The NBA is moving closer and closer to some sort of resolution on restarting the 2019-20 season. Whenever that is determined — and it must be stressed, there no guarantee that we’re getting basketball despite everyone’s best intentions — players and teams will have to get back to training so that they’re in shape and ready to go when games start.

This could be a much longer process, however, for the players who haven’t been able to get shots up in a while. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jayson Tatum have both expressed that they do not have hoops at home, while Khris Middleton has said he has to go to a neighbor if he wants to shoot around. According to a new report by The Athletic, some players have tried to fix this by circumventing rules put forth by local governments.

Via Sam Amick and Joe Vardon of The Athletic:

As of now, no player is allowed into his team’s facility or some other gym to work out. Development staffers are not supposed to be working with the players. If a player has a private gym at home, great. Many have said they do not. Others, according to multiple sources, are practicing secretly on their own at gyms that are supposed to be closed.

It’s a tough situation for any player to navigate. Beyond the fact that their livelihoods are tied to the ability to play basketball, the league is normally in the midst of the postseason right now, and players are just used to playing competitive basketball at this point in the calendar. Still, this is a risky move by whichever players are going out and getting shots up. Hopefully everyone who has done this stays healthy, doesn’t unknowingly spread COVID-19 to anyone and, of course, can figure out a solution that lets them knock off the rust without violating these various orders if the league does inch toward a real return.

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If your 2020 wasn’t already going poorly, a group of murder hornets are officially here to make it worse.

On Saturday the New York Times wrote a story about an invasive species that quickly went viral, and for good reason. The subject is the appearance of the asian giant hornet in the United States, a huge predatory insect that can decimate honeybee populations with deadly efficiency. They also look absolutely terrifying to humans because their queens can grow up to two inches long.

The article is an urgent case of scientists and beekeepers reacting to an invasive species that can cause real damage to an ecosystem. Basically, that metaphor in Season 1 of Ozark playing out in real time, but with honeybees this time. The details of what the hornets are and the damage the can cause, both to humans and bees alike, was a bit terrifying to say the least.

With queens that can grow to two inches long, Asian giant hornets can use mandibles shaped like spiked shark fins to wipe out a honeybee hive in a matter of hours, decapitating the bees and flying away with the thoraxes to feed their young. For larger targets, the hornet’s potent venom and stinger — long enough to puncture a beekeeping suit — make for an excruciating combination that victims have likened to hot metal driving into their skin.

In Japan, the hornets kill up to 50 people a year. Now, for the first time, they have arrived in the United States.

The whole thing is equal parts fascinating and horrifying, but in the current climate we live where people are trapped inside due to a pandemic, another sign of the endtimes arriving via giant pestilence was just too on the nose. The article drew plenty of reaction on Twitter, where the phrase “murder hornets” quickly started to trend.

The news made many long for a less chaotic but still terrible time. Like maybe a few years ago.

This may be yet another sign that the end times are near, but there is some hope in pitcher plants, which are really good at trapping these insects and murdering them by drowning them in fluid before they can murder other creatures. In conclusion: nature continues to be terrifying.

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Coming off her “original” contribution to the 2020 film Dolittle, Sia has returned in earnest with her radiant single “Saved My Life.” Debuting the song Friday night during Americares’ COVID Is No Joke livestream fundraiser, she stood behind a light fixture to deliver a stripped-down rendition backed by just a piano. The song’s studio version, however, features the addition of many more instruments for a more complete sound. The song is also written by Sia herself, Dua Lipa, and Greg Kurstin.

A recently recorded effort, Sia and Kurstin followed social distancing guidelines as, according to Rolling Stone, Kurstin recorded the keyboard, drums, bass and more from his studio in Los Angeles while Sia recorded her vocals at her studio in Palm Springs. The single also arrive days after Sia remixed Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” to create a Tiger King parody for charity.

Following her initial 2016 album, Sia would ring in the holiday season with her 2017 album, Everyday Is Christmas, a thirteen-track effort that featured original music composed by frequent collaborator Kurstin. Since then, Sia’s releases have included sporadic singles including “I’m Still Here,” features with the likes of BTS and the late Mac Miller, and her collaborative album LSD with Labrinth and Diplo.

You can hear “Saved My Life” to watch the video of her performance, which appears at the 59-minute mark.

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

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Hafthór Björnsson, the Strongman competitor who famously appeared on Game of Thrones as “The Mountain” Gregor Clegane, set a new world deadlift record on Saturday afternoon in Iceland. Björnsson broke the previous record, which was set in 2016 by British Strongman Eddie Hall, by lifting 501 kilograms, which comes out to 1,104.52 pounds.

Hall’s record was 500 kilograms, which is 1,102.31 pounds. Saturday’s event took place on ESPN, and when it was finally time for Björnsson to set the record, he was able to take care of business.

Following his record-setting attempt, Björnsson took to Instagram to thank everyone who helped make this possible.

Björnsson told us this week that he was able to accomplish this in part because of the circumstances surrounding the lift, namely the fact that he was able to use a deadlift bar, which was not the case when he tried lifting 501 kilograms in 2019.

“I have never had chance to break the 501 kg deadlift with a deadlift bar the last two years, actually,” Björnsson said. “2019, I trained for the Arnold Strongman Classic and I pulled 501 kilograms to my knees, but I didn’t finish the lift. That was with an elephant bar, it’s a different bar and I’m also not allowed to use a deadlift suit, which makes things much more difficult. It wasn’t until this year when World Ultimate Strongman reached out to me and told me that they want to have a regular deadlift bar with the suit with figure eight straps, the same way Eddie Hall has the world record now. So I accepted that and I said I’m going to accept this challenge.”

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While the federal government hotly debates future stimulus packages to aid those impacted by the coronavirus lockdown, people have been forced to turn elsewhere for help — namely to each other. Charities have become commonplace, some of them hawked by celebrities, ranging from Ashton Kutcher Mila Kunis to the cast of Parks and Recreation. Add Chris Evans to the list of those going online to entertain us, but for a cause.

As caught by Deadline, the erstwhile Steve Rogers took to his newly launched Instagram, making his first — and so far only — post a goodie. In a video, he invited five fellow MCU cast members to join him in a virtual hangout that doubles as a fundraiser for All-In Challenge, which raises money for various charities that help food insecurity for children, the elderly, and frontline workers. It wasn’t Evan’s idea; it was Chris Pratt’s.

“I am accepting the All-in Challenge. I was challenged by Chris Pratt,” Evans says in the video. “This is a great cause, this helps get food to people who are in need during this COVID nightmare, so I am very happy to be doing this.”

Evans didn’t state when the hang would happen, but he did promise it include such colleagues as Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, and Jeremy Renner. He said they’d take some Q&A questions and maybe even play some games — he recommended Scattergories. He then extended the challenge to Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, and Billy Porter.

Stay tuned for the big day, and in the meantime you can donate here.

(Via Deadline)

While sports leagues around the world are trying to figure out how their seasons can operate amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL reportedly plans on going about their business without any complications. According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, the league will announce its 17-game 2020 schedule sometime in the next week, with the assumption being that the start date will not be changed.

In a statement to ESPN, NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy said that “We plan to start on time,” which would mean the first game of the year would kick off on Sept. 10 and the Super Bowl would occur on Feb. 7.

Fowler went on to report that while the league is not considering any sort of a bubble league, there are plenty of plans on the table that the NFL could turn to if it has to adjust on the fly.

The league has evaluated contingency plans should the pandemic intensify, working in conjunction with the NFL Players Association and medical experts on a set of protocols.

One of those contingencies is delaying the season until mid-October, according to the Sports Business Journal. Empty stadiums and no bye weeks have long been discussed.

The NFL has already been impacted in a few ways by the pandemic, most notably by the 2020 NFL Draft moving from Las Vegas to a virtual event. But when it comes to actual games, the league is trudging forward with the hopes that things will not veer off course with regards to its regularly-scheduled start date.