OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Brandon Miller scored 28 points and the Charlotte Hornets stunned the NBA-leading Oklahoma City Thunder 124-97 on Monday night.
Kon Knueppel added 23 points for the Hornets, who had lost three of four before handing Oklahoma City its worst loss of the season. It was a season-low point total for the Thunder and the only time they have failed to score 100 points.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 21 points for his 108th straight game with at least 20, the second-longest streak in NBA history. He made just 7 of 21 field goals, and while he's known for sitting out fourth quarters because the Thunder are far ahead, he sat out the fourth this time because they were so far behind.
It was Oklahoma City's second straight loss and second home defeat of the season. The defending NBA champions started 24-1 but now are 30-7.
Charlotte ran out to an early 21-9 lead, but the Thunder, led by Ajay Mitchell's 10 points off the bench, tied the game at 33 by the end of the first period.
Charlotte regained momentum in the second and went up 67-50 at halftime. Miller scored 19 points before the break. Oklahoma City made just 8 of 15 free throws in the first half. Gilgeous-Alexander, the league's No. 2 scorer, was held to nine points on 3-for-12 shooting through two quarters.
Early in the third quarter, Charlotte's LaMelo Ball caught a ball that was heading out of bounds, then made a circus shot from the corner with a foot on the 3-point line while standing on one leg to push Charlotte's lead to 74-55.
Miller's 3-pointer as time expired in the third extended Charlotte's lead to 99-71, and the Hornets remained in control from there.
Hornets: Host the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday.
Thunder: Host the Utah Jazz on Wednesday.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
Oklahoma City Thunder center Chet Holmgren (7) looks to shoot over Charlotte Hornets forward Brandon Miller (24) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Kyle Phillips)
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, left, looks to shoot over Charlotte Hornets forward Brandon Miller, right, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Kyle Phillips)
Charlotte Hornets forward Brandon Miller, right, drives past Oklahoma City Thunder guard Aaron Wiggins, left, during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Kyle Phillips)
Denmark and Greenland are seeking a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the Trump administration doubled down on its intention to take over the strategic Arctic island, a self-governing Danish territory.
Tensions escalated after the White House said Tuesday that the “U.S. military is always an option,” even as a series of European leaders rejected President Donald Trump’s renewed demands and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned that a U.S. takeover would amount to the end of the NATO military alliance. Trump has floated since his first term the idea of acquiring the world’s largest island to ensure U.S. security in the Arctic.
The Latest:
In 2017, as political outsider Donald Trump headed to Washington, Delcy Rodríguez spotted an opening.
Then Venezuela’s foreign minister, Rodríguez directed Citgo — a subsidiary of the state oil company — to make a $500,000 donation to the president’s inauguration. With the socialist administration of Nicolas Maduro struggling to feed Venezuela, Rodríguez gambled on a deal that would have opened the door to American investment.
Around the same time, she saw that Trump’s ex-campaign manager was hired as a lobbyist for Citgo, courted Republicans in Congress and tried to secure a meeting with the head of Exxon.
The charm offensive flopped. Within weeks of taking office, Trump, urged by then-Sen. Marco Rubio, made restoring Venezuela’s democracy his driving focus in response to Maduro’s crackdown on opponents. But the outreach did bear fruit for Rodríguez, making her a prominent face in U.S. business and political circles and paving the way for her own rise.
Nearly a decade later, as Venezuela’s interim president, Rodríguez’s message — that Venezuela is open for business — seems to have persuaded Trump. In the days since Maduro’s stunning capture Saturday, he’s alternately praised Rodríguez as a “gracious” American partner while threatening a similar fate as her former boss if she doesn’t keep the ruling party in check and provide the U.S. with “total access” to the country’s vast oil reserves. One thing neither has mentioned is elections, something the constitution mandates must take place within 30 days of the presidency being permanently vacated.
▶ Read more about Delcy Rodríguez and her relationship with Trump
Russian officials indicated in 2019 that the Kremlin would be willing to back off from its support for Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela in exchange for a free hand in Ukraine, according to Fiona Hill, an adviser to President Donald Trump at the time.
The Russians repeatedly floated the idea of a “very strange swap arrangement between Venezuela and Ukraine,” Hill said during a congressional hearing in 2019. Her comments surfaced again this week and were shared on social media after the U.S. stealth operation to capture Maduro.
Hill said Russia pushed the idea through articles in Russian media that referenced the Monroe Doctrine — a 19th-century principle in which the U.S. opposed European meddling in the Western Hemisphere and in return agreed to stay out of European affairs. It was invoked by Trump to justify the U.S. intervention in Venezuela.
Even though Russian officials never made a formal offer, Moscow’s then-ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, hinted many times to her that Russia was willing to allow the United States to act as it wished in Venezuela if the U.S. did the same for Russia in Europe, Hill told The Associated Press this week.
Read more about the former adviser’s remarks
On the fifth anniversary of Jan. 6, 2021, there is no official event to memorialize what happened that day, when the mob made its way down Pennsylvania Avenue, battled police at the Capitol barricades and stormed inside, as lawmakers fled. The political parties refuse to agree on a shared history of the events, which were broadcast around the globe. And the official plaque honoring the police who defended the Capitol has never been hung.
Instead, the day displayed the divisions that still define Washington, and the country, and the White House itself issued a glossy new report with its own revised history of what happened.
Trump, during a lengthy morning speech to House Republicans away from the Capitol at the rebranded Kennedy Center now carrying his own name, shifted blame for Jan. 6 onto the rioters themselves. Democrats meanwhile reconvened members of the House committee that investigated the attack for a panel discussion to prevent what Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., described as the GOP’s “Orwellian project of forgetting.”
▶ Read more about the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack
Denmark and Greenland are seeking a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the Trump administration doubled down on its intention to take over the strategic Arctic island, a Danish territory.
This weekend’s U.S. military action in Venezuela has heightened fears across Europe, and Trump and his advisers in recent days have reiterated the U.S. leader’s desire to take over the island, which guards the Arctic and North Atlantic approaches to North America.
“It’s so strategic right now,” Trump told reporters Sunday.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, have requested the meeting with Rubio in the near future, according to a statement posted Tuesday to Greenland’s government website.
Previous requests for a sit-down were not successful, the statement said.
▶ Read more about Trump’s interest in Greenland
Trump said Tuesday that the nation would provide 30 to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S., pledging to use proceeds from the sale of this oil “to benefit the people” of both countries. The Venezuelan government had no immediate comment on this announcement. White House is organizing a meeting Friday with U.S. oil company executives from companies like Exxon and Chevron to discuss Venezuela, according to a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss the plans.
The administration is withholding funding for programs that support needy families with children in five Democratic-led states over concerns about fraud — California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the program, will require the states to provide extra documentation to access the funds, but the administration did not detail the fraud allegations. Gov. Kathy Hochul said New York is prepared to litigate to maintain support for some of the poorest American families.
Trump voters interviewed by AP journalists around the country praised the operation and expressed faith in Trump’s course — but not always limitless faith. Trump’s intensifying rhetoric about expanding U.S. power elsewhere in the hemisphere made some of his die-hard supporters nervous.
Polling conducted in the immediate aftermath of the military operation suggested that many Americans are unconvinced that the U.S. should step in to take control of the country.
FILE - Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez smiles during a press conference at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas Venezuela, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)
Graffiti that reads in Spanish, "Trump: murderer, kidnapper, pedophile, damned," left, and "Long live peace," covers a kiosk during a march to demand President Nicolas Maduro's return, in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, three days after U.S. forces captured him and his wife. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
FILE - The northern lights appear over homes in Nuuk, Greenland, on Feb. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)
President Donald Trump speaks to House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
