Month: July 2023

Jeff Green has been a mainstay in the NBA since 2007, cultivating one of the longest active careers in the league. Green has bounced around the NBA, appearing for 11 different teams across 15 seasons, but the 36-year-old finally earned a championship as a member of the 2022-23 Denver Nuggets. While Green largely came off the bench in making only four starts across 56 games played, he was an integral part of the eventual champions, providing valuable versatility and even operating as the team’s backup center behind Nikola Jokic at times during the playoffs.

Green’s long list of teams has become something of a calling card in his career, but in unrestricted free agency this summer, he’s not going to add another team to his like. Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reports that Green will return to the Houston Rockets, a team for which he played 18 games back in the 2019-20 season, when he joined them on a 10-day contract and then stuck around.

Green averaged 7.8 points per game and shot 48.8 percent from the field this season. While he is more of a power forward that edges toward being a center at this stage, Green remains a top-flight athlete with strong size, and his veteran experience is also a boon for any team. From there, Green is a physical defender that can operate within any scheme.

Donte DiVincenzo re-established himself as a strong role player on a contender last year with his work in Golden State, averaging 9.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game on career-best efficiency (43.5/39.7/81.7 shooting splits) for the Warriors.

A bounce-back campaign allowed DiVincenzo to decline his player option and hit the free agent market, where he figured to be a mid-level type target for teams looking to bolster their backcourt rotation with a 3-and-D option. In the days leading up to free agency, rumors popped up that DiVincenzo would make his way to the east coast and reunite with a pair of college teammates, Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart. As we learned on Saturday evening, that will end up being the case, as DiVincenzo and the New York Knicks agreed to a 4-year contract that will pay him $50 million.

Brunson, DiVincenzo, and Hart will teammates on the Villanova team that won a national title in 2016. Hart would go on to the NBA after that, and Brunson and DiVincenzo were two of the primary members of the Wildcats squad that earned another national championship in two years later, with DiVincenzo being named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player during that run.

Now, the trio are all back in New York following Hart opting into his contract for this year and DiVincenzo agreeing to a new deal. DiVincenzo should be able to provide a bit of offensive juice that the Knicks could really use, and at the bare minimum, he will be familiar with the games of two of his most important teammates.

For as much as the Los Angeles Clippers want to play lineups filled with guys who can switch and play positionless basketball, a problem that the team ran into too many times during the 2022-23 season was that it lacked the sort of athleticism that makes all of that possibile, which stemmed from having an older rotation. According to multiple reports, the team has apparently decided to try and address that issue in a trade with the Houston Rockets for 22-year-old wing K.J. Martin.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN broke the news of the trade, and said that the team would send a pair of second-round draft picks to Houston to acquire Martin’s services.

Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times confirmed the trade, and mentioned that the picks won’t convey until 2026 and 2027.

The Rockets are doing this move after a busy start to free agency, one which saw them agree to deals with Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, and Jock Landale — the deals for VanVleet and Brooks, in particular, were big money acquisitions. The Clippers, meanwhile, haven’t been nearly as busy, with their big move so far being the re-signing of Russell Westbrook. They have, however, been linked to a James Harden trade after his request for a move.

Martin appeared in all 82 games for the Rockets last season with 49 of them coming in the starting lineup. He averaged 12.7 points and 5.5 rebounds in 28 minutes per game.

Russell Westbrook never had to leave Los Angeles in the 2022-23 season, even though he was technically a member of three different teams.

Westbrook started the year with the Lakers, where his fit alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis continued to be proven incongruent before ultimately being traded to Utah in a three-team blockbuster, where he was waived and, eventually, signed with the Clippers. During his second stint in Los Angeles, Westbrook was able to find some comfort in his role and had a solid 21-game stint, averaging 15.8 points, 7.6 assists, and 4.9 rebounds per game on more than respectable 48.9/35.6/65.8 shooting splits.

That run with the Clippers very well may have salvaged his summer entering free agency, as he proved where he still can provide value for a team that’s willing to adapt to him, rather than asking him to adapt to others. Now, that inability to be adaptive limited his prospects in free agency, but he only needed one team to believe they could give him the role needed to thrive. That team ended up being the none other than the Clippers, as Adrian Wojnarowski brings word that Westbrook will return on a 2-year deal worth approximately $8 million.

It’s an interesting signing, in part because Los Angeles has been closely linked to a trade for James Harden, who would presumably step in and take the starting point guard job if he joined. But on a relatively inexpensive deal, it makes sense to bring back Westbrook, who seemed comfortable suiting up alongside Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and co.

The Phoenix Suns have one of the most expensive rosters in the NBA, and that’s in large part due to the fact that the team acquired Bradley Beal in the offseason to pair him with Deandre Ayton, Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant. As such, Phoenix needed to find value wherever it could during free agency in order to build out a roster, with one guy viewed as an option in the frontcourt being Jock Landale.

A former undrafted free agent out of Saint Mary’s who started his professional career abroad before spending the 2021-22 season with the San Antonio Spurs, Landale turned into a reliable option off the bench behind Ayton. However, while there was widespread expectation he would be retained given the Suns relative lack of options for roster upgrades with their cap space, just before free agency opened, some surprising news broke that Phoenix was pulling Landale’s qualifying offer to make him an unrestricted free agent.

One day later and Landale became the latest player to make his way to the Houston Rockets. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Landale got a 4-year, $32 million deal from Houston, with Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN bringing word that only the first year of the deal is guaranteed.

Landale, who will turn 28 in October, stuck around in Phoenix last season because of his energy and basketball IQ on both ends of the floor, and was able to do a reliable job whenever he was on the floor for Ayton. He appeared in 69 games during the regular season and appeared in the starting lineup four times. Landale averaged 6.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, and one assist in 14.2 minutes per game and hit 52.8 percent of his field goal attempts.

In one of the more shocking revelations of the offseason, the Memphis Grizzlies reportedly informed Dillon Brooks that “he will not be brought back under any circumstances.” That reporting came from exit interviews in early May and, ever since, the assumption has been that Brooks would land elsewhere for the 2023-24 season and beyond. While Brooks became the center of attention during the playoffs in a suboptimal way, he does bring an intriguing skill set to the table, and the 27-year-old can point to a proven track record of success.

This has led to him being linked with several teams over the offseason, with the Houston Rockets frequently being mentioned as a potential landing spot. And on Saturday, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that the team was nearing a deal with Brooks that had the potential to turn into a sign-and-trade with Memphis.

Adrian Wojnarowski, not long after that, brought word that Brooks would sign a 4-year deal worth $80 million.

Brooks is an exceptional defender, earning 2022-23 All-Defensive team honors and generally hounding opposing wings on a consistent basis. With his size and physicality, Brooks is a strong bet for any squad in terms of versatility and effectiveness, though his offense is less appealing. Brooks has averaged 16.2 points per game over the last four seasons, but he has done so on 41.1 percent shooting, and he has converted only 32.1 percent of his three-point attempts over the last two campaigns.

Iyo Sky defeated Bayley, Becky Lynch, Zelina Vega, Zoey Stark, and Trish Stratus to win the WWE Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match from the O2 Arena in London.

The match started with Stark going after Lynch before all of the opponents made their way to the outside for a full brawl. Stark and Stratus got in the ring and attempted to grab the briefcase before Sky and Bayley knocked them off. With all of the participants in the ring, Sky climbed to the top of a ladder and landed a moonsault on everyone.

Stark grabbed handcuffs from underneath the ring, then tried to lock Lynch against the post. Lynch fought out, then battled Stark and Stratus on the outside. After pulling the top off the announce table, Lynch dropped Stratus with a Manhandle Slam onto the ladder.

Back in the ring, Vega climbed to the top of the ladder and was met with Stark. She floated over and for a powerbomb onto a ladder set on the rope and middle rung of the ladder they were standing on.

As Sky made her way to the top of the ladder all alone, Bayley climbed into the ring and kicked it over. Bayley and Lynch began making their way to the top of the ladder when Sky popped up, grabbed the handcuffs, and connected their arms through the ladder. She then climbed over Bayley to claim the briefcase and earn herself a world championship opportunity.

Warning: This post contains a major spoiler for the very popular movie Gladiator (2000).

Russell Crowe won his Oscar for Gladiator, a movie made back in the day when it wasn’t rare to kill off your main character and never make any prequels to bring them back. Today is a very different era. Audiences (or at least Hollywood execs) love bringing back old IP. And so the Best Picture winner of the year 2000 is getting a long threatened, belated sequel, following the nephew of Joquin Phoenix’s slain baddie Commodus. Far as we know, Crowe isn’t in it, because his character died. Still, enough people have inevitably asked him about the film that he’s now publicly venting.

“They should be f*cking paying me for the amount of questions I get asked about the f*cking film that I am not even in,” Crowe said at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic. “I don’t know anything about the cast, I don’t know anything about the plot.”

He also stressed that, again, Maximus, the Roman general-turned-slave-turned-warrior, ate it. He said, “in that world, I’m dead, six feet under. And that’s that.”

Of course, there’s always the possibility that Crowe could pop up in a secret cameo and this is all carefully coordinated bluster. Who knows these days!

Despite his fuming, Crowe was absolutely not crapping on the sequel, saying that “if Ridley has decided to do a second part … he will have really strong reasons.” He added, “I couldn’t think of that movie being less than absolutely spectacular.”

Crowe admitted that he felt a “certain tinge of jealousy,” because the film makes him think about “my youth.” The sequel stars young actor Paul Mescal as Lucius, said nephew, who was originally played by Spencer Treat Clark. It’s also got Denzel Washington in a role described as “badass.”

For Crowe, Gladiator was the beginning of a long partnership with Ridley Scott. Afterwards the pair teamed up for the rom-com-drama Good Year, American Gangster, Body of Lies, and Ridley’s version of Robin Hood.

You’ll have to wait till November 22, 2024 to see Gladiator 2.

(Via THR)

Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour continues to prevail, through rain or shine — quite literally. Tonight (July 1), Swift will be beginning the second night of her Cincinnati, Ohio shows at Paycor Stadium slightly earlier than planned, due to inclement weather.

Swift took to social media to share the news with her fans.

“Hey Cincinnati – Alas we’ve got another weather situation but this just means I get to see you sooner,” she said in a tweet. “I’ll be going on an hour early at 7pm – we’ll open doors at 4:30 See you then!”

According to Cincinnati news station WCPO ABC 9, Gracie Abrams and Muna, were originally set to open the show, beginning at 6:25 p.m. It has not been confirmed if Abrams or Muna will be performing earlier than scheduled, or if either act will have a shortened set.

Uproxx has reached out to Swift, Abrams’, and Muna’s teams for comments.

Strangely enough, this isn’t the only time this week that Swift’s Cincinnati shows have made headlines this week.

Earlier this week, fans began lining up outside of Paycor Stadium days before the show to get their hands on fan merch. One devoted fan called into work sick, so she could drive up to Cincinnati from Louisville, Kentucky. She even wore a disguise in order to avoid being found out.

After requesting a trade from the Phoenix Suns last year after they promoted Cam Johnson to the starting lineup and sitting out until they found him a new home, Jae Crowder ended up as the big in-season acquisition of the Milwaukee Bucks.

However, after playing 18.9 minutes per game in the regular season (shooting a strong 43.6 percent from three in 18 games) he saw that taper off to 10.3 minutes a night in four appearances as the Bucks got bounced in the first round by the Miami Heat after dealing with a nagging calf issue. Crowder, entering his 12th year in the league, will need to remain healthy next year, but we learned on Saturday that he’ll get the chance to earn the spot he wasn’t able to grab with the Bucks last season, as Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report brings word that he’s headed back to Milwaukee.

The Bucks have opted to take a run it back approach to their big names in the free agent market this year. Beyond bringing Crowder back, Milwaukee has agreed to deals that will lead to Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez reuniting with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday, and the rest of the team, all with the hopes of getting back to the NBA Finals.