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Sports
Duke’s Jayson Tatum Declares For NBA After Freshman Year
Bulls' Robin Lopez, Raptors' Serge Ibaka Ejected After Trading Punches
Jayson Tatum is heading to the NBA after his one sea- son at Duke. The school made the announcement Wednes- day.
Tatum averaged 16.8 points and 7.3 rebounds for the Blue Devils, who won the ACC tournament title before falling to South Carolina in the second round of the NCAA tournament. He is ex- pected to be one of the top se- lections in June.
Tatum becomes the 10th Duke player to enter the draft after their freshman season. It's anticipated forward Harry Giles will become the
JAYSON TATUM
11th before the deadline. Luke Kennard and Grayson Allen are under- classmen who could also leave for the NBA before the April 23 deadline.
Several punches were thrown as a wild brawl broke out on the court between Bulls and Raptors players with 3:58 remaining in the third quarter of Toronto's 122-120, overtime win over Chicago on Tuesday night.
The heated exchange erupted when Raptors center Serge Ibaka grabbed the ball and threw an elbow near the back of Bulls center Robin Lopez after a made 3-pointer and Lopez fell backward into Ibaka and took a swipe at the ball. Ibaka appeared to shove Lopez, and Lopez threw a punch at and missed Ibaka, who retaliated by taking a swing at Lopez, barely con-
Fox Sports Partners With Ice Cube
To Broadcast Big3’s First Season
Ice Cube partners with FOX Sports to broadcast Big3.
Ice Cube’s Big3 announced a partnership with FOX Sports on Wednesday (March 22) that will broadcast the 3-on-3 bas- ketball league’s inaugural sea- son.
The sporting event begins June 25 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and tickets can still be purchased at Ticket- master. The debut broadcast will air on Monday, June 26 at 8 p.m. EST through FOX Sports 1.
The Big3 includes former NBA superstars such as Allen Iverson, Chauncey Billups, and Jermaine O’Neal, while Kenyon Martin, Jason “White Chocolate” Williams, Rashard Lewis, Stephen Jackson, and Mike Bibby will serve as player cap- tains. Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Clyde Drexler, Charles Oakley, George Gervin and Gary Payton are expected to coach their own teams in the league.
Ice Cube’s latest venture will make stops at 10 cities throughout the summer. Games will be played each Sunday, with FOX Sports broadcasting match ups the following night in primetime. The league culmi- nates with the Big3 Finals airing live on Saturday, August 26 on FOX.
The fallout for the Robin Lopez-Serge Ibaka fight will be suspensions.
necting with the head of the Chicago center.
Ibaka and Lopez contin- ued to go at each other, which led to several other players and assistant coaches from each bench joining the fray.
The two players continued
to lob harsh words at each other and were separated by teammates.
Both players were ejected for fighting following a long re- view.
Lopez said he felt he "had three guys on me" as he jock- eyed for position under the basket and was simply react- ing to being pulled back and it "just kind of hit the flash point."
"It felt like nobody had any hold on [Ibaka]," Lopez said. "And he just kept coming at me with his arm. And I was just trying to get him off me."
Lopez said he expects to be suspended for his role in the brawl.
LeBron James Had A Lot To Say
2017 NCAA Sweet 16 Schedule
THURSDAY
No. 3 Oregon vs.
No. 7 Michigan, 7:09 p.m. Midwest region | Sprint Center, Kansas City, MO
TV: CBS | Announcers: Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller, Dan Bonner, Dana Jacobson
No. 1 Gonzaga vs.
No. 4 West Virginia, 7:39 p.m.
West region | SAP Center, San Jose, CA TV: TBS | Announcers: Brian Anderson, Chris Webber, Lewis Johnson
No. 1 Kansas vs.
No. 4 Purdue, 9:39 p.m.* Midwest region | Sprint Center, Kansas City, MO
TV: CBS | Announcers: Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller, Dan Bonner, Dana Jacobson
No. 2 Arizona vs.
No. 11 Xavier, 10:09 p.m.* West region | SAP Center, San Jose, CA TV: TBS | Announcers: Brian Anderson, Chris Webber, Lewis Johnson
FRIDAY
No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 4 Butler, 7:09 p.m. South region | FedEx Forum, Memphis, TN
TV: CBS | Announcers: Jim Nantz, Grant Hill, Bill Raftery, Tracy Wolfson
No. 3 Baylor vs. No. 7 South Carolina, 7:29 p.m.
East region | Madison Square Garden, New York, N.Y.
TV: TBS | Announcers: Verne Lundquist, Jim Spanarkel, Allie LaForce
No. 2 Kentucky vs.
No. 3 UCLA, 9:39 p.m.* South region | FedEx Forum, Memphis, TN
TV: CBS | Announcers: Jim Nantz, Grant Hill, Bill Raftery, Tracy Wolfson
No. 4 Florida vs.
No. 8 Wisconsin, 9:59 p.m.* East region | Madison Square Garden, New York, N.Y.
TV: TBS | Announcers: Verne Lundquist, Jim Spanarkel, Allie LaForce
Does the NBA have a prob- lem with featured games be- coming prime-time flops when star players sit out for rest? LeBron James doesn't think so.
A day after Cleveland Cav- aliers coach Tyronn Lue de- cided to rest James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in his team's 108-78 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on ABC, the four-time MVP scoffed at the idea that player rest is hurting the league's appeal, and framed it as a simple re- ality of the sport.
Irving sat out the entire fourth quarter of Cleveland's win over the Utah Jazz on Thursday because of tightness in his left knee.
With Love and Irving benefiting from an extra day of rest, Lue decided to hold out James as well, with the coach telling reporters that the decision made James "pissed."
LeBron James Issues Warning Shot To Outspoken LaVar Ball
Superstar LeBron James directed a cease-and- desist order of sorts on Tues- day to LaVar Ball, the outspoken father of three -- including star UCLA fresh- man Lonzo Ball -- who said earlier this month that his children are set up better for future success than those of the Cleveland Cavaliers' star.
"Keep my kids' name out of your mouth. Keep my fam- ily out of your mouth," James said of LaVar Ball to
LeBron James' sons were the subject of comments made by LaVar Ball that left the Cavs star telling ESPN on Tuesday: "Keep my family out of this."
ESPN on Tuesday, as the Cav- aliers practiced on UCLA's campus, two days after a road victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
"This is dad to dad. It's a problem now."
James' two sons, 12-year- old LeBron James, Jr. and 9-year-old Bryce Maximus James, have shown plenty of promise on the AAU circuit -- to the point where the eldest son, "Bronny," has standing verbal scholarship offers from Duke and Kentucky.
The Ball family includes Lonzo Ball and his two younger brothers, 18-year-old LiAngelo and 15-year-old LaMelo, both of whom will attend UCLA on scholarships in the coming years.
LaVar Ball has been out- spoken on a number of topics regarding his children in re- cent months, and he brought James' family into the con- versation while appearing on a recent episode of the In the Zone with Chris Broussard podcast.
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