Like the rest of the 22 teams in Orlando for the NBA’s restart, the Los Angeles Lakers have begun practicing again as they hope to regain the form that made them the top team in the Western Conference prior to the hiatus.
At the core, it’s about LeBron James and Anthony Davis playing at the MVP and DPOY caliber they were respectively when at their peak this season, but there’s ample pressure on their supporting cast to step up and fill the necessary roles around them. With Avery Bradley opting out of the restart, the Lakers backcourt figured to rely heavily on the efforts of Rajon Rondo and Alex Caruso to run the offense, with new signings J.R. Smith and Dion Waiters capable of filling in minutes at the two-guard spot but unlikely to take on major roles.
On Sunday, that plan may have been changed when Rondo reportedly suffered a “significant” hand injury, and will be evaluated further on Monday, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin and Malika Andrews.
Lakers guard Rajon Rondo suffered a “significant” hand injury during practice on Sunday evening, sources told me and @malika_andrews. Rondo, 34, underwent medical evaluation on his hand and thumb, sources said, and the severity of the injury should be known Monday morning
Rondo missed significant time in the 2018-19 season due to a pair of hand injuries — a fractured hand and, later, a sprained finger. It’s unknown exactly what the injury he suffered on Sunday is, but if he is to miss major time it will be a big blow to the Lakers backcourt depth. Caruso would step into the starting lineup and likely need to play big minutes, and their newly signed reserves would likely be needed to play more often come playoff time than would’ve been originally planned.
We will have to wait for an official release to know the specifics of the injury and a potential timetable, but it’s an inauspicious start to the Lakers restart.
Bruce Smith was among five NFL Hall of Famers that played together on Celebrity Family Feud on Sunday night, and, given the presence of Michael Irvin and Cris Carter, he was not at the top of the list of who you’d expect a wild answer from on that team.
However, that’s exactly what happened during the Fast Money round, when Smith just needed 72 points to reach the coveted 200 number. The first question of Fast Money was, “If Captain Hook was moonlighting as a handyman, he might replace his hook with what tool?”
After answering “a hammer,” which had already been given, Smith panicked and, for some reason, decided the next tool he could think of was “a penis.” Steve Harvey got about halfway into the next question before stopping, turning to the camera, and saying “what the f*ck did he just say?” as the rest of the Hall of Famers burst into laughter.
Carter and Irvin’s reactions are hysterical, while Harvey stands there in absolute disbelief. Smith is doubled over in laughter, half-embarrassed that’s what he came up with on national television, and the entire Fast Money round comes to a screeching, hilarious halt.
Moments like this are why Steve Harvey is the absolute best Family Feud host in history, as his reactions to wild answers make the show as entertaining as it is. This is one of the all-timers, and that it came from Bruce Smith of all people only makes it funnier.
The Washington D.C. football team will finally and formally announce their intentions to change their names from Redskins on Monday, after a week-plus long review of the team name has come to an apparent conclusion, per Ben Fischer of Sports Business Daily.
The review of the name, one that has long been called into question as a slur towards Native Americans, was precipitated by FedEx, Pepsi, Nike, and other sponsors saying they’ll pull their sponsorships of the team if the name is not changed. Unsurprisingly, it was the pressure of financial loss that caused the team to take calls for a name change seriously, when the arguments against it have long been present, but at the least it is finally happening.
As Fischer notes in his report, the announcement set to come on Monday will be only to note they will be getting rid of the Redskins nickname, as they still have a trademark process to go through with whatever their new name will be.
The Redskins intend to announce on Monday that the team will retire its nickname, two sources said, 11 days after naming-rights sponsor FedEx’s public statement asking for a change to the controversial moniker. The new nickname will not be announced immediately because trademark issues are pending, the sources said, but insiders were told today that the “thorough review” announced July 3 has concluded. The team felt it was important to remove any doubts as to the future of the name, one source said.
The news was confirmed by Mike Jones of USA Today.
Person with knowledge of the situation confirms Washington football owner Dan Snyder and the team plan to announce name change Monday morning.
Redtails and Warriors have been consistently rumored as two of the top options for the new nickname, but there are other possibilities that have been floated by fans and media. Whatever the new name, even if it ends up being uninspiring to the fan base, it will be an upgrade over the current moniker.
Overseas Elite has been a dominant force since the inception of The Basketball Tournament, having won it all four times, and this year, with top-seeded Carmen’s Crew getting knocked out in the round of 16, they were considered the favorites to take home the $1 million once again.
Led by Joe Johnson, who dominated play up to the semifinals, Overseas Elite came up on 22-seed Sideline Cancer, led by Marcus Keene, in the semifinals, with a chance to play for the title against the Golden Eagles up for grabs. Early on, Overseas Elite took control of the game and had an 11-point advantage at one point in the second quarter, as things were looking dire for a Sideline Cancer team that couldn’t buy a three-point bucket.
However, in the second half it was the four-time champs that went cold from beyond the arc, and Keene and company came alive. The two teams were tied at 59 inside four minutes, triggering a race to 67 points in the Elam Ending, and the two sides traded buckets in the closing stretch. Keene hit a deep three to put Sideline Cancer within three points of the target score first, but would be answered by a Joe Johnson and-1 on the other end.
On the ensuing possession, Keene drew iron on a three and Overseas Elite, needing just two points for the win, won a wild scramble for the loose ball and had a 2-on-2 fast break opportunity. They got a bucket in the paint, but after their coach called a timeout in a questionable decision that ultimately backfired after Johnson got knocked off balance spinning and driving to the rim, missing a contested layup.
That gave Sideline Cancer another shot to win, and this time they cashed in on a contested three-pointer by Mo Creek from the right wing.
Sideline Cancer’s run has been incredible, spearheaded by Keene who’s averaged north of 22 points per game in the tournament. Now they’ll face the Marquette alumni team that lost in last year’s title game as TBT will crown a new champion this year.
For the first time in its 56-year history, Sports Illustrated will feature a transgender model on its glossy cover. 23-year-old Brazilian model Valentina Sampaio will appear in the July issue, which hits stands early next week. Sampaio wrote on Instagram that she was “excited and honored” to be part of such an iconic issue, adding: “The team at SI has created yet another groundbreaking issue by bringing together a diverse set of multitalented, beautiful women in a creative and dignified way.”
A native of Fortaleza, a city in northeastern Brazil, Sampaio has been making history in the fashion world in recent years. She was already the first trans model to make the 2017 cover of Vogue Paris. Scouted while she was a young teen, she quickly made her way onto key runways in her home country. She managed to make an impression in a short time— launching her career at 18 years old—as L’Oréal Paris’s first trans model. She hit another milestone last year, when she was the face of Victoria’s Secret campaign, breaking barriers as the first trans woman working with the brand.
“Being trans usually means facing closed doors to peoples’ hearts and minds,” she wrote on Instagram. “We face snickers, insults, fearful reactions and physical violations just for existing. Our options for growing up in a loving and accepting family, having a fruitful experience at school or finding dignified work are unimaginably limited and challenging.”
Sampaio mentions on her social media that her success hasn’t come easy, as she’s fighting against discrimination and using her voice and platform to advocate for LGBTQ rights. I feel strong and I feel inspired to fight,” she wrote. “Not just for me, but for everyone who face[s] discrimination.”
Even though our world is slowly changing, Sampaio claims that she was born trans in a remote fishing village, and although she loves her beautiful country, she doesn’t feel accepted in Brazil. “It has the highest crime and murder rate against the trans community,” she wrote.
With Sampaio’s visibility and voice, she’s quoted by Sports Illustrated’s Instagram account, claiming that she hopes to “give the world a good message of love and respect for every kind of human, for everyone.” The magazine made sure to stand with her vision and support her cause for inclusion on their socials. SI notes that discrimination will absolutely not be tolerated. If you violate their conditions, they say “you will be deleted, blocked and reported.”
Kudos to Sampaio for all her success and her vision for a brighter tomorrow.
As they promised soon after his untimely death, Pop Smoke’s estate delivered the late rapper’s debut album Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon on July 3. The title proved prophetic, as the late rapper’s posthumous album has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard albums charts.
Pop Smoke grabbed the top spot with an impressive first-week total of 251,000 equivalent album units. Of the 251,000 number, 190,000 were streaming equivalent units and 59,000 were pure album sales. This first-week number gives Pop the sixth-biggest first-week of 2020, the fourth-highest streaming week of 2020, and the first posthumous No. 1 album since December 2018.
Coming in second is the original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton: An American Musical, which celebrated its 250th week on the charts by coming in at No. 2, with 102,000 equivalent album units — a new peak for the album. The No. 2 position makes Hamilton: An American Musical the highest-charting cast album since 1969. Other milestones for Hamilton: An American Musical this week on the charts include the largest week by units for a cast album and the largest sales week for a cast recording in four years.
Elsewhere, Lil Baby’s My Turn comes in at No. 3 with 62,000 and to round out the top 5, DaBaby’s Blame It On Baby can be found at No. 4 and Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding at No 5.
As for the bottom half of the top 10 we find The Weeknd’s After Hours at No. 6, Harry Styles’ Fine Line at No. 7, Polo G’s The Goat at No. 8, Lil Uzi Vert’s Eternal Atake at No. 9, and Lil Durk’s Just Cause Y’all Waited 2 at No. 10.
Read our review of Pop Smoke’s Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moonhere.
Over the weekend, the NBA’s top newsbreaker, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, found himself in hot water over a “f*ck you” email response to Missouri senator Josh Hawley after the latter emailed him upset over the league’s restrictive list of social justice sayings, wondering why something like “Back The Blue” wasn’t an option.
Woj’s response drew him a suspension from the Worldwide Leader, and in the aftermath he’s received a great deal of support from the NBA community, with fans and even some players adopting a #FreeWoj hashtag. On Sunday, that got the biggest co-sign from the biggest name in the sport, as LeBron James tweeted out #FreeWoj.
Now, this is notable for a couple reasons. For one, Woj and LeBron have never exactly been especially close, as Woj has written some highly critical columns on LeBron in the past — particularly during his time at Yahoo. On top of that, LeBron taking the side of Wojnarowski in this instance is notable given ESPN’s partnership with the NBA and that, well, LeBron is LeBron.
What makes this entire situation so fascinating is the entire thing was birthed from a bad-faith effort against the league’s messaging, where the entire point was to get a response of some kind. Sending a “f*ck you” response from his company email account, while surely cathartic, wasn’t a wise choice, and left ESPN in a difficult spot. Whatever they did played right into the hands of Hawley and those that already love to yell at ESPN for becoming too political — ironically in a situation where a politician inserted himself into a sports story.
Now, you have LeBron James and other players calling for Woj to be released from his suspension, and only furthers the weirdness of this entire story.
When it was announced last year that among the multiple Star Trek shows being created for CBS All Access was an animated one from one of the writers of Rick and Morty, it didn’t seem like that much of a stretch. After all, R&M is, at heart, fairly hard sci-fi, boldly going where few like it have gone before. And now we have an idea of what’s in store: As per Entertainment Weekly, a trailer for the show, entitled Star Trek: Lower Deck, dropped on Sunday afternoon.
The setting is the U.S.S. Cerritos in the year 2380 — for some perspective, the original Star Trek began in 2265 — but, as per the title, our heroes aren’t typical heroes. Instead they’re ensigns, aka the most junior officers, who bristle at not having more power, all while dealing with what will surely be a host of outlandish, wildly imaginative, and maybe even deeply disturbing alien anomalies.
Creator Mike McMahan, who also co-created Solar Opposites with Justin Roiland, has already stated that it won’t be too much like Rick and Morty. That’s immediately apparent, although it appears we’ll be getting some faintly R&M-y creatures, including a giant, hungry bugs oozing pink goo, as well as some spear-throwing primitives. The franchise has certainly evolved over the last nearly 60 years, when it started out as simply some expensive, early-days-of-color-TV space show personally greenlit by Lucille Ball.
While we may not have an official E3 this year that hasn’t stopped many developers from having events of their own to excite gamers about what it is on the way in gaming. Ubisoft is the latest to take part in this trend with a small showcase on Sunday called Ubisoft Forward. While nothing world-shattering took place during the event it was a great opportunity for Ubisoft to give fans a look at the gameplay of some highly anticipated releases on the way.
They did use the opportunity to also show off a couple smaller titles like Tom Clancy’s: Elite Squad. It was made very clear early on, however, that this was going to be an event to show off the heavy hitters and not much else. Perhaps Ubisoft just didn’t have much to show from other games, or perhaps they’re waiting for a later Ubisoft Forward event in 2020 they teased during Sunday’s showcase, but here’s what we did learn from the event about what’s coming soon.
Watch Dogs: Legion
The first big title Ubisoft showed was the highly anticipated Watch Dogs: Legion. It’s a game that is supposed to be incredibly large in scope, but whether they can meet the scope they’re aiming for we still can’t determine. The idea of the game is that there won’t be a central main character. It will merely be different people that you “recruit” and add to your cause as the game goes on. What is this name of the group? Well they are….The Resistance. Without a sense of irony.
The game itself looks like it could be really fun and interesting. Getting the chance to play as all kinds of different people creates the chance for different personalities and wacky characters. The trailer showed an elderly lady taking someone down and a local known for getting drunk at the bar getting in fights that help the cause. The potential upside of the game is obviously the chance to see tons of different characters and ideas. The possible downside is that it all ends up coming across as half-baked. Hopefully it ends up being more of the former than the latter.
Hyperscape
Hyperscape is Ubisoft’s hat in the ring of the increasingly popular Battle Royale genre. Except this announcement wasn’t for a release but, rather the game’s open beta. The title itself has actually been getting played for a couple of weeks now with codes sent to streamers and random fans getting access to the title as well. Now with the open beta on the way the servers and game itself can really be put to the test.
What you have in Hyperscape is the standard Battle Royale affair, with a giant map that everyone drops into and starts looting for supplies. As time goes on a giant circle gets smaller and smaller, forcing people closer until one last team is standing. What makes it different is the gameplay is less like the Fortnite‘s of the world and more similar to Halo. Health/shields recharge after avoiding combat for a bit. You move relatively fast and the combat is far less grounded and more out of control. It’s an interesting take on the battle royale concept that is worth keeping an eye on to see how it pans out in a genre that is already full of options.
Assassins Creed Valhalla
When Ubisoft officially announced Assassins Creed Valhalla back in April and then “showed off” the game at the Xbox Series X event there was a twinge of disappointment with it. So far the game had shown absolutely no real gameplay. Everything that had been shown was cinematic trailers and quick cuts of what looked like gameplay.
During the Ubisoft Forward event, they finally gave us what we’ve been asking for and that’s a deep look into how the game actually plays. While it’s still Assassins Creed so there’s a bit of a formula in what you expect from these games the way they’re approaching Valhalla is different from the rest. It appears to be very combat-focused, which makes sense considering they’re Vikings, and that could lead to a game that is extremely different from the rest in the series up to this point.
Far Cry 6
There isn’t too much to say about Far Cry 6, because the trailer for it was nothing more than a cinematic with no actual gameplay, but this is a great chance for the series to hit a bit of a reset button. A lot of fans have grown a little tired of the Far Cry formula and Far Cry 5 didn’t do enough to quell those concerns. With Far Cry 6 appearing to take place in an urban setting instead of the more rural settings of games past there’s an opportunity to do something new here, but we’ll see how the game looks once we actually get some gameplay.
What change is on the way at Ubisoft?
Something that was missing from the event was any acknowledgment of the supposed change taking place at Ubisoft right now. Allegations against executives and employees in the company ranging from “sexual misconduct” to promoting a toxic work environment has led to three executives stepping down within the last week . While Ubisoft has acknowledged the allegations publicly, this was an opportunity for the company to take a moment to acknowledge it on a big platform. They opted not to and put out a statement before the event explaining their reasoning.
They say they will provide more updates soon, but it’s disappointing that they opted not to record a two to three-minute video beforehand to at least say something about it. Hopefully, we do hear more from them soon.
Nothing spectacular, but a solid event
In some ways Ubisoft may have gotten a little lucky there was no E3 this year. The company’s Forward event was entertaining enough and it had some heavy hitters that will be highly anticipated, but some segments dragged on too long and they really only showed four games off overall. At a standard E3 that would have left a bit of a hollow feeling, especially with a lack of gameplay for Far Cry 6 after the title’s existence was leaked days before the event.
Ubisoft played it safe here, and that’s fine. They showed off some cool gameplay for their games and did nothing else much more. While it would have been amazing to get five new IPs and 10 trailers out of the event sometimes it’s better to keep it simple and to the point.
As the NBA bubble steadily ramps up as players pass through their initial isolation after arriving at Disney, players are venturing out into their bubble environment to enjoy some of the various entertainment options available to them.
For many, that means hitting the well-stocked lakes near the hotels for some bass fishing, as players from a number of teams have proudly flaunted their catches on social media. Others, like J.J. Redick, have taken to the links, as players have access to Disney’s various golf courses during their time there. Redick documented his Saturday round of golf by posting a picture of one of the shut off water fountains on the course, but noting he was able to hydrate just fine with a can of Bud Light.
When asked by the NBA Bubble Life Twitter account, which is posting pics and videos from player social media accounts while in Orlando, how many retweets they’d need to get a video of him shotgunning a beer, Redick unwisely set the number at a very attainable 10,000.
Inclement weather shut us down on 14. 10,000 retweets by tomorrow at 5 pm and I will shotgun a BL during tomorrow’s round.
Redick gave the people what they wanted with a video of him shotgunning a beer while in the cold tub after practice, showing that he’s still got it despite being long removed from his college years.
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