NBA

J. Cole Reveals The New Dreamer Jersey Collaboration With Mitchell & Ness

by
j. cole dreamer jersey
Getty Image

J. Cole well-documented love for basketball and his understated, ultra-comfy style have come together in his latest collaboration with throwback sportswear designer Mitchell & Ness. He revealed his new Dreamer X Mitchell & Ness throwback jersey collection after teasing it with the help of viral hoop phenom Hansel Enmanuel, who appeared in a video narrated by J. Cole praising the young, one-armed baller’s audacity to dream of a pro hoops career.

The jerseys are designed to look like ’90s-era NBA team jerseys, with the name Dreamer taking the place of the original team names on each. Included in the initial run are looks referencing the old-school aesthetics of the Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Washington Wizards (formerly the Baltimore Bullets), Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Philadelphia 76ers, Golden State Warriors, Orlando Magic, and New Jersey Nets (now the Brooklyn Nets). Alas, my beloved Clippers are nowhere to be found, nor are the Cleveland Cavaliers, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, Seattle Supersonics, or any iteration of the Grizzlies (Vancouver or Memphis). I’m not sure if anyone even cares about the Utah Jazz (they can’t read this; they don’t have internet). Cole also posted several throwback jersey photos on Instagram to remind fans of their cultural impact (including the “bootleg” throwback he wore as a kid — an authentic NBA jersey, but not a Mitchell & Ness one, which was the THING back then).

The jerseys retail for $375 and are available on mitchellandness.com (for now, expect them to sell out quick).

SOURCE SPORTS: NBA Release a New Vaccine PSA with a Message from Karl-Anthony Towns

by
Karl Anthony Towns Vaccine Booster PSA 0 3 screenshot

The NBA released a new vaccine-related PSA featuring NBA All-Star and Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns ahead of NBA All-Star 2022. The PSA debuted during the Bucks’ game against the 76ers on February 17 and will continue to broadcast during All-Star weekend. Towns, whose mother died of COVID-19 in 2020, has a powerful message to share:

“Early in the COVID pandemic, many lives were lost and there wasn’t much we could do. Now, there’s effective vaccines and boosters. But some people choose not to take the shot. Some say they don’t know what the vaccine will do. But we all know what COVID has already done. Now we all have a choice to make. Let’s make a choice we can live with. For information on how to find a COVID-19 vaccine or booster near you, visit Vaccines.gov.” 

The NBA family is continuing to work with public health experts and groups to figure out how we can share public health messaging to inform the NBA family and the wider public about the vaccinations’ safety and efficacy.

As part of NBA All-Star, the Cavs have partnered with the NBA to support Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb’s citywide vaccination, booster, and health education efforts by offering incentives to those who receive a COVID-19 vaccine or booster shot at vaccine sites throughout the city, including tickets to All-Star events and Cavaliers games, merchandise, special autographed items, and more. The league also donated 10,000 fast antigen tests and 110,000 face masks to the COVID-19 Taskforce for distribution to schools and community-based organizations, in addition to supporting 11 city-wide vaccination clinics and testing initiatives through additional vaccination venues.

The post SOURCE SPORTS: NBA Release a New Vaccine PSA with a Message from Karl-Anthony Towns appeared first on The Source.

SOURCE SPORTS: Celtics Jaylen Brown Believes He Should Be An All-Star

by
celtics Jaylen Brown

Jaylen Brown will not be an NBA All-Star for the second season in a row. officially missed out on his second straight All-Star nod Monday when NBA commissioner Adam Silver selected Cleveland Cavaliers big man Jarrett Allen as the injury replacement for Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden, who is sidelined with a sore hamstring.

 Brown is averaging 23.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game this season for a streaking Celtics team that is currently 6th in the competitive Eastern Conference. After the Celtics lost to the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night, Brown talked about his latest All-STAR snub.

“I’m not really disappointed. Like I said before, I’m not losing sleep,” Brown told reporters, as seen in the video above. “I think that my ability on both sides of the ball speaks for itself. I’m not going to knock any of those other guys. Congratulations to them. But, I think it’s situational, to be honest. I think maybe some other things go into it that maybe we don’t know about right now.

Afterwards, Brown took to social media and posted an image of Kanye West holding a notepad saying how much he should have been an All-Star.

All Brown can do is continue to ball and let his game speak for itself.

The post SOURCE SPORTS: Celtics Jaylen Brown Believes He Should Be An All-Star appeared first on The Source.

SOURCE SPORTS: Celtics Jaylen Brown Believes He Should Be An All-Star

by
celtics Jaylen Brown

Jaylen Brown will not be an NBA All-Star for the second season in a row. officially missed out on his second straight All-Star nod Monday when NBA commissioner Adam Silver selected Cleveland Cavaliers big man Jarrett Allen as the injury replacement for Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden, who is sidelined with a sore hamstring.

 Brown is averaging 23.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game this season for a streaking Celtics team that is currently 6th in the competitive Eastern Conference. After the Celtics lost to the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night, Brown talked about his latest All-STAR snub.

“I’m not really disappointed. Like I said before, I’m not losing sleep,” Brown told reporters, as seen in the video above. “I think that my ability on both sides of the ball speaks for itself. I’m not going to knock any of those other guys. Congratulations to them. But, I think it’s situational, to be honest. I think maybe some other things go into it that maybe we don’t know about right now.

Afterwards, Brown took to social media and posted an image of Kanye West holding a notepad saying how much he should have been an All-Star.

All Brown can do is continue to ball and let his game speak for itself.

The post SOURCE SPORTS: Celtics Jaylen Brown Believes He Should Be An All-Star appeared first on The Source.

MGK Is Apparently Taking His NBA All-Star Celebrity Game Selection VERY Seriously

by
machine gun kelly all star
Getty Image

The NBA’s All-Star Weekend in Cleveland, Ohio is right around the corner and while NBA players get the week off from a grueling 82-game season, some of the event’s participants have actually increased their activity in preparation for the festivities — including Cleveland native Machine Gun Kelly, who is apparently taking his selection to the celebrity game’s roster very seriously.

While the famous competitors in past iterations of the game have put previously existing hoop skills on display — Quavo, for instance, was a decorated high school athlete before his rap career took off — MGK has gone a step further, hiring celebrity skills coach Chris Matthews (aka @lethalshooter on Instagram) to help him brush up on his jumper before the game. Matthews, who has also worked with NBA players, WNBA players, and celebrities like
Anthony Davis, Candace Parker, and even Drake, posted a video of MGK running a shooting drill to his Instagram, which includes MGK sinking three (high school) three-pointers in a row and pre-emptively declaring himself MVP of the celebrity game.

Of course, MGK will have to outplay his teammate Quavo for that distinction — a tough sell, considering he’s been the game’s MVP in 2018 — as well as noted hoop aficionado Jack Harlow, who participated with Quavo in last year’s two-on-two event against Lil Baby and 2 Chainz, the WNBA’s Dearica Hambry, and former Harlem Globetrotter Crissa Jackson, among others.

SOURCE SPORTS: Kevin Durant and James Harden Reportedly In a “Cold War” Situation After Trade

by
durant and harden

James Harden admitted on Tuesday that when he was essentially forcing his way out of Houston at the start of last season, his first choice was to be traded to the Philadelphia 76ers to join up with Joel Embiid and his former general manager with Daryl Morey.  All of this might have been something Kevin Durant might have assumed all along.

According to Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer, Durant had grown frustrated with Harden this season over his conditioning and an apparent lack of commitment to the Brooklyn Nets.

One source told Fischer that Durant and Harden had a “cold war” this season that made everyone “miserable.”

Durant reportedly held out hope that Harden would become re-engaged. However, according to Fischer, after reports grew louder that Harden wanted a trade to the Philadelphia 76ers, Harden reportedly eventually told the Nets he wanted out, and Durant gave the green light to pull the trade.

Fischer quoted a source saying: “Kevin’s the one that pulled the trigger with this. Kevin’s the one that said, ‘Do this deal.’”

It was an unfortunate end of what could have been. Durant, Harden, and Kyrie Irving only played a grand total of 16 games together.

Continue the conversation on social media.

The post SOURCE SPORTS: Kevin Durant and James Harden Reportedly In a “Cold War” Situation After Trade appeared first on The Source.

Fans Couldn’t Help Roasting Jacquees’ Dramatic Rendition Of The National Anthem At A Recent Lakers Game

by
jacquees national anthem lakers game
Twitter

As Vince Staples once said (to the tune of 135,00 retweets and 258,000 likes), “The national anthem don’t even slap.”

vince staples national anthem tweet
Twitter

Over the years, various efforts to rectify this state of affairs have met with mixed results — Marvin Gaye’s rendition at the 1983 NBA All-Star game came close, Fergie’s effort at the 2018 All-Star, not so much — but the fact remains that the “Star-Spangled Banner” is kind of a dud, extolling virtues that the nation still hasn’t come within waving distance of since its writing.

That hasn’t stopped folks from trying, though; the latest was Atlanta R&B singer Jacquees, whose insistence that he’s the “king of R&B” over the past few years (he even named his 2019 album King Of R&B) has already made him subject to pushback and ridicule. Ahead of the recent NBA game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors, Jacquees opted for a laid-back rendition marked by his signature melisma and vibrato — i.e., “vocal runs” and that warbling quality singers’ voices sometimes have.

A tweet capturing the video of him singing the national anthem has gone viral on Twitter as folks debate his performance choices comparing it to the aforementioned Fergie debacle as well as Carl Lewis’ 1993 miss at another NBA game. Basically, the consensus is that Jacquees did way too much, but somehow also still not nearly enough to save that dreadful song from its built-in limitations. Jacquees himself was less than amused at the response, posting an apparent response of his own:

Seriously, would it kill anyone for us to update the national anthem? Like five major musical genres have been invented since America’s inception, and literally, any of them would save countless future generations from suffering this sort of embarrassment. Check out the responses to Jacquees’ performance below.

Beyonce Recruits NBA Stars James Harden And Jalen Green Into Her New Ivy Park Campaign Video

by

While fans wait patiently for any word of her next musical endeavor, Beyonce continues to make moves in other areas. Her latest is a new Ivy Park collection inspired by collegiate fashion and to promote the new line, she shared a hype video featuring Ivy Park’s newest recruits. While fans have come to expect Beyonce (and Blue Ivy) to appear in the campaigns alongside a diverse array of models, to show off the new collection, she tapped an unexpected source for her newest brand ambassadors: the NBA.

The ad, which starts off with calm music and shots overlooking an austere university campus, quickly picks up its tempo as a bass-heavy beat fades in to overtake the classical vibes with a new, brasher attitude. The shots of students coolly playing table tennis give way to close-ups of NBA stars James Harden and Jalen Green (formerly and currently of Beyonce’s hometown Houston Rockets, respectively), dribbling basketballs emblazoned with both Adidas and Ivy Park logos.

The new looks suggest that the athleisure brand is looking to expand its influence beyond just hardcore Beyonce stans and casual exercise enthusiasts. According to Complex, Halls of Ivy collection will include 89 pieces of apparel, 11 accessories, and four new footwear selections including the Savage sneaker and Super Sleek Boot. The collection launches worldwide on December 10, with an exclusive preview via Adidas’ site on December 9.

Watch Beyonce’s latest Ivy Park campaign video above.

Chloe Bailey And Gunna Were Spotted At A Recent NBA Game And Fans Are Disgusted By Her Beverage Choice

by
Getty Image

One of the more amusing/annoying things about Twitter is the preponderance of food opinions and the rigor with which users debate such weighty and controversial topics as pineapple on pizza, whether hot dogs are sandwiches, and drumettes vs. flats. It generally tips further into annoying, though, when folks get snooty about things like bottled water brands as indicators of wealth (it’s a whole thing; you can read about it here). Unfortunately, it seems no one is immune from the judgment of the Twitter peanut gallery — not even young artists as universally beloved as Chloe Bailey.

The 23-year-old singer recently attended the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks vs. Dallas Mavericks game, drawing attention for two major reasons. One was her immediate neighbor on the courtside seats: Atlanta rapper Gunna, whose reaction to Chloe’s recent VMA’s performance of her debut solo single “Have Mercy” went viral. And the other was her choice of beverage — a bottle of water. As photos of the couple(?) began circulating on Twitter, the water began drawing even more attention, mainly due to the name on the label: Dasani, which according to some Twitter users is an inferior brand (the ingredients are H2O, people, it shouldn’t be this serious).

Meanwhile, as some more astute folks observed, the brand of water being served is controlled by the venue, not the guest, and they were rightly amused at the water snobbery on display.

I guess it just goes to show that you can’t do anything right as far as social media is concerned. Also, y’all need to drink more water, I promise it’s better for you than whatever sweet drinks you’re guzzling — no matter what brand it is.