NEW ORLEANS—A teenage Canadian basketball star copped a major honour here as part of the NBA’s all-star weekend.
R.J. Barrett, seen as one of the next wave of great Canadian players, was named the most valuable player at the league’s Basketball Without Borders global camp held over three days.
The 16-year-old son of long-time Canadian national team stalwart Rowan Barrett was chosen the best of 63 players at the camp, directed by Raptors president Masai Ujiri.
Barrett is a six-fooot-seven sophomore at Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla., the same prep school attended by Ben Simmons, the top pick in last June’s draft.
NBA and FIBA players and coaches, including Cheick Diallo (New Orleans Pelicans; Mali), Wayne Ellington (Miami Heat; U.S.), Justin Holiday (New York Knicks; U.S.), Meyers Leonard (Portland Trail Blazers; U.S.), Thon Maker (Milwaukee Bucks; South Sudan) and Emmanuel Mudiay (Denver Nuggets; Democratic Republic of the Congo) coached the top high school age campers from Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe.
SLAMMING DUNK CONTEST: It was highly unlikely that the 2017 NBA dunk contest could match the epic 2016 showdown between Orlando’s Aaron Gordon and Minnesota’s Zach LaVine in Toronto, and those fears were realized here Saturday night.
Despite the fact Gordon went high-tech and used a six-wing drone to “pass” him the ball for his first dunk, the contest had little drama.
The winner, Indiana’s Glenn Robinson III, used a couple of human props for his final dunk to beat Derrick Jones Jr. of the Phoenix Suns.
Gordon, who said his dunk contest career is now over, was eliminated after the first round along with DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Robinson took control of the contest by dunking over a human “tower” of two people.
“Vince Carter did one of his best dunks first, and it kind of intimidated people,” Robinson said, recalling the ex-Raptors 2000 dunk contest win. “That’s what I wanted to go out and do. I wanted to do one of my best dunks first. Who knows if it worked? But they missed some of their dunks, and it gave me a little more room.”
COUSINS CONVOS: Are the on-again, off-again trade talks involving Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins back on?
Reports Sunday said the Kings are once again exploring trade possibilities for the all-star centre, a few weeks after Sacramento officials seemed determined to re-sign him.
One report suggested the Kings and New Orleans Pelicans were talking about a deal involving rookie guard Buddy Hield and multiple first-round draft picks.
The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
