France dominating the NBA Draft is a great sign for international basketball and maybe scary for Team USA

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Goooood morning, Winners! Thanks so much for reading the Morning Win today. We appreciate you. Happy Friday, Jr.

I, for one, am happy to welcome our new French overlords to the NBA.

READ MORE: The winners and losers of the first round of the NBA Draft

France is really taking over the league, folks. It’s incredible to watch. This year, Zaccharie Risacher made a bit of history as the fourth international prospect in the league’s history to go No. 1 overall. Say what you want about the guy, but he played (and dominated!) in the same league his predecessor, Victor Wembanyama, played in. That’s impressive.

But the French connection didn’t stop there. Overall, in the 2024 draft, three Frenchmen were picked in the top six. That includes Risacher, Alex Sarr (No. 2 to Washington) and Tidjane Salaün (No. 6 to Charlotte). When you throw in Pacôme Dadiet (No. 25 to New York), that’s four French players taken in the first round of this draft.

That’s already impressive, but it becomes even more so when you look at last season. Two Frenchmen, Wembanyama and Bilal Coulibaly, went in the top seven of the draft. That means five of the top 14 NBA draft picks over the last two years were from France.

As Wemby says, C’est la France frère. The takeover is here.

France has long been a staple in basketball. Since the days of Tony Parker and Boris Diaw, who played roles as key cogs for the Spurs, plenty of French talent has gone through the NBA. But I’m unsure we’ve ever seen anything like this.

These players aren’t just talented — they’re expected to be some of the best players in the league. Wembanyama might actually be the best player in the league soon. That’s an exciting thought.

At least until it’s time for Team USA to play France in the Olympics and World Cup. Then it becomes a bit terrifying.

Just call him AI Michaels from now on

The more technology advances, the less human things are beginning to feel.

NBC is bringing AI to the Olympics in possibly the most disturbing way. The network will use an AI version of Al Michaels to recap the day’s most important events.

This is beyond disturbing for two reasons:

• First, Al Michaels is still alive, folks. Why not just … ya know, use him instead of Siri him?
• Second, is this something we’re going to see moving forward in our sports and in our media? It certainly feels like a precursor of what’s to come.

Our Robert Zeglinski has more on why this is so disheartening here:

“It’s dispiriting that NBC is content to imitate one of the biggest sports voices it has ever had, especially since he is still alive and kicking. Michaels does a pro football game every week on a streaming service during the NFL season. He couldn’t have come back to NBC to record a few lines for a worldwide sports event? I find that hard to believe.

It’s troublesome that these kinds of decisions might soon define our sports-watching and sports-consuming future, which is only a microcosm of a greater collective. When the human element is even excised from the broadcast booth — the one place where a fan should always reasonably expect dependability and energy — then nothing is off limits.

Most of all, watching companies like NBC willingly hop into bed with these sorts of services without even a second thought is infuriating. And it doesn’t matter why they have decided to do so, either. Be it to cut costs or to invest in a hollow foundation devoid of any real exciting spark, it all comes from the same place of desperation and motivation. It’s all borne of the same brand of business cowardice to “get ahead or get left behind” without ever thinking about potential long-term consequences.”

Hopefully, this isn’t a sign of things to come. But, given our hubris as human beings, it probably is.

READ MORE: AI Al Michaels is coming to a TV screen near you

Idols become rivals

Folks couldn’t stop talking about Diana Taurasi’s feud with Caitlin Clark (if we can actually call it that) before the WNBA season started.

Feud is probably too strong of a word to describe it. Taurasi had some criticisms of Clark’s game, just like she does with a ton of other rookies, and some folks just took it to heart.

Now, we can talk about the basketball of it all. The two will play each other for the first time this Sunday. Taurasi was asked about it and she had what our Cory Woodroof described as a “delightfully blunt” answer about facing the rookie.

“As Clark and Taurasi finally square off in Phoenix this weekend, Taurasi was asked how she feels ahead of the marquee matchup. Her response was predictably fantastic and delightfully blunt.

“Yeah, it’ll be fun,” Taurasi told reporters, via Desert Wave Media.

If that’s not the perfect Taurasi answer, we’re not sure what is.”

I cannot wait to watch this game, man.

Quick hits: The top 32 NHL prospects … The most stylish players in the NBA Draft … and more

— Here’s Mary Clarke with the 32 best prospects ahead of the NHL Draft

— Here’s Blake Schuster with the best outfits we saw on NBA Draft night. These guys are fly.

— Charles Curtis has the draft order for Day 2 of the NBA Draft. Two days! Whew.

— This batboy absolutely saved Shohei Ohtani’s face and he deserves a raise.

— Bryan Kalbrosky has the best prospects available for Day 2 of the NBA Draft here.

— And here’s Cory Woodroof on why Bronny James wasn’t a first-round pick this year.

That’s a wrap, folks! Thanks so much for reading! We appreciate you. Have a great day. Peace.

-Sykes