Most people might feel intimidated to follow that episode. Cardi B does not strike one as a person intimidated by anyone or anything. And so, she’s host Sean Evans’ next guess, scheduled to “take on the wings of death” on Hot Ones on Thursday, September 28, at 11 a.m. EST.
First We Feast posted a teaser clip earlier Wednesday, September 27, in which Cardi admitted, “I’m telling you. My fans been begging me to do this show for so, so, so, so long. I have to give it to them, and I’m so scared. Oh my gosh.”
Evans asked Cardi whether she immediately knew her latest single, “Bongos” with Megan Thee Stallion, would be a hit once she heard “that Dembow-style” beat. Cardi explained that she didn’t necessarily realize it had hit potential, but it made her dance. Evans followed that up with a question about her process of recording clean-for-radio versions of her songs.
“Annoying!” she said, slouching back in her chair. “So annoying, like, you know, I’m doing the clean version, and it’s like, ‘Alright, baby, eat it up like a plum.’ And it’s like, ‘No, you still can’t play that for pop radio’ or whatever, and I’m like, ‘Baby, eat these peaches and plums.’ But I had no choice.”
The teaser clip comes after Cardi confirmed she was the next Hot Ones guest earlier this week. First We Feast posted a much shorter snippet, showing Cardi saying, “Oh, my God. I’m scared.”
“[I will tour] as soon as I finish my album,” Cardi told Andy Cohen on the September 11 episode of Watch What Happens Live, adding, “The album will be done this year. And it will be put out next year.”
Who knows how many more details will be squeezed out of Cardi by spicy hot wings.
Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Shortly after ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news of the trade, Lillard addressed it on X (formerly known as Twitter), writing, “The casuals won’t be addressed but the Trail Blazers fans and city of Portland that I love truly will be … and they will be addressed truthfully. Stay tuned. Excited for my next chapter! @Bucks”
Roughly two hours later, Lillard shared “Farewell” to Apple Music and Tidal, with a promise that the freestyle would hit “the rest of the platforms soon.”
The casuals won’t be addressed but the trailblazers fans and city of Portland that I love truly will be … and they will be addressed truthfully. Stay tuned
The track comes in at just under three minutes and it kept true to Lillard’s promise, reflecting on his path to this point, appreciating everyone who stood by him (“Only my loved ones make me feel free”), and holding those who bailed accountable (“Let some people in, and now these n****s disgust me / I learned that a wolf can sometimes resemble a husky”).
In the final 45 seconds, Lillard raps, “I can never be replaced / They’ll know sooner than later / An arrow pointed at who assumed it was greater / Amazing what I get in return for this labor / I’ll continue leaving trails but [inaudible] beef with the Blazers / To the fans, man, I love you / It’s unconditional / Reasons for me leaving the city’s nothing typical.”
Lillard continues, “So it’s imperative not to believe the narrative / Just know that what I left is better than what I inherited / I leave at peace because I know, in the end, that this is business / Hope you remember all the things you got to sit and witness / In the future, man, I hope we greet with hugs and kisses / But you should know that they the ones who chose another mission.”
Lillard was drafted sixth overall by the Blazers in the 2012 NBA Draft. The Oakland native has been a loyal superstar to Portland despite never sniffing an NBA title. The furthest Lillard’s Blazers made it in the NBA Playoffs was the Western Conference Finals during the 2018-19 season.
For months, Damian Lillard and his agent Aaron Goodwin have made it clear, both publicly and privately, that Lillard’s focus was on joining the Miami Heat after his trade request from the Portland Trail Blazers.
However, on Wednesday, Lillard was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in a three-team deal involving the Suns and posted to Twitter that he was “excited” to get going in Milwaukee with Giannis Antetokounmpo and company. That response coming after so many reports that he might make things difficult with a team other than the Heat was interesting, and made folks wonder if Milwaukee simply was willing to call Dame’s bluff and go all-in after Giannis delivered his message loud and clear that if they wanted him to re-sign long-term, they needed to show a championship was all they cared about.
Apparently, this was not simply blind faith from the Bucks in Lillard being a professional and showing up to play even if he didn’t get his desired destination, but some firsthand knowledge that he would accept being dealt to Milwaukee. That’s because according to Marc Spears, Goodwin quietly informed the Nets and Bucks that Lillard be interested in being traded to either team, with the Bucks taking that as the impetus to go get the star guard.
Sources to @andscape: With Miami talks going nowhere, agent Aaron Goodwin privately told the Bucks and Nets 10 days ago that Dame would be interested in a deal there. The Raptors were a real contender to land the ex-Blazers star, but ultimately Bucks got it done per Woj report.
For all the questions of whether Portland could create enough leverage to find a deal outside of Miami, it certainly seems that dragging things out until the week before camp was enough to get Lillard and Goodwin to move off of their Heat or bust stance. That was enough to get other teams to start making legitimate offers and, ultimately, they found a deal they liked more than Miami’s longstanding offer. Spears also notes the Raptors rumblings from this week were legit, but the Bucks went out and got the job done, with Lillard not having anything to complain about in terms of his basketball situation in Milwaukee.
As per The Associated Press, some two weeks after the Trump team filed a motion to get Judge Tanya Chutkan to step down from the case, owing to what they saw as past impartial statements against him, she’s decided to keep on keepin’ on.
In the filing, Trump’s lawyers argued that while doling out a harsh sentence to one of the Jan. 6 rioters — something she did frequently — Chutkan had slipped in a clear Trump diss, noting the defendant’s “blind loyalty to one person,” who, she noted, “remains free to this day.” That, Trump lawyers’ said, clearly implied their client was “free, but should not be,” thereby constituting an “apparent prejudgment of guilt.”
But Chutkan called BS. “It bears noting that the court has never taken the position the defense ascribes to it: that former ‘President Trump should be prosecuted and imprisoned,’” Chutkan wrote in her refusal to step down. “And the defense does not cite any instance of the court ever uttering those words or anything similar.”
The Trump team’s attempt to get Chutkan to recuse herself had been seen by legal experts as a long shot, as the bar for recusal is a high one. And so Trump will have to contend with a judge with whom he’s already tussled. The trial is set to being on March 4, 2024 — right as the GOP primary season is set to pop off.
For months, the NBA world has been waiting for Damian Lillard to be traded, with the expectation being that the star would eventually end up in his preferred destination of Miami.
Instead, Lillard was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday in a stunning three-team blockbuster that sees Dame pair up with Giannis Antetokounmpo on the NBA’s new title favorite. In return, the Blazers bring in Jrue Holiday (who is expected to be rerouted via trade to a different team), Deandre Ayton from the Suns, an unprotected 2029 first round pick from Milwaukee, and unprotected pick swaps from the Bucks in 2028 and 2030.
As soon as the deal was made, there was one resounding question: Did the Blazers do better in this trade than they could’ve in a deal with the Heat?
What was most recently reported out of Miami, via Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, was that Miami had been pretty firm on the offer being Tyler Herro, two first round picks, and salary filler in the form of Duncan Robinson or Kyle Lowry. Nikola Jovic and Jaime Jaquez could’ve entered the conversation, but pretty much that was what Miami could do and was willing to do, with guys like Caleb Martin never really being entertained. If that is what was in fact on the table, I do think the Bucks’ offer was better and my guess is they selected Milwaukee’s offer for a few reasons.
It starts with Herro, who was never going to factor into the Blazers long-term plans because they already have a glut of guards. I have to assume that if the Heat had a young forward or big man of the same talent level as Herro, this deal would’ve been done months ago. Instead, they were offering a centerpiece that was redundant on Portland’s roster, and moving him to a third team was likely going to be a bit difficult and not yield a huge secondary outcome.
Now, Holiday is likewise redundant in Portland but carries far more value to far more teams than Herro does. You’d be hard-pressed to find a contender (including, somewhat funny enough, the Miami Heat) that wouldn’t view adding Holiday as an upgrade. He’s a player they could seamlessly fit into their roster because he is an elite perimeter defender and a very solid on- or off-ball guard on offense who can fit next to most any backcourt player. Herro is maybe the better long-term prospect, but there aren’t a lot of teams clamoring to move assets for a score-first two guard at this very moment, meaning moving him requires you to narrow your focus considerably.
Beyond that, it’s clear the Blazers value Ayton pretty highly, and the Bucks deal allowed them to flip Jusuf Nurkic for Ayton because it allowed Portland to reroute Grayson Allen to Phoenix, who figures to bring helpful wing depth for the Suns. If the Suns valued Allen more than Robinson or Lowry and that was the way to get Ayton, that only adds to the Blazers reasoning to take Milwaukee’s offer over Miami’s. I admit to being among those who still believe in Ayton’s upside, while fully understanding why many folks are out on him particularly on his current contract. But given the roster Portland has, Ayton seems like a pretty good fit and gives them a center more closely aligned with their new timeline who should be better suited than Nurkic to play the tempo they want.
There was never a world in which the Blazers were going to trade Damian Lillard and get better as a team, or even get assets in return that were close to what should be the market value of a guy who averaged 32.2 points per game on insane efficiency a year ago. That is almost never out there for a star player, barring a very unique circumstance like when Oklahoma City got the haul it did for Paul George because it was the only way for the Clippers to get Kawhi Leonard as well. As such, the choice was what could they do to best maximize their return. Ayton is a guy they valued (reasonable people can disagree with that), while Holiday is the player they figured would be easiest to reroute to another team and fetch other stuff.
When Joe Cronin meets with the media to discuss this trade, he absolutely has the cover to talk about getting the best possible deal and believe he did so. I also won’t discount the role spite probably played in this to find a trade that sends Lillard somewhere other than the Heat, particularly because it is one that Lillard cannot be publicly upset with. Toronto or Chicago, two teams linked with him in recent days, would not have provided the same opportunity for Lillard, and would’ve absolutely looked like a move to spite the Heat.
But Dame’s stated goal is to win a title, and he’s now on a team that becomes the betting favorites with him. He wanted to play with complementary stars in Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, and he now has a similarly snug fit with Giannis, Khris Middleton, and Brook Lopez. There isn’t a basketball reason for Lillard to be upset about this, which made it even easier for Cronin and the Blazers to make this move happen and be able to honestly say they wanted to give Lillard a chance to compete for a title, while assuredly being delighted that they found a way to send him somewhere other than Miami.
Molly Burch hasn’t ever been afraid of being vulnerable in her music. But on her fourth studio album (fifth if you include last year’s Christmas album), the singer is leading with her sensitivity. “I’m so fragile it’s not even funny,” she sings on “Made Of Glass,” the opening to her triumphant Daydreamer.
The album itself came together in a time of change and nostalgia. Burch moved back to her Los Angeles hometown and began drafting lyrics after finding her old diaries from childhood. As a result, Daydreamer is an intimate look at Burch’s identity and self-image through the lens of vibrant synth-pop ballads. “I decided, through songwriting, to look back at formative life moments, to connect with the reasons why I’ve dedicated my life to music and also try to heal old and still open wounds,” Burch said in a statement. “This album is dedicated not only to my thirteen year-old self, but the thirteen year-old selves that still linger within all of us.”
Ahead of Daydreamer, Burch sat down with Uproxx to talk Fiona Apple, Billie Holiday, and Sex and the Cityin our latest Q&A.
What are four words you would use to describe your music?
Romantic, relatable, vulnerable, and dramatic.
It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?
I would want people to remember it fondly and feel nostalgic when they listen to it.
Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?
I would say Fiona Apple. When I first started learning how to sing I would sing along to her songs and was obsessed with her voice. I also love that she is a homebody and likes to watch a lot of TV — I relate to this heavily. And she’s a baddie.
Where did you eat the best meal of your life and what was it?
I’m gonna shout out a hometown spot — it’s called Pie n Burger and it’s in Pasadena, CA. It’s so cute inside and has the nicest staff — I feel like a kid at summer camp in there even though I never went to summer camp. I get my all-time favorite meal which is a cheeseburger, fries, and a Coca-Cola. They have amazing pie — my favorite is the boysenberry pie with vanilla ice cream.
Tell us about the best concert you’ve ever attended.
This is an easy one. My senior year of high school my dad got us tickets to a Hal Ashby tribute screening of Harold and Maude and Cat Stevens played. It was an out-of-body experience for me. To watch him play in a movie theater! So intimate and we were so close. It feels like a dream.
What song never fails to make you emotional?
“I’ll Be Seeing You” Billie Holiday.
What’s the last thing you Googled?
Omg what an embarrassing question but I will answer honestly. In the middle of the night I googled “what foods make your body inflamed” and then directly after that I googled “olive garden menu”.
Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?
This question is giving PTSD. One time on our very first tour a friend of a friend put us up in his practice space where metal music was blasting and there was a mattress on the floor with blood on it. We did get out of there but I was so broke at the time we almost stayed.
What’s your favorite city in the world to perform and what’s the city you hope to perform in for the first time?
My ultimate dream is to play in Japan. I truly love performing in LA (where I’m from and where I live now). I also love playing in Paris.
What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?
Stop tweezing your eyebrows so thin!
What’s one of your hidden talents?
Very useless but I know the series Sex and the City like the back of my hand and can recite the dialogue to any episode.
If you had a million dollars to donate to charity, what cause would you support and why?
Homelessness because it breaks my heart and I wish everyone on earth could live a nice life and not have to suffer.
What are your thoughts about AI and the future of music?
Pass! Too scary. Blocking it out as long as I can.
You are throwing a music festival. Give us the dream lineup of 5 artists that will perform with you and the location it would be held.
So fun. I’m feeling upstate NY, cozy fall vibes. I’d want Fiona Apple, Lauryn Hill, Lana Del Rey, Ariana Grande, and Kacey Musgraves.
Who’s your favorite person to follow on social media?
@sagestudioatx on Instagram. They are a non-profit art studio and gallery for artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Austin, TX. I volunteered there last year when I still lived in Austin and following them helps me still feel connected to the artists and the wonderful women who run it. Seeing what they create makes me happy.
What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?
I have a song on Daydreamer called “Tattoo” which is about this. My first and only tattoo is a symbol that means “no fear but god” and it’s on my sternum. I got it for my friend who passed away — she had the same tattoo in the same place. I was in Wilmington, NC with one of my best friends from college and we just impulsively walked into a tattoo parlor in the middle of the day and both got tattoos on our chests haha. It was a really funny experience, my mom was there holding our hands. It was sweet and I’ve never regretted getting it.
What is your pre-show ritual?
I really enjoy putting on makeup because that’s usually one of the very few times I have some alone time on tour. I find it very meditative actually. I wish I was a better vocalist and said I do vocal warmups but I really don’t.
Who was your first celebrity crush?
Chris Farley.
You have a month off and the resources to take a dream vacation. Where are you going and who is coming with you?
My gut is Disneyland, really do it up big. But a month seems long lol. I’ve always wanted to go to Mexico City with my boyfriend Dailey and we’d bring our recently rescued dog Monty. Or Hawaii.
What is your biggest fear?
Heights, death, and that people are mad at me!
Daydreamer is out 9/29 via Captured Tracks. Find more information here.
You’re probably familiar with the literary classic “Moby-Dick.”
But in case you’re not, here’s the gist: Moby Dick is the name of a huge albino sperm whale.
(Get your mind outta the gutter.)
There’s this dude named Captain Ahab who really really hates the whale, and he goes absolutely bonkers in his quest to hunt and kill it, and then everything is awful and we all die unsatisfied with our shared sad existence and — oops, spoilers!
OK, technically, the narrator Ishmael survives. So it’s actually a happy ending (kind of)!
Basically, it’s a famous book about revenge and obsession that was published back in 1851, and it’s really, really long.
It’s chock-full of beautiful passages and dense symbolism and deep thematic resonance and all those good things that earned it a top spot in the musty canon of important literature.
There’s also a lot of mundane descriptions about the whaling trade as well (like, a lot). That’s because it came out back when commercial whaling was still a thing we did.
In fact, humans used to hunt more than 50,000 whales each year to use for oil, meat, baleen, and oil. (Yes, I wrote oil twice.) Then, in 1946, the International Whaling Commission stepped in and said “Hey, wait a minute, guys. There’s only a few handful of these majestic creatures left in the entire world, so maybe we should try to not kill them anymore?”
And even then, commercial whaling was still legal in some parts of the world until as recently as 1986.
And yet by some miracle, there are whales who were born before “Moby-Dick” was published that are still alive today.
What are the odds of that? Honestly it’s hard to calculate since we can’t exactly swim up to a bowhead and say, “Hey, how old are you?” and expect a response. (Also that’s a rude question — jeez.)
Thanks to some thoughtful collaboration between researchers and traditional Inupiat whalers (who are still allowed to hunt for survival), scientists have used amino acids in the eyes of whales and harpoon fragments lodged in their carcasses to determine the age of these enormous animals — and they found at least three bowhead whales who were living prior to 1850.
Granted those are bowheads, not sperm whales like the fictional Moby Dick, (and none of them are albino, I think), but still. Pretty amazing, huh?
This is a particularly remarkable feat considering that the entire species was dwindling near extinction.
Unfortunately, just as things are looking up, these wonderful whales are in trouble once again.
We might not need to worry our real-life Captain Ahabs anymore, but our big aquatic buddies are still being threatened by industrialization — namely, from oil drilling in the Arctic and the Great Australian Bight.
This influx of industrialization also affects their migratory patterns — threatening not only the humans who depend on them, but also the entire marine ecosystem.
And I mean, c’mon — who would want to hurt this adorable face?
Whales might be large and long-living. But they still need our help to survive.
If you want another whale to make it to his two-hundred-and-eleventy-first birthday (which you should because I hear they throw great parties), then sign this petition to protect the waters from Big Oil and other industrial threats.
The 17-year-old was the victim of a horrific bullying incident.
A group of girls threw boiling water on her, leaving her badly burned and covered in scars and discoloration.
She thought the physical scars would be with her forever — until she met Basma Hameed. Basma Hameed runs a tattoo shop, of sorts — but her tattoo artistry doesn’t look like you’d expect. Basma is a paramedical tattoo specialist. Instead of tattooing vibrant, colorful designs, she uses special pigments that match the skin in order to conceal scars.
It looks like this:
With Basma’s help, patients like Samira can see a dramatic decrease in their scar visibility and discoloration after a few treatments. She even offers free procedures for patients who are unable to afford treatment. That’s because Basma knows firsthand just how life-changing her work can be for those coping with painful scars left behind.
Check out the video below to find out more about Basma’s practice, including how she became her very first patient.
The WGA strike officially ended at midnight Wednesday. Huzzah! That doesn’t mean Hollywood is fully back in action; the SAG-AFTRA strike is still ongoing. But it does mean studios, networks, and streamers can at least start pre-production before the AMPTP gets right with the actors guild. And guess what their main priority is? Bringing back all those shows and movie franchises people love so darn much.
Per Variety, instead of brand-spanking new fare, Hollywood is fast-tracking big shows, like House of the Dragon and Abbott Elementary and The Last of Us, and big movies, like Superman: Legacy and the sequel to The Batman and the movie take on the ‘90s computer game Minecraft. “The priorities seem to be things that were all but greenlit but stopped because of the strike,” one insider said. “They need to figure out how they finish what they started.”
Also in the fast lane are, of course, movies that had to shut down mid-production when the WGA began their strike:
As soon as SAG-AFTRA’s work stoppage ends, production can resume on several major movies, including the sequel to “Gladiator,” which was more than halfway done filming when cameras stopped rolling in Malta in July as the actors started picketing. There’s “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part Two,” a globe-spanning adventure that still had some scenes to shoot, as well as “Beetlejuice 2,” Clint Eastwood’s “Juror No. 2,” and “Deadpool 3,” which, in some cases, only had a few days of work remaining. Also stalled was “Twisters,” a sequel to the 1996 tornado thriller, starring Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones as storm chasers. That project was roughly a week into production in Oklahoma before it shut down.
There’s one big problem, though: With so many productions going back to work at the same, there’s bound to be logistical nightmares. Each will be fighting for soundstages, for crew, for big stars, etc.
“As soon as the strikes are over, everybody is going to want to go after the same five directors and four stars,” one production chief explained. “It becomes a supply-and-demand question. And whereas before the strike the shooting schedule was staggered, everybody is going to be putting a ton of movies and shows into production at exactly the same time.”
In the meantime, networks still need to put stuff on-air. J.D. Connor, an associate professor of cinema and media studies at USC, speculates some will try out “wild little experiments,” as CBS did when they recently aired Yellowstone re-runs, to massive ratings.
As for movie theaters, which have already been starving for new releases after the height of the pandemic: well, it doesn’t look like Hollywood has figured that one out just yet. Maybe they’ll just do a redo of “Barbenheimer.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo made headlines at the end of August when he said he wouldn’t sign an extension with the Milwaukee Bucks unless he felt assured that everyone in the organization was committed to competing for championships. Four weeks later, the Bucks have pulled off the biggest trade of the offseason, acquiring Damian Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers for Jrue Holiday, Grayson Allen, an unprotected future first round pick, and two unprotected pick swaps.
It is a definitive statement from GM Jon Horst and the Bucks ownership that they are committed to keeping the championship window open around Antetokounmpo as long as possible, giving Antetokounmpo the best player he’s ever called a teammate. (That, of course, can also be said for Lillard, who has never played with anyone as good as the two-time NBA MVP.) In the immediate aftermath of the trade, the Bucks jumped up to the top of the odds sheet to win the NBA title, and there’s good reason for the excitement around what Lillard can bring to Milwaukee.
What the Bucks lose in trading Holiday absolutely should be acknowledged. The Bucks were an elite defensive team in no small part to Holiday’s point of attack prowess and his strength and versatility as a perimeter defender. In the regular season, Holiday was a terrific offensive player as well, averaging 18.5 points and 6.8 assists per game on strong efficiency in his three seasons with the Bucks, providing a steady hand to run the offense and get Giannis and Khris Middleton the ball in their spots. How they navigate the drop-off on the defensive end from Holiday to Lillard will be something to watch, but they do have two of the best rim protectors in the NBA in Giannis and Brook Lopez to help mitigate the loss in point of attack defense.
What they gain in this trade is immense, as they get an All-NBA caliber point guard who is coming off of one of the best seasons of his career. Lillard’s performance in 2022-23 was a bit overlooked because of the Blazers struggles and how he was eventually shut down for another tank effort to end the year, but he averaged 32.2 points and 7.3 assists on 46.3/37.1/91.4 shooting splits in the 58 games he appeared in. His ability to control the game and to take over on offense is something the Bucks have never had from a perimeter player during Giannis’ tenure, and for a team that has had its share of playoff flameouts specifically because they did not have someone who could simply create a bucket at any given time, that is gigantic.
Holiday had a particularly stark drop-off in his shooting efficiency from the regular season to the playoffs in his three years with the Bucks, and for all of the positives he provided on the defensive end, they were lessened by his shooting woes on offense and how that only further condensed the floor on Giannis. The Bucks offense had a tendency to grind to a halt in the postseason, struggling to create quality looks, particularly when they faced a team capable of building a wall against Giannis like we saw in the first round against the Heat last year.
With Lillard’s ability to stretch defenses well beyond the three-point line, Giannis is going to see space he’s never encountered on the court. It figures to be a terrifying proposition for opposing defenses deciding whether to stay attached to Dame all the way out to the range he’s capable of knocking down shots from, or to try and sink back and show as many bodies as possible at Giannis, which has long been the coverage plan against him. Aiding in the transition will be Lillard’s former head coach Terry Stotts, who joined new Bucks coach Adrian Griffin’s staff as an assistant this summer, and will know exactly how to deploy Dame in the best ways as they look to craft a new offensive approach around their two dynamic stars.
Many of the same things that were so tantalizing about the Lillard/Jimmy Butler/Bam Adebayo trio in Miami remain true in Milwaukee, as the Bucks have the kind of wing and frontcourt defenders that should make Lillard’s life easier on that end. There’s less concern about Lillard being a below-average defender when Brook Lopez and Giannis protect the back line. If Middleton is healthier than he was last year, he’s a solid wing defender as well. The Bucks could opt to try and hide Lillard on defense, but even when that’s not possible, he’ll have the kind of support he needs to mitigate the problems that come when he gets attacked over and over.
Lopez’s abilities as a drop defender, in particular, should help Lillard tremendously in pick-and-roll coverage, as Lopez has the unique ability to slow down both the ball-handler and a rolling big man all at once while his guard recovers. For Lillard, who isn’t a great screen navigator, that should help him considerably, and playing with Lopez will provide more cover than he got from Jusuf Nurkic. There do figure to be some adjustments Milwaukee will need to make defensively, as they’ll need to be more proactive in providing that support and help on the perimeter with Lillard out there than they had to with Holiday. That will shift responsibilities some and it’ll be incumbent on Griffin to craft the best coverage scheme to provide that assistance for Lillard while also not giving up the principles that have made Milwaukee so dominant on that end for years.
Still, this is undoubtedly an upgrade, and while there will be a learning curve on both ends of the floor in terms of maximizing this partnership, the ceiling of this team is absolutely a championship squad. Lillard and Giannis can make a very good case for being the best duo in the NBA, particularly when factoring how they complement each other, and watching them work should be as much fun for Bucks fans and impartial NBA observers as it is a nightmare for opponents tasked with slowing them down.
Giannis’ message was heard loud and clear by the Bucks organization, and they answered emphatically with the acquisition of Lillard. A championship is the expectation, and Dame and Giannis have been given everything they could’ve possibly wanted in terms of an on-court co-star. Now it’s on those two superstars to make the most of their pairing and deliver on the potential.
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