The Los Angeles Lakers are betting D’Angelo Russell is ready for Showtime. The Lakers chose Russell with the second pick in the NBA draft on Thursday, bypassing big man Jahlil Okafor to grab the Ohio State guard with the potential for greatness. Russell averaged 19.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists in his only season with the Buckeyes.
In his first offseason leading the New York Knicks, Phil Jackson came up short trying to land Pau Gasol. Jackson may have landed his multifaceted forward a year later with Kristaps Porzingis of Latvia. The Knicks selected the 6-foot-11 forward with the fourth pick of the NBA draft on Thursday night.
India’s Satnam Singh Bhamara is hoping his historic selection in the NBA will kickstart a basketball boom in his cricket-obsessed home country. The 19-year-old centre admitted he was incredibly nervous in the run up to the NBA Draft, which saw him become the first India-born selection when he was chosen by the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday. The 7-foot-2-inch (2.18m) Bhamara, originally from a village in northern Punjab state, is hoping
Teen big man Karl-Anthony Towns was chosen by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the first pick in Thursday’s NBA Draft, while Satnam Singh Bhamara made history as the first India-born selection. Towns averaged 10.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocked shots a game last season for a University of Kentucky squad that went unbeaten until losing to Wisconsin in the national college tournament semi-finals. “This is what you live for,” Towns
By Larry Fine NEW YORK (Reuters) – Kentucky’s versatile big man Karl-Anthony Towns was the expected first overall pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2015 NBA Draft but surprises followed at Barclays Center on Thursday. The Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks, two once-proud franchises, made big bets on players with potential while two international players were among the top five choices. Towns, 19, is considered an ideal
(Reuters) – National Football League Hall of Fame defensive tackle Warren Sapp was charged in Las Vegas on Thursday with three counts of domestic abuse, according to court records, just months after his arrest for soliciting a prostitute. The misdemeanor domestic battery charges were filed against Sapp in Las Vegas Justice Court and a summons was issued in lieu of his arrest, according to the court’s website. The Clark County
NEW YORK (Reuters) – First-round selections in the NBA Draft on Thursday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn (pick number, NBA team, player, position, previous team):1. Minnesota, Karl-Anthony Towns, forward-center, Kentucky 2. L.A. Lakers, D’Angelo Russell, guard, Ohio State 3. Philadelphia, Jahlil Okafor, center, Duke 4. New York, Kristaps Porzingis (Latvia), forward, Cajasol Seville 5. Orlando, Mario Hezonja (Croatia), guard, Barcelona 6. Sacramento, Willie Cauley-Stein, center, Kentucky 7. Denver, Emmanuel Mudiay
By Catherine Lagrange SAINT-QUENTIN FALLAVIER, France (Reuters) – A decapitated body daubed with Arabic writing was found at a U.S.-owned factory in southeast France on Friday after an assailant rammed a delivery van into gas containers at the site, triggering an explosion. Speaking from a European Union summit in Brussels, French President Francois Hollande described it as a terrorist attack and said all measures would be taken to stop any
By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) – At least 27 people, including foreign tourists, were killed when at least one gunman opened fire on a Tunisian beachside hotel in the popular resort of Sousse on Friday, an interior ministry spokesman said. Police were still clearing the area around the Imperial Marhaba hotel and the body of one gunman lay at the scene with a Kalashnikov assault rifle after he was shot
By Sylvia Westall BEIRUT (Reuters) – Islamic State fighters killed at least 145 civilians in an attack on the Syrian town of Kobani and a nearby village, in what a monitoring group described on Friday as the second worst massacre carried out by the hardline group in Syria. Fighting between the Kurdish YPG militia and Islamic State fighters who infiltrated the town at the Turkish border on Thursday continued into