Jazz, Suns look to continue strong starts

Likely number one overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft Victor Wembanyama has been called up to the France national team for 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers. France will play two qualifiers at the end of February against Czech Republic and Lithuania.

France has already qualified for this edition of the World Cup. They are using their final two qualifying games to continue to evaluate their non-NBA and non-EuroLeague players.

Wembanyama played in two previous qualifiers for France. He averaged 19.5 points and 6.5 rebounds, as the French team clinched a spot in this summer’s World Cup back in mid-November.

The 2023 FIBA World Cup will be jointly hosted by Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines. The event will run from late-August to mid-September.

Kyrie Irving has made it known that he hopes to get an extension done with the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets would presumably like to keep Irving, but reportedly feel no pressure to get anything done in a swift manner.

There have been no significant extension discussions between Irving and Brooklyn. Both sides have until June 30 to agree to extend Irving’s deal. If no agreement is reached, Irving will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

If Irving chose to leave the Nets in free agency, it’s likely that would have to be via a sign-and-trade. Most of the teams in position to sign Irving outright in free agency aren’t a fit at this time. That means getting to a non-cap space team would have to involve Brooklyn agreeing to a deal.