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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander told the NBA world before the season that after two tanking seasons, his intentions were to start winning games in Oklahoma City again. It would have only been normal to disregard his confidence as bravado or bluster. But SGA has answered his own call, getting the Thunder to the Play-In Tournament ahead of schedule and producing at an All-NBA level.

The fifth-year star has done it without No. 2 overall pick Chet Holmgren and with the second-youngest roster in league history, made up largely of guys who are on their first NBA contract. Gilgeous-Alexander is a contradiction of hoops history. He has risen to among the best players in the NBA with a throwback style that excels within a modern squad. He was traded suddenly to Oklahoma City despite showing promise with the Los Angeles Clippers, and yet has embraced the Thunder’s rebuild and reconstructed the exuberance associated with Oklahoma City dating back to when the Kevin Durant-led squad made the move to Oklahoma.

Gilgeous-Alexander has cut back on his three-point attempts and upped his free-throw rate during his breakout campaign. With the understanding that individual counting numbers are better than ever, there is little precedent in NBA history for a guard who gets to the line 10-plus times per game, hardly ever turns the ball over, and makes more than half his shots overall. You have to go back at least a decade to find any.

Gilgeous-Alexander is operating this way not by blending into the confines of league trends, but by bucking up against them — he’s behind only Luka Doncic in terms of frequency and efficiency on isolations. With 1.06 points per possession in isolation, SGA is more efficient than superstars like Jayson Tatum, Trae Young, and even Kevin Durant when he goes one-on-one.

As a driver, he’s is even better. SGA is leading the NBA in drives per game for the third straight season, and scoring 17.1 points per game off those drives — the best mark in the NBA by almost three points. He also possesses the lowest turnover rate on drives of any of the most prolific downhill scorers in the league.

This is possible in large part because of how Oklahoma City has been built around him, as the team emphasizes ball movement and spacing. They force turnovers on defense and are elite at turning steals into offense on the other end. They get to the line and are fairly adept at getting offensive rebounds. Yet the Thunder aren’t even in the top half of the league in three-point frequency — their spacing is a product of brute force and the quick, crisp way they move the ball. SGA can get one of the team’s many wings the ball and watch them find an opening inside and power through the opponent.

When teams sell out to guard Gilgeous-Alexander’s drives, packing the paint and daring younger scorers like Josh Giddey or Jalen Williams to shoot, SGA has mastered the dance of scoring in no man’s land. He draws fouls on more than 20 percent of Thunder possessions, but his style is far from cheap, as he has made 46 percent of his midrange jumpers this season and is shooting a career-high 64 percent at the rim. In an era of pull-up threes and pick-and-rolls, SGA uses the almost postmodern, positionless roster the Thunder have assembled to free himself up to play basketball like it’s 2003 again.

At the same time, Gilgeous-Alexander is the face of a budding Thunder team that would remind any hoops fan of 2009. SGA was a casualty of the NBA’s megatrade era, in which roster-building became less about planning for free agency and more about nailing huge transactions. SGA came to Oklahoma City alongside a number of first round picks and swaps in return for Paul George, the golden ticket for the Clippers to woo Kawhi Leonard in free agency.

The past two seasons, the Thunder have shut him down early to rehab physical issues. It’s hard to say from afar what is going on with a player’s body, but considering Oklahoma City’s concerted tank job in recent seasons and accumulation of young players and draft picks, it at least seems that maximizing SGA’s availability wasn’t in the larger interest of the front office. He took it all in stride, never publicly complaining or disagreeing, then came back last fall very clearly ready to turn the page and start winning again.

So no, Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t choose this. Like Brandon Ingram, Mikal Bridges, and Lauri Markkanen, the new face of the Thunder arrived as a domino that fell from the departure of a franchise centerpiece. He’s has made that departure sting significantly less, become a leader for the Thunder, and has perhaps already surpassed George’s tenure in OKC.

In this second chapter of NBA megatrade life, how the trading team fares can be determined by lottery balls and draft picks, sure, but also in large part by how the blue chipper they got back performs on the court. Gilgeous-Alexander is the product of this modern trend in the league, yet has transformed the Thunder back into something wholly recognizable.

It’s rare for a player, especially one so young, to make an All-NBA team on a squad hovering around .500. Typically, voters and NBA fans are in unison casting down such players as having empty stats or needing to further prove something before they are rewarded. Perhaps as an emblem of our collective appreciation of his unusual circumstances and unique talents, SGA looks like a lock for All-NBA honors. He has blown past the usual doubts, as the Thunder’s stature as the 10-seed in the West is on the backs of his nightly Herculean performances. He has become a franchise icon for the future, today’s star, and yesterday’s hooper.

Lil Nas X turned 24 over the weekend (on Sunday, April 9), and to celebrate, he set up a racy, Playboy-inspired photoshoot that saw him embracing his inner femme and reproducing the magazine’s January 1986 Cover Girls cover. The rest of the photos Nas posted to Instagram see him perusing the pages of his custom issue with a mischievous grin.

Nas, decked out in bunny ears — which served a double purpose, considering Sunday was also Easter — stockings, and heels, lounges on a silk sheet surrounded by old Playboy magazines. A header reads Batty Boy, which is a pejorative term for gay men in Jamaican Patois; leave it to Nas to reclaim a slur in a way guaranteed to set off those most likely to use it.

The “Industry Baby” rapper has been having a lot off fun challenging critics of his queer identity lately. In March, he clapped back at a troll who accused him of only pretending to be gay for engagement, while earlier this month, he joked that he would indeed be reverting to heterosexuality after finding out Saweetie called him her celebrity crush.

Still, it’s clear from his birthday photos he isn’t really switching up for anyone and remains committed to living out loud, regardless of what the haters have to say.

Jeopardy! has seen its fair share of silly scandals over the years, but nothing like this: a contestant has responded to the “very jerky people” who compared his mustache to Adolf Hitler’s. Somewhere out there, Vince McMahon is breathing a sigh of relief.

“Right now I’m feeling every emotion under the sun reliving my Jeopardy! appearance. And I’m seeing what a bunch of Jerks on Twitter are doing because all they can focus on my looks… So I’m going to be leaving Twitter for a while, see you soon,” Brian Henegar, a guest services agent from LaFollette, Tennessee, tweeted. The next day, he returned and gave a mustache update.

After calling out the “really hurtful comments by some very jerky people [that] made me lose all faith in humanity,” Henegar (who had a three-day total of $68,202) wrote, “So I have two things to say right now, and then I’m not gonna say anything else about the matter for the sake of my own sanity. For starters, even though I’ve spent about 10 years on it, i’m shaving off my mustache tonight…too much work to keep it tight.” The second thing: “To all of you jerkolas you thought comparing my appearance to one of the most evil dictators, who ever lived was the height of comedy, when I get my Jeopardy winnings, I will be making a donation to the Anti-Defamation League.”

In response to Colin Jost joking about his mustache during this weekend’s SNL (“A Jeopardy! contestant this week was forced to quit social media after people said his mustache looks like Hitler’s. The contestant said he’s so mad, he’s had it up to here,” the Weekend Update anchor said while doing the Nazi salute), Henegar tweeted:

That’s being a good sport.

(Via People)

Rumors were swirling last fall that Bob Odenkirk was on the wish-list for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though the actor has remained quiet on the subject. Instead of doing some hardcore MCU training, he instead starred in a DIY remake of The Room, which is arguably even better! But since the actor has been experimenting with more physical roles, it would have made sense for him to graduate into some sort of latex costume.

Odenkirk recently spoke to The Independent, where he gave his thoughts on the ever-expanding Marvel universe. As it turns out, he doesn’t feel like he’d really fit in with the rest of the superhero crew. “I always like to keep things grounded, relatable, and smaller, ” Odenkirk explained, referencing his non-superhero roles in Lucky Hank and Better Caul Saul.

But when it comes to enlisting in the Marvel universe, he doesn’t think it’s for him. “I don’t think I’m built for that world. I’m built for characters that make you feel like that guy could live next door.” Doesn’t everybody have a sketchy lawyer living next door?

Even though he doesn’t feel the need to rub elbows with Captain America, Odenkirk has expressed interest in exploring his action roles. Last year, he told the crowd at the Venice Film Festival that he is still training as if he’s on-call to become the next John Wick. “If I get my way you’re going to see me doing more action. I found the action sequences a great deal of fun and close to doing sketch comedy… I’d like to get that in the future.” It’s only a matter of time before a Keanu/Bob movie gets greenlit now!

(Via The Independent)

The best part of The Super Mario Bros. Movie was the Luma begging for the sweet relief of death. The second best part was Jack Black’s “Peaches” song. The third best? Jack Black’s press tour. He dressed like Bowser, called Elon Musk’s bluff, and revealed that the movie he’s proudest of isn’t necessarily his best. Black is very invested in the Mario-verse, and hopefully Nintendo and Illumination are invested in his casting ideas. Because they’re very good.

When asked about a potential (and inevitable, considering the movie’s box office domination) sequel, Black told Gamespot, “It’s not a given that Bowser will return. You know, I did a few Kung Fu Panda movies, and it was a different villain every movie. They may do the same thing.” He continued:

“You know, what if there is a more powerful, more evil villain? Then I may need to be turned to help Mario and the rest to defend our universe against some other unseen force of evil. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Wario. Pedro Pascal is Wario.”

The Last of Us star is one curled mustache away from the role:

Ethan Hawke can be his Luigi.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is out in theaters now.

(Via Gamespot)

WARNING: Spoilers for Succession below.

Keeping in the proud HBO tradition of brutal weddings, Succession patriarch Logan Roy died during the latest gut punch of an episode. Focused entirely on business, as always, Logan dropped dead during a flight to Sweden where he planned to sell off his media empire instead of handing it over to his children, who have continued to be a disappointment to him.

However, the shocking and emotionally riveting depiction of Logan’s death left the door open to numerous questions about what really happened on that flight, and Brian Cox is apparently jumping right in to the conspiracy theories that are already forming.

Here’s what Cox told the official Succession podcast via Rolling Stone:

“We don’t actually see Logan die,” he said. “We know about it, we hear about it; but we don’t actually see it. We don’t even know if that body at the end of the episode is Logan’s body. So there’s a sort of mystery — is Logan dead? Or is he just gone to somewhere else? Or is he testing his family to see how they’re going to react when he’s dead. That’s the other attitude.”

According to Cox, if Logan did fake his death, it’d be to set up a new life for himself in the north of Scotland. Is that the case? Probably not. Succession creator Jesse Armstrong, and even Cox himself, has confirmed in interviews that Logan is gone, and both defended the creative decision. That said, Logan is a wily old bastard and the show already pulled off one mega twist, so literally anything is on the table going into the series finale.

Succession Season 4 airs Sunday on HBO.

(Via Rolling Stone)

Doja Cat’s fans are anxiously waiting for her next album, but her Twitter account is its own art form. Credit where credit is due: Doja Cat doesn’t delete tweets. She does the opposite. She piles them one by one until a thread is so layered that you can’t remember which tweet started it all.

When someone mocked Doja’s decision to undergo surgical procedures such as breast reduction and liposuction, she clapped back with, “eat my long quiet and warm farts.” And on Saturday, April 8, Doja tweeted screenshots of audio files and vaguely warned “no more pop.”

Of course, that wasn’t the end.

The following night, Doja went on a tweet spree. You need to go on the chronological journey to get the full experience:

Within all of that, Doja claimed her forthcoming album is “called Moist Holes” before immediately retracting with “Jk.” Then, “I quit music” followed immediately by — you guessed it — “jk” followed by “no I’m serious I quit music” and “jk I’m not. relax.” Ultimately, Doja assured her followers that she’s going to “finish this album y’all don’t worry.”

If it’s true that Doja Cat is still flip-flopping on her album’s title, she should definitely consider Never Boring.

SPOILERS from this week’s Succession will be found below.

Succession‘s handling of the Logan Roy situation happened in a way that few could have expected. The current HBO juggernaut decided to go full “Red Wedding” and actually kill Logan in the “Connor’s Wedding” episode. This took the characters and the audience by surprise, especially since Tom sounded suspiciously like he was awkwardly executing a plan during his initial plane-bound phone call to the Roy siblings. And all of this went down after Logan pulled one of his most “Logan” moves (having Roman fire Gerri after the whole d*ck-pic situation) of the entire show so far.

One might wonder about a few of the decisions made for this episode, like why the Greglets got buried (though they subsequently rose on Easter) or why the show had to say goodbye to its patriarch so early on in the final season. We still have another seven episodes to go, after all, but this shouldn’t be too shocking. Given that the show should deliver upon its promise and tell us who succeeds Logan Roy to lead Waystar Royco, the answer should be expected to be a complex one. It can’t possibly be a cut-and-dried affair, and I sure hope that one of the many threads includes Roman trying to figure out if he should let the world know that Dad promised the conglomerate to him, with no one believing him while also hating him. That should be fun.

Will Gerri’s firing stick, as well? She’s already helping to clean up the pieces, and we can hypothesize all day about what will happen — and hope that, by some miracle, Brian Cox finished filming and then popped over to Fear The Walking Dead to play Walker Logan — or we can consider what Cox recently said on HBO’s Succession-focused podcast, via Hollywood Reporter:

“I knew something would have to be done in order to complete the show. And I knew he would probably have to die,” said Cox, referencing Logan’s health being a focus since the very first episode, while also praising Armstrong and his decision to end the show on his terms. “I didn’t quite expect it to happen as early as it did, but then we were locked into the fact that each episode is one day, which we haven’t done in the seasons before. So he dies on day three. I was fine about it, as long as I was getting paid (laughs).”

In other words, the one-episode-covering-a-day structure helps the decision make even more sense, and we can either be sad that Logan Roy is gone, or we can look forward to seven more episodes of a truly great TV show.

HBO’s ‘Succession’ airs on Sundays at 9:00pm EST.

(Via Hollywood Reporter)

Lil Uzi Vert is “finalizing” his long-awaited album The Pink Tape, according to Generation Now founder DJ Drama. During an interview with LA radio Justin Credible on the latter’s podcast, Drama noted that “[Uzi] and [Don] Cannon have been hard at work” on the highly anticipated project, revealing, “They’re just in the process of finalizing the final sequencing and tracklisting of the project.”

Uzi first began teasing the prospect of The Pink Tape shortly after releasing Eternal Atake and its followup, Lil Uzi Vert Vs. The World 2, in 2021. However, Uzi quickly announced that the album would be delayed to ensure that it didn’t “suck,” and instead released an EP, Red & White, to hold fans over until the album was completed. During Uzi’s set at Rolling Loud in Los Angeles last month, Uzi said that the wait for new music wouldn’t be as long as the wait for Eternal Atake, so at least we know The Pink Tape should be along sometime before 2026.

In the meantime, Uzi has been squeezing all the juice out of the Jersey club hit, “Just Wanna Rock,” performing it everywhere from the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards to Wrestlemania. Check out the full Justin Credible interview below.

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

WARNING: Massive Succession spoiler below. For real, it’s a big one.

Succession basically unleashed its version of the Red Wedding, as family patriarch Logan Roy shockingly dropped dead on a flight to Sweden. The corporate titan was on his way to lock down the sale of his media empire to Lukas Mattson (Alexander Skarsgård) and seemingly do what he always does: Outsmart his children at every turn and win. However, the Season 4 episode took a gut punch of a turn when Logan suffered a heart attack mid-flight, forcing Tom to scramble to help Shiv, Roman, and Ken say their last words in a shockingly emotional hour of television.

Going into the episode, fans were warned that “Connor’s Wedding” contains a “mega twist” that would undoubtedly blast all over the internet when it aired, and sure enough, it did. To Succession‘s credit, the show did a great job keeping the bombshell under wraps, and apparently, Brian Cox going rogue was a big help.

In a new interview with Deadline, Cox revealed that he basically crashed the set to avoid internet sleuths figuring out that Logan died. According to the actor, while the production was filming Logan’s funeral they were going to shoot a “fake scene” with him to throw people off the scent of Logan’s fate. However, the team ran out of time and told Cox not to come. He showed up anyway.

I said, I’m coming in. They said, yeah, but we’re not doing the scene. I said, look, I’m coming in, because I know there’s going to be a whole lot of paparazzi there, and they’re going to be wondering what that funeral is. I am coming in. So, I said to my driver, I said, Joe, let’s go, we’re going. So, and as soon as I got out of the car, there were paparazzi shooting me left, right, and center, and therefore, they thought, Logan’s at the funeral, what is he doing?

You see, and if I hadn’t done that, if I hadn’t come, they would’ve gone, it’s Logan’s funeral. And I was the one who took that responsibility. They didn’t even think of it. They were so rushed, and so much, you know, this last season was very difficult to film.

Cox also shared that he has no idea what happens for the rest of the season. He only got the scripts for his episodes, and he’s “eager to see” how the show will be different without Logan.

“It’ll be interesting to see how Logan’s shadow looms, but I really don’t know, because I’m out of it,” Cox said.

(Via Deadline)