Category: News

HBO’s upcoming series The Idol is already proving to be one of the most talked about series of 2023, despite not having an actual premiere date. However, the Sam Levinson and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye-created series seems to be proving rather chaotic and disastrous behind the scenes, not unlike the second season of Levinson’s teen drama, Euphoria.

Last April, the show was reported to go into an overhaul, with Levinson taking over as the show’s director, in place of Amy Seimetz, who was originally set to direct the series.

According to several anonymous sources, who spoke to Rolling Stone, Levinson ramped up the sexual content during the overhaul.

According to Rolling Stone:

“At various points, Levinson’s scripts contained disturbing sexual and physically violent scenes between [Lily Rose] Depp and Tesfaye’s characters, three sources familiar with the matter claim. In one draft episode, there allegedly was a scene where Tesfaye bashes in Depp’s face, and her character smiles and asks to be beaten more, giving Tesfaye an erection. (This scene was never shot, the source says.) Another proposed scenario was for Depp to carry an egg in her vagina and if she dropped or cracked the egg, Tesfaye’s character would refuse to “rape” her — which sent Depp’s character into a spiral, begging him to ‘rape’ her because she believed he was the key to her success. (This scene also was not filmed because production couldn’t find a way to realistically shoot the scene without having Depp physically insert the egg, another source explains.)”

Another source claimed that while The Idol was supposed to explore and satirize the dark side of 21st-century stardom, the show lost its original messaging amid the overhaul.

“It was a show about a woman who was finding herself sexually, turned into a show about a man who gets to abuse this woman and she loves it,” said the source.

At the time of writing, it is unclear which scenes will make it into the final show, as many of the sources say that scripts were being changed and rewritten daily. According to one source, Levinson had stopped turning in scripts to the higher-ups at HBO at one point during production.

Hopefully, we engage in acts of kindness for their own intrinsic rewards. However, it’s also pretty amazing when generosity gets reciprocated.

TikTok creator Zachery Dereniowski is best known for approaching random strangers, requesting a dollar, then giving the first person to offer one a large sum of money and helping make one of their dreams come true.

On February 17, Dereniowski stood on a street outside the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada, holding a yellow, smiley-face balloon, asking folks if they’d buy it for a dollar.

Everyone turned him down until he was approached by a friendly man named David Kamara. Kamara handed Dereniowski a flyer, explaining that he was a musician. Whipping out an iPad to show off some of his work, Kamara’s energy was instantly infectious.

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“I grew up in the hood, so when we were little we used to go to the Dollarama to get the dollar store mics…I never knew it would manifest into this,” he told Dereniowski.

It wasn’t until after he listened to the song that Dereniowski asked Kamara if he’d like to buy the balloon for a dollar. Without missing a beat, Kamara upped the offer to an e-transfer of $5, saying “a dollar is not going to do much.”

For helping him out, Dereniowski gave Kamara the “magic” balloon, telling him that it would help “manifest” his biggest wish once he let it go in the air.

Kamara knew exactly what he wanted to manifest—a Grammy.

@mdmotivator “I’ll be sending the money to my family in Africa” 🥺❤️ (L1NK 1N B10) #mystery #music #money #africa #spotify #viral #kindness ♬ original sound – Zachery Dereniowski

(Note: We don’t recommend letting balloons go for environmental protection and safety reasons.)

Dereniowski didn’t come with any trophies up his sleeve, but he did give Kamara $2,000 on the spot to use towards his music career. Kamara, unsurprisingly, was absolutely elated.

“I can’t believe you just did that bro. Nobody would do that for me!” he exclaimed, adding that he would be sending some of the 2,000 to his brothers and sisters in Africa.

“You just blessed me, so I can bless,” he told Dereniowski.

To Kamara’s surprise, the blessings would keep coming. Dereniowski informed Kamara that his millions of followers would now know where to stream Kamara’s music. The good deed influencer even wrote an on-screen caption showing that Kamara’s work was available on Spotify and Apple.

The clip, which received over 11 million views, gave Kamara an instant surge to his fan base. According to an interview with Insider, his Instagram following grew from 16,000 to over 63,900, and his TikTok (which was only recently created) went from only 40 followers to over 43,600. Holy moly.

Just as he dreamed of, Kamara’s music career has seen a major shift as well. His two most popular songs, “Replay” and “For you,” now have been listened to on Spotify over 280,000 times collectively.

See on Instagram

Kamara told Insider that he had no idea who Dereniowski really was, but thought he might need money to get home, which is why he offered $5. That good deed has been reciprocated beyond his wildest imagination. And true to his word, he continued to share his blessings with others. In addition to sending that money back to his family, he plans on giving it to some of Dereniowski’s fans who shared their personal situations in the video’s comments.

Kindness really can be the gift that keeps on giving.

While many Blackpink fans were excited to see Jennie appear as an acting role in HBO’s upcoming series, The Idol, a new piece in Rolling Stone is now revealing that they might be disappointed — if the show even makes it to air.

The piece, which details a number of reportedly disturbing claims about showrunners Sam Levinson and The Weeknd from the cast and crew, notes that Jennie and other prominent stars were brought on without much of a significant part.

“It was like three or four lines per episode for her,” a production source told the publication about Jennie’s alleged role in the show, even though she was featured in the trailer and promotional materials. “They didn’t let her talk that much. Her job was to sit there [and] look pretty, basically.”

Levinson, in a previous interview with Elle Magazine (via Hypebae), described Jennie as “so professional and hardworking.”

“Watching her learn a full dance routine in about an hour and then perform it flawlessly 10 times in a row was amazing, and of course that’s just a tiny piece of her talent and ability,” he added.

Jennie also shared that she was working with both Levinson and The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) — who gave her advice on set to calm her down.

“What he said was to just be me,” Jennie said. “I didn’t try to prepare it perfectly, which I really would do. I had many conversations with Sam and Abel, and I think that helped me. And they just made sure that I didn’t have to be so nervous about things.”

Until then, time will tell on how much Jennie will appear in The Idol.

When it was reported that the buzzy upcoming HBO show The Idol was undergoing massive production changes last April, all anyone could do was speculate on the supposed “new creative direction” it would take. Interest in the show was high, given its all-star cast consisting of co-creator Abel Tesfaye (better known as The Weeknd) and Lily-Rose Depp and the involvement of high-profile producer Sam Levinson of Euphoria fame.

However, a new report from Rolling Stone suggests that the changes have mostly been for the worst, with the show going from “a dark satire of fame and the fame model in the 21st century,” according to one production member, “to the thing it was satirizing.”

The show, which was to follow Depp’s character as she became involved in a cult led by Tesfaye’s character, was overhauled as The Weeknd apparently felt it was focusing too much on the “female perspective” and wanted to highlight his character more. This reportedly led to director Amy Seimetz (She Dies Tomorrow, The Girlfriend Experience) dropping out and Levinson replacing her as director, then promptly throwing out everything she’d already shot — 80 percent of the six-episode series.

The new material has been described as “any rape fantasy that any toxic man would have in the show,” with lurid depictions of sexual encounters between Tesfaye and Depp’s characters in scripts, ramped-up explicit nudity, and even a violent scene in which Tesfaye’s character beats Depp. While some of these scenes were never shot, one source described the scripts as “sexual torture porn.”

Many of the sources say they don’t even know what will make it into the final show because so many scenes were reshot, scripts were changed daily, and the shoot went wildly over budget and time. High-profile castings such as Blackpink’s Jennie amounted to inconsequential storylines, with a crew member saying, “Her job was to sit there [and] look pretty, basically.” Meanwhile, other actors were “wiped from the show” entirely after thinking they’d gotten their big breaks.

With so many issues, there’s no telling how the show itself will actually turn out, but HBO continues to promote it with multiple trailers, even though a release date has yet to be determined (it’s still aiming for sometime in 2023).

We’ll see if Levinson, The Weeknd, or any of the cast have anything to say, but for now, things aren’t looking great. Still the show is already shaping up to be another hit for HBO — the real question is, will it be worth it?

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

In the leadup to the release of his third album, Love Sick, Houston rapper-singer Don Toliver said enough of the right things to make me believe that this would be the project of his that would finally tell us who he is.

“On this particular album, I really locked in on the actual story and the theme of the album and basically the tracklist is going in sequence, in motion of the actual story, of what it will be,” he said in one interview.

“I want people to listen to my music and think it’s timeless,” he echoed in another. “To think about Marvin Gaye, Sade, Jay-Z, and just listen again. All I strive for is to be in the conversation with some of the greatest of all time.”

The one thing all of those greats did, though, is put themselves into their music. When you push play on “Song Cry,” you get the impression that Jay is letting us in on a moment in his life. When Marvin Gaye made “What’s Goin’ On?” it was considered a massive creative risk, but it was a sentiment he cared about deeply enough to take that risk.

With Don Toliver, I’ve never gotten the impression that I’m learning anything about him or what he truly cares about in his music. I tend to believe that he’s the consummate aesthete – his presentation is everything, and he’s going for a look rather than a feel.

The feeling that pervaded his prior releases Heaven Or Hell and Life Of A Don is that his primary preoccupation in making them was imitating and improving upon the aesthetics of stylistic forebears like his mentor Travis Scott, Future (both of whom appear here), and Young Thug – i.e. the wounded melodic howling, eerie vocal effects, and clipped, erratic rap deliveries that made them stand out from the pack when they first broke out in the middle of the last decade.

Love Sick, on the other hand, seemed like it would be a step forward when we’d begin to see more of the artist in his work. Love, after all, is the most personal and primal of human emotions, even as it remains the most universal. If any subject could crack the facade and reveal the interiority missing from Toliver’s past projects, this would be it.

After a few listens to Love Sick, though, I still haven’t figured out who Don Toliver is.

Don’t get me wrong; it’s a polished, pleasant body of work. If nothing else, he’s upped his game with regard to developing his own artistic flourishes. Perhaps credit belongs to his expanded roster of production partners. After all, it’s hard not to notice that the Kaytranada-produced “Honeymoon” is a standout, nor is the dreamy quality of “Let Her Go,” which features James Blake.

The hyperfocus on subject matter allows Toliver much more room to play around sonically. So while there are still cavernous club 808s and bellowing synthetic bass lines aplenty – “Leave The Club” is a prime example – “Leather Club” finds a smooth, almost ‘80s adult contemporary vibe well suited to his Drake-lite lamentations of one-directional affections.

“Slow Motion” with Wizkid is a surprising dance floor banger that goes in a completely different direction than you’d expect with the Afropop star involved, “If I Had” recruits quiet storm favorite Charlie Wilson for a classic example of the genre, and Chicago heads will almost certainly figure out a few new juke steps to “Bus Stop.”

Throughout Love Sick, I get the feeling that Don Toliver is a nice guy who is really kind of a music nerd, someone collaborators really enjoy testing out new sounds with. But there’s still no sense of identity, that undefinable something that instantly lets you know when you’re hearing a song from Future, Travis Scott, or Young Thug.

The good news is that Toliver is really good at executing an idea, and that’s a step in the right direction for where he wants to be. Coming up with a concept and making music that effectively conveys those ideas is really hard – that’s why we hold such respect for artists. If Love Sick has more style than substance, that style is really charming and enjoyable.

And if Toliver hadn’t managed to at least do that much, we wouldn’t be talking about him at all. If he wants us to talk about him in the same breath as Sade Adu, he’s laid a decent foundation for that conversation to take place. But he still needs to give us something to talk about. He’s almost there.

Love Sick is out now via Cactus Jack and Atlantic Records.

Don Toliver is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The TV realm still hasn’t recovered from Netflix’s untimely GLOW cancellation, but fortunately, Betty Gilpin has moved onto another fiery role (for Damon Lindelof of Watchmen, Lost, and The Leftovers) after Miss Liberty Belle. There shall probably be no leotards on the horizon, however, considering that Gilpin portrays a nun who’s bound and determined to vanquish an all-powerful algorithm referred to as “Mrs. Davis” in a show also called Mrs. Davis.

Peacock has released a teaser that teases in the very sense of the word. We don’t get to see Gilpin in action (although we previously saw images to that effect), and this show also stars Margo Martindale, yet we don’t get to see her either. However, this teaser shows the world sharing earbuds (gross) so that the word of Mrs. Davis can spread. Even a stand-up set gets interrupted for the cause. Perhaps a sensitive comedian will take that personally, but you never know precisely what to expect from a Lindelof project.

Previously, Peacock released word from Mrs. Davis, who assured the world that she only means to spread “validation, gentle guidance, and unconditional care.” Further, she’s not here for “any sense of independence on your part because independence is bad. Independence is LONELY.” Mrs. Davis also talked back to Gilpin’s character, Simone, who believes that “my intention to enslave all of humanity…or whatever…”

From the series synopsis:

Mrs. Davis is described as an exploration of faith versus technology — an epic battle of biblical and binary proportions. Gilpin will play a nun who goes to battle against an all-powerful Artificial Intelligence.

Peacock’s Mrs. Davis premieres on April 20, 2023.

The Georgia football community lost two members of its family on Jan. 15, 2023, as offensive lineman Devin Willock and recruiting staff member Chandler LeCroy died in a car crash. On Wednesday morning, the Athens-Clarke County Police Department announced a warrant for the arrest of one of Willock’s former teammates, Jalen Carter, on Reckless Driving and Racing charges in relation to the events that happened that evening.

The warrant, which you can read below, alleges that Carter and LeCroy “were operating their vehicles in a manner consistent with racing shortly after leaving the downtown Athens area at about 2:30 AM.” After laying out what happened in the immediate lead-up to the crash, the police claim that “investigators determined that alcohol impairment, racing, reckless driving, and speed were significant contributing factors to the crash.”

Carter is a top prospect in the 2023 NFL Draft, with ESPN’s Mel Kiper putting him as the No. 1 player available in his most recent player ranking. The warrant for his arrest comes after the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a report indicating that he was at the scene of the crash, as he originally claimed that he was a mile away when it happened.

Via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Carter, a defensive star for Georgia who is projected as a top pick in this year’s NFL draft, left the crash scene, apparently before the police or emergency medical workers arrived. When he returned an hour and a half later, he gave shifting accounts of the wreck as an Athens police officer questioned him about whether he had been racing the car that crashed, according to documents reviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The warrant was announced as Carter was in Indianapolis for the NFL Draft Combine. He was scheduled to speak to the media at 10:30 a.m. EST on Wednesday, but according to an NFL spokesperson, that will not go on as planned due to “medical testing.”

Season three of The Mandalorian has only just begun, and we are already asking the important questions: when will Baby Yoda get his own protective armor? He doesn’t really need it, but we did get another visit from The Armorer at the beginning of the season, so perhaps he will get a tiny helmet later on.

The Armorer, played by Emily Swallow, showed up last season on The Book Of Boba Fett when she scolded Mando for taking off his helmet, which makes him not really a Mandalorian anymore. He’s just a regular space ranger with all of that access to weaponry.

As season three begins, The Armorer shows up once again. Not only does she craft powerful armor, but she also knows all of the Mandalorian lore that Din is still figuring out. Despite her knowledge, The Armorer seems a bit confused about Din’s bond with lil Baby Grogu. The Armorer is really keen on keeping those Mandalorian traditions alive, so she’s not a huge fan of Din and his space shenanigans.

Even though her intentions are a little murky, fans will definitely learn more about The Armorer as the season progresses. “She’s kind of the lore keeper of the group,” Lucasfilm’s Dave Filoni said of the mysterious character. “She’s the person that knowledge is passed on through. We were talking about how there’s probably an Armorer that precedes this armorer, and it goes back through time. The songs of eons passed. Mando is a warrior, and the warrior carries the sword.”

New episodes of The Mandalorian premiere Wednesdays on Disney+.

(Via Gizmodo)

The New York Knicks were widely projected to take at least a modest step forward in 2022-23. After all, New York made a substantial investment to acquire Jalen Brunson while bringing back the core of a 37-win team from the previous season. However, the Knicks still entered the campaign with an over/under projection below the .500 mark, and preseason buzz was dimmed after New York’s well-publicized dalliance with Donovan Mitchell didn’t come to fruition. As the stretch run arrives, though, the Knicks are on a six-game winning streak and in a position that most didn’t forecast.

New York is 36-27 with 21 games remaining, approaching the consensus over/under (38.5 wins) and riding a positive wave. The Knicks are firmly in the top eight of the NBA in offensive rating, scoring 115.9 points per 100 possessions, and that rises to 124.2 points per 100 during this winning streak. Granted, New York’s schedule wasn’t a murderer’s row, but none of the victories came against tanking teams and the streak was punctuated by a headline-grabbing victory over the Boston Celtics on Monday.

The Knicks throttled the Celtics by 15 points on a night when Boston entered the game with the best record in the NBA. New York punched Boston in the mouth, leading by as many as 20 points in the first half, and the Knicks won comfortably despite uncharacteristically poor free throw shooting (23-for-34) and a negative turnover margin in the game. While it would be wise to avoid overreactions to a single game in late February, the Knicks are now No. 7 in the NBA in net rating, trailing only the six teams (Celtics, Bucks, Nuggets, Cavaliers, Grizzlies, 76ers) generally accepted to have the best statistical profiles in the league this season.

There is also room for potential growth for New York, as the Knicks’ win-loss record lands a win or two below what its point differential would forecast. Some of that can be traced to a middling 18-15 home record this season, which is explained by a ghastly -15.0 net rating in what NBA.com defines as clutch situations at Madison Square Garden. There is almost certainly noise associated with that kind of shortcoming and, with impressive performances from the team’s best players in Brunson and Julius Randle, optimism reigns. Randle is in the top 12 of the NBA with 27.8 points and 11.6 rebounds per game since late December, and Brunson adds 26.6 points and 6.2 assists per game while leading the league in minutes over the same sample.

At this juncture, it would still be difficult for the Knicks to crash the party as a top-four team in the East, in part due to strong performances from the Bucks, Celtics, 76ers, and Cavaliers. Still, New York now has the inside track at the No. 5 seed following Brooklyn’s midseason overhaul, and the Knicks have a manageable (approximately league average) schedule to navigate the rest of the way. Opinions are certainly split on what the ceiling is for this current group, but the Knicks also have the capital to make a splash in the coming months, and the 2022-23 team is pacing well ahead of rational expectation.

1. Milwaukee Bucks (44-17, Last week — 1st)

There was a changing of the guard at the top of the league standings this week. Milwaukee doesn’t have the best advanced statistical profile, but a 15-game winning streak is always nice. The Bucks haven’t lost in well over a month and beat three playoff hopefuls this week.

2. Denver Nuggets (44-19, Last week — 3rd)

Denver’s next matchup comes at home against Memphis on Friday, and that is one to circle. For one, the Grizzlies are the closest team to the Nuggets in the Western Conference standings. For another, the Grizzlies just beat the Nuggets by 18 points in Memphis. Denver still has a 5.5-game cushion, but it’s a good measuring stick.

3. Boston Celtics (44-18, Last week — 2nd)

If you’re looking to see more of the Celtics, Boston’s next three games will be broadcast on ESPN. Aside from the aforementioned hiccup against the Knicks on Monday, things are just fine for the Celtics with a top-tier record and four of the next five at home.

4. Memphis Grizzlies (37-23, Last week — 8th)

It seems as if Memphis has stabilized after a nightmare stretch early in February. The Grizzlies are 5-2 in the last seven games, including wins over Minnesota and Denver. Oh, and Jaren Jackson Jr. turned some heads on Tuesday.

5. Philadelphia 76ers (39-21, Last week — 4th)

It seems silly to be alarmed at all about Philadelphia, but the Sixers did just lose two straight home games. Granted, those losses came by five combined points, but Philadelphia does have a tough three-game road trip on the horizon with trips to Miami, Dallas, and Milwaukee.

6. New York Knicks (36-27, Last week — 9th)

New York projects as a favorite at home against Brooklyn on Wednesday, especially with the Nets coming in on the second night of a back-to-back. From there, the Knicks hit the road to face Miami and Boston in a stretch that could be illustrative of what the team’s ceiling and projection actually resemble.

7. Cleveland Cavaliers (39-25, Last week — 5th)

Wednesday’s game in Boston will be a nice measuring stick for Cleveland. The Cavaliers stumbled out of the All-Star break before a home win over Toronto on Monday. But, as noted above, the Knicks are charging and Cleveland isn’t a total lock to stick in the top four. Notably, though, Cleveland’s schedule is very soft, at least by opponent winning percentage, for the rest of the season. That helps.

8. Sacramento Kings (36-25, Last week — 10th)

Sacramento prevailed in the second-highest scoring game in NBA history this week, and the Kings just swept a three-game road trip. It feels like everyone is collectively waiting for regression, but the Kings are just 1.5 game behind the Grizzlies for the No. 2 spot in the West. What a season.

9. Phoenix Suns (33-29, Last week — 7th)

The Suns are holding up just fine, but the season really begins on Wednesday. Kevin Durant is projected to make his Phoenix debut, and the Suns have a relatively easy matchup in Charlotte. Needless to say, Durant should raise the overall level in Phoenix with his unique skill set, and all eyes are on a potential title contender as it comes together for the first time.

10. Golden State Warriors (32-30, Last week — 11th)

The schedule wasn’t exactly grueling at home, but the Warriors just won three games in a row. Golden State’s fundamentals are strong with key guys healthy and available, and that includes Klay Thompson recapturing his old form on offense.

11. L.A. Clippers (33-31, Last week — 6th)

All three games were close, but the Clippers are 0-3 since the break. That comes at an ugly time given that the upcoming schedule is quite challenging with road games in San Francisco and San Francisco followed by a home game against Memphis this week. On the bright side, Kawhi Leonard averaged 27.5 points per game on elite efficiency in February and seems to be himself at this juncture.

12. Toronto Raptors (31-32, Last week — 19th)

The Raptors got rocked by the Cavs this week but everything else has been gravy. Toronto is 8-2 in the last ten games and taking care of business. The Raptors are now only a half-game behind the Hawks for the No. 8 seed.

13. Minnesota Timberwolves (32-32, Last week — 14th)

It seems appropriate that the Wolves are 32-32. It’s felt like a .500 season in Minneapolis, even as that falls well short of expectations. There is a built-in excuse with the extended absence of Karl-Anthony Towns, but it’s a lot of shuffling in place.

14. Miami Heat (33-29, Last week — 13th)

The Heat bookended the All-Star break with two losses on either side, adding some fuel to the panic fire. Miami did pick up a very nice road win over Philadelphia on Monday, though, and that should quell some of the concern. Given how mediocre Miami has been in the aggregate, the Heat are still in a perfectly fine position atop the Southeast Division and still with a solid chance to avoid the play-in.

15. Dallas Mavericks (32-31, Last week — 16th)

Dallas rising in the rankings isn’t an indication of great times. In short, it’s an indictment of other teams in this range. Jason Kidd buried his team after a bad loss and the next game was a home loss to Indiana. Yikes.

16. Washington Wizards (29-32, Last week — 18th)

Washington is hanging around and gets a bump after a nice win on Tuesday. Bradley Beal carried the Wizards to a close win in Atlanta, and Washington has a couple of home games against Toronto to begin this week. If they can sweep that mini-series, things get pretty interesting.

17. Atlanta Hawks (31-31, Last week — 20th)

The Quin Snyder era began with a close-fought loss to the Wizards on Tuesday. Oddly, that defeat had a familiar feeling in that Atlanta failed to execute late and lost a game in which they controlled things most of the night. Still, Snyder is a clear upgrade on the bench and the vibes seem to be strong at the moment.

18. Brooklyn Nets (34-27, Last week — 12th)

Brooklyn’s remaining talent is probably underrated, but the parts aren’t fitting together just yet. The Nets are 3-8 in the last 11, with road games against the Knicks and Celtics waiting to start this week.

19. Los Angeles Lakers (29-33, Last week — 21st)

LeBron’s injury might be the death blow to the Lakers. It doesn’t have to be but, considering the NBA’s all-time leading scorer might miss multiple weeks, it is suddenly quite difficult to find optimism. That’s a shame for a number of reasons, but one of them is that the Lakers looked mighty good in a road win over Dallas on Sunday.

20. Portland Trail Blazers (29-32, Last week — 23rd)

It’s been a roller coaster for Portland after the All-Star break. First, the Blazers had plane/weather issues, sat key guys, and lost by a lot to the Kings. On Tuesday, Portland lost by 18 in Golden State. In the middle, though, Damian Lillard scored 71 points. Yes, 71 points. That’ll work.

21. Utah Jazz (31-32, Last week — 22nd)

Somebody had to lose to San Antonio eventually, and Utah did that on Tuesday. That was maybe enough to generate a five-spot decline in the standings but, hey, things happen. The Jazz are still hanging around the play-in mix and it’s just one result.

22. New Orleans Pelicans (30-32, Last week — 15th)

The vibes aren’t great in New Orleans right now. The Pelicans have dropped four in a row, including the first three games after the break, and now New Orleans has to go to Portland, San Francisco, and Sacramento over the next three games. As the calendar turned to 2023, it felt unthinkable that the Pelicans could miss the playoffs but, as they battle for play-in positioning with Zion Williamson still trying to recover from a hamstring injury, it’s very possible at this point.

23. Orlando Magic (26-36, Last week — 24th)

Orlando is 21-16 over the last 37 games. Read that again. The Magic are still heavily favored to miss the play-in, much less the playoffs, but Orlando has been a real team for a while. That showed again with a road win in New Orleans on Monday.

24. Chicago Bulls (28-34, Last week — 26th)

It really seems like the Bulls are totally out of the mix until you look at the standings. Chicago is 1.5 games out of the play-in in the East with games against Detroit, Indiana, and Houston in the next ten days.

25. Indiana Pacers (28-35, Last week — 25th)

It was a really good week for Indiana. Beyond the opportunity to read about Bennedict Mathurin in our latest DIME cover, the Pacers went 2-1 and the only loss came in overtime to Boston.

26. Oklahoma City Thunder (28-33, Last week — 17th)

This is way too low for OKC, but the Thunder are 0-4 since the break. Unfortunately, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has also missed the last three games and, at the moment, OKC is back in the No. 12 spot in the West standings.

27. Charlotte Hornets (20-43, Last week — 27th)

When LaMelo Ball exited Monday’s game with a fractured ankle, the assumption was that he would likely miss extended time. Just hours later, word broke that he will miss the rest of the season, and Charlotte will now be playing out the string more than it already was. It’s been a disastrous season for the Hornets, and this was another lump of coal, but perhaps Charlotte can really angle toward ping-pong balls to mitigate the damage. If you want to be positive, though, the Hornets have won five in a row.

28. Detroit Pistons (15-47, Last week — 28th)

Detroit has lost eight of the last nine games and the only win was about as bad as a win can be, needing overtime to beat the hapless Spurs at home. On the bright side, James Wiseman showed some signs on Monday in a loss to Charlotte, but you have to squint to find too much optimism lately.

29. San Antonio Spurs (15-47, Last week — 30th)

The Spurs went six (!) weeks without a victory but finally got one on Tuesday. San Antonio beat Utah on the road behind 25 points from Keldon Johnson, and that was enough to climb a spot in the rankings. The Spurs still have the worst defensive rating (119.6) in NBA history, but they aren’t last!

30. Houston Rockets (13-48, Last week — 29th)

Houston is a disaster. Let’s just be honest about that. The Rockets are on a ten-game losing streak, posting the league’s worst record for the season, and the last five losses came by 109 combined points.

WARNING: Spoilers for The Mandalorian Season 3 premiere below.

After a nearly two year absence, The Mandalorian came roaring back to Disney+ and dropped a massive Easter egg barely a few minutes into its return. During the Season 3 premiere, Mando and Baby Yoda jet off in their new ship after being tasked with a quest for redemption by Mando’s old clan who’ve exiled him for removing his helmet. While traveling through hyperspace, Baby Yoda notices strange whale-like object “swimming” along their hyperspace lane. The creatures scare the crap out of the little guy, and he quickly scampers down to sit in Mando’s lap.

The scene might seem like a random encounter designed to show Mando and Baby Yoda are back into their old father/son routine, but it’s actually a significant moment that has Star Wars Rebels fans losing their minds on Twitter. The space whales are called “purrgils,” and this isn’t their first rodeo in the Star Wars universe. The creatures were prominently featured in the Rebels series finale when they transported the fledgling Jedi Ezra Bridger and the villainous Grand Admiral Thrawn to an unknown region of the galaxy.

The quest for Ezra and Thrawn will reportedly be the focus of the upcoming Ahsoka spinoff starring Rosario Dawson. Ahsoka was seen searching for Thrawn in The Mandalorian Season 2, and now, the purrgil scene is a pretty huge hint that Rebels fans are closer than ever to seeing Ezra make his live-action debut. Red 11 star Eman Esfandi has already been cast in the role, so it’s only a matter of time at this point.

You can see Star Wars fan reactions below:

New episodes of The Mandalorian stream Wednesday on Disney+.