LONDON — LeBron James, a soon-to-be four-time Olympian shooting for his third gold medal, will carry the American flag for the United States delegation during the Paris Games opening ceremony Friday along the River Seine.

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee said Monday in a news release that James had won a vote among nearly 600 members of Team USA to carry the flag. A female athlete was also selected and the committee said that vote would be revealed Tuesday.

“It’s an incredible honor to represent the United States on this global stage, especially in a moment that can bring the whole world together,” said James, 39,  whose popularity has soared well beyond his country as the face of the NBA and the sport’s all-time leading scorer.

“For a kid from Akron, this responsibility means everything to not only myself, but to my family, all the kids in my hometown, my teammates, fellow Olympians and so many people across the country with big aspirations,” he said. “Sports have the power to bring us all together, and I’m proud to be a part of this important moment.”

Two other USA Basketball players — Sue Bird in 2021 and Dawn Staley in 2004 — have served as flag bearers. Steph Curry, who is competing in his first Olympics, was also nominated.

Lindsey Harding, the coach of the G League’s Stockton Kings, will join the Los Angeles Lakers’ staff as an assistant under head coach JJ Redick, league sources confirmed Tuesday. ESPN first reported the news.

Charlotte Hornets assistant coach Bob Beyer is another coach who is expected to be added to Redick’s staff, according to league sources. He’s been in attendance for multiple Lakers summer league games and has sat alongside the coaching staff, including Redick, Nate McMillan and Scott Brooks.

Harding, 40, was the No. 1 pick by the Phoenix Mercury in the 2007 WNBA Draft. She became the only woman head coach in either the NBA or G League when she coached Sacramento’s G League team in their opener, a loss, against the Santa Cruz Warriors in November 2023.

A former Duke standout whose No. 10 jersey was retired by the program, Harding was named the Naismith Player of the Year in 2007. She played nine seasons in the WNBA and, after her playing career, worked as a scout and player development coach for the Philadelphia 76ers. She then spent four seasons as an assistant for the Sacramento Kings before being named the head coach of the Stockton Kings.

In April, Harding became the first woman to be named the NBA G League Coach of the Year after leading the Stockton Kings…

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — As the Los Angeles Lakers introduced their future to the world, their present stood in the shadows behind the throng of media members and TV cameras.

During a news conference for Dalton Knecht and Bronny James — the team’s two 2024 draft picks — Bronny’s father, LeBron, watched from the sidelines instead of sitting in the friends-and-family section of the front row alongside his wife, Savannah, and Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul

The message was clear: The moment was about Bronny, not LeBron.

Even so, Bronny, in his first media availability since being drafted by the Lakers with the No. 55 pick last week, inevitably faced an onslaught of questions regarding playing with his father and for the Lakers.

“For sure, amplified amount of pressure,” Bronny said. “I’ve already seen it on social media and stuff, and the internet and stuff and talking about that I might not deserve an opportunity. But I’ve been dealing with stuff like this my whole life. So it’s nothing different. But it’s more amplified, for sure. But I’ll get through it.”

After Bronny thanked new head coach JJ Redick and vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka for everything they have “given” to him, Redick stepped in to correct his…

NBA superstar LeBron James said he’s “rooting” for Caitlin Clark to succeed in the WNBA and wants more people to acknowledge how she’s bringing attention to women’s basketball.

“The one thing that I love that she’s bringing to her sport: More people want to watch,” James said on his “Mind the Game” podcast. “More people want to tune in. Don’t get it twisted. Don’t get it f—ked up. Caitlin Clark is the reason why a lot of great things are going to happen for the WNBA.”

Clark has played four games in the WNBA after the Indiana Fever selected her with the top pick in this year’s draft. Fans have flocked to WNBA arenas to see her play, despite Clark showing she has much to learn in the jump from the NCAA, where she is the all-time leading scorer.

GO DEEPER

What we learned from Caitlin Clark’s first week in the WNBA

Everywhere Clark went last season, the fans — and television viewers — followed, setting records. But with her level of celebrity, she’s also been heavily criticized for how she broke the NCAA scoring record and the extra attention she’s received.

James, the No. 1 pick in the 2003 NBA Draft and dubbed “The Chosen One” by Sports Illustrated as a high school junior, said he knows what Clark is going through.

“For her individually, I…

INDIANAPOLIS — There isn’t too much scoring in the NBA — 70-point games and record-breaking team offenses be damned.

The players don’t like to see what happened to Joel Embiid, or even Tyrese Haliburton, but they support the spirit of a league requirement for games played to determine eligibility for awards like MVP.

Clippers or Celtics? Joker, Embiid or even … LeBron? And who wants to be NBA commissioner Adam Silver for a day?

The Athletic again put on its collective hard hat, grabbed a lunch pail and jumped head first into All-Star media day, a savage, unruly affair in which players sit up on a dais, behind a gate, having questions shouted at them by YouTube influencers, goofballs on top of other goofballs’ shoulders, rappers, WNBA players and, yes, traditional reporters.

From the practice court at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Joe Vardon, Sam Amick, David Aldridge and Mike Vorkunov spoke to 18 players, most of them All-Stars, a couple from the Skills Challenge, 3-Point or Slam Dunk contests, and one second gentleman, to canvas them on who’s the NBA’s best player, the best team and what about the league needs to change.

Not everyone polled answered every question, but they all had plenty of ideas:

Who is the best player in the league?

Nikola Jokić, Joel Embiid — 3
Luka…

LAS VEGAS — This week, the NBA will descend upon Las Vegas in full force. Even for a city used to spectacle, it’s bringing something novel along with it. For the first time in decades, the league will hold real, live, actual — yes, they count — regular-season games in Sin City. It is a step into the breach unlike any other for the NBA.

Professional basketball has come to Vegas before. There have been exhibition games, the 2007 NBA All-Star Game, NBA Summer League, even a few Utah Jazz games in the 1980s, a playoff game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers in 1992, the NBA G League Ignite franchise since 2020 and, for the last six seasons, WNBA games. But the NBA has never put a product on display quite like the one it will on Thursday afternoon when the NBA In-Season Tournament semifinals tip off at T-Mobile Arena.

While it is a seminal moment for the league and the city, it is also one open to much conjecture and forecasting. NBA commissioner Adam Silver has tiptoed around expansion in recent years, and Las Vegas has come up as a potential home for a new franchise. This week will likely do little to silence those rumblings.

In July, Silver called Vegas “our 31st franchise;” now, everyone is waiting to see if Vegas will actually be the league’s…

The Los Angeles Lakers will honor the late Kobe Bryant with a statue in front of Crypto.com Arena. The team will unveil the statue on Feb. 8, 2024.

The date of Thursday’s news (8/24) and the date of the unveiling are significant because Bryant wore jersey Nos. 8 and 24 during his career.

“Since arriving in the city and joining the Lakers organization, (Kobe) felt at home here, playing in the City of Angels,” his wife, Vanessa Bryant, said in an announcement video.

Kobe’s legacy immortalized.

2•8•24 pic.twitter.com/WHQBXZJ2gD

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) August 24, 2023

Bryant spent his entire 20-year career with the Lakers, winning five championships with the franchise and becoming one of the NBA’s biggest stars.

The Charlotte Hornets drafted Bryant with the 13th pick in 1996 and then traded him to the Lakers for center Vlade Divac. Bryant went on to win the 2007-08 NBA MVP Award, two Finals MVPs, two Olympic gold medals and receive 18 All-Star selections.

Bryant retired in 2016 with 33,643 career points and played in 1,346 career games. In his final game, on April 13, 2016, he went out with an ending fit for Hollywood by scoring 60 points and leading the Lakers to an improbable comeback over the Utah Jazz.

In 2017, the Lakers retired both of Bryant’s jersey…

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame will enshrine its 2023 class on Aug. 12 in Springfield, Mass. Eleven individuals and the 1976 Women’s Olympic team will take their place among the greatest to ever play the sport. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of this weekend’s ceremony.

When and where will the Hall of Fame induction ceremony take place?

The induction will begin at 7 p.m. ET at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. According to the NBA, 45 Hall of Famers will be on-hand for the event.

Who is being inducted? Who will be presenting them?

1976 Women’s Olympic Basketball Team, presented by Ann Meyers (Class of 1993), Nancy Lieberman (‘96)

The first women’s team to compete in an Olympic Games. Composed entirely of college players, they paved the way for future generations of female basketball players to pursue their dreams of being on the biggest stage.

Coached by Hall of Famer Billie Moore, the roster featured fellow inductees in Lusia Harris-Stewart (1992), Ann Meyers Drysdale (1993), Nancy Lieberman (1996) and Pat Summitt (2000). They earned the silver medal, losing to the Soviet Union in the championship matchup.

Becky Hammon, presented by Sheryl Swoopes (‘16), Teresa Weatherspoon (‘19)

Hammon played point guard in…

FUENGIROLA, Spain – Josh Hart stared into the blue light of his computer screen at a desk in his hotel room.

He was on a training table at the Team USA hotel getting treatment before practice, with his wife Shannon watching him on FaceTime.

Where Hart is in the world right now, on the southern coast of Spain, in a resort community in the province of Malaga, with the Mediterranean Sea nearby and Morocco just 25 miles across the water, and with the Sierra La Blanca mountain range glistening in the sun behind the hotel, is easy on the eyes.

Even easier, the blinking cursor, over the blank line, on the DocuSign version of his four-year, $81 million contract extension with the New York Knicks.

One click on Thursday morning, and Hart and his wife would remember Malaga forever, even though she isn’t here and his reason for the trip is to get ready for the FIBA World Cup with Team USA.

“It was actually pretty cool, I was just laying down on the training table, getting some treatment, on FaceTime with her and signing the contract,” Hart said. “It meant a lot. I wasn’t highly touted coming out of high school, wasn’t highly regarded in the draft, went through free agency the first time and I was restricted, it was a terrible experience for me, so to be able to do this, it’s a…

It was the All-Star break in February of 2018, and LeBron James’ family was on my flight back to Cleveland from Los Angeles — where the NBA’s annual midseason celebration was held.

LeBron and his wife, Savannah, headed somewhere for a quick vacation before the season resumed, but their two boys had school to get back to (their youngest, a girl, was in preschool).

After an uneventful flight, the celebrity children, their maternal grandmother, and a Cavaliers’ security official walked quietly through the concourse at Cleveland Hopkins Airport, from Gate C Twentysomething — the farthest from baggage claim — with the rest of the passengers from that nonstop United flight out of LAX.

They stood patiently next to the Superman exhibit at baggage claim, which is on the ground floor, until the orange lamp was lit, the siren sounded like someone had just scored a hockey goal or like a barge was pushing off from the dock, and the luggage began pouring out of the wall and onto the slow-moving conveyor belt.

The Cavs’ security man was a few feet over from me, preparing to grab the family’s bags as they slid past, but Grandma wouldn’t have it. “Bronny, go over there and help Rob (security man) with those bags,” she instructed, and the 13-year-old who bears the same name…