China's national team came to the NBA Summer League looking for education.
They're learning plenty — and got a win as well.
Summer League is essentially several preseason games for the Chinese. They're in Las Vegas to get ready for the FIBA World Cup, which will take place in China from Aug. 31 through Sept. 15 — with USA Basketball entering as the top-ranked team in the world and the presumed favorites to win the tournament for the third straight time.
Miami Heat's Kyle Alexander (74) jumps to block a shot by China's Wang Zhelin (31) as China's Zhao Rui (1) watches during an NBA summer league basketball game Friday, July 5, 2019, in Las Vegas. (AP PhotoSteve Marcus)
Fans in basketball-mad China are already eager for the World Cup. The national team is getting there, and an 84-80 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday was a sure sign of progress.
"There's high expectation so we've got to be ready and we've got to raise the pressure," China coach Li Nan said earlier Monday. "Not just the players, also the coaching staff. We need to concentrate on our details, do preparations now, concentrate on our stuff."
Among the challenges for the Chinese so far in Las Vegas: Getting used to the speed and strength of the teams in Summer League, and Li said he's urged his players to start becoming tougher mentally.
Miami Heat's Kyle Alexander stretches in a hallway of the Thomas & Mack Center before an NBA basketball Summer League game against China, Friday, July 5, 2019, in Las Vegas. (AP PhotoSteve Marcus)
"It's so fast. It's a different level," Li said. "The contact, we've never seen this before. The rules are different. It's hard to play this tournament."
The Chinese (1-2) lost their first two games in Las Vegas — they fell by 41 points to Miami on Friday, and looked much better in a 17-point loss to Sacramento on Saturday. They trailed by six in the opening minutes against Charlotte on Monday, then took the lead late in the first quarter and held it the rest of the way.
"We're still improving a lot," Li said. "We improved a lot when we came here. The first game we weren't ready for the physical game, the fast game. The second game, on a back to back, we started realizing some things."
The players China brought to Las Vegas represent the bulk of what will be the nation's World Cup roster. Longtime NBA player Yi Jianlian is expected to play in the World Cup, and he's not playing in Las Vegas because of an injury. Guo Ailun, one of the more talented Chinese players, didn't play against Miami, scored 20 points against Sacramento and had 12 more in the win over the Hornets.
"The intensity of the game is really high in the summer league," Guo said through a translator before Monday's game. "It's much stronger than what is in China. ... The intensity, the pace, it's really a challenge."
For group play in the World Cup, China will take on Poland, Venezuela and the Ivory Coast. Based on FIBA rankings, it's not a particularly strong group and it's not unreasonable to think that China would make at least the tournament's second round.
Li believes the level of play at Summer League may even exceed what the Chinese see in group play.
"It's a lot of help," Li said. "Those teams, I think they're better than the other teams in the group. We're trying to play to win these games and we'll use those games to have confidence to face the other opponents."
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ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.
Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.
U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.
"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”
Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.
Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.
“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”
Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.
U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.
Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.
Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.
Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.
"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.
The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.
The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.
“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.
“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”
The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
