Month: July 2024

The Cleveland Cavaliers entered this offseason with a lot of folks wondering if they’d make a major shakeup to their roster. After needing seven games to get by the Magic in the first round, they were quickly dumped out by the eventual champion Boston Celtics in the conference semis.

There were many pundits who called for the Cavs to split up their core four, as there are genuine questions about how well Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley all fit together. However, to this point the Cavs have seemed intent on keeping the group together for at least one more season with a new head coach in Kenny Atkinson. Donovan Mitchell is back on a max extension (with a player option in the third year), Darius Garland publicly shut down rumblings he would ask for a trade, and Jarrett Allen apparently has the support of Mitchell and Atkinson (who coached him in Brooklyn).

As for Mobley, he was extension eligible as well this summer, and the Cavs had to decide if they wanted to give him max money as well. On Saturday we got that answer as Adrian Wojnarowski brought word that Mobley was signing a 5-year, $224 million max extension with Cleveland (that could become $269 million if he makes an All-NBA team or wins DPOY, which he finished third in voting in 2023), keeping him around long-term.

Mitchell, for his part, seemed excited about the news — while also noting he won’t be paying for the big man’s meals anymore.

That locks the Cavs into Mitchell, Garland, and Mobley on their respective maxes, while Allen is on a relatively team-friendly deal at $20 million over the next two seasons. The question, of course, is whether that core is enough to compete in a suddenly very competitive Eastern Conference. The Celtics look the part of an emerging juggernaut, while the Sixers and Knicks loaded up this summer and the Bucks are still lurking as a threat if they can be healthy.

The talent of that four isn’t a question, it’s more whether they can be maximized all together. Mobley has looked best when playing the five, and his offensive game has not developed enough on the perimeter to provide any real spacing at the four. That’s not a perfect fit with Allen, and while the two make for a great rim protection duo, they have had issues on the glass in the playoffs. The Cavs are banking on a new coaching staff bringing some fresh ideas on how to maximize that group. If not, the same rumblings will emerge next summer about potential trades.

Has Cardi B and Joe Budden’s time as foes come to an end? Well, it sure seems like it. During the latest episode of Joe Budden Podcast, Joe issued a formal apology to Cardi B for his past criticisms of her.

On July 18, the “Like What (Freestyle)” rapper took to X (formerly Twitter) Spaces to clapback at Joe’s disappointment in her sophomore album delays. In the audio recording, Cardi made several allegations about Joe while slamming him for “always taking sh*t” about her. Although Joe denied Cardi’s allegations, he decided to apologize for potentially hurting her feelings. In fact, he went on to profess his admiration for Cardi.

“Cardi is on my list of people I’m going to love no matter what,” he said. “If I’ve ever made a joke that’s offended Cardi B, I’m sorry.”

Cardi took to X with a sassy response of her own.

“I got love for you too, Joe,” she wrote. “But you been changing your tone on me real heavy the last 3 years, whether music or personal. Like when I was goin’ through real sh*t with my marriage in December. You went on ya platform and tried to make that about somebody else and what they got going on. I know criticism comes with the territory. But sometimes the narrative y’all decide to go run with be soooooo toxic. It’s all love tho see you soon.”

It looks like Cardi B is sticking to her forgive but never forget motto.

Sean Kingston’s legal woes are heightening. According to TMZ, the “Darkest Times” singer and his mother, Janice Turner, were arrested fraud and theft charges in May.

Yesterday (July 19), Sean Kingston (real name Kisean Anderson) and his mother, Turner, were formerly indicted by a jury in a Miami (as reported by AP) after reportedly making their appearance in the South Florida federal court.

In documents, Anderson and Turner were accused of participating in a scheme that defrauded multiple automatic dealerships, financial institutions, high-end jewelers, and more.

The filing claimed that across several months, the duo used of fraudulent documents to obtain $500,000 in jewelry, secure $160,000 from a Cadillac Escalade dealer, and $86,000 from a customized bedmaker. Bank Of America and First Republic Bank are listed among the financial institutions allegedly defraud by the mother and son. Court papers claim Anderson and Turner stole $200,000 from Bank of America and over $100,000 from First Republic Bank.

Neither party has issued a statement regarding the reports. However, back in May, Anderson took to his official Instagram page to respond to users online’s commentary about his arrest.

“Pretty love negative energy,” he wrote. “I am good and so is my mother. My lawyers are handling everything as we speak.”

After a 3-0 start to their exhibition slate with solid wins over Canada, Australia, and Serbia, the USA men’s basketball team looked the part of a gold medal favorite. While there were things to clean up, they were never in significant danger late in any of their games thus far, and few expected that to be the case against South Sudan on Saturday night in London, where the Americans were 43.5-point favorites.

However, they got punched in the mouth early as South Sudan came out bombing away from three, taking a 14-point halftime lead that served as quite the wakeup call for the Americans. LeBron James and Stephen Curry led the way for a third quarter barrage that gave Team USA a 5-point lead going into the fourth. At that point, it seemed the American squad had woken from its slumber and would cruise to a win, but Carlik Jones, Marial Shayok, and JT Thor would not let South Sudan fall apart. They kept their side in the game, clearing the way for a late flurry as Shayok hit back-to-back buckets to cut the USA lead to 99-97, before Thor drilled a corner three with 20 seconds to go to give South Sudan the lead again for the first time all fourth quarter.

Team USA turned to James for their final possession, putting the ball in the future Hall of Famer’s hands as he barreled to the rim for a layup to put the Americans back on top.

On South Sudan’s final possession, Jones shook free of Jrue Holiday and had a good look at a runner, but put it too strong off the glass and a putback dunk attempt went begging to prevent a shocking upset.

LeBron finished with a team-high 23 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists, while Curry added 12 points, Anthony Davis chipped in 15 points and 11 rebounds off the bench, and Joel Embiid had 14 points and 7 rebounds. The three-point shot betrayed Team USA in this one, as they went 7-for-28 as a team, while South Sudan buried 14-of-33 from beyond the arc to put the Americans under serious pressure. Shayok finished with 25 points, while Jones had a 15/11/11 triple double, and Thor added 14 points off the bench. It was nearly the biggest win in South Sudan’s basketball history, exhibition or not, and they’ll get another crack at Team USA in group play at the Olympics in a couple weeks.

Team USA will have one more tuneup game in London against Germany on Monday before Olympic group play starts on July 28 against Serbia. They’ll face this same South Sudan side on July 31, and will need to be more locked in for that game if they’re to avoid another scare in Paris.

At one point, it appeared that Chance The Rapper couldn’t catch a break with hip-hop lovers. But the “Yah Know” rapper’s slow-and-steady approach in the role out of his forthcoming Star Line album could win him the public favor recovery race.

So far, Chance has released three songs, “Together,” “Stars Out,” and “Buried Alive,” all of which are expected to make the project’s final tracklist. However, even if they don’t according to reports, Chance has plenty of new offerings on the way.

On July 18, Chance held his second listening experience for a lucky group of fans in Atlanta, Georgia. Based on NFR Podcast‘s latest post, during the event, Chance previewed 10 unreleased records and debuted two forthcoming music videos.

Now supporters are demanding that the project receive an official release date as attendees rave about it.

“Chance The Rapper is transforming how we consume music and interact with artists…again lol. Beautiful and inspiring experience. So grateful ,” wrote one user.

“Such a cool experience. I can’t believe how intimate and fascinating it was to unravel music in such a collective way,” penned another.

“One of the best things I’ve ever went to. Such a vibe,” added another.

Chance The Rapper’s next Writings On The Wall listening experience for Star Line will take place in New Orleans.

Although Chance The Rapper might appreciate the anticipation, during an interview BET, he revealed that is not in a rush to put Star Line out.

“I don’t have to rush to put anything and that gives me the confidence and security knowing that it’s cool to wait until I have everything packaged,” he said. “Then, I’ve fallen in love with it over and over again before I release it.”

Star Line will mark Chance The Rapper’s first album since 2019’s The Big Day.

USA Basketball is in the process of getting ready for the Paris Olympics, and on Saturday, that meant playing an exhibition against South Sudan, one of its group opponents once the Olympics begin. And through the first half of the game, things very much did not go as plan, as South Sudan took a shocking, 58-44 lead into the locker room.

In an apparent effort to try something new out of the break, USA coach Steve Kerr benched his entire starting lineup (Jrue Holiday, Steph Curry, Devin Booker, LeBron James, Joel Embiid) and went with a lineup of Derrick White, Anthony Edwards, Jayson Tatum, Bam Adebayo, and Anthony Davis. The group was able to cut the lead down to eight points before the starters came back in, although Davis had a moment he’ll like to forget, as he tried to rebound a miss by Marial Shayok but did not see that Nuni Omot came flying in. Omot went up and over the Lakers star and threw down a thunderous dunk.

Davis was, however, able to get a little revenge on Omot the next time down the floor, as the former Baylor forward attempted to score in the paint and learned the hard way why Davis is one of the best defensive players in the world.

Davis has been one of the United States’ best players as it gets ready to go to the Olympics, and while he’ll probably want that dunk back, he was at least able to get a highlight of his own not long after.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ — Candace Parker arrived under the impression she was in for two hours of press at Toca Madera in Scottsdale, Arizona on Friday night, July 19, during 2024 WNBA All-Star Weekend. The three-time WNBA champion, two-time WNBA MVP, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and seven-time All-Star will always show up for basketball — still giving to the game, even after she’d given every ounce of herself to push it forward for nearly two decades and had every excuse to walk away.

Instead, Parker walked through the door at Toca Madera and saw her dearest family (biological and basketball), friends, and peers all gathered to throw her a surprise “Crowning ACE” adidas-sponsored retirement party. She beamed and hugged everyone while wiping tears from her cheeks.

The perpetual giver was the recipient, at last.

Parker announced her retirement in April after 16 seasons, most recently with the Las Vegas Aces. It was a relatively quiet end to a booming career — until Parker was announced as the President of adidas Women’s Basketball on May 8. The work of a disruptor is never over.

“I didn’t want millions of people in the stands [for a farewell tour],” Parker told Dime. “I didn’t want to do the parade because I would cry and because it would be emotional. But I’m super grateful for the people who have been a part of this. I’m humbled by it. I’m blown away. I’m the ‘moment’ person. Sometimes, my wife will get mad at me because I’ll just cry in moments because they’re so special, and this was super special. I had no idea. I was obviously reluctant to be celebrated, but I’m so grateful that the people in my circle planned this and surprised me. I’m still overwhelmed by it.”

She added, “They definitely forced me to take the flowers.”

After the Los Angeles Sparks drafted Parker No. 1 overall in 2008, she played her first WNBA game here in Phoenix, as noted by her mother, Sarah Parker, to emphasize the full-circle nature of the evening. The Lady Vols legend had posted a casual 34 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists in her debut — foreshadowing becoming the first-ever WNBA player to win Rookie Of The Year and MVP in the same season and growing into an omnipresent force every season.

The list of Parker’s immortal accolades and universal influence on the court is exhaustive — though adidas successfully summarized it on a complimentary purple-and-white tee reading, “SHE DID. SO WE CAN.” But the sentiments expressed by those personally touched by her impact is a worthier list, anyway.

For roughly an hour, Parker sat on stage while 12 people, one by one, got up to say it all out loud. A visibly emotional Parker often reached for tissues, burst into laughter, and reciprocated their love.

“You really thought we were just gonna let you ride off into the sunset?” said Justine Brown, her best friend of 18 years and VP of Creative Development & Talent Relations at TOGETHXR.

“I am proof that you’re leaving the game better than you found it,” said Las Vegas Aces perennial All-Star Chelsea Gray, who won two WNBA titles with Parker in LA (2016) and Vegas (’23), rattling off 6’5 women being guards and high school girls dunking as tangible examples of what “changed because Candace came into the league.” (For the uninitiated, Parker is the first-ever women’s college player to dunk in the NCAA and second-ever in the WNBA behind Lisa Leslie.)

“I’m older than you, but I can look at you and tell you [that] you inspired me as well,” said recently retired 13-time All-Star and four-time WNBA champion Sue Bird, who mostly competed against Parker but said she couldn’t help but love her after becoming UMMC Ekaterinburg teammates in Russia.

“I don’t even know what I did in a past life to deserve being a couple of feet away from you,” said Zack Miller, Parker’s WME agent.

“There will never be another you,” said Phoenix Mercury All-Star guard Kahleah Copper, who also thanked Parker for “taking me under your wing” as teammates in Chicago, where they won the WNBA title in 2021.

“Part of me is sad I wasn’t born earlier,” said reigning WNBA Rookie Of The Year Aliyah Boston, who cried when explaining how meaningful it is to have someone like Parker as a role model.

And then, it was time to hear from Anna Petrakova, her wife of five years, and Lailaa, her 15-year-old daughter. Parker had mostly kept it together throughout the night, but she wept as Lailaa struggled to get her sentences out — their unspoken, unshakable bond heavily palpable. Like her mom, she pushed through discomfort and saw her message through, citing Parker telling her that “women can do everything” as the reason “I want to work harder in everything.” Lailaa sat on Parker’s lap to watch the adidas Basketball tribute video, which Lailaa narrated.

This tribute had been in the works for weeks, and Parker was oblivious.

“It’s all about respect,” Eric Wise, global GM of adidas Basketball, told Dime. “We preach family at adidas Basketball, and this is just putting our actions where our words are. It’s consistency. It’s not just a PR announcement. It’s not just what we’re doing tonight. This is who she is and how we help usher in [her next chapter].”

Parker repeatedly grinned, shook her head, and said, “I can’t believe I got got!” After a room-wide toast led by Brown, Parker asked for the mic. They may have gotten one over on her, but Parker always gets the final word. Parker intended to “keep it short,” but she’s never abided by half measures, so why start now? Instead, she delivered a masterpiece of a 10-minute speech with such effortless composure that it served as one more reminder that Parker is one-of-one.

“It took my head a couple of months to catch up with what my heart and my body knew — that it was time to move on from the game. I think it’s the hardest thing, at this current time, I’ve ever had to do,” Parker began, adding, “I am so grateful for where the game is right now. […] I’m just so proud of this generation of athletes who are unapologetic, that take up space, that are demanding what’s rightfully ours.”

This night was deservedly hers.

Caitlin Clark is not going to the Olympics as a member of USA Basketball, but she will get the chance to compete against the red, white, and blue before they make their way over to Paris. Clark was selected to the WNBA All-Star Game, which will see some of the top players in the league take on Team USA in Phoenix on Saturday night.

The game will be the only thing Clark does over the weekend, as she did not participate in the Skills Challenge or 3-Point Contest on Friday night. While Clark’s skill-set lends itself extremely well to both of those events, she explained to Michele Steele of ESPN that she frankly just needed a break.

“To be honest, I’m pretty mentally, physically, emotionally exhausted,” Clark said at the 1:10 mark of the above video. “I’ve been competing for a year straight, tolls can be taken, and obviously, I’ve been very fortunate to have so many great opportunities over the course of the last year, and I know there’s gonna be so many more great opportunities for me to come.”

Clark stressed that she’ll be in the event at some point down the road, but that she’s proud of herself for giving herself a break. The spotlight has been on Clark for years at this point, but she’s in the middle of an especially difficult stretch because of the brutal transition from the college basketball season to playing in the WNBA, which holds its draft in mid-April before the season tips off a month later. The good news for Clark is that she’s about to get a bit of time to decompress, as the league takes a break from July 21 to August 14 for the Olympics.

Joel Embiid is headed to the Olympics as a member of USA Basketball. Despite being born in Cameroon and eligible to represent France in international play, Embiid made the decision to suit up on the international stage for the United States, which gives the Americans even more ammunition as they head to Paris with their eyes on winning a fifth gold medal in a row.

Doing that would be one of the high points of Embiid’s career, right up there with the time he was named league MVP. Unfortunately, team success hasn’t followed him in his NBA tenure, thanks in large part to horribly timed injuries. In fact, during a recent sit down interview with the New York Times, Embiid expressed his belief that the way injuries have prevented him from becoming a champion has hurt his case for being the greatest player of all time.

“I think so,” Embiid said when asked if he’d be in the GOAT conversation without injury problems. “I think I’m that talented. Obviously you need to win championships, and to win championships you need other guys. You can’t do it by yourself. I want to win so bad. But if you don’t, you just got to understand that as long as you care about the right stuff, if it doesn’t happen, maybe it wasn’t meant to happen. So, yeah — I kind of forgot the question.”

After getting reminded what the question was, Embiid said, “Yeah. If you think about it, the thing that stopped me all these years is just freak injuries. Every single playoffs, regular season, people falling on my knee or breaking my face — twice. It’s always freak injuries at the wrong time.”

Embiid has objectively suffered some absolutely brutal injuries at terrible times during his career, which have played a role in his well-documented playoff roles. He’s famously never made it past the Eastern Conference semis, and he’s gone from averaging 27.9 points per game on 50.4 percent shooting from the field and 34.1 percent shooting from three during the regular season to averaging 24.9 points on 45.9 percent shooting from the field and 28.9 percent shooting from three in the playoffs. At the same time, even beyond injuries and illness, a player of Embiid’s caliber is expected to perform to a higher standard in the postseason, and he just hasn’t been able to consistently do that.

The good news for Embiid is that the Philadelphia 76ers are as well-positioned to compete in the Eastern Conference as they have been during his tenure with the franchise. Between himself, the recently-extended Tyrese Maxey, and prized free agent acquisition, the team has arguably the best big three in the NBA. Whether or not this helps get Embiid into the GOAT conversation should he remain healthy, however, remains to be seen.

Big Sean has proved time and time again that he’s going to ride with his home team. This brother of musical bandits, still includes Kanye West (Ye). Yesterday (July 19), the “Precision” rapper made that clear.

During a livestream, Big Sean shutdown online fan theories that Ye was the person behind his supposed Better Me Than You album leaks.

“I know he didn’t do that because look at this,” he said. “You see this plaque right here? That’s 185 million records sold under GOOD Music. I love GOOD Music. He done made more money off my music than I did.”

Although Pusha T, GOOD Music’s former president, has hanged up his public support of Ye, Big Sean surely hasn’t. In fact, Big Sean stood by Ye’s character while doubling down on the rejection of rumors that he could have professionally betrayed him.

“I had access to a lot of exclusive [things],” he said. “[And it’s] not just him—other people too. I would never leak nobody’s sh*t. So I know he ain’t do that. Whoever started that rumor, y’all on some bullsh*t.”

Watch the full clip below.

Better Me Than You is out August 9 via FF to Def Entertainment. Find more information here.