Lakers add Greg St. Jean to JJ Redick coaching staff (2024)

The representation for the Phoenix Suns and Mercury organizations at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris is up there with any NBA/WNBA teams and headlined by the two faces of the franchises. Mercury guard Diana Taurasi is pursuing a record sixth gold medal, which would be the most for either the men or women in American basketball. Suns guard Devin Booker is going for a modest No. 2 after snagging his first in Tokyo. They are joined by the Mercury’s Kahleah Copper and Brittney Griner, plus the Suns’ Kevin Durant, who is the all-time men’s leading scorer seeking a record fourth gold.

14 seconds ago – via Arizona's Sports Page

Booker is entering his 10th season, a number tough to wrap your head around considering how young he still seems (and is at the age of 27!). Through the whole journey in Phoenix, Taurasi has been there as a mentor. Having the greatest of all time and someone who has been in the Valley since 2004 in that role speaks for itself. “It’s meant everything,” Booker said at Team USA minicamp in Las Vegas. “She took me in under her wing Day 1 in Phoenix and I’ve returned it. But it’s not tit for tat — it’s a real love there that still exists. I was just at the game last week. Just inspiration.”

15 seconds ago – via Arizona's Sports Page

Taurasi recently turned 42 and has achieved it all. Whether it’s what she’s done already or is still managing to do at her age, it would be difficult for Booker not to get an extra jolt from watching the G.O.A.T. operate. Taurasi has watched Booker’s career develop from the day he was drafted to now. What she’s seen goes far enough to hope her son can take something from how Booker has done things in Phoenix.

16 seconds ago – via Arizona's Sports Page

“If Leo can grow up like anyone, I wish he was like Book,” Taurasi said Friday. “From the day he got to Phoenix, he was a grownup, he was serious about basketball. The way he approached it on the court, off the court — I love everything about Dev. To be able to share the Olympics with him in Paris, we already did Tokyo a couple years ago. To see his work ethic. “And the thing I love about Dev more than anything is he’s loyal. We know how professional sports are, the ups, the downs and it’s not an easy landscape to navigate but he always does it with the most respect and the most loyalty.”

17 seconds ago – via Arizona's Sports Page

Matching up against the opposition’s best scorers, Dillon Brooks has had his fair share of experiences to judge who some of the best players in the league are. As Canada prepares for group play in the 2024 Olympics, Brooks broke down the three toughest opponents to defend. The 28-year-old listed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as one of his answers. The other two players were Luka Doncic and Andrew Nembhard.

18 seconds ago – via OKC Thunder Wire

Jayson Tatum will cop to some missteps over the years. But he insists he never wanted Jaylen Brown to be traded. “Most stars don’t make a conference finals until they are 27, 28,” Tatum says. “We were doing it when we were 19, 20.” He does admit, however, that he could have been more vocal.

1 hour ago – via Sports Illustrated

“I’ve always told him that maybe I could have done a better job of voicing my feelings in the public eye,” Tatum says. “He always knew that I wanted him here. I would always tell him like, ‘Man, I don’t get involved with any of those talks.’ I never went to [Celtics president of basketball operations] Brad Stevens or went to any player like, ‘Yo, I want this guy in, I want this guy out of here.’ I show up and I want to do my job and play basketball. And looking back on in those moments, I didn’t know how that could affect somebody, because I was never in that situation. I feel like maybe I could have done a better job of publicly saying, ‘No, we don’t want anybody, we want JB.’ I just was always like, ‘I want to stay out of it.’ ”

1 hour ago – via Sports Illustrated

Over the years, Tatum has often been first to collect the accolades: All-Star, All-NBA. As teammates, they are friendly. As high-level wing players, they are, at times, competitors. Tatum recalls a stretch during the 2019–20 season, when both knew they were battling for one All-Star spot. Tatum got it. “And I knew he was happy for me,” Tatum says. “But when you are a competitor, you want what’s in front of you.” Similarly, Tatum wanted Finals MVP this year. But to see Brown get recognized, Tatum says, “made me genuinely happy.” “I feel like he has gotten a short end of the stick, whether it’s All-Star selections or All-NBA,” Tatum says. “I feel like he, in a sense, made up for some of those shortcomings that people didn’t vote him for. I was happy that he got it.”

1 hour ago – via Sports Illustrated

The criticism has quieted now. The trade chatter is gone. Tatum and Brown are locked up for the foreseeable future. It’s not exactly the yin and yang dynamic Cousy and Russell enjoyed, but during the postseason Tatum led the Celtics in points, rebounds and assists. Brown distinguished himself with his defense on Luka Doncic in the Finals. “We’ve figured out that we need each other,” Tatum says. “We have learned how to coexist. And we know we need to be the best version of ourselves in order for all of this to work. We weren’t necessarily the best playmakers early in our careers but we developed into guys that really bleed the game. We want to be a great example of guys that play on both ends as a floor and guys who are the best teammates that we can be.”

1 hour ago – via Sports Illustrated

Anthony Chiang: The Heat announces that it has signed summer league standout Josh Christopher to a two-way contract. The Heat waived Zion Pullin to make room for Christopher’s two-way deal.

1 hour ago – via Twitter Anthony_Chiang

ClutchPoints: “[The Warriors] were about to make a trade last week… That’s a bad trade, don’t do that trade… Although it going to help me right now.” — Draymond Green 👀 (via @club520podcast) pic.twitter.com/98jktKHJM8

1 hour ago – via Twitter ClutchPointsApp