Hawks sign Serbian guard Bogdanovic to $68-M deal

NEW YORK, United States - Serbian 3-point sharpshooter Bogdan Bogdanovic has agreed on a four-year contract extention worth $68 million with the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, according to multiple reports on Thursday.

Bogdanovic declined an $18 million player option for next season to reach a longterm deal with the Hawks, according to ESPN and The Athletic, citing unnamed sources.

The 30-year-old guard is averaging 14.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists a game for Atlanta while shooting 43.7% from the floor and 40.1% from 3-point range.

Bogdanovic, who helped Serbia to a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, was selected by Phoenix with the 27th pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.

After playing three seasons in Sacramento, he joined the Hawks in 2020

FRED C. LUMBA SPORTS KEN YULO, WESLEY, PBA ET AL

Barring unforeseen and sorowful circumstances, Pinoy sports fans may now lay claim that Carlos Yulo could be the next Olympic gold medalist in the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

The diminutive gymnastics star came home Tuesday wearing two gold medals around his neck from his sojourn in the FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) World Championship series in Doha, Qatar and in Kazakshtan.

Not so much media fanfare was there but Yulo’s twin golds in the floor exercise and parallel bars should earn him some monetary rewards.

Also, the Senate and the House of Representatives make the traditional awarding of respective resolutions commending winners of world championships,

Remember that these are no mean feat as Yulo defeated all the best in his category, including the Tokyo gold medalist and other podium winners.

At this time of his sporting life, the Malate kid has developed an overwhelming self-confidence that he could take the world in the palm of his hands.

This was the positive attitude Hidilyn Diaz exemplified after missing the weightlifting gold in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

The rest is up to our sports leaders and Yulo’s NSA to prepare him mentally, physically - even spiritually - for the biggest event in Paris.

Like Caloy, Fil-Am super GM Wesley So is also advancing positively in his pro chess career. The Bacoor, Cavite native most recently topped the American phase of the Armageddon 2023 Chess Tournament and has qualified for the finals.

So, who leads the FIDE chess circuit ahead of Tata Steel champion Anish Giri and defending titleholder Fabiano Caruana, is at this time battling over the board elite opponents in the 2023 American

Cup being held in St. Louis, Missouri, the chess capital of the USA.

The three-time US chess king is also a fixture in the Champions Chess Tour where he, alongside world champion Magnus Carlsen, reigning 2022 Fischer Random Chess winner Hikaru Nakamura and 2022 US titlist Fabiano Caruana, will battle it out with four other super GMs who qualified in the preliminaries.

Meanwhile, San Miguel Beer will be happy to see sister team Brgy. Ginebra beat TNT at the close of the elims. Should this happen, the Beermen could take the number one spot (assuming they repel a hardfighting ROS five and helped Atlanta reach the 2021 Eastern Conference finals, losing to Milwaukee. The Hawks were ousted last season in the first round by Miami. in their last game) and engage the number eight qualifier in a twice to beat quarterfinal outing. SMB is wary because JunMar Fajardo is in the injured list and may take quite a time to return. If the boys of RSA survive, the next matches are definitely going tougher and Fajardo’s absence in the middle is a scary thought.

The Hawks stand eighth in the Eastern Conference this season at 34-35.

I don’t know how the Gin Kings can advance over TNT when they don’t have Japhet back yet.

Besides, there’s no denying that Tropang Giga is on a roll despite its embarrassing results in the EASL in Japan. (Email feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com.)