UNLIKELY PRAISE: LUKA DONCIC SHOCKS FANS BY NAMING DILLON BROOKS HIS FAVORITE OPPONENT
Luka Doncic calls Dillon Brooks the NBA's best trash-talker as the Lakers prepare for the Spurs without their big three.
Lakers star Luka Dončić isn’t shy about who he likes competing against. When asked who talks the most trash in the NBA, he didn’t hesitate: “Dillon Brooks.” Not only that, but he said he actually enjoys playing against the Suns guard. “He’s been playing well this year,” Doncic added. That’s a bit of a twist, considering Brooks and LeBron James have been at each other’s throats all season.
Right now, the Lakers could use any bit of good news. Injuries have hit hard. Doncic, LeBron, and Austin Reaves are all out for their game against the Spurs. They’re still sitting fifth in the West, but this season hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing.
Drama follows the Lakers like a shadow, and most of it seems to swirl around LeBron. Brooks has made a habit of going after James every time the Lakers face the Suns, jawing at him from the opening tip. LeBron’s not a fan, and his teammates have always backed him up well, until Doncic decided to give Brooks a little credit. It’s not a shot at LeBron, but in L.A., even a compliment can turn into a headline.
As for Doncic, he’s doing pretty much everything for the Lakers this year. He leads the league in scoring, 32.8 points a night, while handing out 8.6 assists and grabbing nearly eight rebounds. He’s shooting better, too, up to 47.3% from the field. With him running the show, LeBron has had to adjust. The 41-year-old is still putting up solid numbers, but he’s not the main guy anymore. That’s new territory for him.
The Lakers just want to get healthy and make a push after the All-Star break. They’ll regroup, try to climb the standings, and hope the drama stays on the sidelines for once. But when the season wraps up, everyone’s going to be talking about LeBron’s future in L.A. For now, though, Doncic is just enjoying the battles, even if it means giving a little love to the league’s loudest trash-talker.
"THAT’S CUTE": TOM BRADY SAVAGES LOGAN PAUL’S NFL DREAMS ON IMPAULSIVE PODCAST
Tom Brady calls Logan Paul’s WWE skills "cute" during a heated podcast debate over their upcoming March flag football game.
YouTuber and WWE star Logan Paul went toe-to-toe with Tom Brady, trying to convince the NFL legend that his athletic skills could hang with current pro football players.
Brady, who’s got seven Super Bowl rings and a real claim to being the best to ever play, showed up on Paul’s Impaulsive podcast this week. At one point, Paul brought up that he’d been invited to join the Fanatics Flag Football Classic in Saudi Arabia this March. Brady had already announced he’d play, along with big names like Saquon Barkley, Ceedee Lamb, and Myles Garrett.
Once the game came up, Brady didn’t hold back. He said he was honestly worried about whether Paul could keep up. Paul fired back, saying he wouldn’t look out of place next to the NFL’s elite.
Their back-and-forth got heated:
BRADY: I have to be real, I’m a little worried about you, man—
PAUL: Worried about me?
BRADY: Look, you’re a good athlete, but these guys? They’re just on another level.
PAUL: I am the level. I am at the highest level.
BRADY: No, you’re not.
PAUL: Yes, I am.
BRADY: You’re a good athlete—
PAUL: —Great athlete.
BRADY: But when I think about guys like Saquon Barkley, Odell Beckham, Justin Jefferson...
PAUL: Come on, man. Can Saquon Barkley do a flip off the top rope? Land an 180 moonsault?
BRADY: That’s cute. I love WWE, really, but this is real football. Real competition.
PAUL: I was an all-state linebacker. Senior year, I rushed for 1,200 yards and scored 19 touchdowns.
BRADY: Sure, but let’s see if you still have it. We all have a past—hey, I won seven Super Bowls. Nobody cares now. What matters is this game in March, in Saudi Arabia. I’m glad you’re coming. Finally, you get to play in something that actually counts.
PAUL: This guy’s wild. The nerve of Tom Brady. Seven Super Bowls, and he thinks he can just hype up a flag football game like it’s the Pro Bowl.
BRADY: Oh, it’s going to be way better than that.
After the episode, Brady even joked on social media, “I was having a great morning, and now I’m mad.”
On a more serious note, Brady and other athletes have taken heat for teaming up with the Saudi government on these sports projects. Critics say the Saudis are pouring money into sports to take attention away from their country’s human rights issues.
THE INSTAGRAM MOVE: WHAT JAKE PAUL ACTUALLY SAID IN JUTTA LEERDAM’S FIRST DM
"I can't stop crying!" Jake Paul reacts to Jutta Leerdam's historic gold medal in Milan. Discover how their romance first started.
After Jake Paul celebrated his fiancée Jutta Leerdam's Olympic gold on Monday, the story of how they first connected has come out.
Paul, who fought Anthony Joshua in a Netflix event in December, was at the Games in Milan-Cortina to watch Leerdam compete in speed skating.
Leerdam, representing the Netherlands, had won silver at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. But after a fall during qualifying for the 1000m event, it seemed like she might miss the 2026 Games.
Paul said his heart is broken after seeing the accident, which put her Olympic hopes in doubt.
Even so, the 27-year-old was chosen to compete. On Monday, she won a gold medal in the 1000m race with an amazing performance.
Leerdam finished in 1:12:31, setting an Olympic record and beating her fellow Dutch skater, Femke Kok. She was emotional as she finished, and so was Paul, who was seen crying as he celebrated with his family.
He posted on X, formerly Twitter: Juttttttttttaaaaaaaa. I can’t stop crying. You did it, my love. Olympic Gold. God is great, and so are you.
Paul and Leerdam made their relationship public in April 2023. But they started talking on Instagram before that.
Leerdman said that Paul, the YouTuber-turned-boxer, messaged her first. He asked her to be on his podcast. She had been dating Dutch speed skater Koen Verweij for five years before.
“Jake sent me a DM on Instagram and asked if I wanted to be on his podcast,” Leerdman said in the 'Countdown: Paul vs. Tyson' documentary.
“And I was like, ‘Okay, let’s do it. Can be good, can be nice.’”
She said she didn't expect a romance to happen, but she found him to be the complete opposite of what people think.
Leerdman said, 'I never expected to date him, like, never.' Of course, I didn’t know a lot about him. I could only scroll on his Instagram and form an opinionase the whole world does. But he is the complete opposite.”
They announced their engagement in March 2025 and have been there for each other's important events, from big boxing matches to the Olympics.
In the documentary, he called her the most amazing woman there is, “a superwoman and the sweetest soul in the world.
Leerdman won the 1000 m world title twice, in 2020 and 2023. She was the first person from the Netherlands to win gold at this year's event.