Early Monday morning, LeBron James and several other Team USA basketball stars were photographed leaving an exclusive Paris despite knowing they had a training session against upstart South Sudan ahead of Wednesday.
Seen exiting via a back entrance of Siena, an Italian restaurant close to the Tuileries Garden along the north bank of the Seine, James, Durant, Anthony Davis, and Bam Adebayo Durant left much before James, who was shown leaving around three in the morning local time.
All of the enigmatic women were observed leaving the restaurant while umbrellas were employed to cover the famous visitors and any other pals from persistent photographers. The women’s membership in the same group as NBA stars is unknown.Images from earlier in the evening have been leaked, featuring Team USA’s Devin Booker, Jayson Tatum, even former San Antonio Spurs player Tony Parker lounging with restauranteur Mehdi Abdelhedi.
The pictures tracked Team USA’s triumph over Team Serbia earlier on Sunday and over Nikola Jokic.
Team USA’s forthcoming itinerary added even more interest to the scheduling of the fiesta.
Everyone in the men’s tournament at Pierre Mauroy Stadium got Monday off since all twelve teams had been in action on either Saturday or Sunday.
For some, that offers an opportunity to practice and re-organize. For some, like the United States, which swept past Serbia in its opener under Durant’s outstanding comeback from a calf ailment, it provides a day to relax, heal, and go be Team USA supporters.
“It’s enormous,” American coach Steve Kerr remarked Monday. Additionally crucial for us is letting our athletes savor the Olympic experience so they may travel to see some of the other sports, spend time with their families. That’s a major component of this. Today is about that; then we will lock back in tomorrow.Teams that go 3-0 in group are definitely in; teams that go 2-1 in group are almost certainly safe barring some wild tiebreaker scenario; teams that go 1-2 in group will need some help but could still move on (two such teams advanced at the Tokyo Games three years ago); teams that go 0-3 in group are going home early.
Everyone will be watching the U.S.-South Sudan game, particularly following the upstart team from Africa almost overthrowing the Americans in London earlier this month in a 101-100 game few saw coming. The game’s champion will reserve a passage to the quarterfinals.
Though the winner has a far greater chance of going to next week and the loser will be doing a lot of hoping, Serbia-Puerto Rico is not an elimination game.
So far in men’s basketball, South Sudan has made the most of its Olympic debut. On Sunday in its debut game, the African country topped Puerto Rico 90-79.
‘We’re not a mystery anymore,’ South Sudan coach Royal Ivey remarked later.Next Tuesday is a rematch with the United States. The two got together for an exhibition game, and South Sudan almost executed an amazing upset. By virtue of its World Cup performance last year, which ranked as the best African team, South Sudan qualified for the Olympics.
Former NBA player Luol Deng heads the national federation.
Moreover, head coach Royal Ivey assists the Houston Rockets of the NBA, having spent ten years in the league as a player. Before his time with the Knicks and Nets, the native New Yorker began coaching in the NBA developing level in 2014. He led the South Sudan team ever since he hired them in 2021.
On the team are a few former NBA players. Wenyen Gabriel briefly played with James and the Lakers in 2022; Carlik Jones bounced about with a few teams including Dallas, Denver, and Chicago.
In the one-point exhibition loss to the United States, Jones posted a triple-double.