Month: July 2023

D’Angelo Russell returned to Los Angeles at the trade deadline last season and, during the regular season, brought a scoring pop from the backcourt that was desperately needed by the Lakers.

Russell averaged 17.4 points and 6.1 assists on 48.4/41.4/73.5 shooting splits in his 17 regular season games back with the Lakers, helping L.A. claw their way back into the postseason. However, the playoffs were a struggle for Russell, as he couldn’t replicate that same level of production, averaging just 13.3 points on 42.6/31.0/76.9 splits in 16 postseason games. The Lakers made it to the Western Conference Finals where they were swept by the eventual champion Denver Nuggets.

For the Lakers and other teams eyeing Russell in free agency, they had to figure out what exactly to make of the vast difference in two relatively small samples in Los Angeles and where Russell belonged in the hierarchy of a very robust point guard market this summer. In a bit of good news for L.A., they were able to figure out where he fit into that hierarchy by coming to terms on a new deal, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

It’s been a very busy free agency window for the Lakers, which already added former Miami Heat guard Gabe Vincent as a member of its backcourt this summer. While the team will need to figure out which of those two players will start at the 1, Los Angeles surely will enjoy having options at point guard — at least for the next year, as Russell’s deal includes a player option.

Two weeks ago a submissible doing a deep dive to check out the wreckage of the RMS Titanic went missing. It did not end well: Days later the remnants of the vessel were discovered. It had imploded, killing five, including a 19-year-old who didn’t even want to go, plus the CEO of the company that advertised the trip. Bizarrely enough, they’re still advertising it.

As caught by Insider, OceanGate, which launched in 2009 but didn’t do its first expedition until 2021, doesn’t appear to have changed anything on its site. It still hawks Titanic trips, which comprise an eight day voyage that begins in Newfoundland before sailing 380 miles east and plunging 3,800 meters below the surface.

“You dive will provide not only a thrilling and unique travel experience, but also help the scientific community learn more about the wreck and the deep ocean environment,” reads the copy.

The site lists two expeditions for summer of 2024. For 2023, it simply says trips are “currently underway” and asks interested parties to “inquire for available dates.”

In the wake of the tragedy, reports have surfaced about how OceanGate brass, including now late CEO Stockton Rush, ignored repeated warnings about the danger of the craft his company used for their deep dive trips. James Cameron, who’s made similar trips (including an even deeper one into the Mariana Trench), had been warning for years about not taking such expeditions lightly. Cameron also revealed that he knew the vessel had imploded days before it was confirmed.

(Via Insider)

There’s an entire subsect of sci-fi that’s long warned of computers gaining sentience and battling — and sometimes crushing — humanity. Dune? Frank Herbert’s books take place centuries after humanity crushed their robotic enslavers and banned any computers smarter than a person. Then there’s the Terminator films, which depict a battle between humans and Artificial Intelligence. Welp, some scientists didn’t listen, and now everyone’s anxious about how far AI could evolve. In fact, one of its stars thinks it could be too late.

“Today, everyone is frightened of [AI], of where this is gonna go,” Arnold Schwarzenegger told the crowd at a function for him in Los Angeles, as per People. “And in this movie, in Terminator, we talk about the machines becoming self-aware and they take over.”

Schwarzenegger pointed out that, at the time they were making the first one, scientists had only “scratched the surface” of AI.

“Now over the course of decades, it has become a reality,” the actor-politician said. “So it’s not any more fantasy or kind of futuristic. It is here today. And so this is the extraordinary writing of Jim Cameron.”

In some ways, we’re (alas) living in James Cameron’s world. He’s warned us of the rise of AI, which is putting many people on edge, including the striking screenwriters of the WGA. And people are so obsessed with the Titanic wreckage that they’re not heeding his advice to only do deep dives to look at it if you’re being really, really, really careful.

(Via People)

Damian Lillard has formally requested a trade from the Portland Trail Blazers. According to multiple reports, Lillard finally made the long-anticipated decision about his future, and told the Blazers that he would like to continue his career elsewhere. All of this raises the question: Where, exactly, will Lillard play his next NBA game?

Right when the news dropped about Lillard’s trade request, Shams Charania of The Athletic noted that the Miami Heat and the Brooklyn Nets — two teams that had been linked to Lillard earlier this offseason in the event he requested a trade — were interested. Not long after that, Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report went on to say that the “preferred destinations” are Miami and Brooklyn.

Charania then reported that, specifically, Lillard the Blazers he wants to go to Miami.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN expanded things out a bit, as he mentioned that the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Clippers will also have interest in bringing Lillard on board.

It’s worth noting that the Blazers do not have to do what Lillard wants in this situation, as his contract does not include a no-trade clause and they’re free to figure out a deal with anyone as a result. Having said that, Wojnarowski previously reported that Portland will “work to accommodate” Lillard.

Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour has proven to be one of this year’s most promising events. So much so, fans are going to extremes to see the prolific hitmaker and collect souveneirs. But one Ohio woman has a more surprising story.

Though Swift’s Cincinnati show takes place tonight (July 1) at Paycor Stadium, fans began lining up outside of the venue as early as Thursday to purchase merchandise. One superfan drove all the way up from Louisville, Kentucky to buy some merch before the show, however, had to do so in a clandestine manner.

As she was speaking to a local news anchor, the woman was seen wearing sunglasses and a blanket over her head, as she had called in sick to work to go to the merch stand. According to the anchor, the fan had been at the merch stand since 2:45 in the morning.

When asked what Taylor Swift means to her, the fan revealed that she almost gave her daughter the middle name, Taylor. She also revealed that this was actually the second show she’ll be attending, as she previously attended the Nashville show.

Near the end of the clip, the anchor assures the fan that her skip day from work will remain a secret between her and her fellow Swifties.

You can see a clip above.

Damian Lillard‘s time as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers appears to be coming to an end. According to Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report, Lillard has formally requested a trade from the Blazers, marking the end of a lengthy saga where it was unclear if he’d want to stay with the only team for which he’s played in his professional career.

The news was confirmed by Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, along with Shams Charania of The Athletic. Charania went on to note that a pair of teams that had been linked to a potential Lillard deal in recent weeks, the Miami Heat and the Brooklyn Nets, will be among his most prominent suitors. Wojnarowski noted that the expectation is the Blazers will do what they can to work with Lillard on a deal.

Much has been made about Lillard’s interest to compete for a championship, and how that might not gel with a Blazers roster that has a pair of standout young guards in Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe. In addition, Portland decided to use the No. 3 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft on Scoot Henderson, yet another young guard and not a player who is considered more of a win-now piece.

Lillard previously said he thought he would still be with the Blazers at the start of the 2023-24 NBA season, although this was before Henderson was selected. Right at the start of free agency, Portland agreed to a 5-year, $160 million extension with Jerami Grant.

Tom Cruise turned 60 last summer, but as we all know he’s living life in reverse. When he was younger he mostly did dramas, with few action movies with which to risk his life. Now he almost exclusively does action and almost exclusively puts his life at peril. The seventh Mission: Impossible — the franchise that really got him hooked on the genre — features some batsh*t stunts, even for him. Indeed, one was so daredevil that it basically gave the crew a panic attack.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, a new behind-the-scenes video for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One shows Cruise sbows him prepping for “speed-flying.” What is speed-flying? It involves parachuting but, like, really fast. Very few people on the planet dare do it. Director Christopher McQuarrie, who’s handled the series since Rogue Nation, calls it “one of the most dangerous sports in the world.”

McQuarrie added that “while it may look similar, speed-flying is not skydiving. Skydiving is fairly predictable. Speed-flying is incredibly unpredictable.”

So of course Tom Cruise took it up.

In the video, Cruise describes speed-flying, and it sounds completely terrifying. “We’re gonna do spirals,” he says, “and we’re landing at an incredibly high speed, over 80 kilometers an hour.”

Perhaps Cruise wasn’t afraid, but his crew sure was. McQuarrie said that while his star flying close to some rocks at high speeds “looks quite beautiful,” behind the camera everyone was in “absolute terror.”

In a way this is moviegoers’ fault. They keep rewarding Cruise with money for risking his life in creative ways. So, McQuarrie says, with each M:I movie they have to “become a little bit more adventurous every time.” But just a little, as in taking up one of the deadliest sports known to humankind.

The speed-flying scene in Dead Reckoning Part One isn’t the only one in which Cruise risked life and limb to entertain us. That motorcycle cliff jump he did was filmed on Day 1 — you know, just in case it didn’t pan out.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One hits theaters on July 12.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Janelle Monáe is baring it all. Her latest album, The Age Of Pleasure features her more in touch with her sexuality than ever before, and as she’s been promoting the album, she’s been seen flashing her fans, notably with the vinyl album itself, which contains a foldout picture of her breasts.

Last night (June 30), at Essence Festival in New Orleans, Monae gave a performance of all of her hits from over the years, including her 2015 Jidenna collaboration, “Yoga.”

The song contains the line “You cannot police me, so get off my areola,” which has become one of Monáe’s signature lyrics. During this particular portion of the song, Monáe lifted up the right side of her bikini top, flashing her breast to the audience. Her nipple was covered with a pink sticker, but nevertheless, stirred up fans throughout the festival.

This exuberant move was met with cheers and support from the audience, who were all on board with the sense of liberation she’s tapped into during this album era.

You can see a clip from Monáe’s Essence Festival performance above.

Janelle Monáe is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Try as he might, Ron DeSantis has been getting clobbered by Donald Trump in the polls. But it appears he thinks he has a new way to win: by being even more bigoted than the guy who kicked of his first campaign with some racism. On Friday the DeSantis team dropped a new ad that’s, well, straight-up anti-LGBTQIA+. But that’s not the only message: The message is that DeSantis can be more prejudiced than even the 45th American president.

The ad features clips of Trump being kind to the LGBTQIA+ community, probably because he knows he can’t win by alienating not only them but people who aren’t virulently homophobic. It kicks off with him saying he’ll do “everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens.” It shows him holding up a gay pride flag. It shows him meeting with fellow Republican Caitlyn Jenner and saying she can use whatever bathroom she wants.

It then contrasts Trump being relatively diplomatic with DeSantis, who is shown as a man’s man. This wildly homophobic video features images of scantily-clad, oiled up men, among them Brad Pitt in Troy. But that’s not all. It also compares him with Leonardo DiCaprio’s demonic broker in The Wolf of Wall Street — a character who is, to put it lightly, not depicted as a hero. It even splices in Christian Bale’s Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, in which he’s a Wang Chung-loving serial killer who kills the guy from Morbius.

That the DeSantis team would think comparing the candidate to a murderer was a good thing did not go un-noticed on social media.

Others pointed out that it was full-on bigoted.

Some accused DeSantis and folks as being way, way too online.

And others felt it showed, in an era of more open tolerance, that DeSantis’ campaign is utterly doomed.

That included the account belonging to Log Cabin Republicans.

Then again, how tough is DeSantis if he won’t even call Trump out for Jan. 6?

The Sacramento Kings turned themselves into a team to watch entering the NBA’s free agency period. On the heels of a surprising regular season, the Kings were in a financial position to make a splash over the summer, something that was hammered home when they made a move on the night of the NBA Draft to send Richaun Holmes to the Dallas Mavericks to open up even more cap space.

A major swing — the team was reportedly very interested in stealing Draymond Green from the Golden State Warriors — didn’t come to fruition, so they opted to just bring back Harrison Barnes. In a further use of their cap space, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN brought word that Sacramento signed Sasha Vezenkov, the reigning MVP of the EuroLeague, on a 3-year deal worth $20 million.

Vezenkov, who was born in Cyprus and plays his international basketball for Bulgaria, comes to the Kings after spending the last five years with Olympiacos. The 27-year-old forward was selected 57th overall by the Brooklyn Nets in the 2017 NBA Draft, but his draft rights were sent to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2021, and a year and a half later, the Cavs sent his draft rights to Sacramento.

Last season Vezenkov played in 40 games for Olympiacos and averaged 17.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 29.1 minutes a night while hitting 37.8 percent of his threes. Olympiacos made it to the EuroLeague finals, where it lost to Real Madrid, 79-78. Wojnarowski noted that the expectation is that Vezenkov will “play a formidable role” in Sacramento.