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The San Antonio Spurs are apparently very good at getting the top pick in the NBA Draft when a franchise-changing big man is on the line. The team previously got the No. 1 pick in 1987 when David Robinson was available for selection, and did it again in 1997 when Tim Duncan was in the Draft.

In 2023, the ping pong balls bounced the team’s way once more, and as a result, the overwhelming likelihood is that French big man Victor Wembanyama will begin his NBA career as a member of the Spurs. And as it turns out, one of the franchise’s other No. 1 overall picks is going to have a vested interest in helping him get used to life in the league, according to Marc Stein’s latest newsletter.

At the behest of longtime Spurs patriarch Gregg Popovich, Tim Duncan agreed to join Pop’s coaching staff for the 2019-20 campaign interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. That one season was enough for Duncan to reaffirm what many suspected and what he surely already knew—full-time coaching isn’t for him—but the expectation is that he will regularly visit the team’s practice facility to work with Wembanyama when the Spurs are home.

As Stein mention, Duncan has previously served on Pop’s staff, but stepped down after 16 months at the helm. At the very least, he’ll be about as good of a mentor for Wembanyama as he can get early on in his career.

Megan Thee Stallion‘s music has been immortalized on wax. But now, her likeness is immortalized in wax. Madame Tussauds has revealed a pair of wax figures crafted in the fashion of the Hot Girl Coach herself.

One of the wax figures is dressed up in a matching pant and coat set, with print headlines, reminiscent of the aesthetic from Meg’s debut album, Good News. Another was wearing a sequined, metallic, two-piece set, with a matching hat.

While Madame Tussauds wax figures tend to be a hit or a miss, the general consensus among the Hotties seems to be that the resemblance to Meg is uncanny.

“So glad Madame Tussauds did right by Megan’s Wax Figure,” said one fan on Twitter.

“Madame Tussauds’ Megan Thee Stallion wax figures look good af,” said another fan. “One of the best celebrity wax figures I’ve seen by far. Ate and left no crumbs.”

Even Megan herself was impressed by the wax figures. In a video shared to social media, Meg is seen, almost unable to pick her jaw up off of the ground.

The wax figures will be on display at Madame Tussauds museums in New York and Las Vegas.

You can see Megan’s reaction above.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

A.J. Brown was nearly hit by a car on Saturday morning while participating in a charity event. Brown, the All-Pro wide receiver that the Philadelphia Eagles acquired in a trade from the Tennessee Titans last year, was one of the players who participated in the bike ride portion of an annual event put on by the team that looks to raise money for the Eagles Autism Foundation.

While streaming on Instagram Live, Brown came to an intersection and very nearly got hit by a car, which led to him dropping his phone.

It’s a really scary sight, but Brown went to Twitter after this started to make its way around the internet and let everyone know that he is ok.

Brown followed this up by having a sense of humor about things, joking (we think!) that the person who ran the stop sign might have been a fan of the Dallas Cowboys.

The most important thing, of course, is that Brown is fine and was able to avoid getting hurt in a situation that can end up being very, very serious. As for the event, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie announced that the organization was able to raise $6 million this year, which is a record for a single year.

Late last year after he took over Twitter, Elon Musk went after a college kid. The Tesla/Space X big boss was nonplussed that Jack Sweeney, an early 20s sophomore from Florida, had created a bot account that posted the actions of his private jet, despite the information already being public anyway. He suspended then reinstated the account and it’s currently still live, albeit with a 24-hour delay. But Sweeney has added another right-leaning figure to his list.

As per Insider, Sweeney has recently launched @DeSantisJet, which will follow the government-owned jet wielded by — you guessed it — Ron DeSantis. Sweeney told the publication that he created the account due to rising interest in the Florida governor, who’s expected to formally announce his 2024 presidential campaign next week.

Earlier this month, DeSantis signed a bill that would redact certain details about his trips, including the names of staff and family joining him. However, the flights themselves are still part of the public record as per the flight tracking platform ADS-B Exchange.

Where has Ole Puddin’ Fingers flown recently? The latest tracking post as of this writing shows that he flew from Tallahassee to Tampa and back again on May 17.

When DeSantis officially throws his hat in the ring, he’ll formally start battling not one but two Florida residents: Donald Trump, who’s crushing him in the polls, and The Walt Disney Company, which keeps pantsing him for his attempts to make them pay for not being homophobes.

(Via Insider)

Lizzo is here to remind us that we are special. Last night (May 19), during a stop on her Special 2our in Omaha, Nebraska, she shared a message with her fans who are in danger of losing reproductive rights and trans-affirming care.

“Anyone who comes to a Lizzo show should know that I am for people to have the right to healthcare,” she said in a video captured by a journalist who was in attendance at the concert.

This statement came after Nebraska’s passing of LB574, a bill banning abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy, along with gender-affirming healthcare for transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people under the age of 18.

Elsewhere during her speech, Lizzo offered words of affirmation to her fans, particularly the younger ones worried about the future of the world.

“It really breaks my heart that there are young people growing up in a world that doesn’t protect them,” she said. “Let me be your safe space tonight. Young people, don’t let anybody tell you who you are, don’t let any law tell you who you’re not. You are who you are. I see you. You are valid. You deserve to be here in any form. These laws are not real. You are what’s real.”

You can see a clip from the show above.

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

Tony Allen is making it a point to let Ja Morant know he is in his corner. Allen, the Memphis Grizzlies legend who served as one of the pillars of the team’s revered Grit ‘n’ Grind era, went onto Kevin Garnett’s “KG Certified” to have a conversation regarding Morant, who is currently caught up in a new controversy related to his possession of a firearm.

“I reach out to his dad every day,” Allen said of Morant’s father, Tee, per Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “I tell him, ‘Hey man, I’m in y’all corner. I’m around. I’m here if you need me.’ I been through some of everything of what he’s trying to portray. It can get rough.”

While Allen is of the belief that “experience is the best teacher” and Morant’s going to learn from all this, he explained to Garnett that, if he got the chance to sit down with the All-Star guard, he wants to have a conversation with Morant about the seriousness of guns.

“You gotta be properly planning in your movements, and when you’re out and about, man, and you definitely think you need a gun or you need places to go that you need a gun, might not need to be going to those places,” he said. “I say that from experience, I’ve done been in a fair share of things myself that I wish I could take back myself.

“He gotta get the right people around him,” Allen went on to say. “I know that sounds cliche, but more so than anything, you need some cats around you that’s gonna let you know when you wrong, when you bogus, when you pretty much need to be a man about certain situations, a grown man at that.”

Earlier this month, Morant waved a gun around while on an Instagram Live that was broadcast by one of his friends. It was the second time Morant has come under scrutiny for brandishing a gun, as he went on a leave of absence that turned into an 8-game suspension following an incident where he brought a gun to a nightclub in Colorado. Reports indicate that Morant could face a lengthy suspension for the most recent incident, and he has currently been suspended from all team activities by the Grizzlies.

Zach Bryan has had quite a breakout. Last year, his single “Something In The Orange” proved to be a hit. He also was one of the game-changers who helped bring attention to Ticketmaster’s outrageous fees, notably with his live album, All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster.

Yesterday (May 19), Bryan took to Instagram to reflect on the big year he’s had, which all started with the release of his debut album, American Heartbreak.

“[E]veryone’s asking for new songs lately, rightfully so, but the record that ruined and saved my life all at once turned one today,” said Bryan in the post’s caption. “[W]ithout this album I don’t know where I would have turned when I didn’t have anyone who understood.
night time walks in New York and [my dog] Jack shaking his collar all through [E]lectric [L]ady.”

He continued, saying, “Not to self-indulge too much, like reading an old journal, I’m going to roll down the highway with a buzz and drift off to sleep to this while these wheels take me to New Orleans. Thank you American Heartbreak for being the words I always sought after and giving me the life people are proud of. Thank you to everyone who listened to these songs I wrote in this last year, you have also changed my small town Oklahoman life into something stranger than fiction.”

Elsewhere in the post, he let his antsy fans that they can expect new music, potentially in the near future.

“Music soon if I feel that it’s right,” said Bryan.

You can see the full post above.

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

Florida governor Ron DeSantis is allegedly days away from finally stating the obvious: that he’s running for president against his state’s most famous resident. And yet he’s already committed one faux pas after another. He has a weird laugh, he eats pudding with his fingers, and his war with The Walt Disney Company has been going terribly. Now this.

On Friday, a brief clip went viral that appeared to show DeSantis doing another weird thing with his hands: It finds giving his nose a big wipe then immediately using that hand to pat a supporter on the shoulder.

“Did he just wipe his snot on the guy’s shirt sitting in the wheelchair?” asked former Republican-turned-anti-MAGA gadfly Ron Filipkowski. A lot of people said yes, he sure did.

Though DeSantis hasn’ yet filed paperwork for his 2024 election campaign, polls have been consistently show him getting his butt handed to him by Donald Trump, who has excelled despite — or maybe even because — of all his legal woes. When he does formally announce his run, he’ll have to pause his beef with Disney, which he’s tried to claim he didn’t start because they dared criticize his so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

(Via HuffPost)

Games 1 and 2 of the Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets were two opposite ends of the basketball spectrum. Game 1’s offensive showcase made way for Game 2’s defensive-minded, cold-shooting affair. LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Nikola Jokic combined for 100 points on 35-for-56 shooting in Game 1. Thursday night, they totaled just 63 points on 22-for-55 shooting. Denver led for 47 minutes in Game 1. Los Angeles led for 32 minutes in Game 2.

Among the few commonalities this week were the Nuggets winning both contests and Jamal Murray shredding the Lakers’ defense for a pair of 30-point escapades. The 25-year-old has once again shown his knack for leveling up in the playoffs, averaging 34 points (68.4 percent true shooting), 7.5 rebounds, five assists, and 3.5 steals against the Lakers.

Through 2.5 quarters of Game 2, an encore from his 31-point Game 1 seemed nearly implausible for Murray. After opening the night 2-for-3 with six points, he misfired on 11 of his next 12 attempts and was laboring through a 3-for-15 showing filled with short and off-center misses. He very clearly looked like a person trying to play a professional sport with an ear infection. But then, he turned ablaze. He buried eight of his final nine shots, including seven straight. He splashed home four triples amid that flurry. His 3-for-15 slog slammed on the brakes and U-turned into an 11-for-24, 37-point supernova display.

After Los Angeles assigned Davis to Aaron Gordon so he could roam on Jokic as a helper midway through the third quarter, the Nuggets’ offense lost some luster, though it already struggled to manufacture all night. Jokic, who scored 21 of his 23 points before the nine-minute mark of the third, missed a slew of reliable shots and was 1-for-8 down the stretch. Davis’ patrolling and Gordon’s discomfort against that approach muddied the waters for everyone involved.

Murray stepped up with 23 fourth-quarter points. The sixth-year guard is presenting substantial issues for Los Angeles’ defense, primarily through two means: pick-and-roll and handoffs. When the Lakers employ drop coverage against him, he’s torching them. Whether it’s Davis or James, Murray is finding the requisite space to get to his jumper and hurl flames. Davis playing at the level or full-on switching has worked better.

The Lakers are toggling between going under and over on Murray’s screens. They started out with the former in Game 1, shifted to the latter late, and opened that way in Game 2 before reverting back to their opening gambit for spurts. Presumably, the intention is to take away Murray’s airspace in the midrange, where he loves to operate. Yet he shot 39.3 percent on 244 pull-up triples during the regular season and has canned 37.5 percent of his 64 off-the-bounce long balls these playoffs. In this series, he’s 5-for-11 on pull-up threes. He’s quite comfortable stopping and popping from deep.

When Los Angeles has elected to fight over the top, Murray is content to probe into his midrange haven, shooting 8-for-12 (66.7 percent) on two-point pull-ups this series and 43-for-83 (51.8 percent) in the playoffs. The chemistry he possesses with Jokic in ball-screens amplifies the space he finds. James in drop coverage as the small-ball 5 with Davis resting was untenable on Thursday night. But the main alternatives — switching a small onto Jokic or trapping to give him a 4-on-3 — are even less palatable. If Jokic and Davis’ stints aren’t going to align, the Lakers must find a remedy for the non-Davis minutes, though that’s been a dilemma all playoffs.

But right now, there may not be a bigger dilemma for Los Angeles than figuring out how to deal with Murray. The dude’s in a shot-making groove, which helped rescue the offense Thursday.

While Murray and Jokic have fostered unspoken, intrinsic chemistry in pick-and-rolls, the heart of their connection resides in dribble handoffs. Whereas the Lakers stymied much of the Golden State Warriors’ dribble handoff-heavy attack last round, they can’t adhere to the same defensive principles anymore with Jokic triggering the action. Against Golden State, they top-locked shooters and ball-handlers to deny the handoff and sagged off whichever big man, Draymond Green or Kevon Looney, was facilitating them because neither is a credible shooting or scoring threat.

Jokic, however, is, and he’s developed innate synergy with Murray on cuts when defenses deny those handoffs. Davis has to press up against Jokic and the guards are left to lock-and-trail instead. As a qualified beneficiary, Murray is exploiting the problems Jokic poses for Los Angeles.

Denver is mixing in some free-flowing handoffs and the traditional Chicago action, but its staple is Rip DHO* involving Murray, Jokic, and Gordon. The Lakers are hesitant to switch the initial screen because it’ll leave Gordon with a deep seal against a mismatch and Jokic can seamlessly feed that entry pass for buckets.

(* — This may not be the official name, but the “Rip” part stems from the Rip/back screen Murray sets before transitioning into the dribble handoff, hence Rip DHO.)

Regardless of the predicament it puts them in, they’re also just defending it really poorly and failing to communicate effectively. This is a longtime component of Denver’s Jokic-centric offense. It had to be a prevalent part of the pre-series film. The Lakers cannot botch the coverage on it like they have through two games, nor should they have even mishandled it as much as they have thus far. Murray is taking advantage, as he’s done throughout his career playing off of Jokic.

Jokic has never shared the floor alongside another current All-Star since entering the NBA, at least by the literal definition. But each of the last two times Murray’s suited up in the playoffs, he’s performed like one. Over his past 32 postseason games, he’s averaging 26.8 points (61.2 percent true shooting), 6.5 assists, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.2 steals a night. If he put up these numbers through the first 32 games of a regular season, Murray would walk into an All-Star nod.

Despite some hiccups defensively (particularly in Game 1), he’s elevated himself to begin these Western Conference Finals, even by his own lofty standards. Following a pair of dynamite 30-balls, Murray has the Nuggets two victories away from the franchise’s first Finals berth. He’s further solidifying himself as a bona fide co-star next to the league’s foremost superstar in Jokic. It was true in the Bubble. It was true in 2020-21. It was true the final three months of this season. And it’s absolutely true right now.

Earlier this week, rapper Big Sean made a rare appearance on Twitter. Though he’s dialed back his social media presence in recent years, he took to the social media channel on Thursday (May 18) to share a special message, timely for Mental Health Awareness Month.

“To everybody stressed the f*ck out or overwhelmed cause y’all busy… just remember, It’s much more stressful when things ARENT happening versus stress bc they are,” he said. He continued, seemingly hinting that he was hard at work on new music. “Ok, back to work… but take care of you too.”

Though it’s not clear that he specifically shared this sentiment in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, he and his longtime girlfriend Jhené Aiko are both advocates of mental health.

While Sean is of the mentality that keeping busy is indicative of having a lot going for oneself, he’s also a proponent of maintaining balance.

A month prior to the aforementioned tweet, he reminded his fans, “No matter how busy you are, you gotta live your life.”

It’s been almost three years since Sean released a proper album, however, he’s recently been keeping fans satisfied with guest appearances. He is featured on Kaytranada and Aminé’s song, “Master P,” from their collaborative album Kaytraminé. He also collaborated with Larry June & The Alchemist on a song called “Palisades, CA.”