Category: News

With the NBA Draft Lottery complete and the playoff teams dwindling to the final four, it’s now officially rumor season in the Association, as teams are having exploratory conversations about Draft night deals and what’s to come when free agency opens on July 1.

We’re starting to get a feel for the teams that are going to be the most active this summer, headlined by those that felt they underachieved this season and need to make that leap back into contention in 2023. Among lottery teams, the Portland Trail Blazers, holding the 7th overall pick, lead that list (that also possibly includes the Sacramento Kings at No. 4), as the expectation around the NBA is that they will be dealing their pick for a veteran that can provide Damian Lillard with immediate help.

Among playoff teams, there’s no one getting more chatter than the Atlanta Hawks, who fell from an Eastern Conference Finals run a year ago to the 9-seed in the East, having to play their way to the 8-seed through the play-in tournament, only to be swiftly bounced in five games by the Miami Heat. Atlanta’s desire to shake things up is well known, but Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report offered some insight into just how willing they are to make moves on Tuesday, reporting that anyone other than Trae Young is available — and providing a couple big names they might try to get in on via trade.

Behind the scenes, league insiders consistently mention Atlanta as a team willing to make wholesale changes. Rival executives view all Hawks players aside from Trae Young as eligible for trade.

Would a package surrounding Clint Capela help facilitate a sign-and-trade to bring DeAndre Ayton to Atlanta? Ayton has been a popular rumored target for Schlenk’s front office, but multiple league sources with knowledge of the Hawks’ thinking have also pointed to various wing scorers as Atlanta’s prioritized endgame.

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Atlanta has also been mentioned by multiple league sources as a potential destination for Zach LaVine.

Fischer also mentions Detroit, Portland, Charlotte, and San Antonio as other suitors for Ayton, but the Hawks are certainly a fascinating destination, as a swap centered on Capela for Ayton would make sense for both teams and would seemingly come down to what Atlanta was willing to attach in terms of additional assets. Whether that would provide them what they need — someone to alleviate pressure from Young — is a valid question, but they have plenty of other players that could be swung in other trades if they wanted to completely overhaul the roster.

LaVine’s availability has become a hot topic recently as the rest of the league apparently believes he could walk away from Chicago, who would certainly prefer a sign-and-trade over seeing him leave for nothing. Fischer’s report is the first to connect the Hawks to LaVine, but that makes sense in terms of finding a high quality secondary scorer next to Young who can ensure teams can’t mimic the Heat’s swarming attack that forced Young into the worst output of his young career in the first round.

Bruce Springsteen is one of the most esteemed performers in music history, so today brings good news: Springsteen and his E Street Band are going on a world tour in 2023. These will be Springsteen’s first shows with the E Street Band since 2017.

So far, the only dates that have been confirmed are European shows from April to July. However, The Boss and company start the year with a run of US arena shows in February, although specific dates and venues have yet to be announced. A second North American tour is also set to follow in August. Furthermore, shows for the UK and Belgium are set to be announced at a later date.

Springsteen said in a statement, “After six years, I’m looking forward to seeing our great and loyal fans next year. And I’m looking forward to once again sharing the stage with the legendary E Street Band. See you out there, next year — and beyond.”

Check out the full list of announced tour dates below.

04/28/2023 — Barcelona, Spain @ Estadi Olímpic
05/05/2023 — Dublin, Ireland @ RDS Arena
05/07/2023 — Dublin, Ireland @ RDS Arena
05/13/2023 — Paris, France @ La Défense Arena
05/18/2023 — Ferrara, Italy @ Parco Urbano G. Bassani
05/21/2023 — Rome, Italy @ Circo Massimo
05/25/2023 — Amsterdam, The Netherlands @ Johan Cruijff Arena
06/11/2023 — Landgraaf, The Netherlands @ Megaland
06/13/2023 — Zurich, Switzerland @ Stadion Letzigrund
06/21/2023 — Düsseldorf, Germany @ Merkur Spiel Arena
06/24/2023 — Gothenburg, Sweden @ Ullevi Stadium
06/26/2023 — Gothenburg, Sweden @ Ullevi Stadium
06/30/2023 — Oslo, Norway @ Voldsløkka Stadion
07/11/2023 — Copenhagen, Denmark @ Parken Stadium
07/13/2023 — Copenhagen, Denmark @ Parken Stadium
07/15/2023 — Hamburg, Germany @ Volksparkstadion
07/18/2023 — Vienna, Austria @ Ernst Happel Stadion
07/23/2023 — Munich, Germany @ Olympiastadion
07/25/2023 — Monza, Italy @ Prato della Gerascia, Autodromo di Monza

The Duffer Brothers have referred to Stranger Things 4 as “our Game of Thrones season” due to its epic scope, but star Millie Bobby Brown apparently would like them to take that comparison even further by killing off cast members. Brown made the comments to The Wrap shortly after being with the cast, which has gotten considerably bigger since the first season. “Way too big” if you ask Brown, and she even offered herself up as a sacrifice.

“Last night we couldn’t even take one group picture because there were like 50 of us. I was like, you need to start killing people off,” Brown said via IndieWire. “Kill me off! They tried killing David [Harbour] off and they brought him back! It’s ridiculous… The Duffer Brothers are sensitive Sallies who don’t want to kill anybody off.”

Brown then walked backed her remarks (just a little bit) before roping in co-star Noah Schapp, who agreed that people gotta start dying:

“I am scared to vocalize anything that I want, because it always turns into ‘Millie Bobby Brown demands this storyline.’ I’m just going to say I trust the Duffer Brothers and their creative process,” before looking to Schnapp, who plays Will, saying, “You want Will to die.”

Schnapp said Will shouldn’t be on the chopping block but admitted that “one of us will die…or more.” Agreeing with Brown, Schnapp said, “They need to kill off some people. [The cast] is so big.”

Well, apparently, Will and Eleven make it out of Stranger Things 4 alive (and presumably a whole bunch of cast members), but then again, maybe the Hawkins Gang are taking a page out of the Marvel book and honing up their misdirection skills as the Netflix juggernaut prepares for its epic ending.

Stranger Things 4 Volume 1 starts streaming May 27.

(Via The Wrap)

Rico Nasty is not here for any intrusive thoughts. On her latest single, “Intrusive,” she calls out her haters, shouting, “you b*tches suck,” and proclaiming, “I’m your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper,” over a fast, drum-driven, punk-inspired beat.

The song’s video, directed by Marco Alexander, appears to have been made on the fly. The clip opens with a disclaimer, reading, “This music video was made with zero to no budget. Zero f*cks and zero expectation,” and thanks Alexander for “always being ready to shoot at any given moment, even if it’s one day before.”

In the video, Nasty sits in a chair, ready to be made-up by her glam team. As they are putting on make up, she runs out of her chair and into a neighborhood. One of the stops is a bodega, where she munches on Takis and a Spider-Man popsicle.

Nasty will play a series of festivals this summer and join Kehlani on the North America dates of their Blue Water Road Trip tour, which kicks off in July. During these slots, she expects the crowds to be rowdy, especially for the women in the mosh pits.

“[F]or the most part, I think my music is for the girls,” said Nasty in an interview with Billboard. “So a lot of times the guys kind of step back and are like, ‘Oh sh*t, look at these b*tches go!”

Check out “Intrusive” above.

Rico Nasty and Kehlani are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Russian President Vladimir Putin apparently thought he could send his troops marching into Ukraine and have everything be over in a matter of days or weeks. That obviously didn’t happen, and not only are there very frivolous outcomes involving Putin’s Botox supply, but the conflict has caused an untold amount of lost lives so far. All the while, an infuriated Putin has reportedly blamed those around him for his dismal war failures, and that’s led to him firing over 100 FSB Secret Agents. Hackers also ruined Putin’s silly parade to celebrate war victory (although Russia is losing), and let’s just say that Putin’s inner circle has a lot of reasons to worry.

To that end, independent news outlet Meduza (which operates under the slogan “The Real Russia”) reports that there’s plenty of talk (from “officials [who] are increasingly fed up with Putin personally”) on how to push Putin out and install a successor. Via The Daily Beast, those around Putin are maneuvering carefully, and “[i]t’s not about them wanting to prepare a plot and overthrow Putin right now. But there is an understanding, or a desire, that in the fairly foreseeable future he will not run the country.”

The situation is obviously a complicated one, given that Russia’s in economic tatters due to levied sanctions and nations around the globe refusing to do business with them, given what Putin’s doing in Ukraine. Still, as The Daily Beast relates, “Putin himself is still willfully blind, insisting that the country’s growing economic problems have nothing to do with the war.” There’s also the matter of his rumored health issues and possible terminal illness, all of which could provide an entry point to give Putin the heave out of office.

Again, it’s clear that no immediate action is planned from Putin’s inner circle. Yet the conversations do provide an interesting window on how Russian officials are viewing the ongoing disaster unfolding around them, and how the struggling nation wants to position itself in the months and years to come.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Regardless of how the jury decides in Johnny Depp’s defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard, at least Heard can rest easy knowing she has one Hollywood heavyweight on her side: Jason Momoa.

As the New York Post reported, entertainment industry consultant Kathryn Arnold took the stand on Monday in the ongoing legal battle between Depp and Heard, and spoke to the damage both actors’ careers have seen in the wake of the various ugly stories to emerge about their toxic relationship and short-lived marriage. Arnold also likely set a record for the number of times she was forced to say “poop,” or some variation of the term, in a professional setting in one day.

“Every time she appears anywhere, the social media negativity campaign starts up again,” Arnold said, before stating that Heard’s endorsement deal with L’Oreal has been put on hold and that even though she was one of the leads in the billion-dollar Aquaman, Heard was excluded from several major press events for the movie, as well as its marketing materials. “Her work stopped,” according to Arnold. And when DC began developing plans for a sequel, there was apparently a lot of discussion around dumping Heard altogether.

While Heard’s agent claimed that there were major concerns about the lack of chemistry between Heard and Momoa, Arnold said that it was because of Momoa and Aquaman director James Wan remaining “committed to” Heard and being “adamant” that she be part of the sequel that she retained her role in the superhero series, even if the role was severely “diminished.”

In an attempt to quantify how much Heard’s very public relationship and divorce from Depp has cost her, Arnold claimed that 2018’s blockbuster hit Aquaman should have been the kind of “Star is Born moment” to bring the actress much more lucrative roles and endorsements. Instead, purportedly because Depp and his lawyer deemed Heard’s domestic abuse allegations against the Pirates of the Caribbean star a “hoax,” the mention of Heard’s name often brings about a storm of negative publicity, particularly on social media, which has caused much of the industry to turn her back on her. Good thing she’s got Aquaman on her side.

According to the Post, Depp’s former girlfriend Kate Moss is expected to take the stand in his defense this week.

(Via New York Post)

Elon Musk has some notable connections to the music world, like his relationship with Grimes and that time he and Kanye West were palling around in 2020. Last year, he also got to know Miley Cyrus when the two were on Saturday Night Live together. That week, he also spent some time with The Kid Laroi, who joined Cyrus for a performance on the show. Naturally, given that Musk is the wealthiest person in the world, Laroi asked the billionaire for advice and he got some.

In an interview on Australia’s Nova radio network (as Billboard notes), Laroi said:

“He’s like, actually a really down-to-earth just he’s just like, hanging out. So I went up, and I asked him, and he basically, yeah, he told me to invest in something that I love. Which I thought I thought was great advice. You know, obviously, you like you expect someone to give you like an entire plan. All right, that’s what you do. But then I, I walked away realizing like, ‘Damn, that is probably the best financial advice you could give anyone,’ because I mean, if you don’t believe in something, then how is everybody else gonna believe in it? He could tell me something to invest in whatever. But if I don’t believe in it, then why would I do it, you know?”

Meanwhile, Laroi is ramping up a new era, as he released “Thousand Miles” last month.

Ryan Gosling hasn’t starred in a movie in four years, since 2018’s excellent First Man. But he’s about to be in two very different films: Greta Gerwig’s weird and wonderful Barbie with Margot Robbie, and The Gray Man, an action-thriller from the directors of the second highest-grossing movie of all-time, Anthony and Joe Russo.

You can watch the trailer below.

Based on author’s Mark Greaney’s “Gray Man” novels, The Gray Man stars Gosling as CIA mercenary Court Gentry, who goes by Sierra Six. “Plucked from a federal penitentiary and recruited by his handler, Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton), Gentry was once an Agency-sanctioned merchant of death,” according to Netflix’s official plot description. “But now the tables have turned and Six is the target, hunted across the globe by Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans), a former cohort at the CIA, who will stop at nothing to take him out. Agent Dani Miranda (Ana de Armas) has his back. He’ll need it.”

An action movie with Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, and Ana de Armas? That’ll do. The Gray Man is one of Netflix’s most expensive movies to date, with a reported budget of around $200 million, at least $75 million of which was spent on Evans’ “trash ‘stache.”

The Gray Man will be released in select theaters on July 15, and hit Netflix on July 22.

[WARNING: spoilers for the Better Call Saul midseason finale to follow]

Last December, Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk posted a photo of himself and Patrick Fabian, who plays Howard Hamlin, on his Twitter account. “Happy birthday pally!” it reads. It seemed like an innocuous birthday message at the time, but following the events of the Saul midseason finale, it’s taken on a whole new meaning. Based on Fabian’s disheveled appearance, including blood (!) in his uncharacteristically messy hair, the photo was clearly taken while they were filming “Plan and Execution,” in which Howard is shot and killed by Lalo Salamanca in Jimmy and Kim’s apartment.

Have a look:

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Fabian was asked whether anyone at AMC freaked out when Odenkirk posted the behind-the-scenes photo last year. “What photo? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, laughing. “You know what? It didn’t really go anywhere. We just pretended there was nothing there, but I also had plenty of explanations for it as well. So I was glad it didn’t go any further than it did.” Later in the discussion, Fabian (who, it’s worth noting, was incredible in this episode) said that he’s “been so lucky to be a part of Better Call Saul, and I pinch myself every time I think about it.”

Saul viewers are also pinching themselves — for not noticing the spoiler until now.

Stay tuned for more Saul content, including the Lie Detector Test recap.

Perhaps the most famous Pavement lyric comes from the band’s 1994 favorite “Range Life,” when Stephen Malkmus sings at the end of the song, “Out on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins / Nature kids, I, they don’t have no function / I don’t understand what they mean and I could really give a f*ck / The Stone Temple Pilots, they’re elegant bachelors / They’re foxy to me, are they foxy to you? / I will agree they deserve absolutely nothing, nothing more than me.”

Last night, Pavement returned for their first concert in 12 years and they’ve decided to leave the beef behind: Uproxx’s own Philip Cosores was at last night’s (May 23) show at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles and he reported Malkmus changed the song’s lyrics to no longer mention Smashing Pumpkins or Stone Temple Pilots. They opted to note different bands instead: While the first one is hard to make out, the second is Toad The Wet Sprocket.

If you ask Malkmus, the original lyrics weren’t a Smashing Pumpkins diss at all, or at least not an all-encompassing one: In a 1999 interview, Malkmus said of the supposed Pumpkins beef: “I only laughed about the band name, because it does sound kinda silly. […] And well, their status, that they were the indie darlings, the heroes of the indie scene. I never really dissed their music. I like their songs — well, most of their songs anyway. Especially ‘1979,’ that’s a cool song. As I said, I never dissed their music. I just dissed their status. I never really cared for the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle or being ‘indie.’”