Basketball

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.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Memphis Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman said the 25-game suspension the NBA slapped guard Ja Morant with “was appropriate,” and it is up to Morant to change the behavior that led to two bans in four months.

DENVER (AP) — The parade is just a memory for the NBA-champion Denver Nuggets and the party is beginning to simmer down. Back to the business of finding a way to remain at the NBA's mountaintop.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee Bucks general manager Jon Horst confirmed that Khris Middleton declined his player option for the upcoming season but added that the team hopes to keep the three-time All-Star forward.

The Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers used lottery picks on players who should make their biggest early impact on defense while the rest of the Central Division teams sat out the first round of the NBA draft Thursday night.

Michigan teammates Jett Howard and Kobe Bufkin are headed to the same division. So are Arkansas' Anthony Black and Nick Smith Jr.