Rumors

Shaq: You know I'm a little upset, right? Co-Host: Well, what happened? Shaq: The Lakers got sold for $10 billion, and I ain't get no Douly. I ain't get no brand-new Escalade. I ain't get nothing, dog. Co-Host: No, man. You know they gave you a “Thank you for your service.” Shaq (mocking tone): "Thank you for your service"? It was Magic, me, and Kobe like—can I get something? I mean, can I get... I mean, can I get a check for, like, you know, $50 million... something? Something. Come on—$10 billion? Jeanie Buss... you probably won't never see her again. She probably gonna be on that spaceship with Elon Musk after that.

YouTube

NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal, fondly known as Shaq, exchanged friendly greetings with President Donald Trump at UFC 314 in Miami on Saturday. Videos of their brief chat and whispering in each other's ears surfaced on social media, with several users wondering if Shaq had turned MAGA. Trump and several of his close allies, including Elon Musk, Robert F Kennedy Jr, Dana White, and Kash Patel, were at the Kaseya Center for UFC 314. The president greeted his supporters and mid-way through the event was seen embracing Shaquille O’Neal. The Republican also whispered something in the four-time NBA champion's ear.

hindustantimes.com

The NBA and MLB’s usernames are their domain names: @nba.com and @mlb.com. That right now is the only way to authenticate on Bluesky, said Harry Packer, who is leading the sports efforts at Bluesky. There are no check marks like Twitter doled out before Musk turned them into a money-making exercise. So, even Packer can’t say how many sports teams, leagues, and high-profile sports media are on Bluesky, but a verification system could roll out later this year. “Sports is a top priority, to make that clear, I think it’s probably the top priority for us, to be honest,” Packer said. “And our ambition there is simply to become the best place for real-time sports discussion.”

Awful Announcing

A partner in the San Antonio Spurs is working with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, the unofficial agency that is spearheading mass layoffs of federal employees and deep spending cuts for the Trump administration. Joe Gebbia is the billionaire co-founder of Airbnb and is described as a close friend of Musk’s. He is a board member of Tesla Inc., where Musk is CEO.

San Antonio Express-News

Then November came. The United States elected a president who shills his own NFTs. He tapped Musk to co-lead the controversial Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Since then, the crypto, NFT, meme, and collectible markets are surging like it’s 2021. Dogecoin more than doubled. Bitcoin kissed $100,000 for the first time. CryptoPunks and Bored Apes are rallying. GameStop—yes—has climbed about 50 percent, then fallen, spiked, and so on. Society once again seems eager to spend ironically, speculatively, boldly. And once again, Dapper Labs is on the scene. Gharegozlou has been lobbying Congress to introduce a bill protecting against “future overreach to define all Web3 products as securities,” according to a Dapper Labs spokesperson, who notes that the bill’s chances have “gone up significantly due to the election results.”  Perhaps the stage is set for a Top Shot renaissance. This time around, Dapper Labs boasts not only a tested infrastructure but also tested users—long gone are the fair-weather traders. Consider one Andrew Seo, a graduate student in Chicago. “I’m still a big blockchain believer and I think fundamentally Top Shot is a good product—it’s a pioneer,” Seo says. As prices rose in early ’21, he held most of his Moments, waiting for prices to tumble so the game could begin in earnest. “Now the platform is way better than it was back then,” he says, “but people don’t know that.”

The Ringer

Aggregator accounts have grown in number and prominence since Elon Musk purchased Twitter two years ago and rebranded the social media company to X. As FOS previously reported, the change is due largely to the monetization program launched last year that allows subscribers who pay for X Premium to earn money from their engagement. That gives aggregators an incentive to push the envelope with the only backstop being Community Notes—a user-submitted correction system that demonetizes a post found to be false. But fake aggregators like NBA Centel don’t get hit with a Community Note that often.

Front Office Sports

Musk took to X, condemning what he perceives as Cuban’s “ridiculous overcompensation regarding racism.” Drawing parallels to the #MeToo movement, Musk accused individuals of sudden activism, becoming “fake ardent feminists.” “This explains Mark Cuban’s ridiculous overcompensation regarding racism. Same thing happened with #MeToo guys who got bust suddenly becoming fake ardent feminists,” Musk wrote in his tweet with the said video

TalkBasket

Ryan Mac: The Bronny James news has been out for 30 minutes but here's some vaccine speculation from the owner of Twitter

Twitter

Clutch Points: Draymond Green fell for a fake quote believing that Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett was calling him out in regards to the incident he had with Jordan Poole 😬 KG responds: "That's a fake tweet. "NBA Centel"… Elon Musk see wtf is happening 🤣🤣" pic.twitter.com/AnxSPXgify

Twitter

Harrison Barnes: Us leaving twitter for Threads after Elon started rationing tweets

threads.net

TMZ Sports: #UPDATE: It seems like LeBron James might be at the center of an Elon Musk troll job ... because a rep for James tells The Verge his account is NOT subscribed to Twitter Blue, despite what it says on the app.

Twitter

LeBron James has perhaps been the most famous hater of paid verification on Twitter, insisting that, like Martin Lawrence’s TV show character, “I ain’t paying the $5.” But if you check his profile right now, he still has a verified badge. Once you hover over the badge, it says that “this account is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.” But we contacted James’ media advisor, Adam Mendelsohn, who confirmed that James hasn’t paid the $8 monthly fee.

The Verge

Alex Heath: NEW: Have confirmed that LeBron, who has 52 million followers and has said he won’t pay for verification, was emailed by a Twitter employee with the offer to have his sub comped “on behalf of Elon Musk.” James did not accept but his account is showing that he paid anyway.

Twitter

For months, the platform has maintained a list of around 35 VIP users whose accounts it monitors and offers increased visibility alongside Elon Musk, according to documents obtained by Platformer. The list, which spans the political gamut and also includes several journalists and celebrities, includes: NBA All-Star LeBron James Daily Wire founder and conservative commentator Ben Shapiro Pseudonymous conservative commentator @catturd2 Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY President Joe Biden

Platformer