Nets' Drake Powell honored for being taken in 2025 NBA Draft
"The Chatham County Board of Commissioners adopted a special resolution Monday evening honoring Pittsboro native Drake Powell on his first-round selection in the 2025 NBA Draft," Michael Koh of chapelboro.com wrote regarding Powell. After being inquired from the Atlanta Hawks by the Nets, Brooklyn used the 22nd overall pick on bring in Powell, a player who could be the Nets' latest attempt at finding a wing who can contribute on both ends.
"Drake's journey… has been marked by excellence, discipline and an unwavering commitment to growth," Chatham County's resolution read in part, per Koch. Powell, 19, was born in Durham, North Carolina, but he spent most of his time growing up in Pittsboro, North Carolina, a town about 30 miles away from Durham. Powell played for Northwood high school in Pittsboro, where he showed his potential to be a great basketball player.
"He's just stayed humble and very much committed to not just being a good player but being a good young man,' Chatham County commissioner Karen Howard told 97.9 The Hill, per Koch.. 'It was quite an honor to be able to recognize him and wish him well in his future endeavors… this is what Chatham County and Chatham County Schools is capable of doing."
Powell comes to the Nets after spending his freshman season at the University of North Carolina, where he averaged 7.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game while shooting 48.3% from the field and 37.9% from three-point land. Powell wasn't able to play for the Nets during the team's trip to Las Vegas to play in the summer league due to left knee tendinopathy, but he still means something to where his basketball journey began.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets' Drake Powell honored for being taken in 2025 NBA Draft
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a few seconds ago
- Yahoo
LeBron James and Maverick Carter were seen with Nikola Jokic's agent
There has been a lot of talk lately that LeBron James, one way or another, is on his way out as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers and that they will look to essentially replace him with another superstar within the next couple of years. The belief is that the Lakers will try to go after either Giannis Antetokounmpo or Nikola Jokić next summer or during the summer of 2027. They reportedly want to keep a lot of salary cap space free for that purpose, which has led some to feel that they will essentially punt the next season or two and not try to win the NBA championship during that time. On his Instagram account, Misko Raznatovic, Jokic's agent, posted a photo of him with James and James' business manager, Maverick Carter, along with a cryptic caption. 'The summer of 2025 is the perfect time to make big plans for the fall of 2026!' This will undoubtedly spark speculation about James' future beyond the next handful of months. There have already been many rumors that he will eventually ask the Lakers to trade him soon, even though he exercised his player option for the 2025-26 season. Jokic, the three-time NBA MVP, who many still feel is the best basketball player in the world, can opt out of his current contract in the 2027 offseason. He just became the third player in league history to average a triple-double for an entire season, but he lost out on the 2024-25 regular-season MVP award to the Oklahoma City Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: LeBron James and Maverick Carter were seen with Nikola Jokic's agent
New York Times
2 minutes ago
- New York Times
Giants to promote pitching prospect Carson Whisenhunt for debut Monday vs. Pirates
SAN FRANCISCO — With their rotation in a bind and the losses beginning to pile up, the San Francisco Giants will seek a boost from their top pitching prospect on Monday. The team will promote left-hander Carson Whisenhunt from Triple-A Sacramento to make his major-league debut with a home start against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Advertisement 'We've been waiting for this for a little bit now,' Giants manager Bob Melvin said following the Giants' 5-3 loss on Sunday that capped the New York Mets' three-game sweep. 'We thought maybe he'd be here last year, too. With what's gone on here … there's a need for it. It'll be exciting to see him pitch.' What's gone on will have to change quickly for the Giants to stay in the National League playoff picture. They've lost nine of 11, and their rotation is down to three healthy and established pitchers — All-Star right-hander Logan Webb, All-Star left-hander Robbie Ray and 42-year-old right-hander Justin Verlander — after right-hander Landen Roupp was placed on the 15-day injured list with elbow inflammation and erratic right-hander Hayden Birdsong LaLooshed himself to Triple-A Sacramento. So the Giants will turn to Whisenhunt, a fringe top-100 prospect who was widely considered the best collegiate left-hander in his 2022 MLB Draft class before a positive test for a performance-enhancing substance resulted in a suspension that caused him to miss his junior season at East Carolina University. The Giants thought they got a steal when they selected Whisenhunt in the second round, and although he didn't post overpowering numbers in the upper minors, his changeup consistently grades out as a plus major-league pitch. Whisenhunt, 24, compiled a 4.42 ERA in 18 starts while spending his second season in the Pacific Coast League, which tends to warp most pitching statistics. His progress could be measured in a walk rate (2.6 per nine innings) that he nearly halved from the previous year. He's also striking out fewer batters, though (7.9 per nine innings, down from 11.6 in 2024). The Giants won't expect Whisenhunt to dominate. They'll be happy to receive five or six competitive innings one day after relying on a bullpen game against the Mets. Giants catcher Patrick Bailey, a fellow North Carolina native, said he's confident Whisenhunt will have what it takes to compete. Advertisement 'I'm very excited for him,' Bailey said. 'Awesome dude, awesome player. I think he'll be ready. He's got really good stuff. Obviously, he's got the plus-plus changeup, and I hear the fastball command is getting better and he's throwing some different breaking balls. It's well deserved.' The Giants could air a Carson special Monday night. They didn't use Whisenhunt's former Sacramento rotation mate, right-hander Carson Seymour, in Sunday's bullpen game. So he'd be available to back up Whisenhunt. 'It just depends on how efficient he is,' Melvin said. The bullpen game — which included two home runs off right-hander Randy Rodríguez after he'd allowed just one in his first 43 appearances — wasn't the reason the Giants dropped their series finale against the Mets. The Giants didn't get any offensive production outside of two home runs from third baseman Matt Chapman and, continuing a cruel theme, went hitless in seven at-bats with runners in scoring position. Mets closer Edwin Diaz struck out Willy Adames and Chapman to strand the bases loaded in the ninth, concluding a series in which the Giants went 0-for-23 with runners in scoring position. According to research by NBC Sports Bay Area, it was the first time since 1931 that the Giants played a series in which they had at least 20 at-bats with runners in scoring position and failed to get a hit in any of them. The tragicomic detail: They would've been credited with one in the third inning Sunday when Adames failed to check his swing and sent a roller up the third-base line. But Heliot Ramos' base-running foibles continued. He got hung up between second and third, and Mets third baseman Ronny Mauricio tagged him to complete a fielder's choice. Of course, there isn't much Whisenhunt can do to alleviate the Giants' most persistent problem this season. The best he can do is keep the team in the game. He's coming off a shortened outing last Sunday against Oklahoma City in which he threw 68 pitches while allowing a run in 3 2/3 innings, but he had an earlier run of four consecutive seven-inning starts and twice earned PCL pitcher of the week honors. On July 12, Whisenhunt represented the Giants in the All-Star Futures Game in Atlanta and retired both batters he faced. Advertisement The Giants must make space on the 40-man and active roster for Whisenhunt, who was scratched from his start for Sacramento on Saturday night and added to the major-league taxi squad. After Sunday's game, there was a locker in the Giants clubhouse with a No. 88 jersey hanging in it. A duffel bag and a pair of dimpled, ostrich leather boots signified Whisenhunt's arrival. Roupp, another fellow North Carolina native who brings a strong boot game to the clubhouse, has competition now. 'I've seen him since we competed against each other in college,' Roupp said. 'I'm excited. I think it's past due. He's been throwing pretty well this year and threw well last year. 'Everybody knows his changeup is really good, but the other pitches are coming around, too.' The Giants need their offense to come around if they hope to remain relevant in September and beyond. But they also need to stabilize a pitching staff that has thrown the most bullpen innings of any team since the All-Star break. Chapman said he has no doubt that club president Buster Posey will remain an active buyer as Thursday's trade deadline approaches. 'It sucks to lose 9 of 11 and slip out of the standings a little bit, but we're still right there,' Chapman said. 'We'll play a lot of the teams that are right in front of us and right in the thick of it with us. Buster has made it clear: We go out and get Rafi (Rafael Devers), and it makes sense to continue to try to improve this team for this year and the foreseeable future. So I think we expect to add and to continue to get better and to continue to make a push to make the playoffs.'
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Fernandez wins DC Open fuelled by Shake Shack, de Minaur takes men's title
WASHINGTON (AP) — The biggest tennis title of Leylah Fernandez's career arrived at the D.C. Open on Sunday with the help of a terrific backhand, some superb returning — and energy courtesy of Shake Shack's burgers and fries. The left-handed Fernandez, a 22-year-old from Laval, Que., who is ranked 36th, wrapped up a big week of tight matches with a lopsided victory, defeating Anna Kalinskaya of Russia 6-1, 6-2 in the final. Fernandez earned her fourth singles trophy — all have come at hard-court tournaments — and first at a WTA 500 event. She came quite close to a Grand Slam championship as a teenager at the 2021 U.S. Open, making it all the way to the final in New York before losing to Emma Raducanu. There almost was a rematch in Washington, but Kalinskaya eliminated Raducanu in Saturday's semifinals. The men's trophy was won by No. 7 seed Alex de Minaur, who earned his 10th ATP title — eighth on hard courts — by saving three championship points in a 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (3) victory over No. 12 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. De Minaur, a 26-year-old Australian, was the runner-up in Washington in 2018. Davidovich Fokina dropped to 0-4 for his career in finals despite leading 5-2 in the third set Sunday and repeatedly standing just a single point from victory. This was his second time frittering away multiple match points in a tournament final this year. He entered the week at No. 26 and will make his debut in the top 20 on Monday; he remains the highest-ranked man without a title. Fernandez took quite a journey through the women's bracket. She needed 2 hours, 19 minutes to oust No. 1 seed Jessica Pegula — last year's U.S. Open runner-up — in three sets in the second round, then 2 hours, 20 minutes to beat Taylor Townsend in the quarterfinals, and 3 hours, 12 minutes for a three-tiebreaker victory over No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina — the 2022 Wimbledon champion — in the semifinals. After each of the last two, Fernandez and her father — who is also her coach — opted for Shake Shack. 'We got burgers, hotdog, cheese fries — everything that an athlete should not eat before a match, but it did the trick,' Fernandez said about what she ate after the Townsend match. 'It gave me the right nutrients to recover from the cramps and get ready for the next round.' Following the Rybakina marathon, Fernandez said she and her father 'were messaging, and I was, like, 'OK, what do you want to eat tonight?' We both answered at the same time: burgers. … That was kind of my diet for the whole week.' Sure worked: This was the first title for Fernandez since October 2023 at the Hong Kong Open. Plus, she arrived in Washington with a losing record this season and hadn't won more than two matches at the same tournament since last November. 'I have gone through so many different challenges this week. It just has made me stronger, in a way, that if I can get through this week — through the cramps, through the long matches, through the heat, the humidity — I can get through anything,' Fernandez said. 'So I was just very happy that I got to not only push myself physically through the limits, but also mentally. So that kind of will help me hopefully for future tournaments.' Against the 48th-ranked Kalinskaya, who hadn't dropped a set until Sunday, Fernandez saved the only break point she faced while breaking four times. One key: Fernandez claimed 10 of the 12 points when Kalinskaya hit a second serve. Another: Kalinskaya — a 26-year-oldwho is 0-3 in tour finals — finished with 24 unforced errors and just nine winners. 'Amazing fight this week,' Kalinskaya told Fernandez. 'You truly deserve it.' ___ AP tennis: Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press
