TAMIKA CATCHINGS

The Washington Mystics have won the WNBA draft lottery for the first time in franchise history.

The WNBA playoff chase may come down to the final day of the regular season on Sept. 19.

Sue Bird capped off her unblemished 17-year Olympics run with a record fifth gold medal.

Kobe Bryant is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame now, along with contemporaries Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, headliners of a group of nine who got their delayed and long-awaited enshrinement on Saturday night, more than a year after being announced as the Hall’s Class of 2020.

Vanessa Bryant got a private tour to see some of the newly remodeled Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday, viewing the exhibit that will honor the life and legacy of her late husband before the rest of the world gets their first look.

Kobe.

Michael Jordan will present Kobe Bryant for induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame next month.

The NBA painted “Black Lives Matter” on the courts inside their Orlando, Florida, “bubble" and social justice messages were emblazoned on the backs of jerseys. Paul met with NBA players, and they decided awareness wasn’t enough anymore. “Black Lives Matter” also was featured prominently on the league’s courts. Wallace, the only full-time Black driver at the NASCAR national level, first began speaking out against racial injustice in America in the spring. His car featured a “Black Lives Matter” paint scheme.

“But I don’t have to agree with it.”And that’s absolutely fine, said Ish Smith, the Wizards guard who signed Pittman’s cap. “When I played, players and coaches were never — maybe not never; rarely — asked about politics and voting,” Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. It’s an environment that led Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal, Tennessee Titans linebacker Will Compton, NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace and others to proudly note they were voting for the first time. And led WNBA players Tamika Catchings and Chiney Ogwumike to sign up to be poll workers. And led Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Chris Paul to join nearly 2,500 people on a march to a voting site in North Carolina.

FILE - In this April 13, 2016, file photo, Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant smiles during the first half of his last NBA basketball game, against the Utah Jazz in Los Angeles. Because of the coronavirus outbreak, the reopening has been pushed back two months to July 1 and the induction ceremony is being postponed, either to October or the spring. Complicating the potential possibility of a spring 2021 induction: The Hall doesnt know what the NBA and college basketball seasons will look like then. Doleva said the Hall decided against inducting Bryant alone and gave no thought to having a separate ceremony for him. Theyre all Hall of Famers, and all Hall of Famers are equal in the eyes of the museum.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports