DimeMag

Lil Durk Is Recruiting LeBron To The Bulls By Offering To Pay Half His Salary, But Might Not Realize How Much That Is

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LeBron James has until the end of this week to decide what he’s doing with his player option with the Lakers, and if he chooses not to pick it up, he’ll become a free agent on Sunday evening when the NBA’s moratorium period opens at 6 p.m. ET on June 30.

While most expect LeBron to stay in Los Angeles, there are plenty of teams that would love to add the future Hall of Famer and would like the chance to pitch him on why a change of scenery might be his best bet for another championship run. The Sixers and Suns are known to have interest in James, but other teams would surely try to get a meeting as well. While the Chicago Bulls don’t really have a great case to make as a potential title contender, that hasn’t stopped Chicago native and Bulls fan Lil Durk from doing his best to recruit LeBron (and Bronny) to the Bulls.

Durk posted a screenshot of a message he sent James to his IG story on Tuesday recruiting him to Chicago, offering to pay half of LeBron’s salary himself if he has to.

I’m not sure Lil Durk’s accountant would agree with this offer, as James is eligible to sign a deal that would pay him more than $50 million annually, which would put Durk on the hook for a tidy $25+ million per year. That said, you have to respect the effort here to do whatever you can to help your favorite team. The Bulls can’t acquire James without a pretty complicated sign-and-trade, but honestly, I think plenty of Bulls fans would feel better about Lil Durk handling Chicago’s roster moves than Arturas Karnisovas at this point — especially after the Alex Caruso for Josh Giddey trade.

LeBron James Creates An Existential Dilemma For Lil Wayne In A New Beats Commercial

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LeBron James is getting set for his 22nd season in the NBA, and has a big decision to make this summer as he can be a free agent if he so chooses. The expectation is that he remains in Los Angeles as a member of the Lakers, as they just hired his former podcast partner JJ Redick as head coach, but if L.A. doesn’t lay out a plan to invest in the roster to create a title contender, he could see what’s out there in free agency.

If he does that, plenty of teams will make their pitch to the best player of this generation (and arguably all-time), as he is both still a tremendous player and remains the NBA’s biggest draw, even after over two decades in the league. Similar to how there are few players that have ever had a claim to being as good or better than James on the basketball court, the list of players that have James’ level off the court appeal is just as short — basically, just him and Michael Jordan.

James pretty regularly stars in commercials, and his latest is with longtime partner Beats by Dr. Dre for the re-launch of the Beats Pill. In the spot, LeBron creates an existential dilemma for Lil Wayne by turning up his legendary track, ‘A Milli’, so loud in a penthouse party that Wayne can’t sleep in his condo underneath. When Wayne bursts in to turn it off, James reminds him that “wouldn’t Lil Wayne want us to play Lil Wayne too loud?”, which the New Orleans rapper can’t help but agree with.

The Drake Curse Continues As He Went 0-For-2 Picking The Winners In The NBA And Stanley Cup Finals

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Depending on who you ask, Drake is one of the unluckiest guys in the world. Yes, he has a lot of money and he’s extremely famous, but when it comes to aligning himself with winning sports teams and athletes who are able to come out on top, well, he doesn’t always look great.

Is there actually some sort of supernatural force that works against Drake and the teams he gets behind? Probably not, unless Kendrick Lamar is far more powerful than I originally anticipated. But unfortunately for Drake, the two huge bets that he made on the two major American sports leagues that crowned a champion this month went kaput, as he posted the following picture to his Instagram account back at the beginning of June.

“Dallas cause I’m a Texan,” Drake wrote in his comment. “Oilers are self explanatory.”

The Mavericks, of course, only took one game off of the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals, and actually got blown out (twice) more than they won. As such, the Celtics were able to win their 18th championship in only five games.

Edmonton was a slightly different story. The team looked like it was going to get swept in the Stanley Cup Finals against the Florida Panthers, but they were able to rally and win three games in a row to force a decisive Game 7 back in Florida. Unfortunately for the Oilers, they were unable to finish off their miracle comeback, as the Panthers were able to win a cagey game on their home ice, 2-1, en route to lifting the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history.

DJ Diesel And Guardians Pitcher Triston McKenzie Got The Crowd Jumping With ‘Since U Been Gone’ After A Game

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Now that the NBA season is over, Shaquille O’Neal can shift his focus to his true love: music. The Hall of Famer spends his summers touring as DJ Diesel, as he’s shifted his focus away from hip-hop, when he was once a platinum selling artist, to EDM and house music, previously explaining that he just loves the energy of those crowds.

Shaq will do it all, from hitting the festival circuit to a Las Vegas residency at Encore Beach Club to performances at MLB stadiums after games. His most recent stop came on Saturday night in Cleveland, where he was at Blue Jays-Guardians and performed on the field for fans after the Guards picked up a 6-3 win to improve to 46-26 on the season.

The vibes are incredibly high for the Guards right now, and that only continued with DJ Diesel hopping on the 1s and 2s and bringing out some special guests from the clubhouse, as Cleveland pitcher Triston McKenzie (and a number of ofther Guardians players) joined Shaq on stage and performed “Since U Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson to the delight of the fans.

First off, this is a reminder that “Since U Been Gone” is 20 years old and is still an absolute banger. Kelly Clarkson was really in her bag with that one. Secondly, DJ Diesel knows what the people want, which is a Kelly Clarkson interlude before going right back into some EDM. A true showman, through and through, who absolutely knows how to work a crowd — he hyped up the Guards as a World Series contender during his set as well.

Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance’ Album Received The Ultimate Tribute From The NY Liberty’s Mascot Ellie The Elephant

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Athletes around the world have massive fan bases. Similar to the players, there are several beloved sports team mascots with followings of their own. The New York Liberty’s Ellie The Elephant has become the WNBA’s latest breakout star.

Yesterday (June 22), Big Ellie’s Halftime performance showcased that and more. The show was dedicated to Pride Month, and also paid tribute Beyoncé. The ever so fabulous mascot blended a medley of the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer’s record-setting, Grammy Award-winning album, Renaissance.

It was clear Ellie received the silver dress code notice, as the sassy elephant was rolled onto center court dressed in a mockup of Beyoncé’s tour look. With her own Renaissance World Tour dancers, Ellie slayed the mashup of “Move” featuring Grace Jones and Nina Sky’s “Move Ya Body” with hints of “Formation.”

Users online raved about the Halftime performance. Many even joked that a floral arrangement from Beyoncé would arrive at the arena soon. Ellie welcomed the idea, writing, “If this happened, tears just might fall 😭🫶🐘.”

Ellie’s Beyhive-certified tribute stated well before see hit the Barclays Center’s floor. In a clip shared to Ellie’s official X (formerly Twitter) profile she is seen Sasha Fiercly stomping across the Snipes pre-game carpet in another Beyoncé-inspired outfit with a hand fan made up of the Renaissance cover art.

Those flowers from Bey are currently en route.

Megan Thee Stallion Brought The Phoenix Mercury On Stage After Natasha Cloud Cleverly Caught Her Attention

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Megan Thee Stallion talked her talk when Charlamagne Tha God claimed (and then retracted) that she was “not an arena artist,” and her Hot Girl Summer Tour speaks for itself. Hot Girl Meg will perform a sold-out show at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Friday, June 21, but first, she brought the Hot Girl Summer Tour to Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona on Juneteenth.

WNBA guard Natasha Cloud and her Phoenix Mercury teammates, including Brittney Griner, were seated in the pit. Cloud held up her phone toward the stage with her screen reading, “COME TO OUR GAME.” Megan Thee Stallion saw it and her mouth was agape in flattery. “I’m invited to y’all game?” she said into the microphone. “‘Cause I seen y’all video. […] I’m so happy y’all came to the show! Can y’all come up on stage? I wanna see y’all.”

@t__cloud9 on Instagram

Last month, Megan Thee Stallion bonded with Chicago Sky star rookie Angel Reese when the Hot Girl Summer Tour hit the United Center. Similarly, GloRilla welcomed Reese and her Sky teammates on stage, and Megan Thee Stallion twerked on Reese.

There are two more opportunities for Meg to platform the WNBA during the Hot Girl Summer Tour. Let’s hope to see the Los Angeles Sparks and Las Vegas Aces join her over the weekend.

Megan Thee Stallion is set to release Megan, her third studio album, on June 28, and then her tour will head overseas in July. See all of her remaining dates here.

Russell Westbrook And DeMar DeRozan Danced On Stage For Kendrick Lamar’s Fourth Straight Performance Of ‘Not Like Us’ At The Pop Out

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For a few hours on Wednesday night, Kendrick Lamar was the most powerful man on earth as he held The Pop Out in Los Angeles. The whole thing was quite the spectacle, as it turned into one of the biggest nights in music even before Kendrick got on stage and started his performance.

And then, Kendrick tore the house down at The Forum in Los Angeles, which included Black Hippy reuniting and running through a medley of songs. The high point of the performance came at the very end, when he performed his Drake diss “Not Like Us.” Then he did it again, and then he did it again … and then, for good measure, he did it a fourth time, with the crowd losing its mind the entire time. During his final performance, a number of people joined him on stage, which included two of L.A.’s most beloved basketball players, Russell Westbrook and DeMar DeRozan.

They weren’t the only NBA players who made it out on Wednesday night, as a collection of players that included LeBron James were in attendance. And as he ran through “Not Like Us,” Donovan Mitchell was like many of us who sat at home and watched

Anyway, after Kendrick did his fourth performance of “Not Like Us,” he took a picture with the huge group that popped up on stage … before doing “Not Like Us” for a fifth time.

LeBron, Russell Westbrook, And Other NBA Stars Pulled Up To Kendrick Lamar’s The Pop Out In L.A.

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Kendrick Lamar has dominated the year in music, as he turned his beef with Drake into chart-topping tracks and a wave of momentum that has been nothing short of incredible.

His final Drake diss, “Not Like Us” produced by Mustard, became an instant L.A. anthem, and gave way to the idea to put on a show in L.A. called The Pop Out, referencing a line from the track. On Wednesday night at the Kia Forum, Kendrick, Mustard, and DJ Hed took the stage with various friends, bringing a ton of stars out both on stage and in the crowd.

Among those were a number of NBA stars with L.A. ties, as some of the biggest names in basketball weren’t going to miss this moment. LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and DeMar DeRozan were all on hand, with DeRozan arriving early to support his fellow Compton native.

The livestream showed LeBron and Westbrook vibing during Mustard’s set, as he brought out Tyler the Creator, YG, and more to the Forum stage.

Harden was also in the building with another beard enthusiast, Rick Ross, who had more fun dissing Drake than anyone else and wasn’t going to miss a chance to be at Kendrick’s show.

As plenty of people noted, James’ presence had to have hurt Drake a bit, as the two have been tight in the past, but there LeBron was on the Forum floor as Kendrick performed his “Euphoria” diss in its entirety — with some new lyrics — and the crowd went crazy.

Are Ella Mai And Jayson Tatum Still Dating?

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A lot of celebrity relationships tend to be front-page news, but one that tends to fly relatively under the radar is the supposed duo of Grammy-winning singer Ella Mai and Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum. Tatum and his Celtics just won the NBA Finals, of course, so all eyes are on him. That makes now a good time to ask:

Are Ella Mai And Jayson Tatum Still Dating?

As People notes, the two have been linked since 2020, but neither of them have actually publicly confirmed the apparent relationship. The two made their first public appearance together, though, at Michael Rubin’s Fourth Of July White Party in the Hamptons in 2020.

The two were also both at former Celtic teammate Marcus Smart’s wedding in 2023, and Tatum was spotted at Mai’s birthday party last November.

As for where things stand with Tatum and Mai now, the singer was spotted rocking a Tatum jersey as she celebrated the Celtics’ victory last night. So, whatever connection Tatum and Mai have, it appears to be doing just fine.

Meanwhile, Mai’s latest album is 2022’s Heart On My Sleeve, which followed her Billboard 200 top-5 self-titled debut album from 2018. Her biggest hit song to date is 2018’s “Boo’d Up,” which managed a peak at No. 5 on the Hot 100 chart.

Jayson Tatum Quoted A Legendary Kanye West Grammys Speech After Winning His First Title

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Jayson Tatum has never missed the NBA Playoffs in his career, but as the years of playoff appearances without a championship mounted, questions grew louder about whether he and Jaylen Brown could lead the Boston Celtics to a title together.

On Monday night, they put those questions to rest for good with a dominant five-game Finals win over the Dallas Mavericks to bring Boston its 18th NBA championship, but the first for the storied franchise in 16 years. The emotions poured out of Tatum on the court as the final buzzer sounded, as he bent over, head in his hands, realizing the weight that had finally been pulled off of him.

At the team’s championship celebration later that night, Tatum hopped on the microphone and addressed all those questions about what would happen if he and Brown never won a title with the Celtics, borrowing Kanye West’s line from his legendary Grammys speech, saying “I guess we’ll never know.”

Tatum’s teammates loved it, especially Jaylen Brown, and Tatum quite literally dropped the mic and walked off, Larry O’Brien in hand, to continue his celebration. The Celtics will take a few days to celebrate their title down in Miami, enjoying some beach time before they come back to Boston for their parade on Friday. We’ll see if Tatum breaks this back out on the parade stage or if he finds any more quotes to borrow for his speech in front of the Celtics faithful.