The NBA is trying to figure out exactly how to wrap up its regular season and postseason while in the midst of a global pandemic. The league hasn’t held any games since March 11, when Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, and in the weeks since, fans have wondered when it will be safe for games to resume in some capacity, whether it be in home arenas without fans or in one centralized location.

Even if getting the regular season back is not feasible, perhaps the league could dive right into the postseason, even if LeBron James has stressed that is not an ideal outcome. And while putting a timeline on all of this is next to impossible, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN brought word of the end date the league hopes to have on this season.

Wojnarowski appeared on Get Up and expressed that while it’s not a hard and fast end date for the year, the NBA wants to have everything wrapped up by Labor Day weekend, although it would be willing to go a little beyond that if need be.

Wojnarowski also raised the point that going that far into the calendar wouldn’t just impact the end of the 2019-20 campaign, saying “that’s still almost likelier, I think almost certain, if you push it that far, that you are delaying the start of next season.” This is a point that Brian Windhorst of ESPN had also raised when he mentioned the factors the league is weighing as it considers calling this year altogether.

It’s weird when giant corporate chains try to make you feel like you’re their friends and not just their customer base. I used to look at Taco Bell sauce packets with disdain for their try-hard attempt to connect with me via pithy quotes. However, given the current state of the world, sauce packets that say things like “You’ve got this” or “Live life one sauce packet at a time” feel oddly supportive. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I feel like Taco Bell gets me right now.

Granted, that has a lot to do with the fact that Taco Bell has decided to give out free Doritos Locos Tacos at all of their locations today, no purchase necessary. Who doesn’t love free tacos?

Yes, you can straight-up roll to the Taco Bell Drive-thru, order absolutely nothing, and still receive a Doritos Locos Taco. If you can live without adding cinnamon twists, via con dios. We admire you.

The free Doritos Locos Taco deal only applies to orders placed in the drive-thru, or through the app for curbside pickup. So if you plan on ordering your Taco Bell through a delivery service don’t expect a free taco, you’ll just have to use your own Doritos at home which we know you have in lieu of veggies because, let’s face it, we all suck at pandemic grocery shopping.

This is the second time Taco Bell has given out free tacos in seven days. It’s important to focus on independent restaurants at this time, but damn, if this becomes a weekly thing we’re here for it.

Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels, but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.

Every week, Uproxx is rounding up the very best of the indie releases from the past seven days. This week we got new quarantine demos from Gerard Way, the incredible and dreamy debut from Ellis, and yet another new track from The 1975, this time featuring Phoebe Bridgers.

While we’re at it, if you want more music recommendations curated by Steven Hyden delivered directly to your inbox every week, sign up for the Indie Mixtape newsletter.

Yves Tumor — Heaven To A Tortured Mind

The latest in a series of efforts that forced all eyes on Yves Tumor for his brash — yet inviting — experimentation, Heaven To A Tortured Mind feels like an urgent addition to our current moment. Across its twelve songs, according to Philip Cosores for Uproxx, “Tumor takes another huge step forward, and one that puts him at the forefront of musicians that can stand deftly stand in the worlds of art and pop at the same time.” Heaven To A Tortured Mind is a staggeringly impressive feat, one that cements Yves Tumor as an artist that will not be leaving the spotlight anytime soon.

Ellis — Born Again

There is a certain beauty to conciseness: when an artist is very good at their craft, sometimes they can get cocky and the work can become overblown. The opposite is the case on Ellis’ debut full-length Born Again. Linnea Siggelkow is at the top of her songwriting game, and she “doesn’t need much time to pack emotional depth and formidable insight into her deft, brilliant songwriting,” Caitlin White writes for Uproxx. Born Again is a shimmering collection of devastating dream-pop tracks, one that is instantly impressive in its composition and delivery.

Crisman — Crisman

If you’re into artists like Florist or Lomelda, then Crisman is set to be your new favorite band of 2020. On their debut self-titled album, Crisman show their impressive dynamic range, anchored by Madeline Dowd’s entrancing vocal stylings. While Dowd was previously focused on her visual art, Crisman makes the case for pushing forward in the music world, and marks another stellar release from Topshelf Records.

Violent Soho — Everything Is A-OK

It’s always interesting how bands with massive appeal in their home country are still categorized as “up-and-coming” in other parts of the world. Australia’s Violent Soho fit this bill perfectly — their most recent LP peaked at Number One on the Australian charts and earned them a handful of ARIA awards. However, their new album Everything Is A-OK marks their first release with esteemed American punk label Pure Noise Records. The record features the Aussie quartet’s most anthemic tracks to date, with heavy riffs and Billy Corgan-esque vocals that are sure to make any punk fan’s ears perk up.

Charmer — Ivy

Michigan strong! Ivy is Charmer’s sophomore album, and one that is set to take them out of the DIY world onto larger stages. Where many bands in the underground scene are vocal about their internal struggles, Charmer takes a different approach, promoting optimism while not avoiding the brutal honesty that has drawn fans to the band. Ivy emphasizes making the best of your present moment and not relishing in nostalgia, a message that we can all probably try internalizing.

Yaeji — What We Drew

After collaborating with Charli XCX and Clairo on “February 2017,” Korean producer Yaeji has unleashed an upbeat new mixtape to keep your spirits up in the quarantine. The tracks showcase Yaeji’s knack for expansive production, and deal with themes of “friendship, family, gratitude and support – support that I’ve felt, that I’ve given, and that we all share,” according to a statement announcing the record.

Gerard Way — “Phoning It In”

Later this year, My Chemical Romance are scheduled to embark on their first North American tour in nearly a decade, although Rolling Stone is now reporting that those dates might have been postponed. Either way, MCR frontman Gerard Way took to Instagram to share four new solo tracks in their demo form as part of a project called Distraction Or Despair. The standout here is “Phoning It In,” which, as Derrick Rossignol notes for Uproxx, is “a song he said he planned to originally release as a single, and ‘may still do that at some point when I finish them.’” In typical Way fashion, it features a rousing chorus that quickly gets stuck in your head.

The 1975 — “Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America”

The bad news: The 1975 have delayed Notes On A Conditional Form another month. The good news: they also shared a new track, and it features vocals from Phoebe Bridgers. “Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America” sounds more like a Bridgers or Sufjan Stevens song than anything The 1975 have released in their career, making for another interesting turn from the British outfit. On the serene track, according to Derrick Rossignol for Uproxx, Bridgers and Matty Healy “address forbidden loves.” Based on the singles we’ve heard so far, it looks like Notes On A Conditional Form is going to be a true, massive hodge-lodge of different sounds and inspirations.

Hayley Williams — “Over Yet”

Following the experimental Boygenius-featuring track “Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris,” Hayley Williams’ latest Petals For Amor sampling is more of an ’80s-inspired anthem. Perhaps that’s why she decided to accompany it with an aerobics video. On “Over Yet, “Williams blends down-tempo electric guitar with bright percussive elements to craft an empowering anthem,” writes Carolyn Droke for Uproxx.

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever — “She’s There”

After the disillusionment that set in after this Australian outfit returned from a lengthy tour supporting their debut album Hope Downs, they decided to turn the uneasiness into inspiration. “She’s There” is the first preview of the band’s upcoming sophomore effort Sideways To New Italy, a straight rocker that epitomizes the band’s mission on the record. Throughout the album, they “tried to convey that feeling in a dream where you need to be somewhere, and you don’t really know why, but you are determined to overcome every obstacle to get there,” according to a statement.

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

The last place you’d expect to see Hollywood megastar Brad Pitt is on one of the countless home improvement shows on HGTV, but the Once Upon A Time In Hollywood actor apparently jumped at the chance to work with the Property Brothers on their new spinoff Celebrity IOU. The series will feature celebrity guest stars like Pitt, Viola Davis, and Rebel Wilson as they chip in on home improvements for their loved ones.

In the premiere episode, Pitt enlists brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott to spruce up the house of the actor’s longtime makeup artist and dear friend Jean Ann Black, who is reportedly the “secret weapon” behind Pitt’s dreamy looks. The goal is to turn her freestanding garage into a luxury space for Black’s guests and clients, and it doesn’t take long for Pitt to start swinging a sledgehammer alongside his new helpers. On top of being a handy craftsman, Pitt is still just as suave on a work site as he is on set, according to Vanity Fair‘s advance review of the episode:

Wearing his signature newsboy hat, artfully tousled hair, and a genuine smile every time he talks about his long-standing friendship with Black, Pitt is exactly as relaxed and casual as he pretended to be during every awards acceptance speech earlier this year. “I love the sound of a construction site,” he says, not long after dropping that he knows the zoning laws for how close you can build to the property line. “I’m extremely tactile,” he says, picking out engineered hardwood samples like they’re crown jewels.

Needless to say, Black ends up loving the renovation, and her big appearance at the end lives up to the hype of Pitt talking her up to “high heaven” throughout the episode. The two friends also share some tender moments that HGTV fans will sure to enjoy during the handsomely rugged premiere on Monday, April 13.

(Via Vanity Fair)

In these strange times, it’s nice to have something to look forward to. Most of us are working from home (if we’re fortunate enough to still have jobs) and haven’t seen much of the outside world in weeks. It’s starting to get downright monotonous. We’re daydreaming about warmer spring days to come and the end of the national quarantine.

With boredom and anxiety levels both on high, we find ourselves extra excited for random booze-related holidays. Whatever they are, at this point we’re in. Well, reserve a Zoom room for April 9th, because its National Gin & Tonic Day and we’re going to get our drink on.

Besides being delicious and refreshing, there are few classic cocktails easier to make than the iconic G & T. This simple combination tonic water, gin, and lime is perfectly suited for early spring weather. But with gin booming in recent years, the selection has widened. To help you pick which bottle to have delivered, we asked some of our favorite bartenders to name the best gins to mix into a gin & tonic.

Plymouth

Mary Cooksey, bar manager at Oak Bar in Nashville

Although this may be a somewhat unpopular opinion, gin is actually an incredible spirit to drink neat. Plymouth gin is the gin you need to be drinking straight (or mixed into a g & t). It’s incredibly fresh and aromatic, while only slightly bitter. Its botanicals have a floral quality, as well as big notes of lemon peel, coriander, and, of course, juniper berries. I love how this gin is bright and crisp, with layers of complexity. It’s difficult to not appreciate it straight honestly.

The Ozark Mountain Daredevils Gin

Cody Dillon, general manager at Florblanca in Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica

My favorite gin is The Ozark Mountain Daredevils Gin. It is a small-batch “London Dry” style gin, and it is distilled in Springfield, Missouri. Elderberry is a native berry to this region of the state, and the gin is infused with this which is an added bonus for immunity! I enjoy this with tonic water — “Daredevil and tonic” is how I call it.

Watershed 4 Peel

Courtney Everett, bartender at O-Ku Sushi in Atlanta

I like Watershed Distillery’s 4 Peel Gin for a gin and tonic. It’s citrusy, approachable and not too piney, and they’re a great company with thoughtful practices so I like supporting them.

Cutwater Barrel Rested Old Grove Gin

Cody Goldstein, founder of Muddling Memories in New York City

Cutwater Barrel Rested Old Grove Gin is a favorite of mine currently because of its unique finish in charred oil barrels which lends this really distinct cinnamon note. The gin is very smooth from being rested in the barrels and a hint of smoke as well. It makes a truly unique gin and tonic that is unlike any other g and t I have tried. I like to garnish it with a smoked cinnamon stick and lime to bring out the botanicals. Cutwater also makes great canned ready-to-drink cocktails including a gin and tonic for those who like convenience.

Hendrick’s

Kevin Moran, general manager at Seagar’s Prime Steaks & Seafood in South Walton, Florida

Hendrick’s Gin is my personal favorite because it has the nice botanicals that you expect from gin while also being balanced enough to give tonic water just enough of a partnership to be delicious.

Berkshire Mountain Greylock Gin

Josh Saphier, bartender at Eighteen36 in Houston

My favorite gin is another little guy out there on the market. Greylock Gin from Berkshire Mountain Distillers. It’s defined as a London Dry style which typically means juniper-forward. When I sip on this, I get much more floral notes on the front which is American style. Since it’s being mixed in a drink the tonic is just as important. For this, I prefer Fever Tree from London.

Beefeater 24

Josh Streetman, bartender at Motor Supply Co. in Columbia, South Carolina

I like Gin and Tonics for the diversity and individuality a bartender can bring to highlight their own style. Also, Ingredients play well and differently to express seasonality, regional terroir, and the botanicals in each gin. I’ve got to be honest, dealers choice. But I keep Beefeater 24 in my freezer.

Gin Mare

Natalie Migliarini, mixologist behind Beautiful Booze on Instagram

Gin Mare, which is a Mediterranean Gin. The herbaceous tasting notes makes it perfect for a Spanish style gin and tonic.

Prescribed Barrel Aged Gin

Bryan Long, assistant director of food and beverage at Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa in Palm Beach, Florida

Prescribed Barrel Aged Gin from Fort Lauderale is a small batch gin that has the botanical notes of a gin with the added notes of bourbon from the barrel it was aged in.

Fords

Nate Simmons, bartender at Garden & Grain in Pensacola, Florida

I always go with Fords Gin for a g and t. It’s floral and citrus round out a nice juniper base, and it plays very well with a quality tonic.

The Botanist

Mazzarie Parker, bar manager of Maypop Restaurant in New Orleans

My go-to gin would have to be The Botanist Islay Dry Gin. I love a spicy, floral, herbal gin. The distiller hand-forages the botanicals used in production, which translates beautifully in the complex flavors of this spirit. Pair this gin with homemade tonic and sprig

Tanqueray No. 10

Zsolt Ducsai, food and beverage director at Serafina Beach Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico

My choice will be on Tanqueray No.10. Excellent make of many different botanicals. Not overwhelmed with typical flours in it. Perfect choice to have with a grapefruit in it.

Silent Pool

Piero Procida, bartender at The London West Hollywood in Los Angeles

Silent Pool Gin. The quality behind this English gin is just amazing. Moderately priced but certainly worth every penny. It’s not overly herbaceous as many gins are so does not overpower you but is full-bodied enough to ease the bite of tonic. It uses over 24 botanicals but is strong on the Juniper, yet all work well together to create a complex flavor that tonic will compliment.

Green Hat

Joseph Palminteri, director of food and beverage at Via Sophia in Washington, DC

Green Hat. Local right here in the heart of DC, hand-made from grain to glass, each numbered batch of Green Hat Gin is crafted step-by-step over a one month period, featuring a clear juniper nose, hints of citrus lightness and coriander spice, a vague recollection of root botanical earthiness, a subtle note of grains of paradise peppery-ness, an herbal whisper of celery, and a rewarding complexity. The result is a super-premium gin that excels both in the finest cocktails and with a small cube in the gin lover’s neat glass.

With the uncertainty surrounding, well, everything right now, it seems increasingly likely that we won’t see the NBA get the chance to wrap up the 2019-20 season. This, coupled with the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament, makes things much more difficult than usual for NBA teams and post-college evaluators. I’m sure by now you’ve heard more than enough about how weak the 2020 draft is, and mostly, that stuff is true. The top-10 or so this year is about as rough as it’s been in a decade, although the overall depth is pretty good, even down into the 50s.

This brings up an obvious conundrum for most of the lottery teams: Do you swing for the fences on a potential cornerstone who has not looked like a star in college, or do you take a solid, productive player with a winning pedigree? Last year, far too many teams passed on the latter in the form of Brandon Clarke, and this year seems even less likely to produce multiple stars. Enter Dayton’s Obi Toppin.

After a redshirting a season due to academic ineligibility, Toppin burst onto the scene in 2018-19, averaging 21.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per 40 minutes en route to winning the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year award and being named first-team all-conference, something no player in the A-10 had done since Lamar Odom in 1999. He got at least some first-round buzz before deciding to return to school last summer, and it’s hard to fault him for that decision.

Dayton ended the year 29-2 with both losses coming at neutral sites in overtime against power conference opponents, Kansas and Colorado. They had one of the nation’s best offenses by most metrics, sitting tops in effective field goal and two-point field goal percentage. They have more good players than I think highlight packages would have you believe, but Toppin is undoubtedly the best. His per 40 minute numbers have jumped to 25.3 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 2.7 assists, he shot 39 percent on 3.3 attempts per 40 from behind the three-point line (a 21.2 three-point rate), and he led the country in dunks with 107. Of all the players with at least 50 dunks, he was the only one to also make at least 30 threes. Since 2008, he’s one of only seven players to achieve this feat.

Perhaps most importantly, Toppin’s been exciting in a way that few players in 2020 truly are. His dunks routinely led SportsCenter’s NCAA coverage, and he’s a complete monster in transition at this level, pulling out multiple dunk contest-worthy finishes for no reason other than he can. It’s hard not to understand why so many outlets have moved him firmly into the top-5 conversations. Comparisons to Ja Morant and Clarke have been rampant, and he’s quickly become the most viral player in the 2020 class. The problem with this is that, unlike Morant, he’s not any kind of ball-handler, and unlike Clarke, he’s not a particularly imposing defender. Projecting Toppin to the NBA level is a tricky proposition unless you truly believe he’s the next Amar’e Stoudemire.

The flaws in Toppin’s game start with his frame. He’s a solid 6’9 and 220 pounds, so height isn’t really an issue. However, he’s got a relatively short looking wingspan and weirdly proportioned shoulders, which seem to make it really hard for him to change direction and mirror people effectively, one of the most important skills for defending on the perimeter in modern basketball. His size and lack of length make it a stretch to imagine him as any kind of real rim protector, either.

Filtering those same dunk stats from before, but with players who logged a block percentage of less than five, reveals a lot of similar PF/C tweener-types whose lack of real length has hurt them in the pros: Trevor Booker, Markieff Morris, Miles Bridges, Cameron Bairstow, Chimezie Metu, PJ Washington, Montrezl Harrell, Brice Johnson, Lavoy Allen, Cory Jefferson. Some of these guys have been quite good in the NBA, but I’d be hard pressed to call any of them true rim protectors. Bam Adebayo also made this list, but the difference between him and Toppin as fluid lateral movers is stark.

Toppin’s lack of ball-handling hurts him as a playmaking 5. While he’s not a bad passer — some of his reads out of double-teams and kickouts are terrific, and he’s logged multiple 4+ assist games on a team with a lot of playmakers — it is hard to project that he’ll be, say, a Marc Gasol-type. Perhaps the most damning number for Toppin’s case as a future NBA star, however, is his age. A 22-year-old college sophomore, he is one day younger than Jayson Tatum. That’s the kind of development curve that feels like it’s nearing completion.

Most athletes peak at around 24 or 25, and having only two years to shore up his weaknesses makes the idea of Toppin as a franchise building block and perennial All-Star seem difficult. It was already hard enough to see happening for someone like Clarke, and he had the excuse of having to rework his entire shot during his season off. Toppin’s shot seems like a finished product — he’s a solid, but not spectacular, shooter.

None of this is meant to imply that Toppin will be a bad NBA player. He’s quite likely to, at the very least, be an extremely effective garbage man and lob threat off the bench. It’s very possible a team like Portland or Atlanta turns him into a starter (John Collins and Aaron Gordon seem to me two pretty solid high-end outcomes for him), which would absolutely make him worth a lottery pick, but the idea of him as becoming a star seems like it would require a handful of breaks that run in complete opposition with everything we know about today’s NBA.

In the end, it’s certainly plausible at least one team convinces themselves he’s a star prospect worth building around, and while it’s pretty unlikely that move backfires in the way it did for the teams that drafted Michael Beasley and Derrick Williams, there’s at least some chance that ten years from now, we’re all using Toppin’s name the same way we use Joe Smith or Glenn Robinson: Not quite a cautionary tale, just one about how hard it truly is to find a true building block in a draft like this.

Like many of us, Ariana Grande has been trying to find ways to occupy herself during the coronavirus pandemic. She has certainly been keeping busy, whether she’s sending money to fans in need, sharing new music, or performing from the comfort of her home. On the same day she and her producer performed “My Everything,” Grande also shared another video, of herself doing her best impression of a beloved Adam Sandler character.

In the video, Grande re-creates a scene from The Waterboy, in which Bobby Boucher misunderstands what a pair of girls at a party mean when they ask about his relationship status. Here’s the original scene:

And here is Grande’s reenactment (made with Dynasty actress Elizabeth Gillies, who also starred in Victorious alongside Grande):

Sandler himself caught wind of the video yesterday, and he gave the clip his full endorsement… or rather, Bobby Boucher’s full endorsement, as Sandler re-shared the post and wrote, “Bobby Boucher approves of this message.”

Sandler isn’t the only ’90s-’00s comedy icon Grande has had the opportunity to connect with in recent times. She got to work with Jim Carrey last summer when she filmed a cameo for his Showtime series Kidding, and the episode Grande appears in aired earlier this year.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are set to be one of the most intriguing teams in the NFL this coming season, whenever that happens. After landing Tom Brady in free agency, there is suddenly a buzz about their chances in the NFC South, as they’ve replaced the wildly erratic Jameis Winston with arguable the greatest quarterback of all-time, albeit one with some questions to answer about how much gas he still has in the tank after a rather pedestrian 2019.

To go along with a new quarterback and new expectations, the Bucs are getting new uniforms for the 2020 campaign. The hope for many was that they would return to the creamsicle look from their early years, but instead they’ve decided to spin forward a modern twist on their look from the early 2000s, when they had their most success as a franchise.

On Tuesday, the Bucs unveiled their three uniform set, with a sharp all-white look, a classic red and pewter set, and an all pewter combination.

The white is my personal favorite, followed by the red and pewter, with the all-pewter falling short for me (part of this is that, as a Browns fan, I am far too accustomed to terrible monotone uniforms and this feels too familiar). Some of the criticism of the Bucs new look is that it is a bit too similar to that of their divisional rival Atlanta Falcons, and there are some similarities. I do wish they’d brought the creamsicle color out a bit more rather than it just being part of the number outline (which, I must say, is desperately needed to differentiate them from the Falcons uniforms), but overall they’re a solid improvement and will surely result in a boost in jersey sales, which is always the main reason for uni changes in pro sports.

Multiple guests have been involved inthe rollout for Hayley Williams’ solo album Petals For Armor. That includes Phoebe Bridgers, who, along with fellow Boygenius members Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, sing on “Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris.” Williams can’t seem to get enough of Bridgers: Today, she shared a video of herself covering Bridgers’ “Smoke Signals,” from her 2017 album Stranger In The Alps.

Williams dedicated the performance to photographer and friend Lindsey Byrnes, writing, “woke up today a lil heavy. didn’t know why, just some days are like that. but then realized i am inextricably connected to my friend @lindseybyrnes who’s sweet father just passed away. one of her favs is Phoebe Bridgers so this self-serenade is actually for her since i can’t hang with her or hug her tight. check on your friends and send them your love. just because we are all isolated right now doesn’t mean we aren’t as close. our connection to each other defies space and time. ps @_fake_nudes_ im sorry for butchering your beautiful guitar parts. and also, this is just a perfect song.”

Phoebe was on the opposite end of a cover recently: Last week, she shared a cover of Conor Oberst’s “Mamah Borthwich (A Sketch)” to help raise money for Los Angeles’ Bootleg Theater.

Watch Williams cover “Smoke Signals” above.

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