BASKETBALL
Bronny James, the son of NBA career scoring leader LeBron James, was one of 26 players announced Tuesday as members of the USA Basketball rosters for this year’s Nike Hoop Summit.
The U.S. teams will play April 8 against international players at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. The international teams will be selected in the coming weeks, from pools of players representing FIBA Africa, FIBA Americas, FIBA Asia, FIBA Europe and FIBA Oceania.
It’ll be the first USA Basketball experience for Bronny James, a senior at California’s Sierra Canyon High. He has not yet announced his post-high-school plans.
All 12 of the other players for the U.S. men’s team have committed to schools, with Justin Edwards (Philadelphia) and DaJuan Wagner Jr. (Camden, New Jersey) choosing Kentucky and Jared McCain (Corona, California) and Sean Stewart (Windermere, Florida) going to Duke.
Eight other schools have one commit on the USA men’s team: Omaha Biliew (Omaha, Nebraska) is going to Iowa State; Blake Buchanan (Coeur d’Alene, Idaho) is going to Virginia; Isaiah Collier (Marietta, Georgia) is going to Southern California; Eric Dailey Jr. (Tampa, Florida) is going to Oklahoma State; Ron Holland (Duncanville, Texas) is going to Texas; Jackson Shelstad (West Linn, Oregon) is going to Oregon; Ja’Kobe Walter (McKinney, Texas) is going to Baylor; and Cody Williams (Gilbert, Arizona) is going to Colorado.
ATHLETES UNLIMITED BASKETBALL: WNBA League Pass will show 25 of the 30 games played by Athletes Unlimited Basketball.
The AU season will feature 44 players competing on four teams with a weekly draft each week to choose teams. The first draft will be on Sunday.
“WNBA League Pass is the destination for women’s professional basketball and Athletes Unlimited is just the latest addition to our programming lineup,” WNBA Chief Growth Officer Colie Edison said in a statement. “We are committed to expanding our direct-to-consumer offering with year-round content, bringing our fans closer to the game they love.”
There are more than a dozen current WNBA players in the league, including Natasha Cloud, Kelsey Mitchell, Allisha Gray and Jordin Canada.
Play begins Feb. 23 and runs until March 25. All games will be played in Dallas.
SOCCER
HAITI: A lifetime ban against former Haitian soccer federation president Yves Jean-Bart over allegations he sexually abused female players was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The court upheld Jean-Bart’s appeal after noting “inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the statements of the victims and witnesses presented by FIFA.”
A FIFA ethics committee in November 2020 had found Jean-Bart guilty of having “abused his position and sexually harassed and abused various female players, including minors” over several years.
Jean-Bart, 75, had also been fined 1 million Swiss francs ($1.1 million).
Jean-Bart had denied the allegations, which involved national team players, including minors.
WORLD CUP: The 2030 World Cup hosts are expected to be picked in September next year, FIFA said.
FIFA’s ruling council confirmed a timetable for bidding and a vote to be held in the third quarter of next year by around 200 member federations. FIFA has long targeted a decision in 2024 for the tournament that is currently scheduled to have 48 teams.
A separate election meeting will be held earlier in 2024 to pick a host for the 2027 Women’s World Cup, soccer’s governing body said.
The three 2026 hosts of the men’s World Cup – the United States, Canada and Mexico – all had their expected automatic entries in the 48-team finals tournament confirmed. It will be the first edition expanded from the 32-team tournament that was introduced in 1998.
MLS: Austin FC signed forward Sebastian Driussi, one of the top goal scorers in Major League Soccer, to a new contract that keeps him with the club through the 2025 season with an option for 2026, the team announced.
The 27-year-old Argentinian ranked second in MLS with 22 goals in 2022 as Austin advanced to the Western Conference final in just its second season. He scored three goals in the playoffs and finished second in voting for the league’s most valuable player award.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.