CHICAGO — Egor Demin won’t be returning to BYU, but that doesn’t mean that he’s done with Utah.

Though he only spent one year in Utah under the tutelage of Cougars head coach Kevin Young, it turned into the perfect home away from home for the 2025 NBA draft prospect. So much so that the 19-year-old already has grand plans to eventually buy a house and retire in the Beehive State once his playing career is over.

“I love Utah. I see myself when I retire from my basketball career, going back to Utah, having a house over there, somewhere next to Travis Hansen in the mountains. I see myself living there after my career.”

—  Egor Demin

“I love Utah,” he said. “I see myself when I retire from my basketball career, going back to Utah, having a house over there, somewhere next to Travis Hansen in the mountains. I see myself living there after my career.”

It’s not just about the picturesque nature of Utah, but the deep connections that Demin made while at BYU. He wanted to end up in a place where he could not only find comfort and peace, but also where he would thrive on and off the court while preparing for the next stage of life — the NBA.

With Young having just taken over at BYU after years spent in the NBA coaching ranks, Demin feels like he is more prepared for the pre-draft process than he would have been had he decided to elsewhere.

“More than anybody could imagine, he prepared me for this moment,” Demin said. “More than I was expecting. Obviously I wasn’t underestimating him, I was expecting him to teach me and I was ready to learn as much as I can and be a sponge. But, yeah, I got so much from him.”

And the moment is here. This week, in Chicago, at the NBA combine, Demin has been ready and determined to prove himself in front of NBA scouts, front office executives and coaches.

In the early days of last season at BYU, Demin projected as a potential top-10 pick. But a minor injury and some major slippage in his shooting numbers had many worried that he could drop out of the lottery.

Despite that, recent mock drafts still have him projected as a lottery (top-14) pick and his shooting performance as well as his interviews with teams at the combine helped to relieve some of the worries.

In the the 3-point drills at the combine, Demin went 14-of-30 on off-the-dribble shots, 17-of-25 on spot-up shots, 14-of-25 in the 3-point star drill and 17-of-28 in the 3-point side drill and also hit 80% at the free-throw line.

Demin has already had interviews with the Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings, Washington Wizards, Brooklyn Nets and Oklahoma City Thunder, he’ll have more interviews with teams as the week progresses and then a whole slate of in-person workouts after the combine is over.

In interviews, Demin wants teams to know how dedicated he is to working on his game and improving. He also wants NBA decision makers to know that he’s paid detailed and close attention to feedback regarding his shot and worked closely with Young to understand things that NBA teams will expect of him.

“The details of understanding what is a good shot and what is a bad shot, which is not always dependent on the defense,” Demin said. “A wide open shot can be a bad shot, speaking about the time of possession, the score — starting from there, and ending with your footwork, your rhythm, getting to the shot, your legs and energy.”

In the past, Demin might have considered every open shot a good one, but now he’s trying to think through the offense on an even deeper level. That’s often something that NBA coaches work on developing in young prospects throughout their first couple of seasons, so on that front, Demin is ahead of the game.

Those developments can only help to boost what teams think about Demin, but really, it’s his vision and passing that makes him a desirable prospect and that hasn’t changed. His ability to make passes, at the right time, on target and seeing the game multiple actions in advance has earned him comparisons to players like Luka Doncic, but Demin will tell you that it’s not his job to try to copy anyone else.

“Luka is pretty obvious — the big guards, passing — but obviously Luka is Luka and Egor is Egor, in a good way. I’m not trying to be like somebody else, I’m just trying to get pieces from different players and different personalities to build my own kind of project of where I’m seeing myself in the future.”

In the near future, Demin sees himself living out his dreams as an NBA player and helping a team to win. In the extended future he sees himself returning to where this process started, and hopefully staying close to those who helped him.

“I had a lot of fun being in Utah and I was going there to play basketball, and I found that, I found basketball over there,” Demin said. “But I also found a lot of good people and my new lifetime friends and mentors.”

Sean Brady has accepted his fate in the aftermath of UFC 315.

As of today, Philadelphia’s Sean Brady still remains at the top of the welterweight division with the #1 ranking next to his name.

In other instances, Brady would have likely received a title shot for how he dominated Leon Edwards at UFC London in March where he became the first fighter ever to finish the former champ.

However, that probably won’t be the case with all signs pointing to a super-fight between lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and newly-crowned welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena after JDM’s win over Belal Muhammad at UFC 315 last weekend.

So, where exactly does that leave the #1 contender Brady?

Sean Brady knows he’ll fight again for welterweight title shot

The odd man out at 170lbs, the 18-1 Brady figured the title fight wasn’t next even after shutting out Edwards like nobody else.

“I knew if Jack won that I’d be fighting again,” Brady said on The Ariel Helwani Show.

“I’m fine with [it].

“Of course I want the title shot, but there’s still Shavkat [Rakhmonov] there,” Brady added.

“There’s Islam saying he’s moving up. You have Kamaru [Usman] and [Joaquin] Buckley saying whoever wins that’s getting a title shot, so we’re all gonna have to fight.”

Sean Brady eyes Ian Machado Garry as next opponent

The welterweight division filled with young and hungry contenders, Brady looks no further than a fight against #6-ranked Ian Machado Garry.

Coming off a loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310, Machado Garry called for a title opportunity following his decision win over #13-ranked Carlos Prates earlier this month.

With a title fight not happening anytime soon for the top welterweights, Brady wants a crack at ‘The Future’.

“I’m gonna have to fight Ian Garry eventually,” Brady said regarding his next fight.

“Why not just do it now and just get it out of the way?

“If I’m as good as I think I am. I would fight Shavkat for the number one contender… He says he’s coming back in October [due to injury]. That really means he’s probably coming back the end of the year or even next year.

“Me and Ian had a little interaction at the fight from across the way… I was like, me and you, that’s what I think. I think me and you are gonna have to fight now because we can’t all wait around for a title shot,” Brady explained.

UFC light heavyweight Modestas Bukasukas is really taking it all in on his second run in the UFC coming off his victory over Ion Cutelaba at UFC 315 on Saturday night.

Bukauskas (18-6) entered the UFC the first time in 2020. After getting a first round finish in his first fight with the promotion he went onto drop his next three. He was subsequently cut from the UFC, but then made his return in 2023 after a 2-0 run back with Cage Warriors.

“It’s mad because 26 realistically in fighting isn’t like crazy, crazy young. You got guys now that are doing well, 26, but everyone’s journey is different,” Bukauskas told Cageside Press among other reporters at his post-fight scrum.

“I definitely feel that for me. Maybe that was part of my personal journey.”

The time away from the UFC was necessary in Bukauskas’ mind as it lit a fire under him to improve. Even a knee injury is seen as a positive in a way.

“I needed to do it better a little bit later. I needed to learn from those mistakes otherwise I would never be able to do what I’m doing right now. So I look at that as a blessing. I had to go through that,” he said.

“I’m actually very grateful that my knee got tore up, I’m very grateful that I got cut the first time around. Because it wouldn’t have given me the sense of urgency or even just the way that I approach the game.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Modestas Bukauskas above.

THE PANAM AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS BEGINS!!!

The Medellin 2025 Pan American Aquatic Sports Championship begins this Tuesday. The best representatives of the continent will compete in Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, Open Water and Artistic Swimming. And you will be able to watch all the details live on the Panam Sports Channel.

Today is the Opening Ceremony at 6pm.

Everything is ready and set in the Colombian city of Medellin for what will be an aquatic event never seen before in our region. It is the Panam Aquatics 2025 Championship that will count with the participation of more than 1200 athletes.

A total of 45 nations will be represented in this competition: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, United States, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Maarten, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela will be the countries seeking glory in this competition.

This is the first time in history that an event of these characteristics has been held, so expectations are very high considering that it is also a qualifying competition for the Junior Pan American Games 2025 and for the World Aquatic Sports Championship in Singapore.

There will be 5 disciplines in this event:

Swimming: May 13 to 17
Diving: May 13 to 17
Artistic Swimming: May 17 to 20
Water Polo: May 19 to 25.
Open Water Swimming: May 21 to 23.

On Tuesday, May 13, the swimming and diving competitions are expected to begin with the preliminaries.

The Opening Ceremony of this event is scheduled for today at 6 p.m., with a program that includes speeches by the main authorities, an artistic show and the parade of the participating delegations.

All the alternatives of this championship can be seen on our Panam Sports Channel, the Official Channel of the Panam Aquatics Medellin 2025.

If you haven’t downloaded the APP, it’s absolutely free.

PANAM SPORTS CHANNEL

Montreal — It’s been ten years since the UFC touched down at the Bell Centre in Montreal, where Georges St-Pierre once dominated the welterweight division.

Following UFC 315 on Saturday, the promotion’s return to those hallowed grounds where over 19,000 fans turned up to see Jack Della Maddalena dethrone Belal Muhammad for GSP’s old belt, you can rest assured there won’t be another ten-year gap between visits.

Filling in for Dana White at the UFC 315 post-fight press conference, UFC Senior Vice President of International and Content David Shaw noted that the promotion views Montreal as a Pay-Per-View calibre city.

“Yeah absolutely. I think in our mind, Montreal is a Pay-Per-View city, and so there are a number of Pay-Per-View cities in Canada,” stated Shaw, asked whether the promotion might visit the city more frequently. “We’re trying to get back to maybe three events a year. So it certainly won’t be as long as it’s been.”

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic setting in and shutting things down in early 2020, Canada had seen a steady three UFC events per year. That changed with COVID, as the promotion did not return to the country until a stop in Vancouver in 2023. Two shows, one in Toronto and one in Edmonton, took place last year. Montreal marked the first Canadian show of 2025; there will be at least one more, Shaw confirmed to Cageside Press.

Asked about a rumored second date, “the update is that we will have a date, the lack of update is that we don’t have a date to disclose,” stated Shaw. “Nor do we have a city to disclose. But we’re actively working on it. Not going to happen in the summer, so we’re looking at the fall. October, November.”

Watch the full UFC 315 post-fight press conference appearance by David Shaw above.

By NOAH TRISTER

Patrick Ewing was poised to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft 40 years ago when Commissioner David Stern began the first draft lottery by pulling a logo of the Golden State Warriors out of an envelope — indicating they would select seventh.

Pat O’Brien, announcing for CBS, proclaimed: “And the first team to hate the lottery.”

Now the question is who will be the next team to hate the lottery. Utah, Washington or Charlotte, perhaps? Each has a league-best 14% chance of picking first this year.

“That day we don’t have a lot of control over. The balls will tell us our fate,” Wizards general manager Will Dawkins told Monumental Sports Network recently — a reference to the table tennis balls in a lottery machine that determine the top few picks.

Back in 1985, Stern simply picked envelopes out of a drum, a process seized upon by conspiracy theorists suspicious of the ultimate result that sent Ewing to the New York Knicks. The Warriors had finished tied for the league’s worst record in the 1984-85 season, but they received the No. 7 pick.

Duke star Cooper Flagg is expected to be the first player taken in next month’s draft but nothing is guaranteed.

The lottery is now an annual NBA event in which largely downtrodden teams find out if fortune is smiling on them. Every franchise has had significant experience with the lottery — with some certainly enjoying it more than others.

The Associated Press reviewed each franchise’s draft lottery history. Here are a few highlights and lowlights:

— Most lottery wins. The record for lottery wins is four, by Cleveland and Orlando. The Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia and San Antonio have received the top pick three times.

— No lottery wins. Eight franchises have never won the lottery: The Grizzlies, Heat, Jazz, Lakers, Mavericks, Nuggets, Pacers and Thunder. Dallas, Denver and Memphis have been particularly unlucky, and Minnesota had a brutal lottery record before finally landing the No. 1 pick in 2015 and 2020.

— Longest long shots. Orlando snagged the top pick in 1993 despite a probability of 1.5%. Chicago in 2008 and Cleveland in 2014 each had a 1.7% chance when they won.

— Best odds on Monday. Each team in the lottery had an equal chance of picking No. 1 during the early years. Then a weighted system was introduced. After Orlando’s 1993 win, the teams at the top of the lottery were given slightly better chances, but lately that’s reverted back a bit. Following Utah, Washington and Charlotte this year are New Orleans (12.5%), Philadelphia (10.5%), Brooklyn (9%), Toronto (7.5%), San Antonio (6.7%), Houston (3.8%), Portland (3.7%), Dallas (1.8%), Chicago (1.7%) and Sacramento (0.8%).

— Record-setting Warriors. For much of the lottery’s history, there’s been a limit to how far teams can fall, so nobody has ever dropped again the way Golden State did in 1985.

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(AP reviewed data on realgm.com to compile this report.)

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba