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Kevin Durant is the latest Brooklyn Nets star to request a trade out of town, as the turmoil of this summer and the past season has apparently led the future first-ballot Hall of Famer to ask GM Sean Marks to find him a new team.

What makes Durant’s situation more intriguing than that of Kyrie Irving or James Harden is that, for one, Durant is the better player, and most importantly, his max extension signed last offseason kicks in this year and he is under contract for four more years. That means Durant, theoretically, has a bit less sway in pushing himself to a specific team, as there isn’t the threat of him walking in free agency, but it also means the Nets can ask for the world in return as you’re getting one of the best to every play on a long-term deal.

Still, Durant has his preferred list of destinations and depending on his relationship with the Nets brass (and how much they care about keeping a strong relationship with Rich Kleiman), that still could be taken into consideration. Per Chris Haynes, Jake Fischer, and Adrian Wojnarowski, the Phoenix Suns and Miami Heat sit atop KD’s wishlist, but as Woj notes, the contract situation means the Nets will be fielding offers from everyone in hopes of getting the best possible package for their future.

That package will need to be built around both current players and picks, because a true rebuild isn’t in the cards for the Nets after all their picks they gave up to Houston in the James Harden trade two years ago. As such, a team will need to provide young star talent as well as draft picks to supplant those given up in the Rockets deal.

Phoenix seems to be the likely frontrunner for a KD deal, particularly if the Nets see Deandre Ayton as a star-caliber young player. Ayton as part of a sign-and-trade could be a centerpiece of a deal, with the Nets surely wanting Mikal Bridges and more, with the Suns likely pushing back and trying to keep their talented two-way wing for their title hopes. As for Miami, the best young player they can offer is Bam Adebayo, but because the Nets already traded for Ben Simmons, they can’t acquire the All-Star center from the Heat in a trade, which would seem to make things very difficult for Miami to get involved if it’s not a three-way deal.

The Woj report that they will open up negotiations to anyone feels like the Nets ensuring that Phoenix puts its best package on the table rather than trying to play hardball, because there are plenty of teams that will put up robust offers for the chance to bring Durant to town. Teams with a stocked cupboard of young talent seem the most dangerous, and one such location that might have Durant at least intrigued by the possibilities would be Memphis, where he could join Ja Morant and whomever would be left after a trade coming off a 2-seed in the West.

Rage Against The Machine’s 1992 hit “Killing In The Name” is a good song, widely regarded as one of the most memorable and defining singles of its era. It continues to do well today, as it has over 600 million streams on Spotify, easily the most of any Rage song. If you’re a fan of the song, then yesterday’s broadcast on Vancouver’s KISS-FM 104.9 radio station was heavenly, as they played the track on repeat for hours on end.

Writer Tracey Lindeman, who described KISS-FM as a “soft-rock station,” noticed this and shared some insight about what the experience was like, tweeting, “Whenever someone calls in for a request, they deny it and replay the Rage song again.” She added, “They play it a few times between requests. There are no pauses between when one play ends and the next one begins so it just sounds like one long, long song,” as well as, “Last person to make a request requested ‘Killing In the Name Of.’ The host replied, ‘stick around – i don’t know when we’ll be able to play it but we will play it’ Then immediately launched into ‘Killing In the Name Of.’”

She even tried to get some answers but came up empty, tweeting, “When I called the radio station the host wouldn’t say why they were doing it. […] He refused to confirm whether it’s a stunt or a protest.”

Rolling Stone later noted there was speculation this whole thing was indeed a publicity stunt to usher in a newly announced rock-leaning station. To that point, the KISS-FM website now notes, “Thank you for listening to KiSS RADiO in Vancouver & The Valley. This KiSS is saying goodbye but you can still listen to the KiSS Radio in Edmonton, Ottawa, and Toronto on their websites or on your smart speaker devices. […] If you’d like to try something new, you could listen to SONiC – The New Alternative.”

The Thor: Love and Thunder editing room was not kind to the cast of Game of Thrones.

Lena Headey, who played Cersei Lannister on the HBO series, was cut from the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film, resulting in a $1.5 million lawsuit by her former-agency, Troika.

Variety reports that “Troika, which re-branded as YMU in 2020, claims Headey owes the agency at least $500,000 — equivalent to 7% of her fee — for her earnings on the Marvel movie,” as well as $300,000 for the film 9 Bullets and another $650,000 for the scrapped Showtime series Rita.

It’s unclear who Headey was going to play in Thor: Love and Thunder, but we know her on-screen Lannister sibling, Peter Dinklage, was going to reprise his Avengers: Infinity War role as Eitri until his part was also axed.

In an interview with Prensaescenario, Christian Bale spilled that “I got to work with Peter Dinklage” on Love and Thunder, but “that’s not in the final film. The Gorr the God Butcher actor also appeared with Jeff Goldblum,” but he’s not in the final film either… A lot of stuff ends up on the cutting room floor even though it is beautiful brilliant stuff.”

It’s about time the Lannisters got a taste of their own Red Wedding medicine with all these cuts.

Thor: Love and Thunder comes out on July 8.

(Via Variety)

Boslen returns to UPROXX Sessions with another performance after showcasing the “Levels” to his flows. This time, he displays his range with a lilting performance of his emo-rock-influenced trap-pop ballad, “Gone.” The inspiration the Vancouver artist gets from Kid Cudi and Travis Scott is even more evident here, as he full-on croons for much of the single, even throwing a little falsetto into the second verse.

“Gone,” like “Levels,” appears on the 24-year-old’s newly released EP Gonzo, which dropped last Friday, June 24 on UMG Recordings. In “Gone,” Boslen contemplates a toxic relationship and how hard it can be to leave, even when you know it’s not good for you. “I don’t wanna wait for you to say you’re sorry,” he tells his poisonous paramour. “I’m not gonna lay here just for anybody / I’m gone, long gone.”

Watch Boslen perform “Gone” for UPROXX Sessions above and check out Gonzo here.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s 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.

The Kevin Durant era with the Brooklyn Nets appears to be on the verge of coming to an end. According to a report by Shams Charania of The Athletic, Durant went to the franchise and requested a trade.

The report was confirmed by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, who says that Durant and Rich Kleiman are in the midst of working with Nets executive Sean Marks on a trade. The two sides apparently met on Thursday ahead of the start of free agency to start looking for a new team for Durant.

Durant joined the Nets alongside Kyrie Irving during the 2019 offseason, and after sitting out the 2019-20 campaign while he worked to rehabilitate an achilles injury, showed that he is still one of the best players on earth over the last two years. His future in Brooklyn came into question this offseason while the Nets tried to figure out what they were going to do with Irving, who flirted with leaving the team before opting into the final year of his contract.

There is no word on how this will impact Irving’s future in Brooklyn, but despite the fact that he is slated to suit up for the Nets next season, it appears things are going look much different with Durant playing for someone else.

As The Wire hits its 20th anniversary, creator David Simon is opening up about how Stringer Bell’s death in the third season not only shocked viewers, but also actor Idris Elba who was not exactly thrilled about being written off of the groundbreaking show. At the time, Elba wasn’t the major star is he today, but Simon could tell “what a leading man he was” and assured him that his onscreen death would be a good thing for his career. However, Simon was sympathetic to Elba’s concerns because he fully understood that, outside of The Wire, there wasn’t a whole lot of work for Black actors.

Via The Wrap:

“When he read the script … he was like, ‘Man, I can’t believe I’m leaving the show.’ Like, he was not happy. And I remember talking with him over the script and saying, ‘Idris, you’re going to have movie roles. You’re going to be an A-lister. People are going to get a load of this death, they’re going to acquire this story arc in retrospect — this is your calling card, man. You’re going to do fine.’”

Obviously, things worked out, and Simon was correct. Thanks to his command performance on The Wire, Elba is now an A-list star with a cavalcade of roles under his belt. (Not to mention, the near-constant calls to make him the next James Bond.) That said, it is an interesting look back at how far the industry has come, and still needs to go, that Elba had very justifiable concerns that being killed off of The Wire could’ve tanked his career despite delivering one of the most memorable TV roles of the past 20 years.

(Via Associated Press on Twitter)

While most of the NBA world is fretting over free agency and trade rumors, Anthony Edwards is back home in Atlanta with not a worry in the world after further establishing himself as a cornerstone of the Wolves franchise last season and helping them back to the playoffs.

As the Wolves front office looks to bolster their roster around Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns, with D’Angelo Russell as the most likely player on the move from the Minnesota roster, Edwards is returning to his first true love — football. Edwards has shed the questions of whether he’s committed to basketball that persisted in the lead-up to the 2020 Draft after he proclaimed happily that his favorite sport was football, but when it’s time to step away from the court in the summer, it’s straight to the gridiron for Edwards, who posted a video of him dropping dimes at the Georgia Tech facility in Atlanta with some friends — and claiming he’s coming for the Falcons starting QB job.

That video went viral and caught the eye of none other than Tom Brady, who couldn’t help but think that Edwards, despite his success in the NBA, chose the wrong sport to pursue a career in.

Edwards responded that, while QB is his preferred position, he’s not against stepping in at tight end to fill the void left by Gronk’s latest retirement.

The former No. 1 overall pick has lived up to the billing through two years on the basketball court and seems destined for a long, lucrative, and successful hoops career, but it’s nice to have career options and getting an endorsement from Tom Brady for your football skills is a pretty good reference.

One of the big off-court talking points during the NBA Finals was the role Draymond Green’s podcast played in the whole thing. It ended up being a whole lot of nothing, as the Golden State Warriors beat the Boston Celtics in six games, but there were questions about whether Green’s focus was diverted or if he was going too much away in his postgame shows.

Still, the podcast has gone on unabated, and Green recently did a crossover podcast with another hooper who is in the podcast game, JJ Redick. While there, Green spoke about one moment between himself and Jaylen Brown that drew some attention during the Finals where Brown thought Green was pulling his pants down, and how it made him realize that he was in the Celtics star’s head.

“When Jaylen Brown went in the media and said ‘he tried to pull my shorts down,’ I knew I took his heart,” Green said. “I knew I took his heart. And not that I’ll have it next year — I gotta regain it next year and next time we play them — but I knew for the rest of that series that I had him, because you know you’re standing over me and you’re gonna go to the media and say ‘he tried to pull my shorts down.’ Like, come on, bro, you’re standing over me. Own it.”

Green also told a story of how he sent a quote Brown gave to the team in which Brown said they weren’t afraid of the Warriors, which Green took as evidence that the Celtics were, indeed, afraid of them. Brown saw this video and responded on Twitter, saying that while Green has earned the right to talk after winning a ring, he believes the podcast has led to Green losing his mind.

Green’s been very open to responding to stuff like this on his pod, so we fully expect him to address it sometime soon.

Before Giveon was an R&B superstar, he was a server at a Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant in Long Beach, California. When he landed the job, he didn’t know how far his passion for singing would take him. During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, he recalled a moment from eight years ago, in which he sang for a then-up-and-coming SZA.

While on his way to the third interview for the server job, he saw SZA inside the restaurant.

“I don’t know why Bubba Gump requires three interviews for some reason,” Giveon said. “I’m walking into the third interview and I just see SZA walking and I ambush her like, ‘Hi.’ I just was rambling out the words. I don’t even remember everything I said, but then I said too much. But she was extremely nice.”

At the time of the encounter, SZA had just signed to Top Dawg Entertainment, and had just released her major-label debut EP, Z. While Giveon doesn’t remember exactly what went down during the encounter, he did recall singing a few bars for the “Good Days” singer.

“Yes, I sang for her, OK?! I was gon’ leave that part out,” Giveon continued, following prying from Fallon. “I was a very big fan. Still am. I was singing for her and she was just like, ‘Who is this guy singing?!’ […] She came to a show years later and I told her and she was like, ‘Awww, I don’t remember.’ So I went on Instagram and unsent the DM that I sent her. […] I went to the DM and it said 2014. ‘Hi, my name is Giveon, I was the kid at Long Beach Bubba Gump. Do you remember me?’ I just took it off. If she brings it up, I don’t know what she’s talking about.”

Check out the full interview above.

Give Or Take is out now via Epic. Stream it here.

Lindsay Lohan (the H is silent, btw) is coming for her overdue Oscar. The former child actress/one of the best to ever do it will return to cinema later this year in Falling for Christmas, a Christmas film for Netflix. Earlier this year, Netflix announced a two-picture deal with Lohan. In the meantime, she’s making a gradual return into our lives in preparation for her takeover. Lohan stars in a new ad for Allbirds running shoes, which makes references that even the laziest Lohan fan (for example, someone who still pronounces the H) will understand. It might even be more self-referential than Michael Bay’s motion picture AmbuLAnce.

The ad, titled “Unexpected Athlete: Lindsay Lohan in the Tree Flyers,” opens with a shot of Lohan’s bedroom, which includes a nightstand topped with Oreos and peanut butter, a reference to the delicious snack Hallie (Lohan) and Annie (Lohan) eat in 1998’s The Parent Trap.

“I didn’t run track in high school, I was more of a mathlete,” she says, a reference to her character Cady Heron in 2004’s Mean Girls, who was a mathlete. Later in the ad, Lohan chooses from a collection of shoes in different colors. She picks a pink pair, and says, “well, it’s Wednesday.” If you don’t know that one, I’m not sure why you’re reading this (hint: it is also a Mean Girls reference).

Unfortunately, the ad contains zero references to the abhorrent but relentlessly rewatchable Georgia Rule (2007) for the five other fans out there.