Category: Viral

An intriguing name that was supposed to hit the restricted free agency market this summer is Jaxson Hayes, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft who has spent his entire career with the New Orleans Pelicans. While Hayes hasn’t quite developed into the sort of dynamic center on both ends of the floor that the Pelicans hoped when they selected him, he’s still only 23 years old and has flashed enough to suggest that there is a productive basketball player in there if he continues to develop.

As a restricted free agent, Hayes would have the opportunity to sign an offer sheet with another team, which would have led to the Pelicans having to make a decision on whether or not it would bring him back. But in a bit of a surprise move, New Orleans decided to pass on extending a qualifying offer to Hayes, which made him an unrestricted free agent.

One day into free agency and we learned where Hayes will end up, as Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN brought word that he’s headed to the Los Angeles Lakers.

A mix of an early season elbow injury and a general inability to consistently have a role in the team’s rotation meant that Hayes played in the fewest games of his career last season. Hayes saw the floor 47 times, with two of those appearances coming in a starting role. He averaged five points and 2.8 rebounds in 13 minutes per game, and connected on 55.1 percent of his attempts from the field.

The Miami Heat are famously pretty good at finding diamonds in the rough, developing them, and turning them into legitimately solid NBA players. One of the best examples of this in recent years has been Max Strus, the former undrafted wing who joined the Chicago Bulls’ system, tore his knee, and found himself without a team when Miami came calling.

Since then, Strus has become a player upon whom Erik Spoelstra relied, as his ability to stretch the floor has been important in the Heat’s success. Those guys end up getting expensive, though, and this summer, Strus hit unrestricted free agency, where he was expected to get a lucrative contract offer elsewhere in the league. Prior to free agency opening, there were strong indications that the Cavaliers were going to be in hot pursuit of Strus in a sign-and-trade, but they were struggling to find a third team to offload Cedi Osman to create the cap room needed to bring in the sharpshooter.

Jake Fischer reported the Spurs were a potential landing spot for Osman to facilitate the trade, as the Heat looked to at least get something back for Strus after seeing Gabe Vincent walk to the Lakers.

This general framework ended up being correct, as Osman and Lamar Stevens will head to San Antonio along with a pick, while the Heat acquired a second-round pick. As for Strus, he’s headed to the Cavs on a 4-year deal worth $63 million.

Strus has gone from an occasional bench player for the Heat to someone who started every game in the playoffs during the team’s run to the NBA Finals last year. He posted some of the best numbers of his career during the 2022-23 campaign, as the 27-year-old wing averaged 11.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 28.4 minutes per game while connecting on 35 percent of his seven attempts from behind the three-point line a night.

He joins a Cavs team that had a very clear vision for this offseason, spending their money bolstering their wing rotation with Strus, Georges Niang, and re-signing Caris LeVert.

The Memphis Grizzlies have nailed a number of top draft picks, which is a very good way to build a contender quickly after briefly bottoming out.

However, when you hit on picks, you also have to pay them, and they entered this offseason having already given Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. large extensions when they became eligible. This summer they had a decision to make about Desmond Bane, as the young wing has emerged as one of the NBA’s best volume shooters. Last season Bane set career marks by averaging 21.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game on 47.9/40.8/88.3 shooting splits (which was actually his worst three-point shooting season of his young career). Bane is also a terrific defender, and should pair quite well with new addition Marcus Smart to form a physical backcourt defensive tandem.

The question for Memphis was how high they’d want to go in extension talks with Bane or whether he’d be willing to sign for anything short of the max. We got the answer when July 1 came about and Bane was officially extension eligible, as the Grizzlies signed him to a max extension that will pay him $207 million over five years.

Bane will join Morant and Jackson Jr. as the clear young core pieces in Memphis, with Smart giving them a veteran presence in the backcourt they haven’t had. Once Morant returns from his 25-game suspension, the Grizzlies figure to once again be among the West’s best in the regular season and will hope their core, all locked in on big deals, can deliver in the postseason in a way they haven’t quite been able to yet.

Tyrese Haliburton emerged as a first-time All-Star during the 2022-23 season, averaging 20.7 points and 10.4 assists per game (on 49.0/40.0/87.1 shooting splits) in his first full season with the Indiana Pacers.

After trading Domantas Sabonis to the Kings for Haliburton at the deadline in 2022, the Pacers were banking on the young guard flourishing in a lead role and so far that has paid off considerably. Haliburton looks the part of a franchise-leading guard, and as the calendar turned to July and the new league year officially began, he was rewarded with a max extension, currently 5 years, $207 million, from Indiana.

Tyrese, for his part, is excited.

That deal can become the $260 million deal Woj notes with an All-NBA campaign from Haliburton next year, which Indiana would be happy to pay if he continues to develop into a top-15 player in the NBA.

The Pacers will look to move into the East’s playoff and Play-In picture next season, with Haliburton at the center of their plans. Myles Turner certainly looks, for now, like he’ll be back at center and the Pacers added a big piece from the Nuggets title team on Friday, luring Bruce Brown out of Denver with a two-year, $45 million deal to bring some much-needed perimeter defense to Indiana. Along with some encouraging young players like Bennedict Mathurin and Andrew Nembhard, there’s plenty of intrigue when it comes to the Pacers, but for them to go where they want to, they’re banking on Haliburton’s breakout last year being just the beginning of a rise to superstardom.

The Miami Heat have been a hot topic this summer given their pursuit of some of the top guards on (and potentially going on) the trade market. They did not end up with Bradley Beal, aren’t expected to land James Harden, although that’s still a possibility, and there is also the constant pursuit of Damian Lillard, who remains not available (yet, as always).

As such, every move Miami makes comes with the consideration that it is a move setting up another, larger move, which is why a late night deal sending Victor Oladipo’s $9.4 million salary and some second round picks to Oklahoma City raised some eyebrows.

It could, of course, just be a salary shedding move, as the Heat are over the tax and Oladipo doesn’t figure to be part of their rotation next season as he continues to rehab a knee injury suffered in April that ended his season. Oladipo picking up his player option was never in question, and as such there have been plenty of rumblings about Miami trying to move off his deal. At the same time, you can’t help but wonder if this is being done with something specific in mind, clearing space for a bigger deal that could come down the line sooner than later. That, of course, we’ll have to wait to see, but for now Oladipo is headed back to Oklahoma City for the second time in his career.

Mahalia is gearing up for the official release of her next sophomore album, IRL. To give fans an idea of what to expect, she unveiled the tracklist in an Instagram video — where she is seen writing each of the titles (and collabs) with a red marker.

“With two weeks to go until the release of my second album IRL, I think it’s about time you guys know who’s on it with me,” she captioned. “Couldn’t be prouder of this record, and I just have to say thank you to all of you for blessing me with your greatness.”

Just a few days ago, Mahalia posted a separate Instagram pic of her holding the IRL vinyl. She announced that she’s doing a few in-store signings, including at the UK’s Rough Trade East and Rough Trade Bristol.

From there, she is heading out on a UK and European tour in October. A complete list of tour dates and ticketing info for the signings can be found on her website.

Continue scrolling for Mahalia’s full IRL tracklist and features.

1. “Ready”
2. “In My Bag”
3. “Terms And Conditions”
4. “In My Head” Feat. Joyce Wrice
5. “Cheat” Feat. JoJo
6. “November” Feat. Stormzy
7. “Hey Stranger”
8. “Isn’t It Strange?”
9. “It’s Not Me, It’s You” Feat. Destin Conrad
10. “Wassup” Feat. Kojey Radical
11. “Lose Lose”
12. “Goodbyes”
13. “IRL”

IRL is out 7/14 via Atlantic. Find more information here.

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

The Detroit Pistons were set to be among the teams with the most cap space coming into free agency, but with a young roster still trying to find itself, they chose to be patient and use that cap space to trade for veterans other teams were looking to unload.

Early in the night they acquired a pair of second round picks from the Nets to take on Joe Harris’ $19.9 million expiring contract, freeing the Nets up to re-sign Cam Johnson without as big of a tax penalty later in the evening. Later in the evening, they acquired some cash from the Clippers for draft rights to the 57th pick in the 2021 Draft (Balsa Koprivica), and then used more of their space to acquire Monte Morris from the Wizards, sending Washington a second round pick in return.

All told, the Pistons ended the day with Joe Harris, Monte Morris, and a second round pick, which will give them a veteran point guard and another shooter around Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, and Ausar Thompson, while also keeping their books clean for next summer when they might have a bit more clarity about which members of their young roster they truly want to build around. Detroit has some frontcourt clutter to work through and would like to see their young backcourt get some real minutes together after Cunningham missed most of last season, and so this summer proved to be about acquiring some veterans without losing anything off the roster and not adding any long-term money to their books.

On Washington’s side, they move some money off of their books amid their rebuild after trading for Jordan Poole and re-signing Kyle Kuzma earlier in the night to a $102 million deal, as they continue to be the league’s most active team this offseason.

While most of the league was wheeling and dealing as free agency opened on Friday evening, the Los Angeles Clippers were extremely quiet. Their in-arena neighbors signed Gabe Vincent, Taurean Prince, and Cam Reddish to open the frenzy, but the Clippers were not eager to make any moves as they were still working on a potential James Harden trade.

The problem is, the Sixers plan to be patient in dealing Harden, meaning the Clippers can’t really make the moves they might want until that deal is done and that deal might take some time to get completed. So, instead of standing completely idle, the Clippers did make one move that didn’t even get reported by any of the major national reporters (although Andrew Greif of the LA Times did have it early), trading cash ($2.1 million) to Detroit for the draft rights to the 57th overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, Balsa Koprivica.

As to why the Clippers would deal for a guy’s draft rights they probably would never actually sign, there are a couple of reasons. First, as Tony East explains, is once it’s July 1 they won’t be allowed to trade cash anymore as a second apron team, but can deal draft right.

Second is, as John Hollinger notes, they can use those draft rights in a potential three-team deal for James Harden, as all parties involved need to “touch” in a trade, and Koprivica’s draft rights would suffice.

So, maybe this helps facilitate a Harden deal or maybe it was just the Clippers burning some cash in their pocket they would lose the chance to use otherwise. In any case, you can’t say they didn’t do anything on Friday night.

The Memphis Grizzlies came into this offseason with a fairly clear plan to add more veterans to their upstart roster after another early exit as the West’s 2-seed.

After trading Tyus Jones and a pair of first round picks for Marcus Smart in a June blockbuster, the Grizzlies went into free agency looking to add a veteran point guard to fill the backup role. After a big early run on guards, they landed on Derrick Rose later Friday evening, giving the former MVP a two-year deal, per Ian Begley and Adrian Wojnarowski.

Rose’s addition is interesting for Memphis in that he played very limited minutes a year ago in New York, averaging 5.6 points per game in 12.5 minutes a night off the bench. Given the Grizzlies will need to fill a lot of minutes in the first quarter of the season as Ja Morant serves a 25-game suspension, Rose may need to play a not insignificant role to start the season. At the same time, once Morant is back, backcourt minutes shouldn’t be a real issue, and landing a standout backup point guard was going to be tough with Morant and Smart expected to eat up most of the ball-handling minutes once the team got to full strength.

We’ll find out how much Rose still has in the tank, and Woj notes this is as much about adding a veteran presence to a locker room that has been lacking in that regard, although Rose isn’t known much as a vocal leader. Rose, meanwhile, returns to the place he burst on the national scene as a college player at Memphis.

Denmark’s popular and annual Roskilde Festival is wrapping up its final day of performances tomorrow. After attendees were able to catch various major acts, including Rosalía, Lil Nas X, Rina Sawayama, Blur, and more, since last Sunday — there is still much to look forward to on the closing lineup.

Here is what to know about the final day Roskilde set times for 2023.

At 11:30 a.m., Resonerende Rum opens the festival on the Platform stage. Throughout the afternoon, there is a blend of Danish acts (Saint Clara at 1:15 p.m., Sofie Birch at 1:30) and others from the US and UK, including Black Country, New Road at 3:15 p.m., Weyes Blood and Militarie Gun both at 4, and Caroline Polachek performing at 5:30.

Then, as the night continues, UK musician Loyle Carner plays at 9:30 on the Arena stage, followed by Mariki at 10:30 p.m. on the Platform stage. One of the festival’s key performers to close out is Lizzo, who festival attendees can catch at 11 p.m. on the Orange stage.

After midnight, Perturbator, Wargasm, Lyra Valenza, First Hate, and more play on various stages, The last set of the night starts at 2 a.m., although it’s unclear how early into the morning each of the closing acts will go.

For a complete list of set times for all final-day Roskilde 2023 performers, visit their official website here.

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