GoneTrending

The Brooklyn Nets ended one big three with the hopes of forming another on Thursday when the team pulled off a trade deadline swap with the Philadelphia 76ers. The deal was headlined by Philly landing James Harden and Ben Simmons heading to Brooklyn, ending two of the most high-profile sagas we have had in the NBA this year.

The trade happened right around lunchtime on Thursday, and later in the day, Kevin Durant was put into a position to respond. Durant and LeBron James are the two captains for the 2022 NBA All-Star Game, and on the heels of the deadline, the pair went onto TNT to select their teams ahead of the league’s upcoming trip to Cleveland. Durant was asked to give his thoughts on the trade, and gave an answer that made clear that something was amiss in Brooklyn.

“I’m excited for our team,” Durant said. “Looking forward to finishing the season out with this new group and these new players. The playoffs are right around the corner, we gotta fast track into getting used to each other. But I’m excited, I think everybody got what they wanted.”

When asked by Charles Barkley if the Nets have a psychiatrist on staff because of everything that’s going on in Brooklyn, Durant replied, “What I gotta deal with? I’m making millions of dollars playing basketball.” Soon after, Durant picked Harden’s new teammate Joel Embiid with his first pick in All-Star draft.

If there was a lifetime achievement award for skateboarding, they’d probably name the trophy after Tony Hawk (maybe one already exists?) At any rate, Hawk just doesnt slow down and always seems to be in the news. In the last year alone, Hawk was announced as the subject of a documentary by the Duplass Brothers, tried his hand as an Olympic pro skating commentator (he quickly bailed), and was even caught in the middle of kerfuffle with Lil Nas X about skateboards painted with blood. Now he has announced the first ever Tony Hawk’s Weekend Jam festival of music and skate culture in Las Vegas.

The three day event is going down at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center from from May 12th to 15th and it’s a collision of rock bands and legendary pro skaters. On the music side of things, Modest Mouse, Descendents, and Devo are topping the lineup, with Andy MacDonald, Bucky Lasek and Steve Caballero among a radical list of pro skaters who’ll be participating in events throughout the weekend. Hawk’s son, Riley, will even be playing with his band Warish, too.

Presented by Pollen, Weekend Jam is an all-inclusive festival and accommodation experience that promises “Skate Contests, Vert Alert Exhibition Hosted by Tony, Skate Shop, Gaming Activation From GCN, Live Bands, Food Trucks, and more.”

Other skaters currently slated to attend include Christian Hosoi, Kevin Staab ,Lizzie Armanto, Rune Glifberg, and Sandro Dias, Steve Caballero. While on the music side, X, Cold Cave, The Vandals, Rough Francis, and The Downhill Jam will all be on stage.

For tickets and more info, check out the event website.

Whether you’re a staunch vegan or a hardcore carnivore, it’s easy to see that the vegan food space is more exciting than it’s ever been. Store shelves, fast food menus, restaurant concepts — they’re all beefing up (pun very much intended, sorry) efforts to cater to the palates of vegans and vegetarians across the nation. Why? Speaking broadly, meat consumption is on the decline. Bloomberg reports that the United States, Brazil, Argentina, and the whole of Europe are buying less meat than ever before. Now granted, a lot of that has to do with the rising price of meat and environmental concerns, but those reasons are more than enough to drive many of us to eat less meat when cooking at home.

Thankfully, people like Pinky Cole — CEO, and co-founder of the massively popular Slutty Vegan — are making it easier for us meat-eaters to expand and rethink the ways we think about the food we stuff in our maws. It’s less about ditching flavor and the “fun” of food and more about experiencing new flavors. That’s exciting. The success of Slutty Vegan in Atlanta, a city known for its love of big burgers, fried chicken, and barbecued meats, is a testament to Cole’s mastery of turning veggies into the sorts of umami bombs diners love.

Now Cole wants to give us the tools to make delicious plant-based food on our own as she prepares to drop her first cookbook, Eat Plants Bitch, which features 91 recipes of “vegan comfort food,” that expand upon and capture the magic of her flagship restaurant. Unfortunately, Eat Plants Bitch doesn’t drop until June 21st (the book is available for pre-order now) but anticipating Super Bowl Sunday, we hit up Cole for some quick snack recipes to liven up our Sunday spread and picked her brain for her thoughts on the current food space.

What can you tell us about Eat Plants Bitch, What makes it different than other cookbooks out there?

Eat Plants Bitch is basically a combination of recipes that the meat-eater would typically eat, but it’s all made plant-based. I wanted to create a book that speaks to the audience of the people who come to Slutty Vegan. 90 percent of the people who eat at Slutty Vegan are meat eaters, so our audience is the person that has no desire to be vegan but are trying vegan options, so when I came up with Eats Plant Bitch, I wanted that to be an extension of that concept.

I wanted people who eat meat to say “you know what, maybe I don’t want to go vegan but as long as I have this cookbook I can create different menu items with the recipes in this book without feeling like I have to give up the things that I love, like burgers and fries, Philly cheesesteaks, all of that good stuff” and that’s what makes it different. I’m not specifically talking to the vegan audience, vegans already get it, but we’re really tapping into the minds of the person who really likes to eat meat and doesn’t necessarily want to compromise.

What would you say to meat-eaters regarding why is it important to adopt vegan food into their lifestyle? Why should we all be lowering our meat consumption?

We save the planet when people eat less meat, that’s a given. People don’t realize, even I had to learn this, the emissions and the gas that animals give off affect our economy, our world and our ecosystem. The less meat people eat, the healthier we are in the end. But to tell people to eat less meat is not really my message, my message is to just have options. I want people to feel comfortable in the options that they have. So I’ll tell you, the first thing I want you to do is come to Slutty Vegan, if you don’t live in Atlanta or Georgia, take it one step at a time.

I think the goal in life is if we can get more people to be vegan it’s a win, but everybody is not going to make that lifestyle switch, so what we can do is make people think about food differently, which is why I love to help people reimagine food.

I think there is a misconception in the vegan space that vegans are throwing their agenda on people or forcing people to eat vegan, and I think that it pushes people away, well, for the past few years anyway. I’m just taking a different approach, it’s just necessary for people to understand food differently than they’ve known it before. Most people, up until recently, weren’t really interested in vegan food because they had this misconception that it was nasty and didn’t taste good. “This won’t do anything for me I’m going to stick to my meat.” Now we can educate people in the funnest way, I think that people are starting to adapt and allowing themselves to make their own decisions.

Could you explain to us the Slutty Vegan ethos? What do those words mean to you?

We create a cultural experience that helps people to reimagine food. The keyword here is “experience” and that’s the internal and external experience. When I came up with Slutty Vegan I knew that customer service was the key to keeping me in business and keeping the consumer coming back. We’ve never paid for paid advertisements, people come to Slutty Vegan because they love the energy, they love the vibe, they love the frequency of what we offer. What we do here is create an ultimate experience for you that is memorable, like an amusement park or a family reunion, by the time you leave you don’t even realize that you just had a vegan burger and you just started the first step in changing your lifestyle, but it’s a cultural experience.

And when I say “cultural” I don’t mean a black or white thing, culture can be many things, right? We bring people together in the name of food from around the world and we do that through a fun ultimate safe space where people can just be themselves, and that’s internal and external.

Slutty Vegan is literally a place where you can be all of the things you can imagine. How we build and grow this company is a universe of Black excellence, and excellence and general, and it feels good to know that we’re part of an empire that is teaching people about love and community and family and showing up in a way that is tasteful but we still get the job done in the funnest way.

What’s the easiest dish from the book you’d recommend for beginners? Can you walk us through that process?

Street Corn, anyone can make street corn. Start with four ears of yellow or white corn, remove the husk, then you just need some salt, some mayonnaise, hot sauce, vegan parmesan cheese, some Chinese chives, vegan butter, and minced garlic. You can choose to add paprika and cayenne pepper, to each their own, but all you’ve got to do is boil your corn, put all of those ingredients together, top them, and voila, that’s about the easiest recipe you can make and you don’t have to be a cook to do that.

On the flip side, for the more advanced vegan what recipe from your book is really going to blow minds?

I have a paella and vegan shrimp recipe. Not everyone can make paella, I barely could make it before I learned how. But I love it. I wanted to put this recipe inside as a curveball because you usually get paella from a restaurant unless you really know how to cook but I wanted the everyday person to be able to make this with a vegan shrimp.

For this recipe I use Chorizo, vegan bacon strips, slutty vegan bacon strips actually, I use garlic, tomato, tomato paste, paprika, some crushed tomatoes, some Spanish Paella rice, I use a vegan broth, you can get that easily from Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, some saffron threads, and then the jumbo vegan shrimp.

Cook up the rice sauté the ingredients, add them all together sautéed the shrimp, voila that’s your paella. Yes that’s a little more complex than the corn, but if you really know how to follow directions, it’ll taste like your favorite Spanish restaurant. This is why I created these recipes, I wanted the everyday person whether vegan or not to be able to say “I can do this, this is easy and its fun and it tastes good, and it’s vegan” so there are wins across the board!

I know you have a lot of famous fans has anyone left you most starstruck? I know Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake, Queen Latifah, and Tiffany Haddish have all shown up.

My most memorable experience was with Snoop Dogg — that experience was so dope, he was so laid back and so cool. Most celebrities are high-energy, he was just chill, you can tell he has been doing this for a long time. He said “I’m so proud of you, these fries taste so good” I don’t know if it was the weed or what but his energy was magnetic.

Justin Timberlake just recently came, not so much starstruck but it was a full-circle moment. I grew up watching Justin Timberlake. For him to have my food and he gave us a post, celebrities don’t do that, he put that on his page to support us and we didn’t even ask for it, he just did it on his own and that made me feel good.

Oh you know what my most memorable was actually? Alicia Silverstone, She came to my restaurant but she was incognito, no one knew it was her she was so low key. I ended up doing a podcast with her and she said “I went to your restaurant.” Her energy was so dope. I’m sure the world already knows this but more need to know how amazing she is. And she sent me some gifts in the mail, she was just so special it went beyond the restaurant.

And that’s what I love about Slutty Vegan, it’s not just a one transaction exchange — we’re building relationships with people and that for me makes it feel more familiar. This is not a brand where we just collect money and provide a service, we’re building an empire based around family and that feels good.

I wanted to ask about your burger with Shake Shack, the Slutty Shack. Are there ever any plans to bring that nationwide?

We did it in Atlanta and New York and the response was so crazy that people kept reaching out. I can’t say that there is going to be anything in the near future, but what I can say is that we created such a demand that I’m sure that people will be happy if we put that on their menu permanently.

The burger has Slut Dust… what is Slut Dust?

Let me tell you something funny. Slut Dust is Slutty Vegan’s fry seasoning that we put on every single fry that you taste… but first of all, I don’t know the first thing about adding seasonings together, I just use my tongue and taste it. When I started Slutty Vegan I knew that I needed a fry seasoning so I started playing with some seasonings and it actually tasted good. It was so good that people are like ’we gotta buy this seasoning’ so it’s my own proprietary recipe, and now we sell our retail Slut Dust and people love it. We sell it off the shelves almost every single week. You can put it on everything, you can put it on vegetables, hey you could put it on meat, it’s become a staple in people’s kitchens.

What do you think of the fast food space, what restaurant is catering best to vegans and vegetarians? Do you have a go-to pick?

The easiest is fries and a side salad, you can’t go wrong with that and you can get it at virtually any restaurant as long as they don’t make the fries in a beef juice. But the good thing about what’s happening in the vegan space, and I like to think Slutty Vegan anchored that — we were the guinea pigs in jumpstarting the fast food vegan movement on a mainstream level that now all the big mainstream restaurants are starting to add vegan options to their menu. You can go to other big-name restaurants and get chicken nuggets and burgers and fries and meat substitutes that are vegan.

It’s so much easier now to go vegan because now we have options. I can remember back in the day being a vegan and being isolated, there used to be one item on the menu that used to be vegan, and I was still happy about it, now I can go to any restaurant for the most part and there are at least two or three options that are vegan and that makes me feel good.

I think that the vegan fast food space is emerging I think it’s really opening up. I like to say that Pinky Cole and Slutty Vegan really had a hand in making that movement as popular as it is today.

From your perspective, what is the fast food space doing right or doing wrong?

For a long time, they got this wrong but now they see an opportunity — They didn’t cater to everybody. Not everyone eats meat. The basics on the regular fast food menu are not for everyone and I think it crippled business a bit because I don’t think they realized how big of an audience the vegan and plant-based lifestyle movement was. Now I think they are utilizing this opportunity to be able to add to their menus.

I think one thing that can be fixed in a typical space is really separating what is vegan and what is not. Everyone wants to add vegan options to their menu but you have to know what oils to cook the food in, what oils not to cook the food in, making sure that you’re not cross-contaminating. I think that fast food restaurants still don’t have that tip top but I’m hopeful they’ll get it right because I too, as a consumer, want to be able to go to a fast food restaurant and get some food without wondering if it was made in the same oil as chicken or beef.

But it’s definitely showing how much progress we’ve made in the last four years. I can guarantee you before I started Slutty Vegan it did not look like this. The only place where there were so many vegan options was LA and now you see a lot of options in other places. They just have to identify the difference between straight vegan, or this is a vegan sandwich, but this is not vegan bread.

KFC just dropped a plant-based chicken, but it is fried in the same oil as their regular oil, so not technically vegan.

Exactly, they’re still trying to figure it out. I want more fast food restaurants to be more intentional about adding these items to the menu versus just adding them to make money just because the trend is hot right now.

To close out, what is the perfect vegan snack to make for Super Bowl Weekend?

I have a Vegan Hot’lanta chicken dip that’s coming out and a spinach dip. You will see that recipe very soon. Super Bowl is a very fun event and a time where people come together as a family. My dip will be number one, but aside from that, you can’t go wrong with vegan beef egg rolls.

Everybody loves an egg roll you can make at home. They taste so delicious. Now I can have a vegan egg roll and eat that around the Super Bowl and dip that in a sweet sauce!

Well, that didn’t take long. Less than two hours after Kanye West posted on Instagram demanding that Billie Eilish apologize to his would-be Coachella special guest Travis Scott for her comments during a recent show, Eilish responded in the comments to notify West that she not only has no intentions of doing so but she also doesn’t have anything to apologize for.

Kanye, who, like many, interpreted Eilish’s recent comments as a dig at Travis Scott posted the all-caps demand after apparently coming across an Instagram gossip account’s report of the facts. “COME ON BILLIE WE LOVE YOU PLEASE APOLOGIZE TO TRAV AND TO THE FAMILIES OF THE PEOPLE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES NO ONE INTENDED THIS TO HAPPEN TRAV DIDN’T HAVE ANY IDEA OF WHAT WAS HAPPENING WHEN HE WAS ON STAGE AND WAS VERY HURT BY WHAT HAPPENED,” he wrote, before adding the threat, “NOW I NEED BILLIE TO APOLOGIZE BEFORE I PERFORM [at Coachella, where Billie is also set to headline].” This is the rockstar equivalent of getting skunked at pickup so you take your ball and go home, but Billie handled the situation as graciously as could be.

“Literally never said a thing about Travis,” she reminded the mercurial rapper. “Was just helping a fan.” This is, in fact, what she did, stopping her show mid-performance to ensure a fan who couldn’t breathe got an inhaler while noting, “I wait for people to be OK until I keep going.” Some construed this as a slight toward Travis Scott, who reportedly performed for nearly 40 minutes during the Astroworld mass casualty disaster, but anyone who’s been to enough shows can tell you this is something performers say quite a lot — I mentioned in my recap of 2019’s Real Street Fest that Kanye’s own former artist Big Sean did and said as much during his own set.

If Travis Scott’s feeling guilty, that’s on him to settle with his own conscience. And while Kanye is running around demanding apologies perhaps he should consider offering one of his own for the last five years he subjected us all to.

So far, Saweetie‘s had the most success with two kinds of singles. The first is throwback party jams like “Icy Grl,” “My Type,” and “Tap In,” fun tracks built on samples of 106 & Park staples that net the nostalgia of her peers (and the unfortunate derision of her elders). The second are songs in which her “icy girl” philosophy can be shared with a female companion, elevating women with the cheerful “girl power” themes of songs such as “Best Friend” and “Back To The Streets.”

Her newest single, which she teased earlier this week before releasing it today, falls into the latter category as she recruits HER to sing along on “Closer,” a flirtatious, dance-ready piece of disco pop reminiscent of her “Best Friend” collaborator Doja Cat’s big hits “Say So” and “Kiss Me More.” On “Closer,” the two performers — who share Bay Area roots and mixed Black-Filipino heritage — revel in the warm, fuzzy vibes of a new relationship. “It’s the freak in me I wanna show ya,” coos HER, while on her verse, Saweetie once again praises the benefits of her flashy lifestyle, sighing seductively, “Wanna quickie in my Rolls on the Hermes leather.”

The new track could be an indication that Saweetie finally deems her upcoming debut album, Pretty Bitch Music, fit for public consumption, as she’s held it back multiple times to make tweaks over the past year. If her perfectionist streak pays off, this could be the release that finally silences her haters once and for all — and if not, at least we’ve got another fun song to dance to on TikTok.

Check out Saweetie’s new single “Closer” featuring HER above.

The 2022 NBA trade deadline was not short on activity. Things got moving in the days leading up to the deadline with a few notable trades, and once Thursday arrived, there were tons of fireworks.

A lot of teams got involved and a lot of players are now on the move to new locations, whether that’s for good or after they hit the buyout market. It was a deadline that saw numerous former All-Stars get traded, some teams commit to being sellers, contenders bolstering their rosters, and a few teams getting left out in the cold. Here, we’ll look at the winners and losers of the last week of trade action, starting with the participants of the biggest trade of the day.

WINNERS

Everyone involved in the James Harden-Ben Simmons trade: This was genuinely great work by everyone involved in a rather disastrous situation they all shared responsibility for creating. Ben Simmons goes to a legitimate contender where he fits extremely well on paper, getting to play defense and be a connector and cutter offensively between two elite scorers in Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. James Harden goes to a contender where he, likewise, fits very well, getting to do the bulk of the ball-handling while not needing to do absolutely everything offensively next to Joel Embiid. Seth Curry moves from contender to contender and slots beautifully into the role vacated by the injured Joe Harris. Daryl Morey proves himself right to drag this out and demand a superstar return for Simmons, all while holding on to Tyrese Maxey and Matisse Thybulle in — pun not intended — the process. Sean Marks gets a star under team control for longer than the guy who looked primed to leave this summer, plus Harris insurance and several first-round picks to maintain the flexibility to either add young talent or have real trade assets should they want veteran help. Joel Embiid got to do a funny tweet. We, the basketball viewing public, get to be done with reports about Simmons and the Sixers, as well as reports about Harden and the Nets.

Just a great job all the way around. Now, give me the playoff series between these two in a few months.

Boston Celtics: While their divisional rivals were swapping superstars with each other, the Celtics went out and had a very nice deadline. Brad Stevens accomplished ownership’s goal of ducking the luxury tax, which no one outside of the ownership group should celebrate, but he did so while also upgrading Boston’s roster as they look to be a factor come playoff time. Sending out Dennis Schröder, Enes Freedom, Bruno Fernando, Josh Richardson, and a first rounder to get Derrick White and Daniel Theis in return is pretty terrific deadline maneuvering. They know Theis is a good frontcourt fit and it allows them to bolster their center rotation. Meanwhile, White should fit like a glove next to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown as a terrific perimeter defender and capable off-ball connector guard on offense, which they really needed. His shooting will be the swing skill that determines if this looks like a steal for the Celtics, but if nothing else, they bolstered their roster for a playoff run and managed to add some upside they previously didn’t have in the form of White.

Phoenix Suns: While the top contenders in the East were going wild, the Suns went about their business, bolstering depth as they look to cement their place at the top of the West. Torrey Craig returns, and having to only give up Jalen Smith and a second is a worthwhile price for a team that wanted some more wing depth and was overflowing with centers ahead of Smith. They also went out and snagged Aaron Holiday for a touch more guard depth, which is more of a regular season help as Cam Payne continues to rehab a wrist injury (and make some headlines by jumping in Twitter Spaces).

Also making the Suns a winner is that the rest of the top of the West stayed mostly pat at the deadline, with the Warriors, Jazz, Grizzlies, and Nuggets all punting on making a big move. One possible contender that made a swing was Dallas with a wild trade that left a lot of people scratching their head (we’ll get to them in a moment, but as you can guess, it’s not in this section). No one around them got better, which is always a welcome sight for the top team in the conference.

Sacramento Kings: You know what? I’m in on the Kings deadline. Yes, trading Tyrese Haliburton gives up something significant, but they acquitted themselves nicely in terms of adding talent that actually makes sense in terms of roster building. When graded on a curve against other Kings deadline and offseason moves in recent years, this deserves a winner tag. Domantas Sabonis is really, really good, and showed how he can help elevate the rest of this team in his first game on Wednesday night. Adding Donte DiVincenzo is, at worst, a major upgrade on the wing on the defensive end and adds a quality spot-up shooter around De’Aaron Fox and Sabonis. If he can regain some of his pre-injury form, it might look like a steal to snag him for the price of Marvin Bagley III, who simply had not worked out and was not going to be a factor in their future, particularly after the Sabonis trade. Whether it results in a playoff berth over the next few years to snap their decade-plus drought remains to be seen, but for a team that has been so miserable this season, there’s some genuine reason for optimism and sometimes that’s important.

Indiana Pacers: The Pacers are very good at dealing with a situation where everyone knows they have to trade a star. I am not saying this as a backhanded compliment, it is just a truly astounding skill they have as an organization at navigating these situations. They have done about as well as one could imagine in the Paul George, Victor Oladipo, and Domantas Sabonis situations (both of those players, ironically, were who they got for George). I am not in the “Tyrese Haliburton is an absolute lock to be a future All-Star” camp, but he is a very good young player who absolutely could take that step. Getting him and Buddy Hield, who will be quite tradable this summer, for Sabonis is good return as Haliburton is, in my eyes, better than getting a lottery ticket in the form of a draft pick from a Sacramento team that’s aiming to be competent. They also got the draft pick they were craving in the Caris LeVert trade, as they manage to wheeze the juice from a disastrous situation with Oladipo in which his value cratered after getting injured, getting LeVert in last year’s Harden trade and then getting a first for him this deadline. This summer figures to be more rebuilding moves, as Malcolm Brodgon becomes eligible to be traded and Hield certainly doesn’t feel like a longterm Pacer, but for a team everyone knew needed to hit the reset button, they still managed to extract value.

Fans of chaos: Congrats to everyone who craves chaos at the deadline, because we sure got it this week. The big trade everyone hoped would happen but wasn’t sure would went down. There was a true WTF trade between the Mavs and Wizards that no one saw coming. And we even got some lovely appetizers in the days leading up to the deadline. A truly entertaining deadline with a little something for almost everyone. We say “almost everyone” because it leads nicely into…

LOSERS

Los Angeles Lakers: The Lakers moving Russell Westbrook was never something people should’ve expected them to be able to do, but the fact that they couldn’t do anything to upgrade this roster is an abject disaster that is hard to see getting fixed on the buyout market. It’s either a failure of creativity to go find something out there that could inject some much needed life into this team, or a failure of roster construction to not have anything approaching a desirable asset. Neither option speaks well of the Lakers front office. Maybe they can coax Goran Dragic on over, but he’ll have suitors that are better positioned right now than the Lakers for a deep playoff run. Otherwise, it’s rare to find buyout guys who can make a real impact on winning, and the Lakers just seem stuck where they are, which is, currently, what appears to be rock bottom. The problem is, there isn’t a guarantee there isn’t further to dig.

New York Knicks: Speaking of horrendous vibes, it’s the Knicks! Despite reports that literally everyone on the roster was available for the right price, the Knicks also were unable to make any moves at the deadline to shake up a stagnant roster that has struggled to replicate the surprising success of last year. The one trade they made, acquiring Cam Reddish, has been a dud, in part because Tom Thibodeau has barely played him. Like the Lakers, finding value for guys playing poorly right now is really hard to do, and the Knicks are choosing to weather the storm and hope there’s a turnaround coming at some point. It’s hard to see what that is, but Knicks fans can at least cling to the belief that no move is better than making a bad one, which they’ve unfortunately seen happen far too many times in the past.

Dallas Mavericks: You can’t say the Mavs didn’t try to make a splash at the deadline, but color me skeptical on this being a deal that raises their ceiling much at all. Davis Bertans has been dreadful this season in Washington, but maybe playing alongside Luka Doncic in a new place can bring back the magic in that shooting stroke and open up the floor for Dallas. Spencer Dinwiddie likewise has not been good after a hot start in Washington, and the Mavs are banking on him finding the pre-injury form that we just have not seen yet consistently in 2022. They do get off the Kristaps Porzingis contract, which was obviously the goal here, but they didn’t gain any flexibility financially beyond the concept that it’s easier to trade one $18 million contract than it is to trade a $34 million one. I just don’t see how this does much for them this season in terms of leaping into the contender tier in the West, but for a more optimistic look, Tim Legler’s a big fan of the move.

Portland Trail Blazers: Portland seemed to be trying to set up something by getting the Powell-Covington and McCollum deals done in the days leading up to the deadline, but as 3 p.m. on Thursday came and went, the Blazers had done nothing else. There were reports they were chasing Jerami Grant, whose fit between Damian Lillard and Jusuf Nurkic for the future makes sense, but Grant remains in Detroit and one would expect trade talks to pick up again around the draft regarding his availability. The problem for Portland is that more teams are usually able or willing to get involved in offseason trade talks, and the competition for Grant might mean they have to pivot to Plan B or C for all that space they opened up.

It wasn’t a disastrous deadline and this is maybe a bit nit-picky, but they didn’t acquire a ton in terms of young talent, nor considerable draft assets, and fell short on the promise of continuing to seek out help at the deadline to replace all the production they dealt away. This is really an indictment of Neil Olshey, who held onto this roster for too long and left the Blazers in a situation needing to sell low, but it just felt like Portland wanted to salvage something with one more deal to bring someone in. Maybe they can make that move this summer, but I’ll admit to being skeptical of top free agents choosing Portland despite their cap space.

The Philadelphia 76ers finally landed star guard James Harden. On Thursday afternoon, the Sixers and Brooklyn Nets agreed to a deal that sends Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, a 2022 unprotected first-round, and a 2027 protected first-round pick to Brooklyn in exchange for Harden and Paul Millsap.

Two teams with eyes toward a title swapping disgruntled stars in the same season is rare. The history and backstory with these teams and the two headline players here is layered — Philly reportedly put Simmons on the table in an attempt to get Harden to the City of Brotherly Love when the Houston Rockets were shopping him last year.

But narratives have a shelf life of interest. The real kicker is how this reshapes Philadelphia and superstar Joel Embiid’s role offensively. The Sixers now have the lead ball-handler they’ve desperately coveted every year of Embiid’s career outside of Jimmy Butler’s abbreviated 2018-19 stint. The looming question is what version of Harden suits up.

He opened the year quite poorly before finding his rhythm and looking the part of an All-NBA guard, even if he was notably diminished from his MVP-caliber peak. Then, over the last few weeks, he really struggled and did not play like an All-Star by any means. Whether that stems from injury, fatigue, or a desire to leave Brooklyn is tough to know.

The hamstring injury does seem to have sapped a good portion of his fluidity and explosion off the dribble, which required time to acclimate to and tinker with his approach. By relying more on his dexterous handle and footwork, he compensated to persist as a high-level creator during his eight weeks of superstar hooping this season. His ball control and accuracy as a passer have also slipped, though he remains a very good playmaker capable of forging advantages with his dribbling savvy.

And for all the worries about his foul-drawing amid rule changes, his .496 free-throw rate is higher than last season, although he still hunts those calls more than he should and it results in some disastrous offensive possessions. There won’t be a more irksome foul-drawing duo for opponents than Embiid and Harden. That’s good for Philadelphia’s middling offense. Someone else who can fashion easy scoring chances beyond Embiid, which free throws classify as for Harden, is necessary.

Despite the Sixers losing one of the NBA’s best shooters in Curry, their floor-spacing should remain viable. While a presumed starting lineup of Tyrese Maxey-Harden-Matisse Thybulle-Tobias Harris-Joel Embiid doesn’t have one bonafide catch-and-shoot sniper, it has two stars who comfortably breakdown defenses, two ancillary scorers who can rip off the catch, and a player in Thybulle who has his flaws on offense but is a savvy cutter. Harden’s passing allows for the latter two capabilities to shine more often when the previous roster didn’t have a passer of his stature to set the table, and it’s not as if the non-Thybulle players are poor outside shooters.

A much bigger issue for Philadelphia in recent years has been a lack of dribble-drive creation and high-level passing, two areas Harden’s arrival addresses. They’ve been critically short on guys to easily feed Embiid inside, hit open teammates when defenses sell out to deny him position, be comfortable against ball pressure, or consistently get two feet in the paint. Harden, when engaged, checks all those boxes, though passivity has been an issue for stretches since he left Houston. The approach he brings to Philadelphia will be critical, because even with any sort of decline, he’s an impactful player at his best, especially in this context. Someone who can create threes for himself in crunch time is a valuable wrinkle. Embiid, Maxey, and Harris are interior-oriented scorers, and that’s proven to be a limitation in late-game situations over the years.

Another important nugget that wasn’t necessarily the case when Harden-Sixers reports heated up last season: Embiid is the superior offensive player at this stage. Perhaps a change of scenery reinvigorates Harden and he is the better offensive player again, but right now, Embiid is the premier offensive talent on this team. The offense is built around him, and should continue to be. Had Harden joined last season, a case could’ve been made to structure the scheme around him. That’s no longer true.

What’s more is a reported point of discontent for Harden in Brooklyn was his role not being reduced from his days as a Rocket — part of the sell to get him to the Nets, the reporting indicates, was that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving would take some of the workload off of him. That has not happened in recent weeks due to the former’s injury and the latter’s status as a part-time player. Now, Harden’s superstar running mate is someone averaging 29-11-4 on a league-leading 37 percent usage rate. Harden’s job is easier, as he desires.

As a result, the focus shifts to how Harden tailors his game to accommodate Embiid rather than vice versa, though maximizing this star-laden partnership requires adjustments for both players. From Harden’s perspective, the bouts of passivity he’s operated with cannot continue. Philadelphia needs him to be the aggressive, ultra-talented initiator that he’s been for years and was generally evident from mid-November to early January of this season. Increased comfort as a spot-up shooter would also be a beneficial development, but banking on that from him at this stage of his career is more wishful thinking than a tenable expectation. At the very least, attacking off the catch when the ball swings his way out of an Embiid post touch instead of his habit of resetting to run something he prefers is needed.

From the Sixers’ and Embiid’s perspective, more ball-screen actions should be in their future. Curry’s staple of an Iverson cut into angle pick-and-roll or dribble hand0ff with Embiid will likely be replaced by high screen-and-rolls between Harden and Embiid. The superstar big man has undoubtedly grown as an off-ball scorer and pick-and-roll big this season. The scope of that growth will be thrust into the forefront alongside Harden.

While Harden is best with a rim-running big, Embiid prefers flaring beyond the arc or sauntering to the midrange as a roller. A happy medium among all three routes, as well as Embiid maintaining his strides as a screen-setter, are paramount. He’s also played with better balance when working downhill this season. That could come in handy if he’s asked to roll more often to amplify Harden’s skill-set. The Sixers can also probably continue to run those staggered screen, loop actions on the wings that previously involved two of Maxey, Harris, and Curry with Embiid as the handoff trigger man. Harden slots in well there.

Ignore the nuances here, though. Take a step back and examine the broad situation at play. These are two stars who wield enormous scoring gravity and serve as two of the best foul-drawing merchants in league. Pairing them in pick-and-rolls or other sets should routinely provide fruitful results and greater versatility to counter stingy defenses. Embiid’s newfound comfort attacking from the perimeter and functioning off the ball cannot be overstated in how it eases this duo’s congruity. Head coach Doc Rivers should also stagger Embiid and Harden to keep one of them on the floor at all times, although that is not guaranteed given Rivers’ history and general reluctance to staggering his stars.

There will absolutely be growing pains and the fit isn’t ideal, but it’s a good one, especially if Harden merely approximates the All-Star tier his season-long performance levels out at. Simmons has missed the entire season and Philadelphia still finds itself 32-22, 2.5 games back of the East’s top seed. The departure of Curry and Drummond, who was easily the best backup in Embiid’s career, matter, yet acquiring Harden is a substantial upgrade and one that turns them into legitimate title contenders.

Lightening Embiid’s offensive workload could have a ripple effect on his defense, which was masterful to open the season but has wavered considerably in recent weeks. The drop-off has been from Defensive Player of the Year quality to simply good, seemingly because he’s carrying so much of the offensive responsibility. Another capable scorer and creator won’t mean the onus is on Embiid to catalyze nearly every offensive possession.

Harden’s defense this season, to put it bluntly, has been brutal. He’s often getting cooked on the ball and zoning out off the ball or gambling for steals without recovering on the play. Many of Brooklyn’s breakdowns on a given possession can be traced to him. The Sixers will probably have to switch 1-4 to mitigate the problems he poses because he refuses to navigate screens. In this regard, retaining All-Defensive wing Matisse Thybulle is a gigantic win for Philadelphia; losing him would’ve been worth it for Harden, but complicated the defense dramatically. Plus, Curry carries his own defensive shortcoming and offers similar positives as Harden with good, swift hands.

Harden’s defensive pitfalls looked worse in Brooklyn when an interior anchor like Embiid wasn’t around to play janitor. Context matters. His impact probably won’t be as damaging. Even if Harden is his same poor self defensively, the Sixers’ insurance policy is dramatically better than the one possessed by the Nets.

However this duo plays out will be fascinating to watch. They’re not seamlessly harmonic like some guard-big men tandems can be. Hurdles exist. Nonetheless, these two excellent players are teaming up, one of which is a leading MVP candidate. Harden’s services fit snugly into Philadelphia’s areas of need offensively and don’t really exacerbate their defensive warts. To what degree he solves those areas of need is unforeseen, of course. Soon enough, the initial answers will surface.

Enthusiasm for the Wordle game can’t be stopped, it seems. Everyone and their mom appears to be into this wordplay game, in which people arrange blocks to form words, and it’s ever so simple but ever so addictive. It’s a way to amuse oneself for a few minutes each day and not worry about all the threatening chaos that lurks outside in the world. That’s not even an exaggeration these days, but Wordle (invented by Josh Wardle, who recently sold the game to the New York Times) has upset (more than) a few devotees.

Nope, there hasn’t been a price attached to the game, as of yet, but maybe some of the many upcoming copycats will hold some allure now because Wordle fans (via The Verge) are rather flummoxed that their statistics seem to be borked. This includes winning streaks, which takes away the feeling of sweet victory over friends and family.

The New York Times acknowledged this problem. “Hi Wordlers! We are aware that your ‘current streak’ has been reset today,” the publication tweeted. “Our Games team is currently investigating. Stay tuned for more #Wordle updates.”

Let’s just say that things are getting a little dramatic out there.

It’s only a game, right? Time to meditate over lost Wordle streaks.

(Via The Verge)

Central Cee is no doubt the next man up in British hip-hop and he knows it. Named one of Uproxx’s “Artists To Watch” for February, the West Londoner is coming off three nominations at this week’s BRIT Awards including Best New Artist and Song of The Year, for his PinkPantheress-sampling “Obsessed With You.” Now as he gets ready to drop his next mixtape, 23, he’s shared the sweeping video for the new single, “Khabib.”

Cench is a straight up grinder. He’s killing it with multiple songs currently on the UK charts and wants to impart advice on “Khabib,” saying “I keep on telling the young bulls grind, don’t quit cause it’s all about timing,” over a thick drill beat. The clip was filmed on the desolate cliffside woods of Snowdonia, Wales as he flexes his literal and figurative ascent. “They done man wrong, where are they now? Nowhere to be seen. The power’s strong, where am I now? I been on the charts for 18 weeks.”

The track is named after the polarizing UFC champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, and a famous speech he made to a booing crowd is sampled on the outro to “Khabib.” It’s Central Cee shooting his shot at anyone who doubted him up to this point and it just sets a triumphant stage for the impending release of 23.

Watch the video for “Khabib” above.

23 is out 02/25 via self-release.

You can’t really beat a Sloppy Joe lunch. Add some bourbon whiskey to the day and you’re really set. Combine the two? Now we’re cooking with fire.

To help you feed your crew on Sunday as the Super Bowl plays out, I decided to combine my love of bourbon with my love of Sloppy Joes for a pretty easy recipe that you can definitely try at home. The core dish is pretty straightforward — braise off some ground meat (buffalo, beef, turkey, etc.) in tomato, sugar, and spices until you get a thick sauce. Add to a soft hamburger bun. Done! This recipe adheres pretty strictly to the classic recipe while layering in bourbon whiskey to add some extra depth to the whole dish.

The last ripple here is that I’m plating these Joes on slider buns. The main reason is that I’m making these for Super Bowl Sunday and you need easy finger food like this at the ready. You can easily put these on about eight small burger buns too (or try some Hawaiian rolls) if you want to go a little bigger.

Okay, that’s enough preamble. Let’s hit the kitchen!

Bourbon Sloppy Joe Sliders

Ingredients:

Serves 16

• 1 lb. 15%-fat ground beef
• 1 medium yellow onion (finely minced)
• 1 can tomato puree
• 3.5 oz. tomato paste
• 1 cup bourbon
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 3 drops liquid smoke
• Olive oil
• Salt and Pepper
• Slider buns
• Optional: Pepper Jack cheese

All of these ingredients should be easily found at any grocery store. I’d also argue that the ratios of spices and sweetness is adjustable to your palate. This is how I dig it. Use this recipe as a template and then dial it into your personal taste.

As for the bourbon, I’m using a cheaper bottle I have open on the shelf — standard Buffalo Trace Bourbon. A good alternative would be any bottle in the $20 range. You don’t need something expensive but you don’t want some swill from a plastic jug either. Basically, you’re sweetening the beef by braising it off in the bourbon, so keep it simple.

Lastly, since this is for a crowd on Super Bowl Sunday, I’m adding pepper jack cheese to half of these. I like a little spicy cheese on a Sloppy Joe, but it’s 100 percent optional.

What You’ll Need:

• Large pan
• Wooden spoon
• Kitchen knife
• Bread knife
• Cutting board
• Serving platter
• Measuring cups and spoons

Method:

• Finely mince the onion while heating the pan on medium-high heat with a glug of olive oil (enough to barely coat the bottom of the pan).
• Add the onions to the pan with a pinch of salt. Keep them moving with the wooden spoon to prevent browning or burning until they turn transparent (two to three minutes).
• Scoot the onions to the side of the pan and drop in the beef. Use the wooden spoon to break the ground beef up as much as possible. As it browns, mix in the onion so it doesn’t burn.
• Once the meat is browned and the liquid is simmered off, add one cup of bourbon. Simmer until nearly evaporated (you’re braising the beef with the whiskey’s flavors).
• Make a hole in the beef with the wooden spoon to expose the bottom of the pan. Add the tomato paste, smoked paprika, cumin, and garlic powder. Stir the spices and paste together on the bottom of the pan to shock and activate them and then stir that mixture into the beef and onion.
• Add the beef stock, tomato puree, soy sauce, liquid smoke, brown sugar, and oregano and stir until fully mixed into the meat. Salt and pepper to taste.
• Turn the heat down to low and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes (stirring every three to five minutes) until a thick meat sauce is formed. There should be no pools of red sauce above the meat in the pan by the end.
• Turn off the heat. Slice the slider buns in half. Place all the heels on a serving platter and use a spoon to divvy out the Sloppy Joe to each.
• Top with cheese, if that’s what you’re doing.
• Put the crown bun on top of the hot Sloppy Joe filling, this will steam the bread and soften it. Wait about five minutes to serve to let the heat of the filling seep into the bread fully.

Bottom Line:

These are fun, easy, and pretty damn delicious. I can’t say how much a difference the bourbon adds because I’ve made my Sloppy Joes with bourbon for so long that I don’t remember what they taste like without it. You do get a good nose full of sour mash, vanilla, and caramel when the booze goes in the pan. Those flavors concentrate as the whiskey simmers away. Think of it like braising meat in wine for a Bolognese ragu.

Having these as sliders also meant that I ate about four without thinking about it. Which, I think, is sort of what you want for finger food on Super Bowl Sunday. These were great while still warm but still perfectly tasty once they went cold on the platter. Plus, you can just pop them into a microwave or oven to rewarm them very easily.

My general food goal with the Super Bowl is to cook well enough (and boozily enough) to make people forget the score (if not the game itself). These definitely do that.