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When Dejounte Murray was 5 years old, his uncles, whom he considers his big brothers, began inviting him to play games of 21. At the time, everyone else 15 or 16 years old, a way to secure possessions and scoring chances against teenagers roughly half a decade older.

As he viewed the situation, three options were presented. He could force an errant shot. He could swipe the ball from their clutches. He could snag a rebound. And so, for the last 20 years, Murray has forged a basketball ethos closely tied to those tenets.

Soon after Murray was born, his uncles ensured a basketball was always nearby. On a late October afternoon in San Antonio, nothing has changed for the 25-year-old guard. As he discusses an array of topics, ranging from fashion to fatherhood to his on-court development, a small basketball stamped with the Spurs logo swirls between his palms.

“They put a ball in my hand,” Murray says, “so it stuck with me to this day.”

While his uncles were the torchbearers behind this movement, San Antonio is the latest to maintain their efforts. Last season, he shared primary ball-handling responsibilities alongside DeMar DeRozan and averaged career-highs in points (23.8) and assists (8.2) per 100 possessions.

With DeRozan now a member of the Chicago Bulls, Murray will seemingly be tasked with even more duties. Through four games, per 100 possessions, he is averaging the most shots (24.6) and assists of his career (12.1). In an overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers Tuesday, he recorded the fifth triple-double of his career.

“When you work hard … opportunity is gonna come,” Murray says. “When it comes to you, you got to just be ready for it. … I don’t ever limit myself.”

Expanding his offensive repertoire has been the most discernible area of growth for Murray through four NBA seasons. But those familial pickup trials as a younger forged a defensive identity that shines through his game. In his second year, he earned an All-Defensive Second Team nod. He routinely assumes the stingiest of perimeter covers and transports his sprawling limbs across the floor in the name of havoc.

Those sprawling limbs cross the T’s and dot the I’s of his defensive signature. He pick-pockets unsuspecting ball-handlers, beams into space to blockade passing angles and detonates dribble hand-offs like few contemporaries around the league. All of it is bred from dexterity fostered from birth — with a dash of well-intentioned selfishness.

“Just being greedy on defense and having that passion about my (assignment) not going by me,” Murray says of his defensive exploits.

Nobody wants to be torched off the dribble. Passion is not solely what distinguishes Murray defensively. Not everyone touts the tools, mindset and wherewithal to prevent such developments, though.

This is where the work he softspokenly, yet pridefully, references peers through. The countless hours spent in the gym, asking questions and watching game film convey to him that he belongs when he steps on the court.

Yet the mindset to separate all that occurs off the floor and the tasks at hand once he clocks in was harbored long before his NBA dream crystallized. Murrays says “his people” consider him to be 35 years old mentally. He says he was mature by the time he was 12 or 13 years old because he was “forced to do a lot of stuff that adults do.”

Years later, his 4-year-old daughter, Riley, is the one facilitating much of his personal growth and providing perspective within a career path that can easily consume its participants.

“My daughter is the one that keeps me grounded. You have nieces, cousins and little brothers and sisters, however you want to put it. They’re your responsibility, but not the responsibility, like them being your own,” says Murray, whose Instagram is plastered with photos of Riley. “So, having my daughter helped me a lot — to this day, still helps me — to keep my stuff together, just for basketball and staying engaged, never getting comfortable, never settling for less.”

More than a decade of balancing basketball with momentous life responsibilities have molded him for nightly battles against NBA superstars and rigorous training sessions. He’s learned to separate off-court problems from on-court problems. When he steps into the gym, the former, at least temporarily, do not interfere with the imminent goals. This is how he masters the mental part of hoops, while also realizing NBA success demands such an approach.

“We’re all human but (when) you’re going to play Russell Westbrook or Damian Lillard or Stephen Curry, they don’t have a clue what’s going on,” Murray says. “But if they did, they wouldn’t give a shit when it’s time to get on the hardwood.”

Murray’s early prosperity in the league has produced off-court opportunities that deviate away from the gravity of being a father and other necessities he associates with adulthood. As one of New Balance’s figurehead NBAers, he is “the face” of the company’s 327 Heat Up sneaker collection, which debuts Wednesday exclusively at Foot Locker, Champs Sports, Footaction and Eastbay.

The fifth-year guard says he’s not “like a lot of these guys, where they dress up like crazy,” though notes as he ages, he expects he’ll lean into exuberance more often. For now, he’s content with his various “flavors of sweatsuits” that he complements with a rotation of kicks.

Murray isn’t one to usually rock black or white sneakers. The eye-popping colorways of the Heat Up collection appeal to him and align with his vision for fashion, which he hopes also resonates with others when they spot these shoes in stores.

“When you have all them flavors, you can mix it with anything,” says Murray, who is simply excited for the general public to see the collection. “I can wear orange and wear the shoes or I can wear burgundy, you know?

“Everybody likes a hot shoe. … they stand out.”

He declines to identify a singular, premier colorway among the Heat Up line, refusing to play favorites. Whatever draws the preference of his eye and style, he will don. Yet he also confidently declares “even if they don’t look too good, I still can pull it off.”

Similar to those games of 21 many years ago, Murray will always find a way to make it work.

Dune is kind of a lot if you’re not someone who is already familiar with Dune or likes space things, in general. I say this without judgment. It’s fine and maybe even good. But it is just, like, a lot, objectively, starting with the space drugs that let you see the future and power your spaceships and moving to the thing where there are massive space worms that live underground in the desert and can swallow spaceships whole. Again, a lot. And even more so if you’re not someone with a brain wired toward science fiction. But, thankfully, between and around and during all of that, there is also a dude named Duncan Idaho who is played by Jason Momoa and wrecks people with swords even though the movie takes place way in the future. That was helpful to me.

Or take Aquaman. Aquaman is a movie I’ve seen straight through twice and parts of many times, and also a movie I remember exactly two things about: One, at one point, for reasons that are never exactly clear and do not need to be, an octopus plays the drums; two, Jason Momoa looks cool as hell standing under a waterfall with a trident in his hand. I do not care very much about Aquaman, in general. I do not think I would have watched more than five minutes of any Aquaman movie if Aquaman had been played by, like, Jeremy Renner. But if I’m clicking around tonight and see Jason Momoa holding that trident, I mean… I might stick around. Again. At least until I see the octopus play the drums. Look at this guy.

What is the takeaway here? There are probably two, as far as I can tell. The first is that I am kind of an idiot, especially when it comes to space and/or science things. I know that. I can admit that. But it brings us to the second thing: if you are making a movie, any movie, really, but definitely one with a complicated backstory or history, you should just put Jason Momoa in the movie. Maybe give him a knife or a sword or, if you can make it work with your story, a trident. The movie will probably be better for it.

This is one of those things I feel like we all already knew on some deeper level below our consciousness, but it was driven home for me by this tweet.

It’s true, from beginning to end. He plays rad dudes exclusively, and every movie can use another rad dude. There’s no one else out there doing this exact thing he’s doing, either. He’s carved out this cool little Rad Dude niche for himself, right on the line between Very Intense and Very Chill. It’s fascinating to me. Jason Momoa is kind of like a cross between “What if Keanu Reeves was freakin’ jacked?” and “What if The Rock took edibles?” and it all ends up working somehow. I am so happy for him, but I am also happy for the rest of us, too.

But let’s look at some examples. Let’s look at some of our bigger movie franchises and try to see if Jason Momoa would fit into them, just to see if this theory tracks.

The Fast & Furious Franchise — I think the biggest surprise here is that Jason Momoa has not already appeared in the Fast & Furious franchise. I would tell you to close your eyes and picture it but you can do this one with your peepers open wide. I’m picturing him in a dark office behind a large wooden desk, his fingers pressed together into a little tent, explaining to Dominic Toretto that he had to hold the world’s entire NoS supply hostage for Reasons related to How Things Really Are, followed by an extended scene where they have a sword fight in a hurricane, followed much later — possibly in the next film — by them grilling burgers together at a barbecue and referring to each other as “brother.”

The John Wick Franchise — Jason Momoa as a legendary assassin who works for the High Table and is sent to kill John Wick once and for all, but they realize they are Not So Different After All and decide to team up and in the final scene both of them heave tridents like javelins directly into the hearts of two evil High Table members both played by, oh, let’s say Tilda Swinton. I would sacrifice three months off the end of my life to see this movie.

The Paddington Franchise — Here’s what I’ve got so far: Paddington is in trouble, again, but this time it’s because he’s accidentally crossed an ancient organization that is sending squadrons of goons after him and his only hope is one renegade named like Tex Montecarlo (Jason Momoa) who goes everywhere with two swords crisscrossed across his back and kind of a lot of eye makeup on, which is a detail I add mostly so I can remind you that Key & Peele once referred to Momoa’s character on Game of Thrones, warlord Khal Drogo, as “Big Dave Navarro.”

The Magic Mike Franchise — Jason Momoa and Joe Manganiello doing a choreographed performance while wearing fur and holding real axes for some reason, all set to “Warrior” by Pat Benatar, and done at a secret meeting of crooked female billionaires — led by… let’s just go with Tilda Swinton again — that Channing Tatum is stealing jewels from while those two distract the women with hip thrusts, because let’s just go ahead and make these heist movies now.

(There’s an added bonus here to putting Jason Momoa in the movies, beyond just having Jason Momoa do cool Momoa things on the screen. Any time Jason Momoa is in a movie, it gives you — okay, me — another excuse to remind people that he’s married to Lisa Bonet, who used to be married to Lenny Kravitz, whose mom was Roxie Roker from The Jeffersons, whose cousin is television meteorologist Al Roker, which means Lenny Kravitz and Al Roker are actually second cousins. This might be my favorite fact ever. I like having excuses to bring it up. A reasonable argument can be made that it is the main reason I wrote this article.)

Do you see? Do you see what I mean? All of those movies would be incredible. I could have kept going, too, easily. In fact, I will. Jason Momoa in Mission: Impossible as a fellow spy who frees Tom Cruise from a jungle prison by whipping most of a tree at someone. Jason Momoa in Jurassic Park fighting a triceratops with his bare hands. Jason Momoa in a Harry Potter movie as a cool teacher at Hogwarts named Professor Smirkus Biceps who rides a flying motorcycle around town. Every one of these characters is basically the same person and they would instantly become my favorite character in each franchise. I repeat: Just put Jason Momoa in the movie.

It doesn’t even need to be a franchise. It could be a one-off based loosely on current events (Jason Momoa playing a former Green Beret turned first-term senator who must defend Congress against an insurrection), or a 90s-style submarine movie (Jason Momoa carrying around torpedoes all casually, one in each hand like they’re Thermoses), or even an indie romance movie (Jason Momoa playing a bad boy with a heart of gold who seduces a widowed English professor and shows her that there’s still excitement and fun left in the world and she’s played by, you guessed it, Tilda Swinton). Listen to me: Put Jason Momoa in the movie.

Put Jason Momoa in the movie.

Do not think too hard about this.

It’s so simple.

Write the movie.

Put a character in the movie who is a rad dude who has a knife or a sword or a trident or a motorcycle.

Call Jason Momoa.

Ask him to be in the movie.

And then put Jason Momoa in the movie.

Ted Cruz redeemed himself for about half a second a month ago (while making an “evil” joke about the Zodiac Killer), but it was too good to last. The Texas lawmaker and Cancun superfan went back to the same ways that recently prompted one of the nicest guys in the world, Patton Oswalt, to publicly call him out, and that’s precisely what Ted does to people. So, it shouldn’t be a real surprise that Cruz stood up for one’s right to give Nazi salutes during school board meetings, although still, whoa, this guy is an elected U.S. official.

The topic arose as Ted and his GOP colleagues, during a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting, attempted to argue that reports of school-board meeting implosions are greatly exaggerated. The subject’s clearly a heated one to even bring up in the Senate, just like it is in real life, and Attorney General Merrick Garland was on hand to defend his memo, which suggested that federal resources might be warranted to address the issue. After all, one need only witness the montage videos — many of which include Matt Baker, a dreadlocked California right-winger, shouting at the San Diego Board of Supervisors about Nazis and how “your children and your children’s children will be subjugated” — to know that MAGAs are really losing it over masks and vaccines. Well, Ted is here to defend people doing Nazi salutes at these meetings. Yep, he truly did this.

“During this hearing, I counted 20 incidents cited. Of the 20, 15 on their face are non-violent,” Ted began. “They involve things like insults, they involve a Nazi salute. That’s one of the examples. My God! A parent did a Nazi salute at a school board because he thought that the policies were oppressive.”

Cruz was really going in on Garland during this meeting, and he turned to him and asked, “General Garland, is doing a Nazi salute at an elected official, is that protected by the First Amendment?”

Garland responded, “Yes, it is.” It’s worth noting that Ted also tried to box Garland in by trying to rope him into a completely unrelated ethical question on critical race theory.

The point here is this: Ted’s an unhinged man on a MAGA mission, Nazi salutes are plain awful, and people are disgusted with Ted standing up for the gesture. After all, his selective defense of “free speech” evaporated when Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the National Anthem.

And one chose to keep it simple.

As the investigation into the accidental shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust continues, authorities have confirmed earlier reports that the gun fired by Alec Baldwin did contain a live bullet. In a press conference on Wednesday, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adam Mendoza revealed the ballistic findings concluded that a lead projectile was fired from the gun and was recovered from the shoulder of director Joel Souza, who was wounded by the same bullet that killed Hutchins.

Mendoza also chastised filmmakers for the lack of safety protocols on the Rust set, which have also been frequently reported since the shooting took place. Via Reuters:

Asked about the use of real weapons on a movie set, the sheriff said, “I think the industry has had a record recently of being safe. I think there was some complacency on this set. And I think there are some safety issues that need to be addressed by the industry and possibly by the state of New Mexico.”

As for possible charges, Deadline reports that the sheriff’s office is not ruling out anyone “at this point.” However, they say, it is still too early in the investigation to comment on that aspect of the story.

“The investigation will continue and if the Sheriff’s Office determines during our investigation that a crime has occurred and probable cause exists, an arrest or arrests will be made and charges will be filed,” Mendoza said.

While Mendoza’s comments sound ominous, legal experts believe Baldwin is the least likely to be charged despite being the one to fire the gun. Armorer Hannah Reed-Gutierrez and Assistant Director David Halls are in a more precarious situation as they were both responsible for firearm safety on set. However, Mendoza said in his comments on Wednesday that Reed-Gutierrez and Halls have been fully cooperating with the investigation, as has Baldwin.

(Via Reuters, Deadline)

UPROXX Sessions is back with another new performance from an up-and-coming underground star. Chxpo, a Cleveland, Ohio native with ties to the wider SoundCloud thrash-rap movement of 2016 (think SpaceGhostpurpp, Wifisfuneral, Ski Mask The Slump God, and Matt Ox), drops in with an aggressive performance of his new song “All My Opps Dead” from his April 2021 album, Xyber Punk 009.

The punk influences in his music are obvious and his aesthetic leans heavily into the anime-inspired looks that also adorn his peers, so Chxpo may throw off some rap purists. With song titles like “Howls Moving Castle” and “Red Ribbon Army” all over his latest project, though, fans who grew up watching Toonami and Adult Swim will likely find plenty to love. On “All My Opps Dead,” Chxpo employs a scream-rap style reminiscent of Tekashi 69, which should endear him to fans of high-energy, menacing mosh pit rap.

Watch Chxpo perform “All My Opps Dead” above.

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.

We’re just about a couple weeks removed from the release of Finneas’ debut solo album, Optimist, an album that has so far produced a pair of singles: “What They’ll Say About Us” and “A Concert Six Months From Now.” He performed on The Late Late Show yesterday, but instead of one of those singles, he chose to highlight album cut “Love Is Pain.”

He kept the performance understated, as it was just him singing the reflective song as he played it on piano. The stage design was similarly minimal but striking, as light dramatically emanated from holes in his piano.

Finneas previously told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe of his new album, “When I listen to it back now, I was writing a very interpersonal introspective album, and I think that’s what a year of sitting at home and thinking will do to you. […] When I listen to this album of mine I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, this is how I was feeling and this is how I’ve felt my whole life about certain things,’ and for that reason I’m very proud of this record and I feel very comfortable with it. I think sometimes when stuff is finished and sits on a shelf for a while, you look up at it and you’re like, ‘I don’t know how well that’s aging.’ I think this album is honest enough that it doesn’t really matter how it ages because it’s how I feel.”

Watch Finneas perform “Love Is Pain” above.

This summer, a Twitter user went after Jason Isbell with an attempted insult about his level of fame, but Isbell embraced it, replying, “B list is the best list, though. I can go to the grocery store without being bothered, and I afford the good eggs.” Indeed, Isbell is in a position where he’s not a household name to all but has plenty of fans who enjoy and respect his work. It turns out even those folks don’t always recognize him, though.

Yesterday, Isbell shared a story about a peculiar encounter with somebody who appeared to be a fan of his, tweeting, “I just rode an elevator with a guy in a Jason Isbell t-shirt and I said nice shirt and he just said thank you. So either I’m looking not so good today or that’s one cool ass dude. Or maybe the shirt was a gift and it’s laundry day and he’s not a fan at all.”

Isbell’s post prompted some other similar stories of famous people not being recognized. Variety‘s Chris Willman shared a tremendous Dave Matthews story, writing, “I once interviewed Dave Matthews in a park. A young couple asked if we’d help them move furniture. We did and spent a nice half-hour hanging out at their new house. I got their number and later called to ask if they’d heard of Dave Matthews. ‘Yeah, we just went to his show. Why?’” Isbell responded, “I’m honestly not surprised by this one.”

Isbell re-shared another story he called “so magical,” from a Twitter user who wrote, “I once invited David Lee Roth camping/rock climbing and he said yes AND CAME because he was so tickled that I didn’t know who he was IRL despite being an avid MTV teen in his Van Halen years. It happens.” The person later elaborated, “I met Dave at Rat Rock in Central Park. We were both bouldering & struck up a convo & I said my friends & I go climbing in the Gunks every wknd, would he like to come? He said yes, we exchanged # s, he left. […] Dave showed up with his bodyguard/belayer, a ton of food, drink (& other things) A great time was had by all. He said he came bc it was clear I had no idea who he was & we seemed like a fun group.”

A follower also introduced Isbell to a classic viral clip of a street musician singing Matisyahu’s “One Day” while Matisyahu himself watched, unbeknownst to the musician (Matisyahu changed his signature look in 2011).

While Avengers star Jeremy Renner managed to maintain his rule-abiding and theft-free reputation on-set for quite some time, much like the character he portrays, he’s now proving he’s got a bit of a rebellious streak in ‘em. In a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the Hawkeye star confessed he has officially taken home his first item from set: his Hawkeye suit.

Of course, Renner was quick to defend his actions, explaining the harmless situation that led to him obtaining the suit, as well as pointing out his co-star’s penchants for taking prop items home with them:

“Over the decade or so of doing ‘The Avengers’ and stuff, I never took anything, because they asked us not to and my mom taught me well, so I never took anything, right? And then all the other Avengers took stuff! Those dirtbags, they stole something! Like, Thor’s got his hammer!”

Kimmel then laughed and doubled-down on what Renner was saying, telling the star he’s seen numerous “Mjölnirs lying around” Chris Hemsworth’s home. However, ever the on-set good guy, Renner says he didn’t straight up take the suit like his fellow superhero squad members might have. Instead, Renner explained the volunteer system at his daughter’s school to the studio, expressed interest in wearing his superhero get-up during his turn to help out, and then simply asked the studio if he could borrow it. The studio then allowed him to take home his costume from his upcoming Disney+ series, and so far, hasn’t asked for it back. Though even if they do, Renner admits he most likely won’t be returning it.

“I don’t know if they’re going to ask for it back, I probably won’t give it back at this point. But I got it finally.”

According to Renner, he still hasn’t gotten the chance to wear the costume yet. He then proceeded to joke that even when he does, he doesn’t expect his young daughter to be very impressed with his outfit, telling Kimmel “she barely knows I’m Hawkeye” and will probably accuse him of wearing pajamas.

You can catch Renner in his pajamas — er, super suit — when the Hawkeye series premieres over on Disney+ on November 24. Set after the events of Avengers: Endgame, in addition to Renner the show stars MCU newcomer Hailee Steinfeld and Black Widow’s Florence Pugh.

An old George Carlin interview has resurfaced in the wake of Dave Chappelle complaining about being canceled (while performing in front of a packed audience) following the backlash to his Netflix special, The Closer. The clip is from 1990, when the legendary comedian appeared on Larry King’s show to discuss Andrew Dice Clay’s sexist and homophobic jokes.

“I would defend to the death his right to do everything he does,” Carlin admitted. But “the thing that I find unusual, and it’s, you know, not a criticism so much, but his targets are underdog[s]. And comedy traditionally has picked on people in power, people who abuse their power. Women and gays and immigrants are kind of, to my way of thinking, underdog[s]. And, you know, he ought to be careful, because he’s Jewish. And a lot of people who want to pick on these kind of groups, the Jews are on that list. A little further you’ve got women, gays, gypsies and boom, boom, boom, and suddenly you find the Jews.” King asked why Dice Clay was able to “get away” with these offensive jokes that target marginalized communities, to which Carlin replied:

“I think his core audience are young, white males who are threatened by these groups. I think a lot of these guys aren’t sure of their manhood, because that’s a problem when you’re going through adolescence. You know, ‘Am I really, could I be, I hope I’m not one of them.’ And the women who assert themselves and are competent are a threat to these men, and so are immigrants in terms of jobs.”

Thirty-plus years later, Carlin’s wise words are still worth hearing:

This year, Kidz Bop celebrated its 20th anniversary, meaning they’ve been making family-friend covers of the most popular pop songs for two decades. They’ve tried hard to spin some raunchy lyrics into kid-friendly verses over the years, like when changed Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda” to actually be about snakes. But their recent version of Lil Nas X‘s Montero title track perhaps takes the cake for being the most laughable.

The Kidz Bop team got wildly creative when switching up the lyrics to “Montero (Call Me By Your Name).” Of course, they couldn’t have 10-year-olds singing Lil Nas X’s lyrics about cocaine and f*cking people out of his league, so they instead swapped out many of the lines.

One of Lil Nas X’s “Montero” lyrics reads, “I wanna sell what you’re buying / I wanna feel on yo’ ass in Hawaii / I want that jet lag from f*cking and flying / Shoot a child in your mouth while I’m riding.” But Kidz Bop’s version is much different: “I wanna sell what you’re buyin’ / I wanna lie on the beach in Hawaii / I want that jet lag from livin’ and flyin’ / Put a smile on your face whilst we’re dining’.”

In fact, the updated version of the song is so ridiculous that Lil Nas X himself was left speechless. The rapper simply posted a screenshot of the chorus of the Kidz Bop song to his Twitter without a caption.

Listen to the Kidz Bop version of Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” above.