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The Toronto Raptors were, once again, the subject of tons of trade rumors this summer, but, once again, they enter this season attempting to run it back one more time.

They did have to make one major change after Fred VanVleet departed for Houston in free agency, swapping in Dennis Schröder at point guard. Despite making a reported attempt to get into the Damian Lillard sweepstakes, most of the rest of last year’s roster that went 41-41 has returned. Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby survived another round of rumors, while Jakob Poeltl and Gary Trent Jr. return after having the chance to take a look at free agency. Their biggest additions beyond Schröder this year were drafting Gradey Dick and signing Jalen McDaniels, as they’ll hope a fresh coaching perspective from Darko Rajakovic can change their fortunes.

However, we have a pretty big sample size of what this team looks like as constructed, so there’s not a ton of optimism there’s a big step forward available for Toronto to take. If they are to move into the top-6 conversation of the East, they’ll be reliant on a big leap from one important young player and must answer a perennial question north of the border.

Biggest Question: Can They Diversify Their Offense?

The Raptors were a perfectly solid offense last year (11th in offensive rating, per Basketball-Reference) but their biggest issue on that end is their best players want to do a lot of the same things. Siakam and Scottie Barnes both want to get on the ball and attack downhill. OG Anunoby has become a very reliable three-point threat, but also would like to see more of the ball to create going towards the basket as well. Now, replacing VanVleet with Schröder brings in another questionable shooter whose main focus on offense is driving at the rim. There’s only so many opportunities to do that, and if the starting lineup is those four and Jakob Poeltl, the spacing is going to be extremely cramped.

Gary Trent Jr. and Gradey Dick will be their best floor spacers off the bench and can alleviate that issue a bit, but there just isn’t a lot of reason to think this team is going to improve dramatically from being 28th in the league in three-point percentage a year ago (33.5 percent). The challenge for Rajakovic is going to be designing an offense that can maximize the talents of this roster, but how you do that when guys are at their best occupying very similar areas of the floor is a mystery that Nick Nurse’s staff was not fully able to solve.

X-Factor: Scottie Barnes

If there is a player capable of a major leap, it’s Scottie Barnes, but the former Rookie of the Year stagnated in his second season (and actually saw his efficiency dip a bit as a scorer). The question for Barnes has always been whether he can develop a reliable jump shot, which is one of the hardest things to do once you reach the NBA level. On another team, the pressure on Barnes to diversify his offensive repertoire might not be as high, but as long as Siakam (and to a lesser extent Anunoby) shares the floor with him, there’s just not going to be much space. Siakam, at this point, is who he is and is in his prime years. Barnes is the young guy with theoretical upside and the runway to still add those skillsets to his game. Whether he can do it or not is an entirely different question, but if there’s a leap to be made by this Toronto team, it will almost certainly have to come from a massive step forward from Barnes as an offensive player.

The Toronto Raptors were, once again, the subject of tons of trade rumors this summer, but, once again, they enter this season attempting to run it back one more time.

They did have to make one major change after Fred VanVleet departed for Houston in free agency, swapping in Dennis Schröder at point guard. Despite making a reported attempt to get into the Damian Lillard sweepstakes, most of the rest of last year’s roster that went 41-41 has returned. Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby survived another round of rumors, while Jakob Poeltl and Gary Trent Jr. return after having the chance to take a look at free agency. Their biggest additions beyond Schröder this year were drafting Gradey Dick and signing Jalen McDaniels, as they’ll hope a fresh coaching perspective from Darko Rajakovic can change their fortunes.

However, we have a pretty big sample size of what this team looks like as constructed, so there’s not a ton of optimism there’s a big step forward available for Toronto to take. If they are to move into the top-6 conversation of the East, they’ll be reliant on a big leap from one important young player and must answer a perennial question north of the border.

Biggest Question: Can They Diversify Their Offense?

The Raptors were a perfectly solid offense last year (11th in offensive rating, per Basketball-Reference) but their biggest issue on that end is their best players want to do a lot of the same things. Siakam and Scottie Barnes both want to get on the ball and attack downhill. OG Anunoby has become a very reliable three-point threat, but also would like to see more of the ball to create going towards the basket as well. Now, replacing VanVleet with Schröder brings in another questionable shooter whose main focus on offense is driving at the rim. There’s only so many opportunities to do that, and if the starting lineup is those four and Jakob Poeltl, the spacing is going to be extremely cramped.

Gary Trent Jr. and Gradey Dick will be their best floor spacers off the bench and can alleviate that issue a bit, but there just isn’t a lot of reason to think this team is going to improve dramatically from being 28th in the league in three-point percentage a year ago (33.5 percent). The challenge for Rajakovic is going to be designing an offense that can maximize the talents of this roster, but how you do that when guys are at their best occupying very similar areas of the floor is a mystery that Nick Nurse’s staff was not fully able to solve.

X-Factor: Scottie Barnes

If there is a player capable of a major leap, it’s Scottie Barnes, but the former Rookie of the Year stagnated in his second season (and actually saw his efficiency dip a bit as a scorer). The question for Barnes has always been whether he can develop a reliable jump shot, which is one of the hardest things to do once you reach the NBA level. On another team, the pressure on Barnes to diversify his offensive repertoire might not be as high, but as long as Siakam (and to a lesser extent Anunoby) shares the floor with him, there’s just not going to be much space. Siakam, at this point, is who he is and is in his prime years. Barnes is the young guy with theoretical upside and the runway to still add those skillsets to his game. Whether he can do it or not is an entirely different question, but if there’s a leap to be made by this Toronto team, it will almost certainly have to come from a massive step forward from Barnes as an offensive player.

Bad Bunny’s latest album, Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va A Pasar Mañana, has led to many questions. Is he signed to Drake’s label? Are he and Kendall Jenner officially in a relationship? Has he abandoned his day-one supporters? But, before addressing any of those times, there was one thing the Grammy Award winner wanted to double down on.

The track’s opening song and title track — “Nadie Sabe (Nobody Knows),” produced by La Paciencia and Tainy — revisited his controversial phone-throwing incident in January, weirdly enough predicted by The Simpsons. While the recording artist has addressed the matter several times, including on social media and in past interviews, Bad Bunny wanted to hammer his sentiments in one last time.

“There’s a lot of people wishing me to go badly / Sadly it’s up to those people to suck / You are not my real fan, that’s why I threw my cell phone at you / I will always love the real ones / Let every bastard who wants to speak, speak,” Bad Bunny rapped on the song. Although the lyrics are roughly translated, the lines mirror his previous statements.

As a reminder, the interaction occurred during Bad Bunny’s visit to the Dominican Republic. In his words, a fan got a little too close for comfort. As the woman pulled out their phone to grab a video with the star, he grabbed it and tossed it into the nearby landscape.

Watch the official visualizer for Bad Bunny’s new song “Nadie Sabe” above.

Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va A Pasar Mañana is out now via Rimas. Find more information here.

Bad Bunny’s latest album, Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va A Pasar Mañana, has led to many questions. Is he signed to Drake’s label? Are he and Kendall Jenner officially in a relationship? Has he abandoned his day-one supporters? But, before addressing any of those times, there was one thing the Grammy Award winner wanted to double down on.

The track’s opening song and title track — “Nadie Sabe (Nobody Knows),” produced by La Paciencia and Tainy — revisited his controversial phone-throwing incident in January, weirdly enough predicted by The Simpsons. While the recording artist has addressed the matter several times, including on social media and in past interviews, Bad Bunny wanted to hammer his sentiments in one last time.

“There’s a lot of people wishing me to go badly / Sadly it’s up to those people to suck / You are not my real fan, that’s why I threw my cell phone at you / I will always love the real ones / Let every bastard who wants to speak, speak,” Bad Bunny rapped on the song. Although the lyrics are roughly translated, the lines mirror his previous statements.

As a reminder, the interaction occurred during Bad Bunny’s visit to the Dominican Republic. In his words, a fan got a little too close for comfort. As the woman pulled out their phone to grab a video with the star, he grabbed it and tossed it into the nearby landscape.

Watch the official visualizer for Bad Bunny’s new song “Nadie Sabe” above.

Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va A Pasar Mañana is out now via Rimas. Find more information here.

(Yep, Gen V spoilers will be found below.)

Gen V viewers are hooked. That much is obvious, and incredibly enough, the “c*cksplosion” has already been washed away due to revelations from this week (Episode 5, “Welcome To the Monster Club”). We learned about implanted trackers and shadiness happening with the woods, and Sam’s thing with the Muppets is a whole lot of WTF (there’s a lot of those WTF moments, btw). Meanwhile, Marie wants both forms of Jordan, even though Jordan has trouble believing that this could be true. C’mon, Jordan. Read the room.

And somehow, the episode managed to jam-pack everything into around 35 minutes. [record scratch]

Yes, that’s right. This was both a miraculous feat and a semi-cruel one, as fans discovered and then judged. Relatively speaking, this is a good complaint to have, because that means that viewers want more.

Yet the episode felt overwhelmingly short to some, and that’s a rarity on streaming TV, where brevity can sometimes be a source of relief. A lot of shows could stand to trim 10 minutes per episode is all I’m saying, but The Boys and Gen V both couldn’t feel bloated if they tried (but please don’t try). So yes, this episode felt a little too short, and this complaint was echoed far and wide. Granted this is not happening with the level of viciousness of that silly review bombing of The Boys when many protested the weekly episode format (which actually rules), but the people want more Gen V!

Again, it’s a good problem to have, but it feels close to unanimous out there, both on a Reddit thread and on Twitter.

Too brief for sure. Yet at least this happened:

Amazon’s Gen V streams new episodes on Fridays.

(Yep, Gen V spoilers will be found below.)

Gen V viewers are hooked. That much is obvious, and incredibly enough, the “c*cksplosion” has already been washed away due to revelations from this week (Episode 5, “Welcome To the Monster Club”). We learned about implanted trackers and shadiness happening with the woods, and Sam’s thing with the Muppets is a whole lot of WTF (there’s a lot of those WTF moments, btw). Meanwhile, Marie wants both forms of Jordan, even though Jordan has trouble believing that this could be true. C’mon, Jordan. Read the room.

And somehow, the episode managed to jam-pack everything into around 35 minutes. [record scratch]

Yes, that’s right. This was both a miraculous feat and a semi-cruel one, as fans discovered and then judged. Relatively speaking, this is a good complaint to have, because that means that viewers want more.

Yet the episode felt overwhelmingly short to some, and that’s a rarity on streaming TV, where brevity can sometimes be a source of relief. A lot of shows could stand to trim 10 minutes per episode is all I’m saying, but The Boys and Gen V both couldn’t feel bloated if they tried (but please don’t try). So yes, this episode felt a little too short, and this complaint was echoed far and wide. Granted this is not happening with the level of viciousness of that silly review bombing of The Boys when many protested the weekly episode format (which actually rules), but the people want more Gen V!

Again, it’s a good problem to have, but it feels close to unanimous out there, both on a Reddit thread and on Twitter.

Too brief for sure. Yet at least this happened:

Amazon’s Gen V streams new episodes on Fridays.

Loki Season 2 dropped its second episode, “Breaking Brad,” on Thursday night, and Loki fans are already caught up in their feels over watching Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson together again.

After solving Loki’s time-slipping issue in the Season 2 premiere, Loki and Mobius are finally partnered up again as they search for Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) in 1977 London. Not only do the two slip right back into their buddy cop routine, but their chemistry is off the charts as they cross paths with X-5 (Rafael Casal). After catching the rogue hunter, he rattles both Loki and Mobius during an interrogation attempt, which leads to a tender moment of the two bonding over pie.

While each enjoy a slice of shockingly green key lime pie (which, weirdly, is the only thing the cafeteria served), Loki comforts Mobius and assures him that everyone loses their cool. The two actors beautifully sell the scene, and it’s one of the most compelling Marvel moments in years. There was no green screen or special effects, just two actors doing great character work.

Later in the episode, Loki and Mobius fail to stop Dox (Kate Dickie) from bombing branches of the timeline, which causes a catastrophic loss of live across realities. As the gravity of the situation sets in, Loki places his hands on Mobius’ shoulder, and Loki fans lost their minds.

Hiddleston and Wilson have chemistry for days, and Season 2 is doing a great job of leaning into it. You can see from the reactions below that Loki fans can’t get enough of them together:

Loki streams new episodes Thursday on Disney+.

Loki Season 2 dropped its second episode, “Breaking Brad,” on Thursday night, and Loki fans are already caught up in their feels over watching Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson together again.

After solving Loki’s time-slipping issue in the Season 2 premiere, Loki and Mobius are finally partnered up again as they search for Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) in 1977 London. Not only do the two slip right back into their buddy cop routine, but their chemistry is off the charts as they cross paths with X-5 (Rafael Casal). After catching the rogue hunter, he rattles both Loki and Mobius during an interrogation attempt, which leads to a tender moment of the two bonding over pie.

While each enjoy a slice of shockingly green key lime pie (which, weirdly, is the only thing the cafeteria served), Loki comforts Mobius and assures him that everyone loses their cool. The two actors beautifully sell the scene, and it’s one of the most compelling Marvel moments in years. There was no green screen or special effects, just two actors doing great character work.

Later in the episode, Loki and Mobius fail to stop Dox (Kate Dickie) from bombing branches of the timeline, which causes a catastrophic loss of live across realities. As the gravity of the situation sets in, Loki places his hands on Mobius’ shoulder, and Loki fans lost their minds.

Hiddleston and Wilson have chemistry for days, and Season 2 is doing a great job of leaning into it. You can see from the reactions below that Loki fans can’t get enough of them together:

Loki streams new episodes Thursday on Disney+.

Could Megan Thee Stallion’s industry issue be over? For years, the “Savage” rapper has been tied up in a legal battle with her former label, 1501 Certified Entertainment, and company head Carl Crawford. In past court documents, the Grammy Award-winning musician has accused the entity of sabotaging her past releases and hiding money. Now that Megan has officially returned from her hiatus, she’s shared a significant update with fans.

Yesterday (October 12), during an Instagram Live session, Megan revealed that she’s not signed to a label and explained why she’ll stay independent. The broadcast, which longtime producer Lil JuMade It hosted, gave fans hope that things were looking up.

“Hotties! The real hotties, not the notties. Kinda them, too. This part of my album is very much so funded by Megan Thee Stallion because we’re trying to get off… Y’all know what’s the tea. But I have no label right now,” said the recording artist.

She continued, “And we’re doing everything funded straight out of Megan Thee Stallion’s pockets. So, the budget is coming from me. Motherf*cking Hot Girl Productions! The next sh*t y’all about to see is all straight from Megan Thee Stallion’s brain and Megan Thee Stallion’s wallet. We are in my pockets, hotties, so let’s do our big one.”

Megan discussed the decision to step out on her own and what the future holds. “I’m so excited to be doing something for the first time independently since it was just me and my momma. So excited. It’s really just me this go around until we sign to a new label. But I don’t want to sign to a new label right now because I just want to do it myself,” she remarked.

Watch the full clip below.

Could Megan Thee Stallion’s industry issue be over? For years, the “Savage” rapper has been tied up in a legal battle with her former label, 1501 Certified Entertainment, and company head Carl Crawford. In past court documents, the Grammy Award-winning musician has accused the entity of sabotaging her past releases and hiding money. Now that Megan has officially returned from her hiatus, she’s shared a significant update with fans.

Yesterday (October 12), during an Instagram Live session, Megan revealed that she’s not signed to a label and explained why she’ll stay independent. The broadcast, which longtime producer Lil JuMade It hosted, gave fans hope that things were looking up.

“Hotties! The real hotties, not the notties. Kinda them, too. This part of my album is very much so funded by Megan Thee Stallion because we’re trying to get off… Y’all know what’s the tea. But I have no label right now,” said the recording artist.

She continued, “And we’re doing everything funded straight out of Megan Thee Stallion’s pockets. So, the budget is coming from me. Motherf*cking Hot Girl Productions! The next sh*t y’all about to see is all straight from Megan Thee Stallion’s brain and Megan Thee Stallion’s wallet. We are in my pockets, hotties, so let’s do our big one.”

Megan discussed the decision to step out on her own and what the future holds. “I’m so excited to be doing something for the first time independently since it was just me and my momma. So excited. It’s really just me this go around until we sign to a new label. But I don’t want to sign to a new label right now because I just want to do it myself,” she remarked.

Watch the full clip below.