Category: News

The Lakers’ early struggles have masked the resurgence of Anthony Davis back into All-NBA form, but as L.A. climbs its way out of the Western Conference cellar, it’s been on the back of Davis playing the best ball we’ve seen from him since helping the Lakers win a title in 2020.

Davis is averaging 28.6 points and 12.8 rebounds per game as he has accepted the role many have long wanted him to take on as L.A.’s center, dominating opposing fives thanks to his combination of strength and quickness. Davis not only being willing to play the five but embracing the role of being a dominant center is arguably Darvin Ham’s greatest feat so far as Lakers coach. For years, fans and analysts have been begging Davis to become the Lakers’ full-time five, but he has long been resistant to that idea. This year, by sheer necessity on a roster without any depth at center, he has become that. And both he and the Lakers are better for it.

The move to center has allowed Davis to change his shot diet tremendously, almost exclusively working around the rim and in the paint this season. Entering Sunday’s game with the Wizards, when he had 55 points on 22-of-30 shooting, Davis was attempting 66.3 percent of his shots from inside 10 feet from the basket, the highest percentage in his career, including 38.5 percent of his attempts at the rim, the most since the second season of his career, per Basketball-Reference. It’s an important shift that has been needed but hard to get Davis to make, because after an unbelievable heater in the Bubble in which he shot the ball better than he ever did in his career, his jumper has fallen off considerably in the two-plus seasons since.

Davis’ hesitancy to become a full-time center was understandable given the various injuries he’s sustained over his career, but when he plays with force — attacking downhill — he is simply unstoppable. That was the case against the Wizards, as he recognized Washington had no one to really protect the rim and attacked mercilessly from the jump.

His shot chart from that game is nothing short of beautiful, as he just went to work inside and the Wizards had nothing for him.

His performance against the Bucks was equally impressive, but also showed how his confidence has breathed life back into his jumper as well, as he drew Brook Lopez out of the paint with some early pull-up jumpers, creating more room to work inside later.

Defensively, he’s still as dominant as ever, posting 2.4 blocks and 1.4 steals per game, patrolling the paint and erasing mistakes by perimeter players at the rim. His athleticism allows him to switch when needed or hedge and recover, giving Darvin Ham the ability to get creative with his defensive looks.

This is the Davis that Lakers fans have wanted to see since that 2020 title run, but through a combination of injuries, unwillingness, and roster logjams at the five, we’re only just now seeing it in action. That’s a credit to Ham, who has done yeoman’s work on the bench to turn the early season around despite minimal roster additions. While getting Russell Westbrook to thrive as a bench player has gotten most of the discussion when it comes to Ham’s ability to be a star-whisperer, getting Davis to play as a dominant center is equally as impressive.

While Davis’ play doesn’t change the Lakers’ needs on the roster, as shooting remains a desperate need around Davis, LeBron James, and Westbrook, it does potentially change the calculus for the Lakers front office. With LeBron in Year 20, there were plenty wondering if this team could be a contender even if they added reinforcements and made a big move — including, reportedly, the Lakers’ decision-makers. The only way that would be the case was if Davis returned to All-NBA form and he has steadily worked his way into being just that through 22 games this season.

What makes this current run of play feel particularly important is that it’s not simply Davis getting hot as a shooter, but is instead a fundamental change in how he’s playing. Shooting can come and go, and while going 4-of-6 from deep the last two games has undoubtedly helped, the 87 other points he’s racked up are far more impressive because they come in a much more sustainable way.

Davis should be able to dominate opposing big men. That ability has never been a question. It’s always been whether he will assert himself, and for the last month he’s done exactly that.

So long as that continues, Davis will be dominant. The shooting can make him truly unstoppable and yields things like 99 points in two games, but even without that, so long as he plays with the force he has of late, the Lakers can count on him to be a leading option, which changes their outlook on this season tremendously.

With Elon Musk holding the reins of Twitter’s destiny (and seemingly steering it toward a cliff), one of the app’s most prolific users is calling for tighter content moderation — albeit in a different form than many of Musk’s most vocal critics. Chuck D, frontman for the pioneering hip-hop group Public Enemy, thinks that if Elon is really all about equalizing free speech on both sides, he’ll ban one of the most controversial terms that has been the focal point of decades of debate.

“Yo @elonmusk the next thing twitter should do is ban the N-Word the N**ga & ni**er by anyone that uses it here,” Chuck tweeted on Friday (December 2). “Then we know things are pointing in an equalized direction. Then you can convince Zuck to do the same at IG FB get it outta here suspend em. It’s as bad as that symbol.”

“That symbol,” of course, is a swastika, for which Kanye West was recently suspended for posting (after just getting his account back from the last time he posted antisemitic commentary).

Chuck predicted a backlash but doubled down on his belief in the ban’s necessity. “It ain’t like kicking somebody’s tail in a fight,” he continued. “It’s all words and images here .. keyboard sht … so I’m not talking about anywhere else except social media right now because it can be done .. there gonna be a lotta people backbroke over their ‘pet’ getting smashed on here.”

Obviously, Chuck is not much of a proponent of the “reclamation” theory of the word’s use, nor is he a fan of the fact that within minutes of Elon Musk actually taking over Twitter, hate speech on the app skyrocketed, with use of the n-word tripling in just one week.

Of course, Chuck isn’t the only one to posit a solution: Trevor Noah joked on The Daily Show that charging $8 per instance of the word’s use would at least make Twitter profitable. We’ll wait with bated breath for Yasiin Bey’s take, which hopefully takes the form of a sequel to his scathing 1999 song about the subject.

Howard Stern has officially weighed in on the affair drama involving Good Morning America anchors Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes, and frankly, the shock jock doesn’t get why everyone’s making such a big deal out of it. While discussing the topic with co-host Robin Quivers, Stern openly admitted that “I really don’t understand what the problem is.” He seemed to be particularly miffed about the Daily Mail‘s report about Robin Roberts is upset about the affair. However, Quivers set him straight that there’s no way to tell if that’s accurate.

“Well, you don’t know that that’s true, whether Robin Roberts cares one jot,” Quivers said as Stern continued to rant about the ridiculous reactions to Holmes and Robach.

“If those two work together and they wanna bang and be in love, what do I give a sh*t? Why is that like offensive to people?” Stern said via Mediaite:

“Well, why are you talking about it?” Quivers said.

“Well, because people are saying they should be fired. I’m saying, really? Why would they be fired? So someone told me, ‘Oh, they’re supposed to report it to HR.’ And that to me is a little unrealistic. In other words, at what point do you go to HR and say you’re carrying on with one of your coworkers? Do you go, ‘Uh, oh, I’m attracted!’” Stern said jokingly.

However, by the end of the conversation, Stern threw his hands up because no one knows what did or didn’t happen behind the scenes at GMA.

“I don’t know anything,” he conceded after growing tired of quibbling over HR regulations.

(Via Mediaite)

Margot Robbie might have numerous awards under her belt, and she might be a literal Barbie, but there was a time when she was just another young actress trying to make it in the industry. Everyone has to start somewhere! Though that time was over pretty quickly when she was cast alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and instantly shot to stardom.

Robbie starred in Wolf Of Wall Street in 2013, and at the time, she was unknown enough for her to believe that nobody would really be paying attention to her, a 22-year-old soap star, when DiCaprio’s character was right there, all sweaty and going through a harrowing financial crisis while on drugs.

“I know this sounds silly now knowing how big the movie became,” Robbie recalled at a recent BAFTA event. “But at the time I was like, ‘No one’s gonna notice me in this film. It doesn’t matter what I do in this film because they’re gonna focus on Leo and I’ll just slip under the radar.’”

DiCaprio did garner praise for his chaotic performance, but Robbie also became a household name after the film. But she wasn’t without nerves! Robbie also admitted that she “had a couple of shots of tequila before shooting” her various nude scenes. Even though this was just a few years ago, it seems like she doesn’t get as nervous anymore, so that’s good!

(Via NME)

Dolly Parton makes everything better. The country icon wasn’t just inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame last month, but she flipped the honor into a challenge to rebrand into “a rockstar” with her aptly titled album Rockstar on the way. Soon after, Parton was named this year’s Bezos Courage And Civility Award winner for her stellar philanthropic record and promised to “do good things” with the accompanying $100 million. Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party only stands to benefit from Parton’s co-hosting duties, too.

Add TikTok to the list.

Parton officially brought her larger-than-life personality to the behemoth social media platform yesterday (December 4). Her first TikTok was a 16-second career montage set to “9 To 5.” One hour later, Parton posted another compilation — this time of her saying, “Hi, it’s Dolly” in various ways.

Her fourth TikTok feels like her true introduction to the platform. “Hey, y’all, it’s Dolly Parton,” she says. “And I’ve officially joined TikTok, so hit that follow button and stay tuned for more.”

The 483,200 (and counting) people who followed Parton’s simple instruction were immediately rewarded with a cheeky six-second TikTok matching Parton’s different personas to the appropriate social media platforms, including an outtake from Parton’s famous Playboy cover for a faux Tinder profile. “I wasn’t kidding when I said, ‘get you a woman who can do it all’ #heyitsdolly #dollytok,” Parton wrote in the caption.

Enjoy all of the “DollyToks” below.

For years, Kyrie Irving’s signature sneaker line with Nike has been one of the brand’s most consistent and most popular offerings. The design has changed minimally in recent years, as Irving found a midtop fit that worked and stuck with it, making marginal changes to the aesthetics while maintaining a similar fit and feel — with the biggest departures coming in variants like the Low, Flytrap, and Infinity series.

However, that partnership will not continue any further after the two sides have parted ways following Nike suspending its sponsorship of Irving earlier this year after Kyrie’s tweet linking to an antisemitic film and his subsequent comments that failed to convey an actual apology. While Irving has completed the steps asked of him by the Nets to return to the floor, the relationship with Nike was apparently not similarly fixed and on Monday it was confirmed by Shams Charania that the two sides had “parted ways” and Irving was no longer a Nike athlete.

It isn’t a huge surprise, especially when you consider the relationship between Irving and the sneaker giant had been rocky for some time, well before Irving’s tweets and commentary got him in hot water. Irving called the upcoming Kyrie 8s “trash” a year ago when he was testing them, creating an initial rift and putting his latest release on the backburner for some time with the 8s ultimately never releasing after Nike suspended its relationship with him last month.

Now he has officially split from his largest brand partnership and it remains to be seen if any other shoe company will want to work with him at this point.

As Argentina progresses through the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the country’s music stars are showing their support. Over the weekend, Paulo Londra met soccer legend Lionel Messi while Tini cheered on her boyfriend Rodrigo De Paul.

Argentina has had a strong showing since the World Cup kicked-off last month. Though the national team lost the first game against Saudi Arabia, they were victorious in their matches against Mexico, Poland, and Australia.

Argentine pop star Tini was present for all three of her country’s winning games to watch her boyfriend De Paul play. On Twitter, Tini’s fans have considered her to be a good luck charm for Argentina with the nickname “Amuletini.” While watching the game against Australia, she tweeted, “Rodrigo I love you.”

Londra, who recently dropped his comeback album Back In The Game, met with Messi. He was present to see Messi be awarded with the Budweiser Player Of The Match award. Londra shared his experience with the soccer star in an Instagram post.

“I can’t believe it,” Londra wrote. “These things are what make me say every day that I owe everything to God for the luxuries that I’m allowed to live. You are light. I see an example of a player and a person. I love you and God bless that left foot always.”

Londra also met Lil Baby while in town for the World Cup. Next up, Argentina faces the Netherlands on Friday, December 9.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The time has come for some of the third generation’s top male acts to enlist in the military.

Starting today (December 5), K-pop soloist Wonho will begin training to fulfill his mandatory military service as a public service worker. Prior to the enlistment, the “Don’t Regret” singer updated various channels to address his fans about his status with a heartfelt note and some photos of himself.

On his official fancafé (a Korean term for an artist’s bulletin board), Wonho left a note saying he prepared “so many different things” for WEENEE (his official fanclub name) to enjoy so they won’t get bored during the time he’s not active. “So I hope you spend this time happily and waiting for the day we meet again,” he said in his fan forum, according to allkpop.

Meanwhile, on Twitter, Wonho kept it short and sweet with a message translating to “see you soon” with a trio of smiling photos attached.

Just two days before officially enlisting, Wonho held his 2022 Wonho Concert: Everyday Christmas on Saturday, December 3, hoping to spread some holiday cheer with fans as his last public appearance. Leading up to his final event, even before the enlistment announcement, the singer managed to complete his European Facade tour in September while also completing fan-meet concerts in South Korea, Japan, and Thailand.

Wonho’s last music project before enlistment is his two-track single-album Bittersweet alongside its lead single “Don’t Regret.”

In his latest attempt to prove he is not a cyborg, Elon Musk claimed that he “personally wanted to punch” Kanye West in the face after he tweeted his rebranded version of a swastika on Twitter (which was essentially a swastika wrapped inside a Star of David, to go along with Ye’s new insistence that he loves both Jews and Nazis… which makes total sense, and even got Borat all riled up).

As Insider reports, Musk — the new owner of Twitter, who seems desperate to make the site a place for uncensored free speech, which could very likely burn the social media network to the ground — took part in a live Q&A on the site to talk about Twitter agreeing to requests from both Donald Trump’s White House and Joe Biden’s campaign to remove certain files from the site in 2020. But it was only a matter of time until one concerned Tweeter asked: “How are you going to balance the level to which we speak about the freedom of expression on Twitter?”

“I personally wanted to punch Kanye,” the billionaire tough guy responded, “so that was definitely inciting me to violence. That’s not cool.”

No, not cool at all. Just like tweeting images of swastikas is not cool — nor is suspending someone from the site for a measly TWO WEEKS after sharing such hateful imagery with millions of people. But Musk seemed pretty proud of himself, explaining that: “It is important people know, OK, that was my decision,” he said. As if the punishment were a harsh one.

(Via Insider)

The Carolina Panthers have spent years trying to find a quarterback without using a first round pick, and the results have not been good. As Cam Newton started to fade, they’ve turned to Taylor Heinicke, Kyle Allen, Cam Newton (again) Will Grier, Teddy Bridgewater, Sam Darnold, Cam Newton (again, again), PJ Walker, Baker Mayfield, PJ Walker (again), Baker Mayfield (again) and most recently Sam Darnold (again).

The dalliance with Mayfield was particularly short, as he started the first six games of this season before getting injured, having PJ Walker out perform him, getting the job back briefly, and then eventually seeing Sam Darnold get healthy and get a crack at the starting job. None of it has yielded success, but Mayfield’s tenure was particularly dim, as he had six touchdowns and six interceptions over six starts and seven overall appearances, completing 57.8 percent of his passes for just over 1,300 yards, with the Panthers going 1-5 with him as a starter.

It was not what Mayfield hoped when he got a fresh start after being run out of Cleveland, but he is now perilously close to running out of chances to prove himself as an NFL quarterback — at least one that gets chances to compete for a starting job. On Monday, word broke from Ian Rapoport and Josina Anderson that Mayfield was being waived by Carolina, which may provide him one last shot at finding a new home.

The San Francisco 49ers become the immediate frontrunner for Mayfield’s services, as they just saw Jimmy Garoppolo suffer a season-ending injury, breaking his foot early in a win over the Dolphins. While Brock Purdy filled in admirably in an impressive win over a good Miami team, adding Mayfield would, at minimum, provide the Niners with some suddenly much-needed depth at the quarterback position, providing some insurance if Purdy isn’t able to perform consistently. Now, consistent performance has never been a hallmark of Mayfield’s game at the NFL level, but if there were ever a place for Mayfield to prove he can still run an offense, it’s in San Francisco where there are boatloads of playmakers and the QB’s job is very simply to just get them the ball as quickly as possible.