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Gary Woelfel: Maksym “Max” Shulga, a native of Ukraine, told me he’ll be heading to Milwaukee after the NBA draft combine for a workout with the Bucks. Shulga, a combo guard from Virginia Commonwealth, was the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year last season.
Reserve center Alex Len, one of two Ukrainian players active in the NBA, said he’s seen public support for his country’s fight against Russia wane since the war’s first days, and he’s hoping the news coverage of the argument between America’s and Ukraine’s political leaders can be a step toward resolution. “At the end of the day, we all want just one thing — for the war to stop and for everybody to feel safe again,” Len told The Times on Sunday. “I think that’s the end goal of this whole thing. People just want to live normal life. Like my friends and family that I talked to back home, everybody wants that. … We’re tired of the war. We want the war to stop and we want to come back to normal life and just, live normal life. “Cause this is crazy.”
Len said he thinks Ukraine needs more than a deal ensuring the war’s end — the message he hopes people take out of the Trump-Vance-Zelensky news conference. “They responded very emotionally. But hopefully they’ll be able to come up with a solution to finally stop the war and in a way that Ukraine is protected,” Len said. “Because all Zelensky said is, ‘Yeah, we want a ceasefire. But in the past, Putin broke this ceasefire so many times. We need security to make sure when the ceasefire is not enough. He signed it so many times, and he broke it, and we’re still getting attacked. What’s the purpose of ceasefire? We need more than just ceasefire.”
Dmytro Skapintsev signs with Boston
Michael Scotto: Boston Celtics and Dmytro Skapintsev have agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal, league sources told @hoopshype. The 7-foot-1 center from Ukraine was called up by the New York Knicks last season. He’s two-way eligible and enters training camp looking to compete for a spot with the Celtics
Dmytro Skapintsev, who is trying for the second season to earn a spot with the Knicks, has not been home in more than two years, having left his hometown of Cherkasy, Ukraine at the start of the war that has ripped apart his country. “There is the war, the hard times for Ukraine,” he said. “That’s is a reminder to don’t forget about it.”
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He played professionally overseas for six seasons in Ukraine and Lithuania and was training with the Ukrainian National team in February, 2022, when the bombings began. He was in Spain, playing a World Cup qualifier and never was able to step foot in his home since. “I played right until the big war, the big invasion war,” Skapintsev said. “My family is there. That’s tough, but there is nothing I can do. Just get used to it and just praying for them to be safe and do my job. That’s really helped them to stay positive when they see how I am playing here.”
Dmytro Skapintsev left home 22 months ago. He hasn’t been back since. The home he hasn’t been able to return to, in Cherkasy, in Ukraine, hasn’t been the same. He left a few days before the war began on February 24, 2022, a date that is a turning point in his life like it is for so many Ukrainians. There is what came before it and what has come after. On that day, Russian military attacked major cities in Ukraine, starting a conflict that still rages, displacing so many and killing tens of thousands of people. The world changed that day in Ukraine, and it did for Skapintsev, too. It put him on an unexpected journey, one that took him from the Ukrainian SuperLeague, the country’s top division, to the NBA in less than two years.
His parents didn’t know he had made it to the NBA until he snapped a picture of his new No. 14 jersey in his new locker before the game and sent it to them back home in Cherkasy. He wanted it to be a surprise. Skapintsev is just the 10th player to be born in Ukraine and make it to the NBA. At such a difficult time for the country, his success is a trickle of good news. He knows the difficulty those still there face. He thinks about it every day. “Everything is normal,” he says with a deep sigh and a proclivity for understatement. “As good as it can be.”
Skapintsev has not gone back. If he did, he might be taken into the army, too. Instead, he has stayed abroad, trying to reach the NBA and keep playing. His teammates ask what it’s like back there. He tells them. He shows them pictures. He thinks of the life for those in Ukraine now. “Hard,” he said. “Every morning you wake up and turn on the news and watch how it is at home. I call my parents every day.”
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NBA star Jimmy Butler took a swing at another sport Wednesday night, dressing just like a member of the ball crew at the U.S. Open to perform those duties and picking up a racket to play with Frances Tiafoe, Carlos Alcaraz and Sebastián Yatra at a charity event that raised $320,000 for humanitarian relief in Ukraine.
🇭🇷 Croatia beat Ukraine 85-70 to advance to the final of the 2023 FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament with the help of: Mario Hezonja: 22 points (10/13 FG) and 5 rebounds, Dario Saric: 18 points (7/7 FT) and 8 rebounds, Ivica Zubac: 20 points (7/9 FG) and 7 rebounds
Turkiye routed Bulgaria, 104-66, in Sinan Erdem Dome Sunday and will face Ukraine for the top spot of Group C Tuesday. Similar to Saturday’s comfortable win against Iceland, points were spread among all players available for head coach Ergin Ataman. Furkan Korkmaz sinking three triples made out a team-high 14 points and Omer Yurtseven posted an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double.
Former Hornets player Arnoldas Kulboka signed with Ukrainian team BC Prometey for the 2023-24 season.
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