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We get you ready for Super Bowl LVIII with a look at the our favorite prop bets for the game.

The Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets agreed to a point guard swap ahead of the trade deadline on Thursday, with Dennis Schroder and Thaddeus Young making their way to Brooklyn and Spencer Dinwiddie heading to Toronto. For a brief moment, it looked like Schroder wouldn’t be the only Dennis on the move, as Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweeted out that Dennis Smith Jr. would head to Toronto.

There was just one problem: Smith wasn’t actually getting traded. Woj, who is usually very quick to fix these sorts of mistakes and did so here, clarified that only one Dennis was on the move in this one.

It was a pretty funny moment, in part because the Raptors would probably love to have a guy as good on the defensive floor as the former top-10 pick who has turned himself into one of the best man-to-man defenders in all of basketball. What made it even funnier: Smith, like all of us, saw this, and had a pretty great reaction to briefly thinking he was going to move north of the border.

Instead, Smith will get to chill out at home without having to worry too much (for now) about moving, which makes all of this a moment that everyone can laugh at.

Barbie fans will be in for a real treat this summer. One year after the film caused a frenzy in movie theaters across the globe, Mattel announced that Barbie The Movie: In Concert is taking place at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on July 27.

Throughout a giant LED screening of the movie, there will be a live accompaniment from The Barbie Land Sinfonietta, Executive Producer and Orchestrator Macy Schmidt’s all-women and majority women-of-color orchestra, who will play the film’s score.

“Audiences of all ages flocked to theaters last summer to celebrate the joy of the Barbie movie together,” Josh Silverman, Mattel’s Chief Franchise Officer, shared in a statement. “Now fans have the opportunity to further celebrate Barbie with an unforgettable live musical experience, led by an incredibly talented all-women orchestra.”

“We’re honored to announce Barbie The Movie: In Concert in partnership with the world-famous Hollywood Bowl and Mattel,” Schmidt, a Tony-winning producer and conductor, added. “There’s nothing quite like the energy of the Bowl, and to bring the world-class women musicians of the Barbie Land Sinfonietta to such an iconic venue feels like a perfect match.”

Right now, subscription packages to attend are up for sale and start at $430. Single tickets will go on sale on May 7. More information about the Barbie Hollywood Bowl event can be found here.

NBA Trade Deadline Day always features a flurry of information being distributed on Twitter, with fake accounts lurking to try and catch unsuspecting fans thirsty for trade news. That’s why, typically, fans have to set up notifications for trusted newsbreakers like Woj, Shams, Stein, Haynes, and the like for deadline day not to get duped and also to get trade information first.

However, on occasion, a deal gets done that someone else is able to beat the big guys to, and in the case of Patrick Beverley’s trade from Philadelphia to Milwaukee, it was Beverley himself who broke the news on his podcast’s account.

Shortly after, Woj and Shams hopped in to provide details, as Cam Payne will go back to Philly along with a 2027 second round pick.

The Bucks looking to add a defensive guard is unsurprising given they’ve been one of the league’s worst defensive teams this year, largely due to a porous perimeter defense. Swapping Payne for Beverley will certainly give them a tone-setter on that end in the backcourt, and will give Doc Rivers some different lineup options off the bench to try and piece together better defensive units. The Sixers give up some defense for a bit more offensive pop in Payne, while adding a second round pick in the process, as they continue to beef up their roster even with Joel Embiid out for awhile. Earlier in the day they traded for Buddy Hield, giving them an elite three-point threat in the backcourt.

Earlier this month, Hulu (which is owned by Disney) sent out an email to customers warning them that the platform would start cracking down on password sharing. The ominous message warned users that if their accounts are being used “outside of the household” they could see their subscription limited or outright terminated.

It was slightly scary stuff but an industry standard at this point after Netflix took a similar approach last year. However, the plan actually worked for Netflix as the platform saw an increase in subscribers and/or additional revenue by charging extra for password sharing. Disney+ would now like some of that action.

Via Variety:

On Wednesday’s call with investors, Disney CFO Hugh Johnston said, “As it relates to the opportunity we see on paid sharing, beginning this summer Disney+ accounts suspected of improper sharing will be presented with new capabilities to allow their borrowers to start their own subscriptions.” Later in 2024, he said, Disney+ account holders who want to allow access to individuals outside their household will be able to add them to their accounts for an additional fee.

However, before Disney+ starts making it easier for password-sharers to start their new accounts, or have the primary account holder pay an extra free for sharing, the streamer will first start cracking down on the practice altogether starting March 14.

(Via Variety)

During her ongoing tiff with Megan Thee Stallion, Nicki Minaj notably took a detour into conspiracy theorizing that Jay-Z and his company, Roc Nation, were sabotaging her career. This picked up a thread from a conspiracy that Tory Lanez propagated, that Roc Nation supposedly paid off the judge and jury in his assault case for shooting Meg in 2020.

The latest artist to blame Jay and the Roc for their troubles is former collaborator M.I.A., who took her complaints to Twitter for an ALL CAPS rant that began with her accusing Joe Biden (personally?) of holding up her visa application to come to the US. “BIDEN WON’T LET ME SEE MY CHILD,” she said, alongside a screenshot of an email specifically explaining why she can’t get a new visa due to past behavior. She also demonstrated how very little she pays attention to American politics, following up with, “I HAVE TO WAIT TILL A REPUBLICAN WINS. WOW.” Yeah. Okay. The “concentration camps at the border are perfectly fine” party. Sure.

M.I.A.’s rant continued as she accused her child’s caretakers of being convicted sex traffickers (again, not how that works), and blamed her visa application rejection on speaking out against genocide (again, not how that works — First Amendment people never seem to know what it’s for). She then made the claim that Jay-Z — who indirectly managed her career through Roc Nation — was paid off by the founder of the NXIVM cult. She also claimed after asking Jay for help gaining custody of her child, her domicile was invaded and her computers were stolen.

She eventually lapsed into old talking points about vaccines (again, there NO PROOF that vaccines endanger kids any more than the actually diseases they prevent do, what with things like smallpox, yellow fever, tetanus, and more all being LIFE THREATENING). This is par for the course for someone who has been accused of making other controversial statements.

We live in the era of “alternative facts” and “fake news” so people will believe what they want, but someone here is baiting a libel charge, and if Jay-Z is really as powerful as everyone seems to think (he almost assuredly isn’t), you’d hope they would learn to stop poking the bear. In all likelihood, they call him out because he makes a convenient scapegoat as an unrepentant capitalist who also wants to be a revolutionary with a much higher profile than the people they’re really mad at.

Two of the most prominent teams in Saudi Arabia’s top soccer league stepped onto the pitch on Thursday, as Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr went head-to-head in the final of the Riyadh Season Cup. It’s an event that also included Inter Miami, whatever, don’t worry about it, because we are not here to talk about footy in the slightest.

Instead, we are here to let you know that something completely insane happened before the game started. For some reason*, The Undertaker showed up, in full The Undertaker garb, and did his full entrance while his music played at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.

He walked out to where the trophy was and removed the cloth that was covering it, again, after doing his ENTIRE ENTRANCE. I swear, I did not expect to be doing a blog about Saudi Arabian soccer and The Undertaker on the day of the NBA trade deadline, but this is, truly, one of the most absurd things I have ever seen. Do you think promotional appearances by WWE superstars were written into the promotion’s deal with Saudi Arabia when that got signed years ago? Do you think there were conversations about whether he should have done the American Badass bit instead of this? Do you think Cristiano Ronaldo (who is playing in this game) knows what is happening? This is all so weird. I’m in awe.

(* — the reason is, almost certainly, a lot of money)

The Phoenix Suns entered the NBA trade deadline looking for reinforcements around their trio of stars. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, they were able to find that by calling up the Brooklyn Nets and working out a deadline deal for the second year in a row.

Charania brought word that Phoenix acquired three-and-D wing Royce O’Neale in a deal that would cost them three second-round picks. And that’s not all, as the Memphis Grizzlies are getting in on the fun and sending David Roddy to Phoenix, as well.

According to John Gambadoro, the Suns will send a handful of end of the rotation players out, as Chimezie Metu, Yuta Watanabe, Keita Bates-Diop, and Jordan Goodwin depart Phoenix in the deal for O’Neale and Roddy.

Phoenix was closely linked to a move for Miles Bridges before it was reported that he won’t waive his ability to veto a trade. It is unclear if the team was going to pursue O’Neale and/or Roddy prior to that, but regardless, both of these players should give them the sorts of wings with defensive chops that they could use around Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant.

O’Neale is averaging 7.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game for the Nets on 38.8/36.6/68.2 shooting splits this season. Roddy, meanwhile, is at 8.4 pints and 4.2 rebounds in 23.2 minutes per game for the Grizzlies, but has struggled to hit shots from behind the three-point line, as he’s connected on only 30.1 percent of them this year.

Christian Bale had a rather eventful 2022 with roles in The Pale Blue Eye, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Amsterdam on large and small screens. His voice appeared within Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron in 2023, but otherwise, we have had a Bale-free entertainment scene for over a year. The former Bruce Wayne has been busy, however, not with method acting but his actual passion project, which is to help foster kids patch up their lives after losing their parents.

According to Hollywood Reporter, Bale has been integral from the inception of the Together California “village,” which has broken ground and will include at least a dozen homes, transitional housing, and an enormous community center. The name of this game will be to keep foster-care siblings from being separated. The former Newsies star is reportedly “knee-deep in the trenches” and co-founded the organization, and he delivered a speech at the breaking ground ceremony this week:

“With our Together California model, [the village] is something absolutely new, totally transformative and something completely needed. Imagine the absolute pain and the trauma of losing your parents or being torn from your parents, and then losing your brothers and sisters on top of that, that’s no way to treat kids,” explained Bale, who recently celebrated his 50th birthday. “And so, we will be the hub for that. I hope that this village will be the first of many, and I hope that people, Californians and Angelenos, know to come join us in opening our eyes to what’s happening right under our noses. These are our children, and we must help our children.”

With all of the pain in the world today, it’s reassuring to know that somewhere, there’s a little bit of light.

(Via Hollywood Reporter)

It’s crazy to think, but Usher‘s biggest hit apparently almost never happened. Rico Love, a producer on Usher’s Confessions album, revealed the backstory behind the track during a recent appearance on Home Grown Radio (via TMZ).

Love pointed out that Usher’s first listen of the demo, which Sean Garrett wrote, resulted in him not liking the song — and he flat out did not want to record it. Specifically, Usher also started laughing because he thought the song’s opening lyrics were too cheesy.

While Usher had planned for “Burn” to be the first single from his album, it was L.A. Reid who pushed him to not only make the song his own but drop it as a single. Love said that Reid told Usher to just “do the f*cking song” during a call, and then hung up.

Eventually, Ludacris and Lil Jon joined Usher on “Yeah,” the track dropped, and the rest was history. It was cemented as a dancefloor anthem that spent twelve weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

And now, Usher will likely even treat this weekend’s crowd at the Super Bowl to a “Yeah” live rendition, as Ludacris and Lil Jon appeared in an Apple Music Halftime Show teaser earlier this week.