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Luka Samanic’s difficult task of growing as an NBA player

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Luka Samanic’s difficult task of growing as an NBA player


For some young Utah Jazz players, there is a somewhat clear path to improvement and increased opportunity.

Take Taylor Hendricks and Brice Sensabaugh for example. The two rookies came to the team extremely green and needed time in the G League to gain strength and a more well-rounded feel for the NBA game. Now they are getting minutes with the Jazz. Hendricks is even getting starting minutes and has been tasked with guarding some of the league’s best players. Even Sensabaugh, who is averaging just 15 minutes a night over the last six games is getting those minutes consistently. And consistency is the key.

“It’s absolutely necessary in order to grow, really at all,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. “Because there’s things that you can watch on film, but there’s nothing like a game. And I think it also settles you down a little bit knowing that one mistake, two mistakes, are not the end of your opportunity. It allows you to to play with a little bit less anxiety. So I think it’s critical to get consistent minutes.”

But for a player like Luka Samanic, the path to improvement and opportunity is not as clear and consistency is much harder to come by. Throughout this season, he’s mostly played spot minutes or gotten on the floor in garbage time and he has more DNPs to his name this season than he does games played.

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The 24-year-old, who was the 19th overall pick in 2019, knows that it’s harder for him to get minutes and that his situation, in turn, makes it harder to evaluate any improvement, but it hasn’t stopped him from trying to see a bigger picture.

“One thing I’ve learned throughout this is that you’ve got to stay working, really even harder when you don’t play which is sometimes hard,” Samanic said. “You see all these other guys play and then you’ve got to come in the next day and work even harder. But if you can channel that and use it as a motivation, it can be a good thing.”

On Monday night, Samanic was given a rare one of those rare opportunities. With Lauri Markkanen sidelined because of a leg injury, Samanic went from playing mop-up minutes, to being thrust into the starting lineup.

Hardy fought for the Jazz to sign Samanic last season, having worked with him with the San Antonio Spurs, the team that drafted Samanic and when the two were reunited, Hardy was pleased to see that Samanic had matured and was approaching things with a completely different mindset.

Samanic previously told the Deseret News that getting waived by the San Antonio Spurs, the team that drafted him, was the best thing that had happened to him, and gave him a deeper appreciation for the work necessary to stay in the NBA. He admitted to feeling slighted by needing to play in the G League as a rookie and was jealous of teammates and disappointed that he wasn’t getting the same playing opportunities. And unfortunately, he let that all affect him in a way that directly contributed to him being eventually cut from the team.

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“He’s 180 degrees different in his approach,” Hardy said. “I think Luka would be the first person to tell you he didn’t handle it great. His youth sort of showed, and he was a little immature at times. He’s never been a bad dude. He’s never been somebody that you didn’t want to coach. But I think he didn’t deal with adversity as well as he does now.”

The way he deals with his situation now is by paying forward what he’s learned. He often tells Hendricks and Sensabaugh to see their situation thought a positive lens.

“I’ve been on them about not making mistakes that I did when I was their age,” Samanic said. “I told him to use their time in the G League as a good thing and it’s showed. I mean, they played well in the G League and they came here and have played well, both of them.”

There’s nothing that Samanic has done wrong for him to be lacking in minutes with the Jazz. In fact, Hardy loves how athletic and versatile and strong Samanic is and went as far as to say that he’s probably the strongest screener and roller that the Jazz have on the roster. But there are players ahead of him that the Jazz are trying to get up to speed in order to properly evaluate.

It’s a dilemma that is not lost on Hardy. He knows that the most important thing for growth in these young players is consistent minutes, but also knows that he can’t give that to everyone.

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“It’s hard and it’s where, as a coach, you never feel great,” Hardy said. “Because you develop relationships with everybody in the locker room. You see how hard they work and you just can’t play everyone. … Luka is in a really hard spot. … He’s just trying to stay ready best he can. And yeah, it’s one of the toughest parts of this business, seeing players that are really good basketball players on an NBA roster, and they’re just not getting a chance.”

All of that said, Samanic has not let his lack of opportunity sway his approach, and Monday night is the perfect example of why it’s more important than ever for him to stay ready.

“It’s the only way to stay professional,” he said. “You’ve got to work because you never know when you’re gonna play. You know, Lauri got bumped in the knee and all of a sudden I’m starting.”



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911 recordings detail hours leading up to discovery of Utah girl, mother dead in Las Vegas

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911 recordings detail hours leading up to discovery of Utah girl, mother dead in Las Vegas


CONTENT WARNING: This report discusses suicide and includes descriptions of audio from 911 calls that some viewers may find disturbing.

LAS VEGAS — Exclusively obtained 911 recordings detail the hours leading up to the discovery of an 11-year-old Utah girl and her mother dead inside a Las Vegas hotel room in an apparent murder-suicide.

Addi Smith and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, lived in West Jordan and had traveled to Nevada for the JAMZ cheerleading competition.

The calls show a growing sense of urgency from family members and coaches, and several hours passing before relatives learned what happened.

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MORE | Murder-Suicide

Below is a timeline of the key moments, according to dispatch records. All times are Pacific Time.

10:33 a.m. — Call 1

After Addi and her mother failed to appear at the cheerleading competition, Addi’s father and stepmother called dispatch for a welfare check.

Addi and her mother were staying at the Rio hotel. The father told dispatch that hotel security had already attempted contact.

“Security went up and knocked on the door. There’s no answer or response it doesn’t look like they checked out or anything…”

11:18 a.m. and 11:27 a.m. — Calls 2 and 3

As concern grew, Addi’s coach contacted the police two times within minutes.

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“We think the child possibly is in imminent danger…”

11:26 a.m. — Call 4

Addi’s stepmother placed another call to dispatch, expressing escalating concern.

“We are extremely concerned we believe that something might have seriously happened.”

She said that Tawnia’s car was still at the hotel.

Police indicated officers were on the way.

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2:26 p.m. — Call 5

Nearly three hours after the initial welfare check request, fire personnel were en route to the scene. It appeared they had been in contact with hotel security.

Fire told police that they were responding to a possible suicide.

“They found a note on the door.”

2:35 p.m. — Call 6

Emergency medical personnel at the scene told police they had located two victims.

“It’s going to be gunshot wound to the head for both patients with notes”

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A dispatcher responded:

“Oh my goodness that’s not okay.”

2:36 p.m. — Call 7

Moments later, fire personnel relayed their assessment to law enforcement:

“It’s going to be a murder suicide, a juvenile and a mother.”

2:39 p.m. — Call 8

Unaware of what had been discovered, Addi’s father called dispatch again.

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“I’m trying to file a missing persons report for my daughter.”

He repeats the details he knows for the second time.

3:13 p.m. — Call 9

Father and stepmother call again seeking information and continue to press for answers.

“We just need some information. There was a room check done around 3:00 we really don’t know where to start with all of this Can we have them call us back immediately?”

Dispatch responded:

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“As soon as there’s a free officer, we’ll have them reach out to you.”

4:05 p.m. — Call 10

More than an hour later, Addi’s father was put in contact with the police on the scene. He pleaded for immediate action.

“I need someone there I need someone there looking in that room”

The officer confirmed that they had officers currently in the room.

Addi’s father asks again what they found, if Addi and her mother are there, and if their things were missing.

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The officer, who was not on scene, said he had received limited information.

5:23 p.m. — Call 11

Nearly seven hours after the first welfare check request, Addi’s grandmother contacted police, describing conflicting information circulating within the family.

“Some people are telling us that they were able to get in, and they were not in the hotel room, and other people saying they were not able to get in the hotel room, and we need to know”

She repeated the details of the case. Dispatch said officers will call her back once they have more information.

Around 8:00 p.m. — Press Conference

Later that evening, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police held a news conference confirming that Addi and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, were found dead inside the hotel room.

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The investigation remains ongoing.

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Ban on AI glasses in Utah classrooms inches closer to passing

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Ban on AI glasses in Utah classrooms inches closer to passing


AI glasses could allow you to get answers, snap photos, access audio and take phone calls—and now a proposal moving through the legislature would ban the glasses from Utah school classrooms.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Kizzy Guyton Murphy, a mother who accompanied her child’s class on a field trip to the state Capitol on Wednesday. “You can’t see inside what the student is looking at, and it’s just grounds for cheating.”

Mom Tristan Davies Seamons also sees trouble with AI glasses.

“I don’t think they should have any more technology in schools than they currently have,” she said.

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Her twin daughters, fourth graders Finley and Grayson, don’t have cell phones yet.

“Not until we’re like 14,” said Grayson, adding they do have Chromebooks in school.

2News sent questions to the Utah State Board of Education:

  • Does it have reports of students using AI glasses?
  • Does it see cheating and privacy as major concerns?
  • Does it support a ban from classrooms?

Matt Winters, USBE AI specialist, said the board has not received reports from school districts of students with AI glasses.

“Local Education Agencies (school districts) have local control over these decisions based on current law and code,” said Winters. “The Board has not taken a position on AI glasses.

MORE | Utah State Legislature:

Some districts across the country have reportedly put restrictions on the glasses in schools.

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“I think it should be up to the teachers,” said Briauna Later, another mother who is all for preventing cheating, but senses a ban could leave administrators with tired eyes.

“It’s one more thing for the administration to have to keep track of,” said Later.

The proposal, HB 42, passed the House and cleared a Senate committee on Wednesday.

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Kalshi sues Utah over efforts to stop prop betting in the state

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Kalshi sues Utah over efforts to stop prop betting in the state


SALT LAKE CITY — A prediction market is suing Utah over plans to regulate proposition betting that it says would run afoul of federal regulations.

Kalshi is a New York-based prediction market that allows users to place “event contracts” on future outcomes and earn a payout if they are correct. Those transactions are regulated through the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, the company said Utah has plans to prevent the company from offering contracts in the state and asked the courts to block any enforcement that “interferes with the operation and function of plaintiffs’ futures market.”

“Plaintiff KalshiEX LLC believes the governor of Utah and the Attorney General’s Office of Utah will imminently bring an enforcement action against Kalshi with the intent to prevent Kalshi from offering event contracts for trading on its federally regulated exchange,” the complaint states. “Defendants have repeatedly represented that they believe Kalshi is operating unlawfully under Utah anti-gambling laws.”

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The lawsuit points to a couple of posts from Gov. Spencer Cox and an op-ed written by Attorney General Derek Brown in the Deseret News on Sunday. After Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Mike Selig announced that his agency would “defend its exclusive jurisdiction” over prediction markets last week, Cox took to X calling the markets “gambling — pure and simple.”

“They are destroying the lives of families and countless Americans, especially young men,” he wrote. “They have no place in Utah. Let me be clear, I will use every resource within my disposal as governor of the sovereign state of Utah, and under the Constitution of the United States to beat you in court.”

He followed that up last Thursday, saying Utah is “ready to defend our laws in court and protect Utahns from companies that drive addiction, isolation and serious financial harm.”

In his op-ed, Brown argued that prediction markets are “the newest iteration of gambling” and said he didn’t see a difference between betting and trading futures.

“Although traditional sports betting apps are illegal under Utah law, these platforms argue that they merely allow users to hedge their risk,” he wrote. “But what is the real risk to hedge when you are simply predicting whether LeBron James will score more or less than another player? It’s simply a bet, dressed up in different clothing.”

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The lawsuit also comes as the state Legislature is advancing a bill that would clarify that proposition betting — or betting placed on specific players or events during games — falls under the state’s definition of gambling, which is prohibited by the Utah Constitution. HB243 has passed the House and a Senate committee and is awaiting consideration on the Senate floor.

But Kalshi says its contracts are lawful thanks to a carveout in Utah’s anti-gambling laws that allows for “lawful business.” Its lawsuit claims Kalshi’s attorneys made “multiple attempts” to contact Brown about potential action against the company but were “met with silence, even though the Utah AG had previously been willing to communicate with counsel.”

Asked about the lawsuit on Tuesday, Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said he is “standing with the governor on this one.”

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.



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