PHOENIX (AP) — Jimmer Fredette's return to the court was a winning one.
Fredette was named MVP of the FIBA 3x3 Phoenix Challenger on Sunday night, scoring eight points in the final to lead Team Miami to a 22-16 win over Amsterdam for the title. Team Miami went 5-0 in the two-day tournament.
Fredette and USA Basketball announced last week that he was stepping down from his role as managing director of the men's 3x3 program and coming out of retirement as a player after more than two years away from the game.
Riley Battin had a team-high 38 points for Team Miami in the tournament, while Fredette had 27, Parrott had 24 and Henry Caruso scored 17.
Team Miami now heads to the 2026 FIBA 3x3 World Tour Deqing this coming weekend in China.
Fredette was the 2011 AP men’s college basketball player of the year after averaging a nation-leading 28.9 points per game as a senior at BYU, became an NBA lottery pick, spent parts of six seasons in the NBA, played internationally in Europe and Asia and twice scored at least 70 points in games while in China.
He then turned his attention to 3x3 and was part of the U.S. team that played in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Fredette got hurt during that tournament and wound up retiring several months later, though now has eyes on potentially playing in the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
See AP’s full NBA coverage here
FILE - Jimmer Fredette spins a basketball during practice for the USA Basketball 3x3 national team, Oct. 31, 2022, in Miami Lakes, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)
LONDON (AP) — A technical issue afflicted the U.K.'s national air traffic controller on Monday, the second in two weeks, prompting more travel disruption and renewed calls for the organization's chief to quit.
Although NATS, formerly known as National Air Traffic Services, said the issue at its Prestwick center in Scotland has been fixed, the repercussions will likely continue through the day at the very least, with flights in and out of Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England canceled or delayed.
“We are working with airports and airlines to safely lift air traffic regulations as quickly as we can to minimize any further disruption,” NATS said in a statement. “We apologize for the disruption.”
At least 200 flights departing from or arriving into the U.K. have been canceled so far, aviation analytics company Cirium said.
Nikki Ferguson and her husband were taking their two daughters to Disneyland Paris, but had their morning EasyJet flight from Glasgow canceled. The Aberdeen family were rebooked to leave in the evening from Edinburgh but were anxious about whether that would happen.
“My youngest daughter was crying, thinking we were not going to get to go,” Ferguson said. “We’re still feeling stressed, not sure if we’re actually going to get there today or not. We booked the holiday a year ago. It was the girls’ big Christmas present."
NATS said the disruption is unconnected with the software glitch that led to the cancellation of over 2,000 flights in and out of the United Kingdom two weeks ago. The chaos prompted mounting calls for its chief executive Martin Rolfe to stand down.
In a report on the outage published on Friday, NATS said a software defect in the National Airspace System, which allocates codes so air traffic controllers can identify flights on radar, was behind the decision to ax the flights.
Unlike that national disruption, NATS said airports south of Manchester, including those in and out of London, are “broadly unaffected."
Manchester, Belfast International, Edinburgh and George Best Belfast City airports have seen the most disruption, Cirium said.
Airlines and airports were aghast at the latest technical problem involving air traffic control over the U.K. and demanded urgent action. Ryanair was particularly vociferous in its response, saying more than 25,000 of its passengers are expected to face disruption as a result of the latest problem and said the company's CEO should stand down immediately or be fired by Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander.
“Martin Rolfe has presided over repeated system failures, repeated passenger disruption and repeated failures to deliver an effective backup system,” its chief operations officer Neal McMahon said. "Enough is enough. Martin Rolfe should resign today.”
EasyJet said the latest flight disruption “once again, calls into question the resilience of NATS’ systems and demonstrates the need for firm actions to prevent these repeated failures."
And British Airways said it is “disappointing” that some customers may experience disruption after “yet another technical fault" involving NATS.
The U.K. government owns 49% of NATS, making it the largest shareholder and giving it an effective veto over key decisions. Airlines, airports, investors and employees own the remaining shares in the public-private partnership.
“I know this will be deeply frustrating for passengers after the previous issue,” Transport Secretary Alexander said.
A departures board at Belfast International Airport, Co Antrim, following disruption to flights due to a "technical issue" at an air traffic control centre in Scotland, Monday Sept. 21, 2026. (Liam McBurney/PA via AP)
