Heading into the 2019-20 season, Bradley Beal was expected to be a key swing piece for championship contenders hoping to upgrade their roster before the trade deadline. Those hopes were dashed when Beal signed a two-year extension worth $72 million with Washington just as the season tipped off. By signing a maximum extension so close to the trade deadline, Beal prevented himself from being dealt until the 2020 offseason.

In an appearance on the Lowe Post podcast over at ESPN on Thursday, Beal explained that his decision was about control and comfort:.

“Ultimately, I felt like staying, the postives outweighed leaving, and the reason being because I had more control here,” Beal told host Zach Lowe. “I had an organization that basically gave me the keys. ‘We’re going to build around you, we’re going to get guys around you.’

“If I go anywhere else, granted it may be a good team, but I would be a piece. Who knows if my role would be the same? My role here, I love what it is. I love (head coach Scott) Brooks. I love what we have. I love our young guys.”

Beal went on to say that he believes execution the margins and in critical moments was the difference for the Wizards this season. While he admitted Washington “couldn’t defend a grandma,” he was proud of the team’s fifth-ranked offense and believes adding John Wall, who is recovering from a ruptured Achilles’ tendon, and other pieces in free agency could allow the Wizards to compete for the playoffs again relatively soon.

After kicking off our new show, UPROXX Sessions, last week with Compton rapper 1TakeJay and his amped rendition of “F*cked Up,” this week’s episode switches the vibe with idontknowjeffery and his laid-back, live performance of “Ask About Me.” Make no mistake, though; although idontknowjeffery isn’t as turnt-up as our inaugural artist, he brings the energy in a different, totally charming way.

idontknowjeffery is a rapper from Memphis, Tennessee with a wicked sense of humor — as evidenced by the cheeky hook from “Ask About Me” in which he asserts that “When I worked at Whole Foods, all I did was stole food.”

jeffery has been a fixture on the underground/SoundCloud circuit for the last five years, beginning with his series of The Jeffery EPs in 2015 and running all the way up to his February 2020 release, Type Sh*t, which features frequent collaborator Xavier Wulf.

Watch idontknowjeffery’s on Sessions above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s new performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

In the days following Tiger King‘s almost instant viral fame, there’s been a considerable amount of focus on the humans featured in the popular Netflix docuseries, which makes sense considering their murder-for-hire plots and mysteriously missing husbands. But what about the animals?

According to Entertainment Weekly, 39 of the tigers and three of the black bears that were caged at Joe Exotic’s Oklahoma zoo are now living much “happier” lives at the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado where the animals are no longer being treated as they were on the hit show. “We are almost the complete antithesis to what those other places do,” public relations director Kent Drotar told the print edition of People. “We rescue and give permanent homes to animals that come from situations like that.”

As for how the tigers ended up at the Colorado sanctuary, the tale starts with Joe Exotic doing a very sketchy favor for a Florida zoo that was facing an inspection from PETA thanks to a pending lawsuit:

“A couple of days prior to that Joe Exotic drove from Oklahoma down to Dade City, Florida, and removed 19 tigers at the behest of the owners of Dade City’s Wild Things,” Drotar said, adding he believes Joe Exotic agreed to move the tigers to his zoo in an effort to thwart law enforcement and because “Joe Exotic was notorious for breeding cubs and selling them to other organizations that used cubs, so there’s a good chance those 19 tigers originated at Joe’s zoo.”

After being threatened with contempt of court for absconding with the tigers across state lines, Exotic attempted to avoided legal trouble by surrendering the tigers, along with 20 more of his own and three black bears, to the Wild Animal Sanctuary. However, the conditions of the animals was not good:

According to Drotar, the tigers came in malnourished and weak, with lackluster coats and extensive dental issues. Additionally, many of the big cats were poorly declawed and had mobility issues as a result. The public relations director also said the animals appeared to have broken spirits as well.

As Drotar notes, Exotic kept the tigers in 12 ft. by 12 ft. cages at his small Oklahoma zoo. At the Colorado sanctuary, they’re spread across several tiger habitats, which are 16 acres each and instantly brightened the big cats’ demeanor. “There is no comparison on where these animals came from and where they are now.”

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

The last new episode of Saturday Night Live, with host Daniel Craig and musical guest the Weeknd, aired on March 7. A lot’s happened in the past month, but as I’m sure Lorne Michaels has recently said multiple times, the long-running sketch show must go on: SNL is coming back this weekend, but it’s going to look different. Very different.

Deadline reports that SNL will return to airing “original content” on April 11, but “the length of the original telecast and exact roster of new material are still being figured out. It will include Weekend Update and other original content from SNL cast members. All of it will be produced remotely as the show, along with all other TV programs, practices social distancing.” SNL‘s official Twitter account showed the cast (including the oft-absent Pete Davidson) doing their part by staying the heck away from each other.

Please note the Jack poster behind Kyle Mooney, thank you. Anyway, SNL should use this as an excuse to get weird. Like, “Darrell’s House” weird. Also, bring back Dua Lipa, who was supposed to be the musical guest for the planned March 28 episode. We could all use some shimmering dance-floor happiness right now.

(Via Deadline)

After celebrating her break-out success, Rico Nasty continues her prolific streak into the new year. The productive rapper is signaling the beginning of a new era with a slew of singles. Following the chilled-out “Lightning,” Nasty returns with the emo-adjacent “Pop Star.”

Directed by Jason Joyride, Nasty’s visual is a callback to the heyday era of teen magazines. Positioning her as an emo cover girl, the visual’s whimsical editing critiques a magazine’s pristine image and creates collages of the rapper amid teenage doodles. To complete her rock-and-roll look, Nasty sports a fringed mullet, colorful makeup, and layers of heavy metal jewelry. “You think its so easy, I would love to see you try / You think that’s expensive that’s the sh*t I love to buy / I said, ‘Damn, I don’t need nobody,’ and they always ask me why / I’m not good at I love yours, and I’m addicted to goodbyes,” she recites.

The visual arrives following a recent interview for Rihannazine, a collection of interviews and editorials curated by Rihanna for i-D. Introducing herself as a “a rapper, rock star and mommy,” Nasty said she defines success by feeling at peace: “Not necessarily being stagnant or complacent, but just at peace with where you are in life.”

Watch Rico Nasty’s “Pop Star” video above.

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

Time may not have caught up with LeBron James yet, but the possibility has been on the Lakers superstar’s mind during the NBA’s prolonged hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a media conference call with on Wednesday, James admitted that if the NBA season is canceled without the Lakers getting a chance to compete for a title, he doesn’t know if he “will be able to have any closure.”

The adjustment to life in mid-spring without basketball has clearly affected James, whose circadian rhythms are likely fine-tuned to the NBA calendar like few in the league. It appeared, prior to the league pressing pause on March 11, that James and his Lakers teammates were rounding into form and entrenching themselves as one of the favorites for the NBA championship.

That fact has led James to seesaw between stances, saying multiple times that he would not be open to playing games without fans in the building before changing his tune. James repeatedly called the pandemic a roadblock for citizens of the world, and according to Brett Dawson of The Athletic, stressed the importance of safety above all else.

Many saw the next two seasons as James’ best chances to lead a team to a title, with contract uncertainty for both he and Anthony Davis after the 2020-21 season. Of course, no one can surmise the future, and James’ vice grip on the playoffs isn’t as strong as it once was. Peaking in April and May is the goal for any team with championship aspirations, and it’s precisely what James and the Lakers were doing.

“Time waits for no man,” James said on the call. Though the consensus among those within the league seems to be that they will not play until it is safe to do so, James more than anyone has reason to be urgent.

Pink announced last week that she and her three-year-old son had contracted the coronavirus. Though she’s been battling the illness for several weeks, the singer is now on the road to recovery. In a recent interview, Pink opened up about how the virus has affected her and her son’s health.

In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, the singer recounted to the host how she first discovered she was sick. “At a certain point around March 18, March 19, March 20, when his fever was staying and going up. I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t breathe,” she said. Pink described how she “couldn’t function” without her nebulizer respirator. Though she’s battled with lifelong asthma, the singer hadn’t needed to use a nebulizer respirator in thirty years. “And that’s when I started getting really scared,” she said.

At the time of the interview, Pink said she and her son were beginning to recover from the virus. But the singer said there was a time where she felt helpless: “It was terrifying at one point, then I got sick. In hindsight, it all makes sense. But when it’s happening, it’s such a weird experience that you just don’t put it together until after the fact.” She added: “This is the scariest thing I’ve ever, ever been through in my whole life.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Pink addressed some backlash she faced over being able to secure a test:

“I think testing is really, really important. It’s really controversial to people that I was able to get my hands on a test. I would say two things to that: I would say you should be angry that I can get a test and you can’t. But, being angry at me is not going to help anything, it’s not going to solve the issue of the fact that you can’t get your hands on a test. You should be angry about that. And we should work together to try and change that. And number two: Tell me anybody with a sick three-year-old that if they could get their hands on a test wouldn’t take it. And if they say that, I’m calling bullsh*t.”

Watch the full interview above.

Today, Lil Nas X is officially 21 years old, but it’s unlikely he’ll be hosting a grand birthday celebration given the current state of the world. Instead, he’s making the best of the situation by doing what he does so often and joking around on Twitter.

The “Old Town Road” rapper has known the coronavirus pandemic would impact his birthday for some time now. A few weeks ago, he shared a video on Twitter that he captioned, “spending my birthday alone in quarantine and that’s ok.” The video was of a house (the one from the cover of American Football’s 1999 self-titled album) with flashing lights seen through the windows before the clip cuts to a shot of SpongeBob SquarePants laying face-down on the floor inside as fast dance music plays.

Then, late last month, he shared a video captioned, “practicing throwing myself a surprise party since imma be in quarantine on my birthday.” The clip shows Lil Nas X opening a door and acting shocked when people in the room shout, “Surprise!”

Not long after the clock struck midnight this morning, Lil Nas X, with an Elmo doll in his lap, blew out the candles on his birthday cake, which was actually just a slice of bread with a single candle in it. Shortly following that, he re-created the aforementioned American Football video but with himself and Elmo taking the place of SpongeBob. “Quarantine birthday turn up,” he wrote. Lastly, he capped off his late-night celebration by sharing a photo of himself holding a handful of vitamin gummies and wrote, “it’s my 21st can u blame me !?,” followed by a smiling devil emoji.

Lil Nas X also recently commemorated the one-year anniversary of his “Old Town Road” remix with Billy Ray Cyrus, sharing a video of them in the studio and writing, “1 year ago today i dropped a remix to old town road with billy ray cyrus. i knew it would be successful but DAMN did it change EVERYTHING! can’t express how much this song has done for me. thank u to everybody who made this happen!”

Hayley Williams is going at it as a solo artist these days, but that doesn’t mean she’s doing what she does alone. Even a solo artist relies on a big support system, and she honors those people in the video for her latest Petals For Armor offering, “My Friend.” The video shows her mostly in the studio working on Petals For Armor, and she is joined in these and other moments by her Paramore bandmates, “My Friend” co-writer Joey Howard, “My Friend” producer Taylor York, and Brian J. O’Connor, her hair stylist and make-up artist.

These aren’t the only partners Williams has had in her solo journey. She recently linked up with Boygenius members Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus for Petals For Armor track “Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris.” Speaking of Bridgers, Williams also recently performed a cover of “Smoke Signals” and shared the video on Instagram. The performance was dedicated to a friend experiencing an unfortunately family situation, and she also addressed Bridgers, saying, “im sorry for butchering your beautiful guitar parts. and also, this is just a perfect song.”

Watch the “My Friend” video above.

Petals For Armor is out 5/8 via Atlantic. Pre-order it here

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

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