Spanish legend Pau Gasol has announced his retirement from basketball at the age of 41.
The former Los Angeles Laker, who returned for a second spell with his first club Barcelona eight months ago, confirmed his decision to call time on his illustrious career a press conference on Tuesday.
Gasol enjoyed an extraordinarily successful NBA career spanning 18 years, playing for the Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs and Milwaukee Bucks.
He won two NBA titles and was a six-time NBA All-Star after being named the 2001-02 NBA Rookie of the Year.
"It is a very difficult decision as you can imagine, but it's a decision that I have contemplated well," Gasol said. "It's nice to be able to retire as an active player and not on crutches, to retire having won another title with Barcelona and having played in a fifth Olympics with the national team.
"I remember when I was on the youth team coaches used to say to that the important thing was not to reach the top, but to stay there. I didn't try to stay there, I tried to improve with every game and become the best I could."
Gasol was FIBA Basketball World Cup champion in 2006, won three FIBA EuroBasket titles - earning the MVP award in 2009 and 2015 - and three Olympic medals (two silver and a bronze).
He is Eurobasket's all-time leading scorer with 1183 points in 58 appearances, averaging 19.9 points in seven tournaments.
"The example that Pau has given us all, that leadership even this last year, with humility, with an ability to try things that he had never even done, things that he did not even need because of his great talent," said Spain head coach Sergio Scariolo. "Another stage of respect and the consideration that we can only have towards Pau."
Gasol and his younger brother Marc, 36, announced their international retirement after playing in the Tokyo Olympics.
Pau Gasol said: "I was lucky to be a member of great teams with great team-mates, and some of them are here today.
"We started playing in the backyard of our grandparents' house and having [Marc] as my brother and playing the same sport, trying to be the big brother also in basketball, was always a great motivation for me.
"I'd like to be remembered as a player who gave it his everything, who tried to do the best he could and, at end of the day, being able to play until the age of 41 is not bad at all."
Andrew Wiggins will be available for all Golden State Warriors games this season having been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Wiggins' vaccination status had been a subject of much controversy in recent days, the former first overall pick facing the prospect of being unable to play in home games for Golden State.
San Francisco is among the major cities that have laws restricting unvaccinated persons from entering sports arenas, restaurants and other public spaces.
That would have meant Wiggins being prevented from featuring in games at the Warriors' Chase Center and forfeiting salary as a result.
The NBA confirmed on Wednesday that players would not be paid should they miss games for a failure to comply with local vaccine mandates.
Wiggins, therefore, risked missing out on a substantial portion of a salary worth over $30million for the 2021-22 season.
But head coach Steve Kerr confirmed on Sunday that Wiggins had elected to get the vaccine.
Wiggins had previously applied for an exemption on religious grounds but saw that request rejected by the NBA.
Veteran Los Angeles Lakers recruit Carmelo Anthony says he is open to any role in the side as he strives for his first career NBA title.
The 37-year-old boasts a decorated CV, including being an NBA All-Star 10 times, but he is confident not being an automatic featured player for the Lakers this season.
Anthony moved from the Portland Trail Blazers to the Lakers over the off-season, having played 69 games last season, starting only three times.
"At this point, man, whatever we need to do, let's do it," Anthony said on Friday at the Lakers' training camp.
"It ain't ... 'I can't sit,' and, 'Oh, I want to start,' 'I want to come off the bench.' Whatever it is, it is.
"I've had experience being a starter for 18, 17 years and had an experience of coming off the bench for one year. It's not something I think about."
Russell Westbrook also joined the Lakers ahead of the 2021-22 NBA season which commences on October 17 for the Lakers against the Golden State Warriors.
There have numerous roster changes for the Lakers, meaning there is uncertainty about how the line-up head coach Frank Vogel deploys for the new season.
"When we spoke before he signed here, I told him that I envisioned a big role on this team," Vogel said.
"I don't know what that's going to look like, whether he's going to start, whether he's going to come off the bench, but that he's going to be a factor for us."
Vogel confirmed Anthony along with Westbrook and LeBron James will all sit out Sunday's pre-season opener against the Brooklyn Nets for rest.
Forward Anthony played a career-low 24.5 minutes per game last season for the Blazers, but had a career second-best three-point percentage of 40.9 per cent.
Anthony averaged 13.4 points per game, 3.1 rebounds per game and 1.5 assists per game last season.
A report Ben Simmons no longer wants to play alongside Joel Embiid and his absence from the Philadelphia 76ers are "borderline disrespectful", according to the All-Star center.
The 76ers this week began training camp ahead of the new NBA season without Simmons, who is holding out for a trade following the fallout from the team's shock Eastern Conference semifinals elimination at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks last season.
A report in The Athletic citing anonymous sources on Tuesday claimed Simmons wants to leave because he does not think trying to fit in alongside Embiid is right for his style of play.
Embiid believes the information has come from his team-mate's camp. While he is frustrated by Simmons holding out, he admitted the 76ers remain a better team when he plays.
"I saw it. I don't know if it came from him or whatever, but over the past few months stuff has been put out there, looking at the reaction of him not being here. I feel like it's fair to assume it's coming from his agent or his people or whatever," said Embiid when asked about the report.
"I feel like our teams have always been built around his needs, so it was kind of surprising to see. [Simmons was] The reason we signed Al [Horford]. We got rid of Jimmy [Butler], which I still think was a mistake, [because] he needed the ball in his hands, and that's the decision they made. Like I said, it's surprising.
"But I'm really focused on the guys that are here. The situation is disappointing, borderline kind of disrespectful to all the guys that are out here fighting for their lives. Some guys rely on the team being successful to stay in the league and make money. Because if you're on a winning team, you're always going to have a spot in the league because you contributed to a winning team.
"Obviously we're a better team with him, we're not a better team without him, that's for sure. We still hope he changes his mind, but I owe it to these guys to worry about what we have here.
"To figure out what's going to happen, that's not my job, I'm not the GM, I'm not an owner, so that's none of my business."
Simmons only attempted one shot in the fourth quarter of the final six games of the series against the Hawks, while he passed up a layup to tie the game last in the fourth quarter of Game 7.
Doc Rivers said he did not know whether the 76ers could be champions with Simmons as their point guard, though he has since attempted to backtrack in a bid to convince the Australian to stay in Philadelphia.
Los Angeles Lakers recruit Russell Westbrook labelled Anthony Davis as "the ultimate weapon" and said it is his job to bring out the best of the eight-time NBA All-Star.
Davis was below his best during the 2020-21 season as the Lakers were dethroned and eliminated in the playoffs in the first round, with injuries forcing the 28-year-old to miss 36 games.
An NBA champion in 2019-20, Davis – the number one draft pick in 2012 – averaged 21.8 points per game last season, which was his lowest return since his second campaign with the New Orleans Pelicans in 2013-14, along with a career-low field goal percentage of 49.1.
Defensively, Davis had a career-low season averaging 7.9 rebounds per game and 1.6 blocks per game, but former MVP Westbrook was bullish about maximising his talent in the 2021-22 season.
"[He is] The ultimate weapon," Westbrook told reporters about Davis on Wednesday, having arrived via a trade from the Washington Wizards.
"It's my job to supervise it to the best of my ability to make sure that AD, LeBron [James], whoever is in the pick and roll are put in positions to be successful.
"He's one of a kind. There's nobody like him who can do everything he's able to do at his size.
"My job is to make sure I continue to push him each day, each practice, each game, so he can be at the top of his game each and every night.
"He's been in this league a long time, so he understands how to play the game. He knows what he needs to turn up, and I know now he wants to turn up. So it's my job to make sure that's up every single night."
Davis, who is a four-time All-NBA First Team member and has led the league for blocks on three occasions, said the demanding presence of players like nine-time All-Star Westbrook was good for him.
"I like team-mates who are going to push me," Davis said. "Encouragement -- I don't need encouragement. I want to be pushed.
"I want guys to tell me when I'm messing up. Me and Russ had numerous conversations in this first practice alone about things we can do together as a duo when we're both on the floor."
Davis added that he expects to play center for the Lakers this season, which Westbrook endorsed saying his team-mate can "pretty much do everything" in the role.
NBA players unvaccinated against COVID-19 risk losing salary if they are not able to play in games due to non-compliance with local health protocols.
NBA spokesperson Mike Bass confirmed on Wednesday that players will not be paid should they miss games for that reason, as vaccination status continues to be a thorny issue for some of the league's high-profile stars.
Major cities such as New York and San Francisco have laws that restrict unvaccinated persons from entering sports arenas, restaurants and other public spaces.
That means players such as the Brooklyn Nets' Kyrie Irving and Andrew Wiggins of the Golden State Warriors face being unable to play home games and losing significant portions of their salary.
Players travelling to those areas would also miss out on pay for failing to comply with local mandates.
Both Irving and Wiggins have salaries over $30million for the 2021-22 season.
"Any player who elects not to comply with local vaccination mandates will not be paid for games that he misses," Bass said.
Wiggins this week saw his request for a vaccine exemption on religious grounds rejected by the NBA, having previously said he would not get the vaccine unless he was forced into doing so.
Brooklyn Nets guard James Harden says he has never felt better heading into the new NBA season after enduring an injury-ravaged 2020-21 season.
Harden missed 23 games in the 2020-21 season due to a hamstring injury, which he aggravated during the Nets' playoffs campaign.
The 32-year-old, who had joined the Nets in January, played through pain as Brooklyn bowed out of the postseason in the Eastern Conference semifinals to eventual champions the Milwaukee Bucks.
Harden's teammate Kyrie Irving also had injury problems derail the Nets in the playoffs, leaving plenty on the shoulders Kevin Durant, the final member of 'the big three'.
"I've had two and a half months to recover, and I feel very, very good," Harden told ESPN. "I get an entire year, training camp included, with the guys."
He added: "I've tried to get my mind and my body right. That's all I've tried to focus on this summer. I've come back even better, bigger, stronger and quicker. I feel better than I probably have ever felt before.
"[I'm] just more confident knowing we have a legit chance to be the last team standing."
Harden, who won the 2018 NBA MVP award, also offered an update on his contract status with title favourites Brooklyn, having not yet extended his deal, which has a player option for $47million at the end of the coming season and expires the following year.
"Over the course of my career, I've never been a free agent before," Harden said.
"I've always been loyal, signing contract extensions and being there, being there, being there. I want to take my time with it.
"It's going to be very difficult to leave here or leave Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. I want this season to focus on winning the championship. Everything else will work itself out."
Harden played 36 times for the Nets during the 2020-21 season, averaging 24.6 points, 8.5 rebounds and 10.9 assists per game.
His 24.6 points per game for the year, including eight games with the Houston Rockets, represented his lowest average since his final season with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2011-12, when he started just twice.
However, playing alongside Durant and Irving, Harden's usage rate fell to 29.0 per cent, having been as high as 40.5 per cent in 2018-19.
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