out on top again.
"This should be one of the great experiences of our lives. But the best way to make it an incredible experience is to win a gold medal," he said.
After facing Serbia, the USA will once again go up against South Sudan, this time in a competitive format, before ending the group stage with a match against Puerto Rico.
Durant warns Team USA 'everybody is a contender' in Olympic basketball tournament
Kevin Durant has warned Team USA they will not have an easy ride through the basketball tournament at the Paris Olympic Games, declaring: "Everybody is a contender".
The United States will go in search of a fifth straight men's basketball gold in the French capital, where they open their Group C campaign against Serbia on Sunday.
After that meeting with Nikola Jokic and company, the star-studded USA team featuring Durant, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid and a host of other NBA stars take on South Sudan and Puerto Rico.
With Steve Kerr having so much talent at his disposal, the roster has been compared to that of the 1992 'Dream Team', who took gold in Barcelona behind the efforts of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Scottie Pippen and other great names.
However, at a press conference ahead of Team USA's 2024 opener, Curry reminded reporters that the class of 1992 only faced nine other active NBA players.
Durant is expecting a much tougher assignment this year, responding to Curry by saying: "Everybody is a contender. Everyone is here for a reason.
"We're playing against 65 or 64 NBA players in Paris. So you know they're the best in the world."
Asked to identify the main players to watch from other nations, the Phoenix Suns forward said: "Giannis [Antetokounmpo] or Jokic."
While Durant adopted a cautious tone, Golden State Warriors star Curry was more bullish regarding the USA's gold medal hopes.
Quizzed on who he was most excited about facing, Curry simply said: "Whoever's in the gold medal game."
Knicks, head coach Thibodeau agree to three-year contract extension
The New York Knicks and head coach Tom Thibodeau have agreed to a three-year contract extension through the 2027-28 season.
New York went 50-32 last season to earn the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference before losing to the Indiana Pacers in the semi-finals of the play-offs.
The Knicks were also ousted in the East semis in 2022-23 and reached the play-offs during Thibodeau’s first season in 2021-22, when he won his second NBA Coach of the Year award.
Prior to 2021-22, New York’s previous post-season appearance came in 2013.
The Knicks have gone 175-143 over the last four seasons under Thibodeau, who earned his first NBA Coach of the Year award in 2011 as a rookie head coach with the Chicago Bulls.
The 66-year-old Thibodeau owns a 527-389 record in 12 seasons as a head coach with Chicago, the Minnesota Timberwolves and New York.
His teams have gone 38-47 in the post-season, and Thibodeau’s only appearance in the conference finals came in his rookie head coach season.
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