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Now that Bogdan Bogdanovic is a member of the Atlanta Hawks and the Milwaukee Bucks turned a different direction to fill out their bench, a partnership between Bogdanovic and Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee seems almost like a distant memory. But several hiccups happened between the agreement Milwaukee came to with Sacramento on a sign-and-trade for Bogdanovic and the deal falling apart, all of which are now reportedly giving executives in Milwaukee pause over the back-to-back MVP’s future.

All of it is detailed in a new story from Jake Fischer at Bleacher Report, which takes us inside the negotiations and fallout of the Milwaukee-Sacramento deal that would have sent Bogdanovic to the Bucks in exchange for Donte DiVincenzo and some other goodies. All along, Fischer reports, Bogdanovic was the most prized target — even more than Jrue Holiday — for Antetokounmpo, as he and his brother Thanasis had tried to recruit Bogdanovic during the offseason.

From Fischer:

Aside from the obvious spacing Bogdanovic’s shooting would provide Milwaukee’s offense, Giannis admired his fellow European’s toughness and swagger, sources said. He viewed Bogdanovic as someone you could go to war with in the postseason.

Antetokounmpo grew increasingly focused on teaming with Bogdanovic. The Sacramento guard quickly presented Milwaukee’s greatest option as the Bucks dealt with a hamstrung cap sheet and limited trade assets.

Once the Bucks came to an agreement with the Kings late last Monday night, Antetokounmpo was reportedly thrilled. After all, the main reason for anything Milwaukee has done the past several years is to increase the likelihood that Antetokounmpo signs a designated veteran extension, or “supermax,” and stays in the midwest. Nabbing Antetokounmpo’s chosen target would obviously go a long way toward keeping him happy. When the deal fell apart, the Bucks recoiled.

More from Fischer:

When word arrived last week of the Bucks’ Monday night coup—agreeing in principle to acquire both Jrue Holiday and Bogdanovic in the waning hours of the league’s renewed transaction window—there was an overwhelming sense around the organization, and people with knowledge of Antetokounmpo’s thinking, that he would accept the Bucks’ supermax extension offer—the ultimate objective of the franchise’s 2020 offseason.

There has since been a categorical step back in that confidence, even if Antetokounmpo does ultimately accept the franchise’s offer of a five-year, $228 million supermax extension.

There’s more to the story, including how some team governors who believed the Bucks’ Marc Lasry to be bragging during a Board of Governors meeting last week, as well as details on why Bogdanovic believed he could not move forward with the Bucks out of fear the league would prevent the deal from going through after the first version fell apart.

Depending on how Milwaukee performs in 2021, this could all be a peculiar stepping stone or a definitive flashpoint between Antetokounmpo and the Bucks.

Towards the beginning of Taylor Swift’s Miss Americana documentary, the cameras capture her reaction on Grammy nomination day back in 2018. For the first time since Speak Now (2010), she hadn’t received a nomination in any of the big three categories, Album, Song or Record Of The Year. “This is fine,” Taylor said, while clearly shattered. “I just need to make a better record.” Though it was actually a small blip in the tenure of her success, the snub made one thing clear — Grammy nominations are never something to be taken for granted. At the 2020 awards, the title track off Swift’s album Lover was up for Song Of The Year, and with the 2021 nominations coming through yesterday, Folklore has restored her to an accustomed perch — this year’s release is up for Album Of The Year, and its lead single, “Cardigan,” for Song. I’m a Taylor fan through and through, so no one will mistake this for shade: I would take every single song off Reputation over “Cardigan.”

For an artist like Swift, who is one of the biggest musicians in the world, Grammy nominations are an expected part of the process. For plenty of other women, though, the struggle to be recognized, even in smaller, genre-specific categories, has been much more in-depth than a single off-year. In the rock categories, for instance, women have been shut out many times, and as the genre has fallen out of popularity in favor of hip-hop, it’s hard not to pin some of that on the Academy routinely choosing to spotlight bland, commercial-centric male acts. This year, they did an about-face, nominating only women for the Rock Performance category, leading to big looks for critic’s darlings like Phoebe Bridgers, Fiona Apple, and Big Thief. Bridgers got another huge look in the Best New Artist category and in Best Alternative Album for her sophomore release, Punisher.

But that Fiona album, which caused more commotion this year than most other records put together, was notably absent from the Big Four. And even when Beyonce picked up nine nominations, not an unusual number for an artist of her caliber, it’s hard to take the gesture seriously. We’ve been down this road before, Bey is frequently nominated but rarely awarded actual wins, despite her monumental impact on the music industry at large, and pop culture on a scale that’s basically unparallelled. If you were only using Grammy wins as a metric, Bey’s actual influence would never come across.

Still, to see that many women nominated in the Alternative and Rock categories was unusual enough that it caused a mini-celebration on Twitter among fans, who have long been noting that female musicians are making some of the most interesting, groundbreaking music in those areas. And anytime an award show’s selections line up with critically-acclaimed artists who are at the beginning of their careers, or seen as underdogs because they’re on independent labels, the reaction is warm and welcoming. So the nominations laid upon Chloe x Halle, young proteges of Beyonce herself, for Best R&B Song (“Do It”) and Best Progressive R&B Album were also met with enthusiasm. But within the positive reactions to this year’s shifts, I kept thinking back to Taylor’s words in Miss Americana, and her internalized reaction that the problem was within her, not the system. Is Folklore really that much better of an album than Reputation? Or does it, instead, represent the more familiar elements of folk-rock that the Grammys always prefer to honor over harsher, more inventive pop and hip-hop sounds?

My point is much larger than Swift, but she’s the perfect example of how the Grammys can function as a vise on what kind of music gets made, and who gets rewarded for making it. All of the women who were nominated for rock music this year are excellent at what they do. But are they so markedly better than the women who released albums last year, or the year before, and went completely snubbed, that it logically makes sense they’re nominated? No, of course not. Yet, the glow of a Grammy nom has the power to potentially change a musician’s careers forever, particularly if they’re a smaller artist, and definitely if they’re a young woman. So even if the Grammys are finally beginning to listen to the overwhelming pushback from fans, critics and music lovers, who are hammering them on very predictably only rewarding white guys playing guitar, the small over corrections still aren’t enough to acknowledge how the award show continues to function.

It also continues to overlook the contributions of zeitgeist artists who happen to be Black and make hip-hop, even if the award’s Big Four categories this year include tossed off inclusions of the most commercially visible rap songs of the year. Nominating relatively random artists like Black Pumas and Jacob Collier to the Album Of The Year category while denying spots to slain stars like Pop Smoke, breakout stars like Lil Baby and Lil Uzi Vert, and returning icons like Fiona Apple reiterates the disconnect between the most important events in the music world and what the Grammys deigns to pay attention to. While Justin Bieber complains that his tepid new album Changes and the abysmal lead single “Yummy” should’ve been nominated in R&B categories instead of the Pop arena where they scored selections, actual pop stars like The Weeknd and Harry Styles, who had a far bigger impact on pop culture this year than Bieber, are conspicuously missing from certain categories (or, in the case of Abel, all categories). Both After Hours and Fine Line strayed far afield of pop expectations, which is why listeners far preferred them over Bieber’s predictable mashups — the Grammys, on the other hand, reward the expected.

Meanwhile, the bulk of the rap and hip-hop community have to sit by and see only the biggest names like Travis Scott, Roddy Ricch, Drake and DaBaby earn mentions, no looks for the likes of Mulatto or Princess Nokia, Run The Jewels or Lil Uzi Vert, all of whom had huge years. Yes, D Smoke, Chika, and even Freddie Gibbs got looks, but again, the likelihood of them winning remains incredibly slim based on the past. Is it fair for the top ten percent of rappers to be the only ones who ever get a look from the most important critical governing body in music? If so, where do cult favorite groups like Run The Jewels fit into this ecosystem? Looking at these selections, it seems like a spot on the Billboard chart is the primary measure of what hip-hop should be recognized; but deep listeners of the genre know better. The best hip-hop of our lives is being made every single day in 2020, even if a lot of it doesn’t get a lucky TikTok sync.

In a year where the noise and commotion of social life and public events were largely removed, and it seems like more incredible music than ever was released, there’s a certain satisfaction in seeing the places where Grammy voters seemed to really connect with the rest of the listening public. Maren Morris and Ingrid Andress were honored in country music, Lil Baby’s vulnerable reflection on police violence and his experience of being a Black man in America was recognized in two nominations for “The Bigger Picture,” and even Megan Thee Stallion, facing the double standard of being a woman in rap, was awarded three shots at a Grammy victory. But how will those who didn’t get the recognition go home and change, tweak, or alter the kind of art they make in response to their snubs? Will they internalize the rejection? What do we lose every time the Grammys get it wrong? And how much longer do we have to keep losing it?

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

Barack Obama sat down for a lengthy interview with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night, and the former president clearly had some things to say about the state of America after four years of Donald Trump. While Colbert wanted to steer clear of the current occupant of the White House, stating that he was tired of talking about him after so long, Obama often brought up Trump to hold him to the fire for his failed pandemic response, which he says isn’t “rocket science.” All Trump had to do is listen to the experts and he could’ve weathered the storm that most likely ended his presidency, but Obama notes that there’s now a conspiratorial strain through the Republican Party that has him deeply concerned for America.

Via The Daily Beast:

Asked by the host if he was surprised that Republicans didn’t see the “political advantage” of acting like they “cared,” Obama said, “I think that that is a measure of how detached from reality and how embedded ideological and conspiratorial thinking has become, where you’re doing it even when it’s to your disadvantage.”

Demonstrating a surprising historical knowledge of Colbert’s career, he added, “In your original show, right, you’re satirizing a certain attitude, but you never thought that folks would actually start believing it.”

Obama also revealed that he had deep concerns when he first met Trump in the White House after he surprisingly won the 2016 election, and the damage that Trump caused “exceeded” anything Obama could’ve imagined.

You can watch the full interview below:

(Via The Late Show with Stephen Colbert)

Of the 25 actors that have been nominated for an Oscar for playing an LGBTQ character, a grand total of zero of them have been openly queer. The debate on whether or not only gay actors can play gay roles has many sides and nuances. After Darren Criss, who is straight, won an Emmy for playing Andrew Cunanan in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, Criss vowed he would never play another gay man because he didn’t want to be “another straight boy taking a gay man’s role.” Actor Ben Whishaw, who is gay, feels otherwise. “I really believe that actors can embody and portray anything, and we shouldn’t be defined only by what we are,” Whishaw said. Recently, Kristen Stewart also weighed in on some of the complexities around the issue.

Variety recently asked Stewart about the importance of gay actors playing gay characters. Stewart acknowledged the complexity of the issue. “I would never want to tell a story that really should be told by somebody who’s lived that experience. Having said that, it’s a slippery slope conversation because that means I could never play another straight character if I’m going to hold everyone to the letter of this particular law. I think it’s such a gray area,” Stewart told Variety.

Authenticity in storytelling is important, and there’s normally a feeling of artificiality when someone tries to tell the story of a group in which they don’t belong. However, it’s not always the case. “There are ways for men to tell women’s stories, or ways for women to tell men’s stories. But we need to have our finger on the pulse and actually have to care,” Stewart told Variety.

Stewart also pointed out that telling the story of a group you’re not part of has to be done with love. “You kind of know where you’re allowed. I mean, if you’re telling a story about a community and they’re not welcoming to you, then fuck off. But if they are, and you’re becoming an ally and a part of it and there’s something that drove you there in the first place that makes you uniquely endowed with a perspective that might be worthwhile, there’s nothing wrong with learning about each other. And therefore helping each other tell stories,” Stewart pointed out.

Stewart is currently starring in Happiest Season, an LGBTQ Christmas film directed by Clea DuVall. “Happiest Season” tells the story of Abby and Harper, a lesbian couple who spends the holidays at Harper’s parents’ house, despite Harper’s family not knowing she’s a lesbian. Mackenzie Davis, the actress who plays Harper, is straight, and Stewart doesn’t see a problem with Davis taking the role. “She was the only person in my mind that could have played this with me. Sometimes, artfully speaking, you’re just drawn to a certain group of people,” Stewart explained to Variety.

But for all of the complexities around the issue, Stewart boiled it down to one simple, common sense solution. “So my answer is fucking think about what you’re doing! And don’t be an asshole,” Stewart said.

She’s got a point. Sometimes all it takes to figure out if you’re “doing it right” or not is asking yourself if you’re being an asshole.

Chris Evans is no stranger to setting the internet’s loins on fire, but this time, he did it without even taking off his shirt (or all of his clothes). In fact, the Captain America actor’s chunky sweater plays an integral part in his latest viral moment that’s leaving folks with all kinds of feelings. It all started with Evans dropping a video of his piano skills in his Instagram Stories, and it didn’t take long before social media was fanning itself as the musical clip quickly bounced around Twitter. Maybe it’s the pandemic conditions, the contentious presidential election that doesn’t seem to want to end, or the simple matter of Evans being a downright snack, but people are here for him tickling the ivory and they aren’t shy about it.

Here are just some of the reactions, which fair warning, only get hornier as they go on:

But people weren’t just thirsting for Captain America getting classical in a comfy sweater. They were getting downright emotional at the pure beauty of it all. No man should be this delightful!

That said, it also didn’t take long for everyone to remember that time Evans did a shirtless backflip, and we’re back in Horny Town.

Evans has yet to react to the thirst parade being launched in his honor, but the Marvel star is an expert at flipping social media attention into a good cause. After he accidentally posted a nude photo to Instagram back in September, and nearly broke the internet in the process, Evans used the viral moment to encourage people to vote. Two months later, America saw its highest turnout ever for a presidential election. Are the two related? Who’s to say?

(Via Chris Evans on Instagram)

The greatest footballer to ever live has passed away. According to multiple reports out of South America, the 5’5 colossus who served as one of the most magnetic athletes of all-time due to his brilliance on the pitch and his penchant for being in the public eye off of it, died on Wednesday morning. He was 60 years old.

The report was confirmed by ESPN, while The Daily Mail reports the cause of death was a cardiac arrest. Argentina’s national soccer team, along with S.S.C. Napoli, paid homage to Maradona with a tweet.

Maradona’s career as a footballer — which spanned from 1976 to 1997 and included pit stops in Argentina, Spain, and Italy — is nigh unparalleled. As an attacking midfielder, Maradona was revered for his ability to produce moments of magic with the ball at his feet, often possessing a gravity no one else could even begin to replicate despite oftentimes being the smallest man on the field. As a club player, he was most well-known for his time with Italian side Napoli, where El Pibe de Oro (The Golden Boy) helped the side Serie A for the only two times in its history.

With his national team, Maradona was instrumental in Argentina winning the 1986 World Cup, a tournament in which he won the Golden Ball for being the best players. His name still strikes fear in the hearts of English supporters who watched him almost single-handedly topple the Three Lions in the quarterfinals with perhaps the two most famous goals in World Cup history — the controversial “Hand of God,” in which Maradona used his right hand to punch the ball past the keeper, and the moment known as the Goal of the Century, a slaloming run through midfield in which Maradona’s greatness was put on full display.

His exploits off the field, where he was known for a cocaine addiction and a reputation for being a party animal who occasionally indulged in a lavish lifestyle, was as much a part of his legacy as what he did as a player. Despite this, he was known for being a man of the people, both as a player and as an advocate for the poor — he once famously criticized the Pope after visiting the Vatican, saying “I argued with him because I’ve been to the Vatican and seen the gold ceilings. And then I hear the Pope saying that the Church was concerned about poor kids. So? Sell the ceilings, mate! Do something!”

Following the end of his playing career, Maradona, transitioned into managing, which included a stint as the manager of Argentina’s national team. Most recently, he served as the manager of Argentine club Gimnasia.

The backlash to the 2021 list of Grammy nominees has been swift and severe. Some of the major criticisms about the list were related to the hip-hop categories, like how very few women are present in them. 50 Cent has similar issues, as he is not a fan of the nominees for Best Rap Album.

As HipHopDX points out, 50 Cent shared and later deleted the list of nominees in that category on Instagram, which consists of Black Habits by D Smoke, Alfredo by Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist, A Written Testimony by Jay Electronica, King’s Disease by Nas, and The Allegory by Royce Da 5’9″. 50 expressed his discontent with that selection, writing, “Best Rap Album [smiling emojis] They out of touch this sh*t ain’t it, get the f*ck outta here.”

Although he didn’t say it, it’s possible 50’s displeasure with the category has to do with his involvement in the posthumous Pop Smoke album Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon. The album and its songs didn’t earn any nominations, which he predicted earlier this month would happen when he said, “If it’s recognized, it will because he’s gone. The content is similar to what I would do. They didn’t recognize mine. They gave me Grammys when I was with Em, when I’m on records with Eminem. Other than that, they’re afraid to give him Grammys because they think it’s teaching the audience to want to be like Pop, and to be like him is to be part of gang culture. Who you see get Grammys that is making drill music? You mean to tell me ain’t none of those songs worthy of it?”

Find the full list of 2021 Grammy nominees here.

Donald Trump and his team of sub-Lionel Hutz lawyers were expected to travel to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on Friday to continue his futile attempt at overturning the fair and legal election that he lost to Joe Biden. But the trip was called off after Rudy Giuliani “was exposed to a 2nd person in the last week who tested positive for coronavirus,” according to CNN White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond. That means there won’t be a repeat of the Four Seasons incident or the black goo leaking from Rudy’s scalp, but at least it gives Jenna Ellis more time to look up fake Teddy Roosevelt quotes.

Trump’s legal advisor, who recently claimed that he won the election by a “landslide,” tweeted a quality photo of America’s 26th president with the quote, “To anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.” That doesn’t sound like something Theodore Roosevelt would say, because he didn’t: literally the first Google result for the quote is a Reuters article that states, “Posts circulated on social media attribute a quote on liberals and conservatives to the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. The quote, however, is falsely attributed to him… Reuters found no mention of this quote among those compiled by the Theodore Roosevelt Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to perpetuating his memory and ideals.”

After being ridiculed for sharing a fake quote, Ellis tweeted, “For people asking, this quotation has been attributed to Roosevelt, but there isn’t a specific record of him saying this in a speech. I posted it because the idea itself is true, whether or not he said it!” Trump’s lawyer, the same who once called the president “an idiot,” siding with “sounds true” over “is true” is just too perfect, as many on Twitter pointed out.

“To anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth” — Michael Scott.

University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban has tested positive for coronavirus, and has mild symptoms of COVID-19, the university announced on Wednesday morning. As a result, the coach will miss this weekend’s Iron Bowl game between Alabama and Auburn.

Saban will isolate at home according to NCAA protocols, while presumably his close contacts will be tracked down and asked to do the same.

Previously, Saban had turned up a positive test, but did not miss any games after he did not suffer symptoms and tested negative multiple times shortly thereafter. The positive test was determined to be a false positive at that time, and Saban never missed a beat.

Because he now is experiencing symptoms (mild so far, thankfully), Saban must now follow NCAA protocols until the disease has run its course and he can get back to coaching.

College football is headed toward another weekend dominated by the virus after breaking its own record every week of November for canceled games. At the same time, positive tests for college basketball coaches like Baylor’s Scott Drew are forcing their programs into COVID protocols as well. The disease continues to prove it will not make any exceptions for sports, no matter how aggressively leagues press on.

Internet Money has itself a hit with “Lemonade.” The song — which features Gunna, Don Toliver, and Nav — has been occupying space in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for weeks and has managed a peak at No. 6 (on the latest chart, it’s No. 8). Now those artists got together to perform the song for last night’s episode of The Tonight Show.

The pre-taped performance took place on a simplistic-but-striking white platform stage surrounded by lemons. Bathed in yellow light, each of the featured rappers took their turns at the front of the stage to deliver their verses.

Internet Money’s Taz Taylor previously revealed that “Lemonade” started its life in 2017, tweeting, “We been sitting on lemonade since 2017 man. That song has had a crazy ass journey. I’m glad y’all finally have it..” Reflecting on the song’s success earlier this month, he added, “Sh*t even Lemonade we was told no on. yall have no idea how many artists passed on that hook and song for 3 YEARS. moral of the story.. stop doubting and just TRUST THE PROCESS.”

Since the song’s initial release, Internet Money have gotten other artists involved, as Roddy Ricch and Anuel AA have appeared on new versions of the track.

Watch Internet Money, Gunna, Toliver, and Nav perform “Lemonade” above.

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