Mercyhurst University hockey player Carson Briere, son of Philadelphia Flyers interim general manager Daniel Briere, said in a statement Wednesday he is “deeply sorry” for pushing an unoccupied wheelchair down a flight of stairs at Sullivan’s Pub in Erie, Pennsylvania, last Saturday, March 11.
“I am deeply sorry for my behavior on Saturday. There is no excuse for my actions, and I will do whatever I can to make up for this serious lack of judgment.”
Daniel also issued a statement apologizing on behalf of his son and saying the behavior is “counter to our family’s values.”
“I was shocked to see Carson’s actions in the video that was shared on social media yesterday. They are inexcusable and run completely counter to our family’s values on treating people with respect. Carson is very sorry and accepts full responsibility for his behavior.”
The woman whose wheelchair was pushed down the stairs identified herself on Twitter as “Sydney.” She said that Carson Briere was made to apologize by a bouncer at the bar, but she felt it was insincere.
Video from the bar’s security camera circulated online, and it was discovered that Carson Briere was the perpetrator.
Mercyhurst University also issued a statement about the incident.
“Mercyhurst University has heard a considerable outcry regarding the social media video of student Carson Briere showing him pushing an unoccupied wheelchair down a flight of stairs,” school spokesperson Debbie Morton said in a statement Wednesday. “Mr. Briere today issued a statement taking responsibility for his actions, and in doing so, he recognized his behavior reflects a ‘serious lack of judgment’ and that he is ‘deeply sorry.’
“The actions displayed in the video make our hearts heavy and fall short of our Mercy belief in the inherent dignity of each person. We pray for and are in solidarity with the victim and all persons with disabilities who rightfully find actions like this to be deeply offensive. Our Mercy tradition also reminds us that students and all people who make poor choices deserve opportunities to learn, change behaviors, and atone for harmful actions.”
The school has also determined that the three individuals in the video are student-athletes. All three have been placed on interim suspension from their athletic teams per school policy, pending the outcome of an investigation.
What Carson Briere did was cruel, insensitive, and wrong. But beyond apologizing and saying he will “learn” from this incident, what can be done?
There is no room for this type of behavior and lack of civility among human beings, yet it occurs all the time.
Carson Briere lacks decency, and despite what his father thinks, his actions are in line with the value system he’s been taught.
When someone does something like Carson did, he clearly has no regard or respect for the individual to whom he’s causing distress or potential harm. He also doesn’t believe there will be any repercussions or consequences for his actions — at least nothing severe enough to not do it. That’s a learned behavior. That’s a value system he has adopted.
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Ja Morant just can’t seem to get out of his own way after his recent incidents that landed him in media headlines for the Past few weeks. Now, fans have dug up his old Instagram account and found posts that further shed some light on his character.
The Grizzlies star point guard is eligible to return on March 20 from his eight-game suspension without pay that NBA commissioner Adam Silver handed down to him. Morant also recently returned from a counseling program at a retreatment facility in Florida that he checked himself into.
He has made the effort to reshape his image but his past skeletons were resurfaced. The six photos dated back to 2013 and Morant looked like he was a teenager.
One photo showed him pictured to be holding his fingers into a gun motion and it was captioned, “Hate Bein Sober.”
Another photo was captioned, “I can make cocaine.”
Shannon Sharpe pointed out this type of behavior from Morant on his Fox Sports show “Undisputed.”
“He wanted to portray that he was hood or a thug, but bruh you are worth a quarter of a billion. Man ain’t nobody worth a quarter of a billion no shooter. That ain’t you! Everything he does, if somebody makes a play he is going ‘tat, tat, tat, tat.’ He got the tequila and spraying everybody as if it was gun. Like, bruh, really?!?!” said Sharpe.
He continued, “Does he realize being Ja Morant is impressive enough in any room? I’m glad he got the help he needed, but the best apology is changed behavior.”
Morant recently sat down with Jalen Rose in an ESPN interview and cleared up some of the rumors surrounded around displaying ‘thug’ behavior.
“The gun wasn’t mine. It’s not who I am,” Morant said. “I don’t condone any type of violence, but I’ve taken responsibility for my actions. But in the future, I’m going to show everybody who Ja really is, what I’m about, and change this narrative that everybody got.”
He also explained that how he used these actions as an escape to whatever he has going on with him personally. He didn’t go into details about the personal things that he is dealing with but he has seeked out help.
“I used that as an escape, which I shouldn’t have. I feel like that’s the reason I made many bad decisions in my past, which doesn’t pretty much describe me, doesn’t describe Ja as a person,” Morant said. “I’m a totally different person than what’s been shown in the media. That’s my job now. That’s why I took that time away, to become a better Ja, so everybody really can see who Ja really is and you know what he’s about.”
The best apology is changed behavior and Morant will have to show that he has changed.
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According to ESPN, the Los Angeles Clippers’ team plane was struck by lightning on Feb. 25 en route from Los Angeles to Denver. Most of the players were napping at the time. When lightning struck the plane the engine went silent and the aircraft dropped in altitude several times before ascending to cruising altitude.
When ESPN published the story, backup guard Bones Hyland quote tweeted with the comment, “NGL we thought it was over wit.”
“Us players, we’re trying to nap away,” guard Eric Gordon told ESPN, calling it the second-worst flight he has experienced in his 15 NBA seasons. “Oh, everybody was up after that for sure.”
According to Mainblades, a Netherlands-based aircraft tech company, planes being struck by lightning is a fairly common occurrence.
On average, every commercial aircraft is struck by lightning once or twice a year. And at any given moment, there can be as many as 1,800 thunderstorms happening simultaneously. That averages out to 40-100 lightning strikes every second worldwide.
According to the International Air Transport Association, an aircraft is struck by lightning every 1,000 flight hours, the equivalent of one strike per aircraft per year.
Clippers head coach Ty Lue saw a parallel with his team’s five-game losing streak after the All-Star break and the lightning strike.
“Our luck was so bad, we even got struck by lightning,” Lue said.
The Clippers did seem to find all kinds of ways to lose games in that streak. Blowing double-digit leads late, fumbling critical possessions out of bounds on simple passes. It’s wild for a veteran team led by Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
But, perhaps that bad stretch is behind them and their luck has started to change.
The Clippers have won four straight, including Wednesday night’s win over the Golden State Warriors at home. They survived a 50 point eruption from Stephen Curry and managed to execute and win the game. One they likely would’ve lost during that post-All-Star streak.
With 12 games left in the season the Clippers are only a half game behind the Kevin Durant-less Phoenix Suns for fourth place in the West and home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
It’s unlikely they catch the third-place Memphis Grizzlies who they are five games back of. But all is not well in Memphis despite the fact that Ja Morant will return to the team next Monday and after a ramp-up period likely be available to play by next weekend or early the following week.
But one thing for sure is certain, there are no guarantees in this topsy-turvy parity-driven season. If a team can play their best basketball at the right time anything is possible.
“We just have what it takes,” George said last week after the Clippers defeated Toronto. “It’s just putting it together on both ends. Even within the losses, we’ve proven that we can compete [with contenders], and it’s just small stuff that we got to clean up and take ownership of.
“We have all the intangibles. We have the personnel. We have the coaching. Everything that a championship team or a team that can compete for one has, we have in our locker room.”
George is an All-NBA caliber player and one of the elite two-way wings in this league. As is Leonard, who is sneakily eighth in the league in EPM and is scoring with elite efficiency 51/42/87 splits.
Lue is a championship-winning coach, and Leonard has been the best player on two title teams. Anything is possible. You’ve got to be good and you need a little luck.
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Phoenix Suns superstar Kevin Durant has had his share of disagreements with NBA analysts in the past. He’s also gotten into Twitter beefs with fans, and even used burner accounts to fire back at those fans. But for all that, Durant has never had a personal beef with anyone like the one he currently has with Basketball Hall of Famer and NBA legend Charles Barkley.
Sir Charles, who’s a longtime analyst with TNT, has often called out KD for not building and leading his own team to a championship, instead opting to join championship contenders. That in turn hasn’t sat well with Durant, who’s always been pretty thin-skinned or sensitive.
During a recent episode of KD’s “The ETCs” podcast, Durant gave Barkley his props as a player, but questioned his ways as an analyst.
“He’s a f—ing legend that I got nothing but respect for, and when I look up, I’m gonna play with pride knowing that he put blood, sweat, snd tears into this organization. That ain’t got nothing to do with how he is as an analyst, though,” the Suns star said. “I don’t agree with how he approaches the game as a Hall of Famer. His game as an analyst, I don’t really f—k with your approach. That’s my opinion on you, just like your opinion on us.”
Durant, who’s widely considered the second-best player of his generation, has never been able to live down joining the 73-win Golden State Warriors in 2016. He went on to win NBA championships the following two seasons, but in Barkley’s opinion he was a “bus rider,” and not the “driver.”
KD feels that is a dumb analogy and expressed this in the podcast.
“Why is that analogy even brought up for teams? Durant said on his Boardroom podcast. “Like we ain’t on no f—g bus. I feel like the only reason that kept traction was because of me specifically. If it was about any other player, that s—t wouldn’t have hit like that.
“But Charles Barkley said that about me and like I said, disrespecting my game is part of the storyline. So that’s gon’ hit for my storyline more than anything.”
Durant is probably right when he says his name being attached to the statement helped the statement grow legs. But Barkley isn’t entirely wrong either. KD joining a 73-win team that he lost to in the conference finals and now coming to Phoenix — which was just in the NBA Finals two seasons ago — does give “bus rider” vibes.
Although in this case, if the Suns, whom Barkley took to the Finals in 1993, were to win it, KD will be the main reason why.
Durant said while there’s no beef between the two legends, he also didn’t hesitate to call Barkley’s ways corny.
“I wouldn’t call if need,” Durant said. “I just think he’s mad opinionated and he feels his job is to be mad opinionated in a negative way against players. … I’m not saying you should only talk about the positives either, but when you clearly show bias that you’re trying to take away from the players have done, it just looks corny on his part.”
This story will only continue to grow legs if KD and the Suns come up small in the postseason. Just imagine what Barkley will say then.
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Hamilton County, Ohio, prosecutor Melissa Powers says a grand jury has indicted Shalonda Mixon, sister of Cincinnati running back Joe Mixon, and Shalonda’s boyfriend Lamonte Brewer on charges connected to the shooting injury of a 16-year-old boy outside the RB’s home.
Shalonda Mixon, 34, has been indicted for one count of tampering with evidence and one count of obstructing justice. If convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of four years in prison.
Her boyfriend, Lamonte Brewer, 34, has been indicted for one count of felonious assault, one count of tampering with evidence, two counts of having weapons while under disability. If convicted he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
According to the indictment, on March 6 Hamilton County law enforcement responded to Joe Mixon’s home at around 8:30 p.m. for a report of shots fired.
Several teenagers were playing a game called “nerf wars” outside the home when real gunshots were fired.
Police obtained a search warrant for surveillance video from Joe Mixon’s security system; reportedly, through that video, they were able to determine what took place the night of the shooting.
Video showed Brewer and Joe Mixon in the RB’s backyard as teens were outside of it playing. At one point, Brewer reportedly was seen opening fire on a 16-year-old who was running near the yard with a toy gun, nearly hitting the boy in the head.
“The teenager heard multiple shots whizzing by his head and immediately ducked behind a tree fearing for his life,” Powers said. “It’s unbelievable that something like this could happen. It’s hard to fathom how anyone could aim a gun at a child, let alone fire 10 to 11 rounds at him. It’s a miracle he was not killed.”
The surveillance video also showed Shalonda Mixon collecting shell casings from the yard before fleeing in her vehicle with Brewer.
Deputies who responded to the scene stopped the car. Powers said Shalonda Mixon and Brewer were inside the vehicle. Authorities said they located a gun, a Zastava M92, in the trunk. The gun reportedly later was identified as the one used in the shooting.
During the press conference announcing the indictment charges Powers also said that Joe Mixon was seen carrying a gun in the surveillance video when the shooting took place, but did not fire the weapon.
“As a legal gun owner, Mixon had the right to possess the firearm and did not commit a crime,” Powers said.
Joe Mixon’s agent Peter Schaffer released a statement following Powers’ press conference announcing the grand jury indictments.
Schaffer said in his statement that Joe Mixon “witnessed an individual carrying what appeared to be a rifle racing directly towards his property as the individual continued to bark instructions.”
“When another individual discharged a firearm, Joe interceded to stop the person discharging a firearm. Joe hates that a young adult was injured during this incident.”
The presence of guns, real and fake escalated a situation that did not need to be escalated. But this country’s fascination and obsession with violence and weapons continues.
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What do you call an NCAA Division I collegiate football coach that kicks his student-athlete out of the training room for wearing white socks? You call him Coach Prime!
Deion Sanders flexed his new coaching muscles, showing his team and the world that he is serious about the dress code standards he has set, and apparently white socks are not part of the Prime program.
Unfortunately, for the player who was dismissed in the middle of a weight set, Sanders let the world know on “60 Minutes” how he rolls regarding athletic etiquette. He’s been on the same wave since his phenomenal tenure at Jackson State University.
The reporter Jon Wertheim mentioned how he was “surprised by how old school” Sanders is. Wertheim told Sanders, “you’re talking about socks can’t be too low.” Then he added, “you don’t want it too baggy; what do they know not to do?”
Sanders leaned in and revealed exactly how his players must show up.
“No earrings in uniform. No hoodies in uniform. No sagging in uniforms. No one sock up, no sock down. Let your game separate you, not your dress code,” Sanders said with no emotion.
When Sanders was asked, “What’s that all about?” he answered like a true general.
“Structure and discipline,” Sanders continued. “When you go into the NFL, all the things that I’m teaching them are mandated. I’m preparing them for the next level. So if they come and matriculate, and they go into UPS, do you think they can wear any uniform they want? How they want? If you’re on Wall Street, you think you can just fall into the office and just walk in there anyway you want? No, there’s structure and rules to this thing.”
Sanders knows that the aura of his earned celebrity and style ethos can be deceiving, and his young players might feel inclined to be like Prime Time. But they are in the world of Coach Prime, the evolved version of the veteran dual-sport athlete who honed his knowledge of professionalism as the driver of a career where his image towers. But he knows how to stay relatable to his audience, his player’s parents.
Like wearing a gold coach’s whistle.
“You’ve got to understand, parents of the kids that we’re recruiting, they know Prime. They’re just meeting Coach Prime, so I still got to give them some Prime. That’s what they expect. I can’t go into grandmama’s house and grandmama was riding with me when I was high-stepping for the Atlanta Falcons…no, she wants Prime.”
Sanders is always in control of his brand. Although his methods might be unconventional, like when he brought in social media influencer and fitness model Brittney Renner to discuss the realities of predatory women when it comes to professional athletes, they are effective.
If Coach Prime wants all black socks, that is the mandate and the law because discipline is the prime and overall game is the “prime” ingredient to Sanders’ success.
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Former ESPN analyst Keith Olbermann had Twitter in a frenzy with his outrageous tweet about the World Baseball Classic. Mets closer Edwin Diaz suffered a torn patellar tendon while celebrating Puerto Rico’s win over Dominican Republic. It was reported by ESPN that Diaz will be out the full 2023 baseball season.
Earlier this week, Dodgers star first baseman Freddie Freeman suffered an injury also while playing for the Canadian team. It is probably why the Yankees didn’t chance it with Aaron Judge and opted to not let their $260 million star participate.
The recent injuries to MLB stars sparked a debate on Twitter about the importance of the WBC.
He wrote, “First Freddie Freeman, now Edwin Diaz. The WBC is a meaningless exhibition series designed to: get YOU to buy another uniform, to hell with the real season, and split up teammates based on where their grandmothers got laid. Call it off. Now.”
That prompted many responses from baseball fans on Twitter.
“Such a wildly gross way to talk about a person who suffered injury, a tournament that clearly means the world to these guys, and the ties of family and country that move them to participate. just a mean, uninteresting dude,” baseball analyst Meg Rowley commented under his tweet.
“Gross Keith. Just Gross,” freelance baseball writer AJ Gonzalez wrote.
This tweet is nothing out of the ordinary for Olbermann. Some fans on Twitter suggested that the reason he couldn’t keep his ESPN job because off his unfiltered comments.
A familiar target for right-wingers, Olbermann was accused of blaming former President Donald Trump and Barstools Sports president Dave Portnoy for the shooting that took place at a Michigan high school where a student-athlete sacrificed his own life to save his fellow classmates by jumping in front of the shooter’s line of fire.
“This kid died to stop a school shooter whose mother echoed the Trumpist Fascism of @stoolpresidente and @barstoolsports,” Olbermann tweeted.
The WBC is just like the World Cup and Olympics. Players want to play for their native countries because they have a sense of pride about where they come from and their heritage. It is also gives the a chance to interact with players from other countries that they don’t get to regularly see.
It also gives fans another opportunity to see their favorite players that they don’t often get a chance to see.
It was reported last weekend that 47,000 fans packed Chase Field to support Mexico in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks’, highest attendance last season was 37,802 against the Nationals on July 23. Olbermann might think the WBC are meaningless exhibition games but clearly fans do not.
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With less than 15 games left in the NBA season, and teams jockeying for playoff positioning, it’s that time of year where the contenders are separated from the pretenders. One team that’s arguably the the favorite to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy is the Milwaukee Bucks, who won the 2021 NBA championship behind superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. It was the franchise’s first title in 50 seasons (1971) when Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson led them to a title.
In the NBA Finals series, Antetokounmpo was named MVP, and he even went for 50 points in the decisive Game 6. That feeling of euphoria and excitement is like nothing else, and Antetokounmpo took it up a few notches saying it’s better than being intimate.
In an interview with The Athletic, the “Greek Freak,” as he’s affectionately known spoke candidly about that feeling and how desperate he is to do it again.
“Man, that feeling. That feeling was a great feeling,” Antetokounmpo told The Athletic. “That feeling was one of the best feelings I’ve had, and I’m not even going to say what I’m thinking because it’s probably gonna go viral.
“I’m sorry but it’s better than getting intimate. You know what I mean? Man, what? You know, I love soon-to-be-wife. I love my kids.”
While he loves his fiancée and children, Giannis is also quick to remind us of that nothing compares to reaching the NBA mountaintop. And he’s desperate to have that feeling once again.
“The championship was the greatest feeling in my life, and I want to repeat that feeling. And I want to do it again with my teammates, and I want us to he the last team standing. I want for those two, three months of the summer to feel like I’m the best player in the world, where I’ll team has won the whole thing, and I’m the last guy standing.”
From the tone of Giannis’ comments, he definitely wants that second ring and third NBA MVP to be in his possession at season’s end. With the Bucks boasting the league’s best record at 50-19, winning a championship is highly plausible. But winning a third MVP is a long shot with the current media favorites being Philadelphia Sixers center Joel Embiid and Denver Nuggets reigning back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokic.
It’s no secret that Antetokounmpo becoming an NBA player opened the door for his three brothers to all have a chance to play professionally as well. It also afforded his family, who grew up poor in Greece, a new lease on life. That’s a lot of pressure to be under, but he welcomes it, and it’s made him want to succeed at all costs.
“I’m obsessed. I’m scared to lose what God has gave me and the life that I’ve provided for my kids, and for my brothers and for my mom, you know? I’m scared. So I f—king work as hard as I can, because I don’t want to lose this s—t. And it’s not gonna stop until I’m of this league. So I do have the trophies somewhere. But I try not to look at them, because I want to win another one. I do want to. But I don’t want to go and say it. I don’t want to beg. I want my game to speak for itself.”
That’s why Giannis has become the league’s most consistent and dominant, he’s never satisfied. He wants more, and you have to like his chances to get more.
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Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan is universally recognized as the greatest basketball player to ever grace the hardwood. But as an owner “MJ” hasn’t had nearly the success.
On Thursday it was reported that Jordan is in serious talks to sell his majority stake in the team. Reports are the six-time NBA champion is considering selling his majority stake to Hornets minority owner Gabe Plotkin and Atlanta Hawks minority owner Rick Schnall.
It’s also being reported that Jordan wouldn’t completely divest himself of the franchise he became majority owner of 2010, he’d instead become a minority owner.
Jordan purchased the team from then-majority owner Bob Johnson for $275 million. Johnson, the founder of BET, brought MJ in as a minority investor in 2006.
Now it looks as if MJ is ready to take a lesser role, with less a focus on what he’s is individually doing or not doing to improve the franchise.
Since 2010, with Jordan at the helm, the Hornets have only qualified for the postseason twice. The last time coming in 2016. They’ve had five head coaches, which affects continuity and culture, and they’ve had only one All-Star, Kemba Walker.
A (417-594) record during Jordan’s tenure as owner doesn’t help matters. And the franchise has continuously missed on draft picks. LaMelo Ball, the 2021 NBA Rookie of the Year, is the big catch of Jordan’s draft history as an executive. In all, Jordan hasn’t been very successful as an owner, and he even lost close friend Charles Barkley behind his struggles as an owner.
In a November 2022 interview with Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks, Sir Charles discussed why he and Jordan haven’t spoken in ten years.
“What I said was, ‘Michael’s got to surround himself with better people,” Barkley said. “And I said I worry about him being successful. Because when you’re a star — because he’s the biggest star I’ve ever been around — everybody around you is going to tell you what you want to hear. And I didn’t think he had good enough supporting cast around him in the front office to be successful.
“I said that, and I had no problem saying it, because it was the truth. And he took offense. And he called me, and it wasn’t a pleasant conversation, and we haven’t spoken since then.”
If Jordan does sell, the move would take away the only Black majority owner of a major sports franchise (NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL). And while the aforementioned Johnson was in those same shoes, he doesn’t carry any of the star power that “His Airness” does.
Although he’s struggled as an owner, just to have The GOAT attached to the game he once dominated has been a big deal. He gave it a try, but it you’ve ever watched a Hornets game, the anguish of losing, and losing often is just eating away inside at arguably the most competitive player we ever seen.
It may be time to step away. He’s surely got options.
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There is a new wave of judgment, called selective outrage, in these WAGS (wives and girlfriends) streets. The wives of professional athletes are being judged on a sliding scale that rewards wardrobe austerity with silence and debates stylishness with an edge. A case in point is two Vanity Fair Oscar party pictures with the two wives of two top-rated athletes. That’s enough twos for multiple double standards, and that’s exactly what the commentary around R&B star Ciara and Savannah James has been.
Ciara, the 37-year-old mother of three, made headlines with a sheer black dress replete with visible thong underwear and pasties covering her chest. Although she made her name with the song “Goodies,” where she said they “would stay in the jar,” her emboldened wardrobe choice sparked the anger of many of her husband Russell Wilson’s fans.
Faith-based Wilson has become an evangelical role model for his spiritual tweets and wholesome image. However, the cultural clashes within their relationship came to a head with the fans when Ciara showed all her assets on the red carpet. She completed the outrage after posting a video wearing the Dundas dress, fresh off the Paris Fashion Week runway, on her social media that was captioned “Oscar Nights,” with M.I.A.’s song ‘Bad Girls’ playing in the background.
But the followership of Russell Wilson wouldn’t let his wife be great. Instead, they questioned how he could be with such a woman based on his assumed moral code. But the outrage is entirely selective and based solely on a one-sided view of a person. But aren’t we all multi-dimensional beings?
The subsequent tweets of judgment about her dress concerning her husband’s squeaky spiritual brand abounded.
“30 mins ago, wasn’t you just (in) a prison providing church?” a fan commented.
But some felt the need to balance the narrative.
“If you don’t get the joke, I’m tired of sexist double standards and ppl slut-shaming Ciara for her dress at the Oscars. It’s her body, her choice,” a fan said, critical of the online hate. “These men from single-parent households think she’s unworthy of marriage and a loving husband just bc she was a single mom. Haters.”
Additionally, there were four white actresses on the same red carpet, each with their partially naked bodies on display through equally sheer designer clothes — however, no universal judgment, husband shaming, or blanket statements on their expression of feminity.
Enter Savannah James. The doting matriarch of LeBron James’ basketball kingdom was also on the Vanity Fair Oscars party’s red carpet; this time, the reactions were different. Queen James wore a white bustier-style gown with a mermaid silhouette by Black designer Sergio Hudson and styled by Icon Billingsley.
LeBron James even posted the look on his Instagram with the caption, “GOT DAMNNNNNN!!! *Pharrell voice.” The comments were full of approval from the fans who were swept into the very lit kingdom of the James family.
In February, though, James graced Milan Fashion Week wearing a semi-sheer lace Dolce & Gabbana bodysuit covered by a stylish jacket with her neck adorned with jewels. Savannah James has always silently held her celebrity family together from the sidelines. Seeing her more emboldened in fashion was surprising, but she was treated differently concerning her husband’s uber-celebrity status.
Between Russell Wilson catching morality “L’s” for Ciara being a proud and beautiful mother and wife, to Savannah James’s uncharacteristic risque to elegant style choices being the escape some crave, the world picks and chooses what to be mad at. Their white contemporaries wear even more controversial items, and the outrage dissipates. That’s the world we all live in.
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Suspended Memphis Grizzlies superstar Ja Morant is eligible to rejoin the team next week following his eight game suspension. When he will play is still unclear. But what is clear is the Grizzlies are going to limit the opportunities for him to get into trouble on the road. According to reports the team will not be staying overnight after road games in the NBA’s party cities like Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, and Miami.
That the Grizzlies need to enact these measures and subject the entire team to them tells us a couple things. The importance of superstar players in this league and the lengths they feel they need to go, in order to protect Morant and themselves from further incidents that can derail him and the team.
By now it has been well documented what has transpired with Morant. Dating back to last summer Morant and his friends were involved in four separate incidents in which there was either a threat of violence or actual violence. In three of the four incidents a gun was allegedly present.
It all culminated in Morant appearing on his Instagram Live inside a club in Denver inebriated and waving a gun.
Morant has been away from the team since March 4, the day after the Denver incident.
The NBA conducted an investigation into the Denver incident and suspended Morant for eight games for conduct detrimental to the league. The suspension is retroactive to March 5.
Morant checked into a counseling program in Florida while he was away from the team and met with commissioner Adam Silver to discuss how he will move forward and be more accountable.
“It was good — pretty much an open discussion,” Morant said of his meeting with Silver. “Obviously, he said things I need to be better at, but more of just showing his support towards me. I accepted that, and I also sent my apologies to everybody — to the league, myself, my teammates, my family for putting that negativity towards all of us with a bad decision.”
Morant’s teammates have had his back and done nothing but support him throughout.
“He’s about to come back and run the league,” Jaren Jackson Jr. said. “He was running the league. It ain’t like he was in a slump. Everybody makes mistakes growing up in front of the camera. A lot of stars have done that in the past. It happens.”
Morant’s actions will determine how long his teammates continue to back him unequivocally. If he has shown he’s learned from his missteps and is willing to be held accountable, all will be forgiven.
It also remains to be seen how the rest of the team deals with the new road policy of not staying overnight in certain cities. This policy may not matter the rest of the regular season. In the 14 remaining games, the only road cities of concern are Atlanta, Chicago, and New Orleans. Given that they will be gearing up for the playoffs it likely won’t bother anyone.
But if the policy remains in place next season, some resentment could develop. Players look forward to unwinding when they’re on the road during the long season.
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Ja’Marr Chase name made headlines on last week when the mother of his child aired out his dirty laundry again. She took to Instagram to continuously blast Chase as a deadbeat father and claim that he physically abused her while she was pregnant with their child. He didn’t respond and appears to not be worried about her.
He along with his Bengals teammate Tee Higgins and Cardinals’ linebacker Isaiah Simmons were all spotted on a yacht in Miami this week. The three young NFL stars were also accompanied by three beautiful ladies.
They chose a perfect time to do it because we all remember the last time a group of wide receivers went to Miami it made headlines. Their situation was much different from the 2017 Giants because it is their offseason and not the day before a playoff game.
Higgins and Chase’s yacht day in Miami was nothing compared to the 2005 Minnesota Vikings boat trip on Lake Minnetonka in October 2005 during their bye week. Vikings then-cornerback Fred Smoot rented two large houseboats and arranged for strippers from all over the country to come to the party. It was reported that about 100 women in total showed up and 17 players participated.
Those players reportedly were: quarterback Daunte Culpepper Bryant McKinnie, Nate Burleson, Mewelde Moore, Pat Williams, Ralph Brown, Jermaine Wiggins, Troy Williamson, Travis Taylor, Kevin Williams, Lance Johnstone, Moe Williams and Willie Offord.
Smoot said, “it got a little X-rated.”
The party was nicknamed the “floating sex-a-palooza.”
“We were a group of 20-year-olds with millions of dollars in our pockets. What do you expect guys to do? They’re going to have fun and they’re going to find a little trouble,” Smoot said.
The party was so widely discussed on every news and sports talk show as well as on the front headlines of newspapers. It also caught the attention of Vikings owner Zygi Wilf that called a team meeting the following week and reportedly “laid into the players.”
Higgins should be a little concerned because he is entering the final year of his contract and so far he has failed to reach a deal with the Bengals. The team could possibly be in salary cap hell with Higgins, Chase, and Joe Burrow all due for contract extensions over the next three offseasons.
Higgins’ contract expires in 2024, Burrow’s is up in 2025, and Chase’s is in 2026.
According to Spottrac, Burrow’s contract extension is projected to be valued at $44 million per year, Chase’s at $25 million per year, and Higgins’ at $20 million per year. The Bengals will prioritize their quarterback and No. 1 option in the passing first. That will leave Higgins as the odd man out.
He could potentially be lured away by a team with the money to pay him his worth and make him their No. 1 option. The team that could do it is possibly a conference rival.
The Chiefs just recently lost JuJu Smith-Schuster to the Patriots and Tyreek Hill was traded to the Dolphins last offseason. They want to keep their dynasty rolling and maximize on Patrick Mahomes prime.
Chase has even shown concern that the Bengals won’t be able to keep their core offense together.
“It would be nice for Tee to be on the same side with me still as long as we can go,” Chase said to USA Today in February. “Somebody later down the line is going to have to do something for us to have this team stay together.”
That somebody Chase is talking about is Bengals general manager Duke Tobin.
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The family of an former NFL player is claiming that his death while in the custody of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was due to deputies’ brutality and that he didn’t just collapse and die while in custody before being admitted to a mental hospital. On March 14 his parents went public with those claims with the announcement of a $45 million lawsuit against the county.
Stanley Wilson Jr., a cornerback for the Detroit Lions from 2005-2007 who was jailed on trespassing charges in August, died on Feb. 1 as he was due to be transferred to the Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk for treatment of his chronic mental illness.
Per the Los Angeles Times, the family blames Wilson’s cause of death on “excessive force” and “deliberate indifference”
According to his parents, they found “ligature marks” on his wrist, and “fresh wounds” on his head that may have been “caused by a shoe.” Those marks are referenced in the claim that Wilson’s family is making.
According to TMZ, the claim is being split into three, one by Wilson’s mother, another by his father, and his estate. Wilson’s father, Stanley Wilson Sr. was an NFL running back, who played for the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Los Angeles Times reports an official cause of death hasn’t been made public yet, but according to the claim the county “grossly misrepresented the cause and circumstances” of Wilson’s death.
“The county failed to implement and maintain proper procedures to engage mentally disabled individuals, including Stanley Wilson Jr.,” the claim said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The 40-year-old Wilson had a string of run-ins connected with attempted break-ins and trespassing dating back several years after he began his downward spiral.
After the August arrest, Wilson wasn’t deemed competent to stand trial, which led to an order to transfer him from county jail to Metropolitan State Hospital where he would be treated, but he died before he could get this treatment.
The Stanford University product’s star was once bright. Wilson Jr. was a star in college from 2001 to 2004. He came back and graduated in 2014.
In June 2016, Wilson was shot in the abdomen while trying to break in a home in Portland, while he was naked. In 2017, Wilson was arrested again for allegedly walking around a neighborhood naked.
In the next month, Wilson was sentenced to 10 days in jail for the incident in 2016, in Portland, and he received three years’ probation, and mandatory drug treatment. He also was ordered to pay restitution damages to the mansion and write an apology letter to the victims involved.
Wilson Jr. dealt with a lot of traumatic head injuries as a result of his football career, according to the lawsuit, and his family says that he showed a lot of symptoms of the traumatic brain degeneration CTE, which many say could account for the erratic behavior and the trouble he’d repeatedly get into.
Family attorney John Carpenter said this week, “That’s how we treat our people with mental illness, we incarcerate them or we let them live on the streets without any support,” calling Wilson’s a particularly tragic story. “He had all the promise in the world, and he ended up like this.”
The recent tragedy that happened to Wilson, is just another potential example of the dangers of CTE and the lasting effects it can not only have on an individual but their family as well.
He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the third round in 2005. He played from 2005 to 2007, before retiring early at the age of 25 due to a torn Achilles tendon.
The Las Vegas Raiders made a surprise move on Tuesday when they traded former Pro Bowl tight end Darren Waller to the New York Giants for just a third-round pick. The move, which was rather shocking, comes on the heels of Waller having an injury-riddled season that limited him to just nine games. The talented hybrid pass catcher says he was shocked by the move, and some even wonder if it stems from his recent marriage to Las Vegas Aces star Kelsey Plum.
The belief is Waller was upset that McDaniels and Raiders GM Dave Ziegler leaked his wedding plans to the Las Vegas Review-Journal at the NFL combine.
The Athletic’s Vic Tafur tweeted that Waller was in fact upset about his nuptials being leaked by his coach and GM.
While we’ll never know how true this speculation really is, it is rather telling that Waller, who was said to be integral piece of the team’s future plans, was moved all of a sudden.
McDaniels isn’t known to be one of the more well-liked coaches in the league, and in fact the way he and Ziegler handled quarterback Derek Carr’s benching and subsequent release didn’t sit well with a lot of the team.
Waller didn’t invite either of the Raiders brass figures, and that caused his new wife and reigning WNBA champion Kelsey Plum to tweet this in response to ESPN NFL analyst Robert Griffin’s tweet about the situation.
It’s funny, but also crazy that the two stars expected to be playing professionally in Vegas, and that changed in the blink of an eye.
But Waller is taking it all in stride and seemed pretty excited to join a rising Giants team with newly minted QB Daniel Jones.
In his first interview since being dealt, Waller, who’s looking to get back to 2019 and 2020 when he racked up 197 total receptions for 2,341 yards and 12 touchdowns in 31 starts, says he’s looking to stay healthy.
Since then, he’s been limited to 20 starts and just 83 total receptions for 1,053 yards and only five touchdowns.
“For me, number one, the growth starts with just being available as much as possible for the team,” Waller said Wednesday.
“I feel like I’m a football player,” he said. “I’ll line up out wide. I’ll line up in the slot. I’ll lineup inline. I’ll block—I’ll crack the end it you want me to. Whatever you ask me to do, I feel like I can do it at a high level, and that’s what I plan on doing here.”
The move to the Giants should be good for Waller with head coach Brian Daboll, the reigning NFL Coach of the Year, a huge fan of utilizing sure-handed tight ends. In McDaniels’ offense, Waller was never really a great fit because he’d rather him block more than be a receiver, which is where he’s a matchup nightmare.
The New York Knicks are currently 41-30 and firmly entrenched in the Eastern Conference fifth seed and riding a two-game winning streak.
All-Star Julius Randle is playing at a very high level, and point guard Jalen Brunson has been sensational as the savvy floor leader the Knicks desperately needed. The play of role players R.J. Barrett and Immanuel Quickley has been nothing short of dynamite, but there’s one Knicks player who isn’t happy with his time.
Center Mitchell Robinson, who signed a four-year, $60 million extension last offseason, isn’t happy about his role. The former second-round pick took to Snapchat to voice his displeasure about his role or lack thereof in the Knicks attack.
“Tired asf of just being out there for cardio fam like I want to play basketball to, really just wasting my time my energy, (facepalm emoji)”
While, Robinson may have a reason to be upset, he was re-signed to be a rim protector and rebounder. The Knicks don’t run plays for him, and if they did it would be off the screen and roll, lob variety. Robinson’s offensive skill set isn’t much beyond 5 feet, so in essence with Randle, Brunson, Barrett, and others filling it up, it doesn’t make much sense to run plays for Robinson.
With the Knicks using a small lineup often, Robinson ranks third in the league in usage, trailing only the offensively challenged PJ Tucker of the Philadelphia Sixers and Robinson’s teammate, and third-string center Jericho Sims. As on Wednesday, Robinson is the least passed-to starter in the league, with just 10 total passes coming his way per game.
Even with those limited amount of touches, he’s still averaging 7.5 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks and nearly a steal per game. Solid stats for a player who averages just 27 minutes a game and has very little influence on the offense.
The root of Robinson’s frustration could stem from his backup, Isaiah Hartenstein, who plays with the high motor and pure grit, getting the bulk of the minutes late in games when the Knicks stay big. It could be the hustle and relentless play that’s keeping “Ike” on the floor, or it could be the body language Robinson has displayed often when not getting touches.
In Robinson’s defense, a lot of the same thing was beginning to happen in Phoenix with DeAndre Ayton once the team added Kevin Durant. With him and Devin Booker as two of the game’s elite scorers, Ayton was setting screens and rolling to the rim and never touching the basketball. That changed when Durant hurt himself in warmups, but it still remains to be seen how it will play out when he returns.
As for Robinson, he’s got some talented offensive weapons around him as well, and it’d be nice to see them throw him a lob or two here and there for his work setting screens, rebounding and playing defense.
Maybe Tom Thibodeau will hear his cry and make some changes.
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Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said when he went on his darkness retreat a couple of weeks ago — where he reportedly stayed in darkness for four days in a small house — he was 90 percent sure he was going to retire.
But as he seems to do every offseason, Rodgers once again had some sort of epiphany and will return to play at least one more season. While that season won’t be in Green Bay, the four-time NFL MVP got some things off his chest during his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
Rodgers first told everyone his intentions are to join the New York Jets via trade.
“I made it clear my intention was to play for the New York Jets, and I haven’t been holding anything up. It’s the compensation the Packers are trying to get … The Packers want to move on and have let me know in so many words,” he said.
“I f—ing love that city. I love that organization and always going to have love for that organization. The facts are right now they want to move on, and now so do I,” he said.
Rodgers calls it a bittersweet ending after 15 seasons ….
“I got to be the starting quarterback of the Packers for 15 years. … So I love you, Green Bay. Thank you. I’m as sad as you are, but we’ll meet again.”
On Monday, March 13, ESPNs Diana Russini reported that Rodgers had a wish list of things he wanted the Jets to do in order for him to okay the trade. One of those players on the list was Packers wide receiver Alan Lazard, whom the Jets signed to a four-year, $44M deal on Tuesday, but during his appearance with Pat McAfee, Rodgers said he did no such thing. He even called the report “ridiculous.”
The mercurial Rodgers sounded like someone who’s ready for a change, and honesty from the Packers and the Jets.
“My only demand is for transparency,” he said.
Rodgers then went after Adam Schefter and Russini, saying ….
“Ask Schefter what I texted him when he somehow got my number and texted me,” Rodgers said.
In response to Russini reporting about the so-called wish list, he had this to say: “I would say the same thing I told Schefty. Lose my number. Nice try. I’ll speak for myself.”
He continued, “I’m sure they’ll be people that have their sources. But you know, from what I’ve seen, it’s like if I had a sheet of paper when I met the Jets, and I said, ‘Sign these people.’ And that’s not reality. That’s so ridiculous.”
Lamar Jackson also has expressed some displeasure via social media with the way his contract negotiations with the Baltimore Ravens have been covered by Schefter in particular.
Joining the Jets has some real allure to it, when you consider the offensive talent the team has added over the last couple of seasons, with running back Breece Hall, wide receiver Garrett Wilson and others. But he’ll be rejoining his former offensive coordinator in Green Bay, Nathaniel Hackett, who was fired 13 games into his first season as head coach of the Denver Broncos.
Rodgers hasn’t been shy on his feelings about Hackett saying … “There’s one coach who’s meant as much to me as any coach I’ve ever had.”
Now they’ll be reunited in NYC.
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Tim Anderson was off trying to be great in the World Baseball Classic when his side chick started up more unprovoked drama with his wife. Anderson secret has been out for more than a year now about him stepping outside of his marriage to have another baby with social media influencer Dejah Lanee.
Bria Anderson posted a simple picture of her in a red outfit on Instagram with the caption “Mrs.Anderson has entered the chat.”
That prompted a response from Lanee that made fans rush to the defense of Bria.
Lanee replied, “Lmao & If my husband cheat I’m out. Simple math. Y’all been dragging this s*** too long.”
She then posted a message on her Instagram story.
“Now…..I wasn’t one to feel like I had to prove points. But y’all are dragging it. I’m not a home wrecker…. ain’t no home to wreck. Ppl really just be putting on for IG. I been quiet the last 8 month of y’all constantly trying to make me something I’m not,” Lanee wrote.
A parody account fan page commented under the now-deleted post and reiterated that Bria was the one and only Mrs.Anderson.
Another fan wrote, “Well, I doubt anyone will ever marry her so I guess we will never know.”
“Give it up, Deja. Mrs. Anderson is not leaving Mr. Anderson for you to have him. Go see a therapist. All this stress can’t be good for you,” read another comment.
Anderson followed it up with a cryptic tweet of his own.
“You gotta know how to move in this s*** … so nobody can play with you,” wrote Anderson on Twitter.
It wasn’t clear what he was talking about in the tweet, but fans assumed it was related to Lanee’s post because of the timeline. Also, Anderson previously has posted cryptic messages like this on his social media.
“Everybody ain’t gotta know everything. Nobody ain’t gotta know ****, really,” Anderson wrote on his Instagram story in February with a picture of his new baby boy.
This is nothing new for Lanee though, because she has constantly gone at Anderson and his wife unprovoked. Last July, she tweeted that the married couple was getting clout because of her.
Anderson’s wife has remained classy in this messy situation that her husband got her into. She also recently stated that she wasn’t leaving her husband and has welcomed the son he had with Lanee. She even made a blank post on her Instagram story with the words “Bonus Love.”
It seems like fans just want Lanee to move on with her life and accept her role in this love triangle like the everyone else has. Fans called her bitter and says she has no shame in making herself look foolish.
When Minnesota Vikings wide receiver K.J. Osborn saved a man from a burning car last week, who knew the rescue came with a surprise bonus? The man K.J. retrieved from the fated vehicle is a whole reality star.
The man in the burning vehicle was none other than Nelson Thomas, a cast member on the MTV show “The Challenge.” Thomas let the world know he was the lucky person saved by Osborn and three others, his driver, and two others. He took to social media to thank the foursome for helping pull from a fiery car crash earlier this month, thanking the group for saving his life.
“I was involved in a car accident,” Thomas posted to Twitter and Instagram. “I want to thank kJ: @kj_osborn_ @nfl @vikings for being on the scene and filming my rescue. I am forever grateful to Abdulmejied Hairedin: @abdu6435, Rita: @Afri_qveen, and Arthur: @arthur_1er
“For pulling me out of a burning vehicle, risking their own lives to save mine. Words can’t explain how grateful I am to be alive. God is truly great and he has you in his hands no matter who you are. I’m in high spirits and getting stronger. This will be a long road to recovery but to my fans, friends and family please keep me in your prayers.”
The Minnesota Vikings receiver was in an Uber on March 5, on his way home after working out in Austin, Texas, when he saw a crashed car on fire and leaped to assist. The Uber driver pulled over and ran out of the vehicle to help the passengers in the burning car.
Osborn followed behind the driver to help him.
During an appearance on “Good Morning Football,” Osborn said the driver could climb into the car’s passenger side, and he, the Uber driver, and two first responders then pulled the man from the vehicle. When they approached him, the man was close to the car, and they didn’t know if it would blow up.
Now that Thomas is on the mend, the football player had time to reflect on how impactful the actions he took were.
“Most of the time the saying goes “wrong place wrong time,” Osborn posted on Instagram the day after the incident. “But this time I believe God had me, us, at the right place at the exact right time.
“Last night myself and these 3 absolute hero’s helped save a mans life by rescuing him from a vehicle up in flames after a bad crash. A situation I’d never imagine being apart of in a million years. I’ll leave you with this. God is real. And His LOVE is real. He will send his angels to be camped around you and provide you with his grace and mercy.
K.J. Osborn is more than a wide receiver. He is a blessing to Nelson Thomas, which outshines anything he will ever do on a football field.
Amen, K.J. Osborn. Amen.
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The Howard Bison men’s basketball program hasn’t had much to cheer about over the last 30 seasons. With the legendary HBCU’s last MEAC conference championship and NCAA Tournament berth coming in 1992, the program became an afterthought. That is until the program hired Washington native and two-time national championship winner as a player at Duke Kenny Blakeney.
For their efforts, the 16th-seeded Bison will face No.1 seed Kansas in the first-round of West Regional action at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa at 2 p.m. ET. Of course, nobody is giving them a shot. The Jayhawks, the No. 1 seed in the West Regional, are set to play No. 16 Howard seed at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa at 2 p.m. ET.
Since the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament expanded to 64 teams back in ’85, a 16-seed has only beaten a 1-seed once.
In 2018 the University of Maryland Baltimore County Retrievers, 20.5 point underdogs to No. 1 seed Virginia, made March Madness magic and defeated the Cavaliers by 20 points.
The odds are not in Howard’s favor, but this is a golden era of sorts for HBCUs and Blakeney has shown that the only limits are those that you place on yourself.
Blakeney arrived in 2019, and after going 5-33 overall and 1-15 in the MEAC in his first two seasons, things looked bleak. Fast-forward to the past two seasons, and some solid recruits, a team identity and culture change have seen the Bison go 38-24 overall and 20-8 in the MEAC.
That culminated in Saturday’s big comeback win over Norfolk State in the conference championship game to advance to the program’s first NCAA Tourney in over 30 years.
This is why graduate student-athlete Jelani Williams, who hit the game-winning free throws, says he chose to attend the HBCU known as “The Mecca.”
In a postgame interview Williams, told Washington Post:
“I thought, ‘This is why I came to Howard. I’ve waited all my life for a moment like this. I’m never letting go of this ball. I knew this was my last chance to go to the NCAAs, and I was going make it happen.”
Known as a basketball hotbed, the DMV is always oozing with talent. Upon his arrival to HU, Blakeney landed five-star recruit Makur Maker, but after two games, he was ruled out for the season due to a groin injury. That forced Blakeney to lock in heavily on the immediate area, and that subtle change in his recruiting philosophy has paid off. Of the Bison’s 12-man roster, six are DMV natives. Four of the team’s five leading scorers are also from the area, led by guard Elijah Hawkins, who leads the team in scoring, and assists.
It’s a real credit to Blakeney’s belief in going after talent in the area, and those players buying into his vision of a program in rebuild mode.
The last time Howard made “The Dance” they were coached by Butch Beard and led by star players Milan Brown and Julius McNeil. And as fate would have it, after winning the MEAC that season they drew top-seeded Kansas in the opening round. While they were blown out, the fact that they made it was huge for Beard and his program. As for Blakeney and his 2023 version, they’ll face the top-seeded Jayhawks as well, and while the expectancy is they’ll be handled with ease, the Bison won’t be afraid.
Blakeney, who also was named MEAC Coach of the Year last week, told the reporters about the process.
“You always got work to do, but every year of our tenure has been about laying another layer of the foundation,” Blakeney said. “We don’t get to this moment without bumps and bruises we took. … It’s all a progression. When you are building something special, you can’t take skip steps.”
Now Howard will hold its collective breath and hope Georgetown doesn’t come after Blakeney with them firing Patrick Ewing last week.
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It seems as though Devin Booker is starting to make his rounds in the entertainment dating pool. The Suns star shooting guard was recently spotted on a date with actress Jenna Ortega.
Booker previously dated Kendall Jenner for two years before the the couple called it quits last year. He hasn’t been linked to anyone new until recently.
Ortega confirmed in a interview with Elle Magazine earlier this month that she is not romantically involved with anyone. This is not her first time having a rumored celebrity love interest. She’s previously been linked to actor Asher Angel and singer Jacob Sartorius, but denied dating both men.
The young actress got her start on Disney Channel with the show “Stuck In the Middle” in 2016. She now currently stars on the Netflix show “Wednesday.” She has also appeared on other Netflix shows such as “You.”
Ortega big-screen movie appearances include “The Fallout,” the new “Scream VI” released this month, and the upcoming “X” horror film.
“Maybe I am too obsessed with my work, but the idea of relationships stresses me out,” Ortega said in her interview to Elle magazine. “And also being that vulnerable with someone and having to get to know someone that well and having someone see you for all that you are. … My brain knows that I don’t need to think about that right now.”
The 20-year-old seems to be focused on her career right now and not finding love.
The photo of Booker and Ortega was first posted by the infamous Twitter page Buttcrack Sports. The photo had a TMZ watermark on it, but the Twitter page that posted the photo is known for creating false narratives to start social media debates.
Fans on social media took it pretty seriously, just like when the page had the Twitter community fooled that female rapper Ice Spice and Warriors young star Jordan Poole were dating.
The photo has a little over 19 million views and 95K likes on Twitter. Men in the comments also seemed to be devastated and heartbroken by the news.
“All 280 characters of pure pain (crying emoji),” said one comment.
“It should’ve been me.”
Other fans called out the page and even put a side-by-side of the two photoshopped pictures.
Neither Booker or Ortega has come out to confirm or deny the rumors, but it is noted that no credible media source has confirmed the dating rumors between the two.
The 26-year-old basketball star probably doesn’t have time for much of social media these days with the NBA season coming to a conclusion and the playoffs starting soon. The Suns are now tied with the Nuggets for the third-best odds to win the NBA Finals this year after they acquired Kevin Durant before the trade deadline.
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