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The Philadelphia 76ers had an active offseason, retaining their core group but working diligently to upgrade their depth around them. Keeping James Harden was the most important part of the summer, but how much money he took would dictate just how much they would be able to offer free agents to upgrade the roster.

Harden, for his part, took a pay cut off of what he could’ve made, declining his $47 million player option to take a two-year, $64 million deal (with a player option for 2023-24). Taking less than he could’ve made next year allowed Philly to go out and sign PJ Tucker, adding the tenacious defender Joel Embiid and company desperately wanted, and they used the rest to add Danuel House (as Daryl Morey continues to get the band back together from his Houston days) and Trevelin Queen on smaller deals, while flipping the injured Danny Green to Memphis along with a first for De’Anthony Melton.

Having a star player with that much trust in the front office, after less than a year with the team, to take less and trust that the right deal would get worked out is a rarity, but Harden and Morey’s track record going back to the Rockets days allowed for that kind of dialogue. It also helps that Harden is at a stage in his career where he’s most focused on winning, as he told Chris Haynes of Yahoo that his message to Morey was simple: spend what you need to spend and give me what’s left.

“I had conversations with Daryl, and it was explained how we could get better and what the market value was for certain players. I told Daryl to improve the roster, sign who we needed to sign and give me whatever is left over,” Harden told Yahoo Sports. “This is how bad I want to win. I want to compete for a championship. That’s all that matters to me at this stage. I’m willing to take less to put us in position to accomplish that.”

It’s an admirable position from Harden, and one that the Sixers figure to benefit from (provided, of course, Harden is back at full strength for a full year). While he did take less in the short term, there is some advantage on his end to signing the two-year deal in Philly that guarantees him the ability to pick up a $32 million option next summer should he continue to struggle with the hamstring injury that has hampered him the past two seasons. Coloring Harden’s decision as a completely altruistic one would be disingenuous, but he certainly put his money where his mouth is when it comes to ensuring the Sixers could spend to upgrade the roster and that’s commendable. We’ll find out how much ground the Sixers made up on the rest of the East’s best this coming season, and while the new additions are nice, much of the pressure lies on the shoulders of Harden to be better come playoff time.

One of the best things about seeing young players come into the league is seeing them get to compete against idols they watched growing up, but the confidence of youngsters can sometimes lead them to making headlines when it comes time to talk about aging legends.

This year’s rookie class has already had a couple of these moments, first from Pacers rookie Bennedict Mathurin saying LeBron James is going to have to “show me he’s better than me,” which will undoubtedly pop back up the first time Indiana faces L.A. this season. The latest came from Spurs rookie Jeremy Sochan, who didn’t play in Summer League after working his way back from health and safety protocols, but was in Vegas for practices and to have some rookie media fun.

The one that caught everyone’s attention was he and Malaki Branham playing a guessing game with sticky notes, and when Sochan put up “triple-double,” Branham understandably said “Russell Westbrook get ’em a lot.” Sochan, unfortunately, had his mind jump elsewhere and rather hysterically said “bricks,” which led to an incredible response from Branham who could immediately sense this was going to go viral.

Sure enough it did, and the rookie out of Baylor took to Twitter to say he was just playing a game and blurted out the wrong thing, bringing receipts of his love for Russ, noting his dog is named Russell and posting a photo of him wearing a Westbrook jersey as a kid, insisting he wasn’t trying to be disrespectful.

It certainly seems like an innocent (yet, hysterical) mistake from Sochan, but while he might not’ve meant to create bulletin board material for the first Spurs-Lakers game, it seems likely that he did.

On Saturday night, the MLB held its annual Celebrity All-Star Game and it featured names like Bad Bunny, Quavo, JoJo Siwa, and Simu Liu who all suited up for the matchup. Bad Bunny, to the surprise of no one, quickly became the star of the night. It took a while to see Bad Bunny step up to the plate as he called on Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero and soon-to-be-Hall of Famer David Ortiz to do his first two at-bats. Finally, he stepped up to swing and it resulted in a single. Bad Bunny ended the night with two singles, but now, he’s ending the weekend with another week at No. 1.

Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti just registered its fifth non-consecutive week atop the Billboard 200. In the July 23, 2022-dated chart, Un Verano Sin Ti sold 105,000 copies which were mostly comprised of streams 104,000 copies being streaming equivalent album units thanks to 146.83 million on-demand official streams of the album’s songs. This makes for the tenth consecutive week that Un Verano Sin Ti has sold 100,000 or more copies, tying a mark last set by Drake’s Views between the May 21-July 23, 2016 charts.

Additionally, Un Verano Sin Ti earned its tenth consecutive week in the top two positions of the Billboard 200. The last album to accomplish this was Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album between the January 23-March 27, 2021-dated charts.

Time was that box office hits were more diverse. Before franchise movies ruled the multiplex, a year’s biggest grosser could be a comedy (Three Men and Baby, 1987), a drama (Rain Man, 1988), or a ghostly romance (Ghost, 1990). Even high-concept extravaganzas could be one-offs (E.T., Titanic, Armageddon). This is a roundabout way of saying that everyone should break out the champagne, because a non-franchise movie just crossed the $100 million mark, and in only four weeks of release.

As per Variety, this weekend, Elvis — Baz Luhrmann’s over-the-top biopic about the King — crossed a benchmark, bringing its cume to a whopping $106.2 million. It’s still in the top five (albeit in the fifth slot), behind a three franchise movies (Thor: Love and Thunder, Minions: The Rise of Gru, and Top Gun: Maverick), as well as another non-franchise entry: Where the Crawdads Sing, which chalked up a respectable $17 million for third place.

Elvis stars Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s Austin Butler (who did not — we repeat not — punch Ezra Miller in the face at a Tokyo bar) as the one born Elvis Aaron Presley, whose life and career are both made and derailed by his manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks, in a fat suit and with an unplaceable European-Southern accent). It’s clearly bewitched audiences, though it is a bit strange that none of Presley’s songs have suddenly creeped back into the Billboard 100, as Stranger Things help do to ‘80s tunes by Kate Bush and Metallica. In a just world, “Polk Salad Annie” would crack the Top 10.

(Via Variety)

It’s been about a year and a half since Rico Nasty’s debut album, that being 2020’s Nightmare Vacation. That effort checked in with 16 songs and features from Don Toliver, Gucci Mane, Amine, Trippie Redd, Ppcocaine, Sukihana, and Rubi Rose. Over the last 18 months, Rico has shared music that are both connected and free from her upcoming body of work, and with just a few days until its release, Rico shares the official tracklist for it.

Las Ruinas, Rico’s upcoming second album, is set to arrive on July 22. The project will include 17 songs and it will be much lighter compared to Nightmare Vacation as its includes guest appearances from Bktherula, Teezo Touchdown, and Marshmello. Las Ruinas also includes the already released remix to Fred Again’s “Jungle,” “Skullflower,” “Black Punk,” “Intrusive,” and “Vaderz.”

You can view the full tracklist for Las Ruinas below.

1. “Intrusive”
2. “Vaderz” Feat. Bktherula
3. “Black Punk”
4. “Messy” Feat. Teezo Touchdown & Bktherula
5. “Phuckin Lady”
6. “One On 5”
7. “Gotsta Get Paid”
8. “Watch Your Man” Feat. Marshmello
9. “Blow Me”
10. “Jungle” (Rico Nasty Remix)
11. “Dance Scream”
12. “Skullflower”
13. “Focus On Me”
14. “Always (Skit)”
15. “Easy”
16. “Into The Dark”
17. “Chicken Nugget”

Las Ruinas is out 7/22 via tk. You can pre-save it here.

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

The tournament aspect of NBA Summer League is usually a secondary concern for teams, who are more hopeful to see development of their young stars in the desert, but once there, teams and players always want to win and on Sunday afternoon the Knicks and Blazers met in Thomas & Mack Arena to battle it out for the Summer League title.

A sluggish start probably should’ve been expected for the noon local tip, as both teams struggled to get much going offensively out of the gate but eventually Portland took control in the second quarter to take an 11-point lead into the break, led by Trendon Watford, who finished the game with 19 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists, and Brandon Williams, who led all scorers in the game with 22 points and five assists.

On the Knicks side, Quentin Grimes led the way with 19 points, but shot just 5-of-16 from the field, as the entire Knicks roster was ice cold from deep, knocking down just 24 percent of their triples. The highlights on New York’s side came from bouncy big man Jericho Sims, as he had a few of thunderous dunks in an effort to keep the Knicks attached.

Portland would extend their lead to 14 going into the fourth quarter, with summer standout Jabari Walker starting to get himself going as he stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, 11 rebounds, three steals, two blocks, and two assists.

New York would trim the Portland lead back down to single digits in the fourth, but ultimately Walker, Watford, and Williams would push the Blazers to an 85-77 win and the organization’s first Summer League title since 2018.

Watford earned championship game MVP honors for his efforts.

The Blazers finished their time in the desert with a 4-1 record, led primarily by their defense which shut down opposing squads, while Walker and Watford, in particular, shined in the frontcourt on both ends. They will collect the first ever Summer League championship rings for their performance, as they brought a lot more joy to Blazers fans than expected after Shaedon Sharpe went down after five minutes in his debut with a shoulder injury.

Roger Waters has proven himself to be a fairly mercurial figure, albeit one who’s heart has always seemed to be in the right place. The Pink Floyd vocalist recently took aim at Facebook, who wanted to use a Pink Floyd song for one of their ads and once famously suggested that Marron 5 oughta take a knee when they performed at the Super Bowl halftime show. While Waters has one of the greatest live concert productions on the planet, it might be getting to his head a bit based on his latest comments about his superiority to acts like Drake and The Weeknd.

In an interview with Toronto’s The Globe And Mail paper, Waters seemed to object to the publication and other Canadian media’s decision to give ink to The Weeknd’s After Hours Tour kickoff at the Rogers Centre rather than Waters’ two-night run at Scotiabank Arena. The Weeknd of course had to cancel the hometown tour stop because of Rogers Communications’ outages, while Waters’ show went on as planned. Regardless, Waters’ concern was clearly from a legacy standpoint.

“…With all due respect to the Weeknd or Drake or any of them,” Waters said. “I am far, far, far more important than any of them will ever be, however many billions of streams they’ve got. There is stuff going on here that is fundamentally important to all of our lives.”

His comments seem to stem from the inherently political nature of his and Pink Floyd’s music as opposed to what he might be deeming as comparatively vapid output from Drake and The Weeknd. Waters indeed makes powerful statements on stage, but this does feel a bit misguided. “I have no idea what or who the Weeknd is, because I don’t listen to much music,” Waters added. “People have told me he’s a big act. Well, good luck to him. I’ve got nothing against him. Would it not have been possible to review his show one night and my show another night?”

Ah, the age old desire for press coverage. “I’m not trying to make a personal attack. I’m just saying it seemed odd,” Waters said, in a mild backpedal. It does seem strange that Waters would concern himself with these matters. His music speaks for itself and whether or not Canadian media shines the light on his appearance in the country in relation to what other Canadian (and non-Canadian stars) are doing, should really not affect the message he’s trying to get across. He’s too good for that. Ultimately, this rant feels like nothing short of an “old man yells at cloud” moment.

It’s been a very ‘80s summer, with the season’s top movie being a sequel to Top Gun and a nearly 40-year-old Kate Bush song almost topping the charts. (Oh, and Reagan-era Metallica are doing good, too.) So hopefully you don’t mind if things suddenly get retro aughts, because one of the Bush II era’s biggest couples finally got hitched.

As per Variety, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck filed their official marriage license on Saturday, a mere three months after they announced their engagement. The license was filed in Clark County, Nevada, which means they likely tied the knot in Las Vegas, just like many a happy couple. Lopez officially took his surname, though it’s currently unclear if she’ll continue using her professional name or not.

In the 2000s, the two only dated for a year and a half, but they became one of the most tabloid-happy couples of the decade. They were one of a handful of celebrity pairs known jointly as a portmanteau, namely “Bennifer.” The press had it out for them, especially when they made two films together. Gigli, released in 2003, became one of the most notorious bombs of the era, so derided by critics and the public alike that Lopez’s already small role in Kevin Smith’s Jersey Girl, released the following year, was reduced even further.

Affleck eventually moved on to Jennifer Garner, to whom he was married from 2005 through 2018. The two had a tumultuous relationship. He also dated actress Ana de Armas for about a year. Lopez, meanwhile, wound up with singer Marc Anthony, to whom she was married for a decade starting in 2004. She also dated her former backup dancer Casper Smart and Yankee Alex Rodriguez.

In April of last year, it was reported the two had reconnected after nearly two decades. Now look at them. Also, did you know Ben’s middle name is “Géza”? It’s the Hungarian word for “little prince.” The more you know! And congrats to the happy couple!

(Via Variety)

Rolling Loud’s season of festivals is set to get underway next weekend as they take over Miami for their annual showcase. This year’s festival was set to be headlined by Kanye West, Future, and Kendrick Lamar. It’s one of many festivals Kendrick Lamar has or will perform at this year following a lengthy hiatus that was ended with his Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers album while it marks Future’s return to the Rolling Loud stage following his appearance at the platform’s Los Angeles showcase in late 2021. As for Kanye West, it would’ve been his first headlining set of the year, following his canceled Coachella set, but that will no longer be the case.

For reasons that have not been shared yet, Kanye West dropped out of the 2022 Rolling Loud Miami lineup. “Due to circumstances outside of our control, Ye will no longer be performing at Rolling Loud Miami 2022,” Rolling Loud shared in a statement on Twitter. As a result, Kid Cudi will now replace Kanye as a headliner for day one of the upcoming showcase. Cudi shared his excitement to hit the Rolling Loud in a tweet, writing, “RAGER BOY INCOMING [double exclamation mark emoji].”

Elsewhere in the 2022 Rolling Loud Miami lineup, attendees will also catch performances from Playboi Carti, Lil Durk, Don Toliver, 2 Chainz, Lil Uzi Vert, Gunna, Gucci Mane, Lil Tjay, Lil Baby, Kodak Black, Baby Keem, Trippie Redd, Moneybagg Yo, Saweetie, City Girls, Latto, and many more.

You can view Rolling Loud’s announcement and Cudi’s message in the tweets above.

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

Last summer, The Weeknd announced a new show with HBO called The Idol. The series is co-created and co-executive produced with Reza Fahim and Euphoria’s Sam Levinson and the six-episode show is “set against the backdrop of the music industry and centers on a self-help guru and leader of a modern-day cult who develops a complicated relationship with an up-and-coming pop idol”. A little over a year after the show was announced, The Weeknd has now shared a new trailer for it. The 90-second clip features The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp, who both star in The Idol, as they go through chaotic moments at a mansion, out in the city, and more.

The road towards The Idol hasn’t been entirely smooth. Back in April, HBO announced that the series would undergo an overhaul due to the decision to head in a “new creative direction.” In a statement, HBO wrote, “The production will be adjusting its cast and crew accordingly to best serve this new approach to the series.” Three months after that update was shared, the series’ cast now includes Troye Sivan, Jennie Kim, Debby Ryan, Rachel Sennott, Steve Zissis, Hari Nef, Juliebeth Gonzalez, Melanie Liburd, Tunde Adebimpe, Elizabeth Berkley, Nico Hiraga, and more.

You can watch the trailer for the upcoming show, which does not have a release date yet, in the video above.