Basketball

TORONTO — Gradey Dick moved his dad to tears on Monday.

PARIS (AP) — Victor Wembanyama has some bad news for France. The new San Antonio Spurs player told L’Equipe newspaper he won't play with the national basketball team at this year's World Cup in order to protect his still developing body.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — As Victor Wembanyama took the stage for his first news conference inside his new home arena, he couldn’t help but notice an accessory that the San Antonio Spurs commissioned for the occasion.

LONGUEUIL, Que. — Bennedict Mathurin is paying it forward and in return experiencing a full circle moment. It was just three years ago that the Montreal native was a high school kid at the Basketball Without Borders Global camp.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The first dinner that Victor Wembanyama had in his new home city was filled with San Antonio royalty. Gregg Popovich was there, of course. So were Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Manu Ginobili and Sean Elliott.

NEW YORK (AP) — The selection of 19-year-old basketball sensation Victor Wembanyama by the San Antonio Spurs was must see-TV Thursday night. The first round of the NBA draft averaged a record 4,928,000 viewers on ESPN and ABC according to Nielsen.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The chants from hundreds of fans, some of whom waited outside for hours in nearly 100-degree heat, started at the very moment Victor Wembanyama stepped out of the private plane that carried him to his new NBA home.

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Hawks confirmed an agreement Friday to acquire the NBA draft rights to Washington State center Mouhamed Gueye from the Boston Celtics. The Hawks will send a future second-round pick to the Celtics.

PARIS (AP) — Tony Parker surely knows what he’s talking about when it comes to the San Antonio Spurs.

It's the easiest call of the NBA draft : The San Antonio Spurs won. That's not to say other teams didn't do very well on Thursday, when 58 players were selected as the league's newest members.