Rumors

LeBron James: He’s like on a Taylor Swift tour run right now. (…) It started off with ‘I didn’t want to address it, but since the video came out, I feel the need to address it.’ Motherf*cker are you kidding me? If there was one person that couldn’t waited until the video drop so you could address it, it's your ass. He missed the whole point.

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Coach Carlisle and center Myles Turner walk together up Madison Square Garden’s circular ramp to the event level, talking about music and their lives off the court. Carlisle saw five-time Grammy Award winner Robert Glasper, a jazz musician and fellow pianist, the night before at the Blue Note in Manhattan. As the pair walked up the ramp, Carlisle asked Turner if he knew of Glasper. Turner wasn’t familiar with his music but told Carlisle he would definitely check him out. “I greatly admire Myles Turner as a guy who has wide-ranging and eclectic taste in music,” Carlisle said. “When he has his music plugged into the sound system in the weight room, you will hear everything from rap to R&B to country and even Taylor Swift.”

HoopsHype

Christine Brennan: I asked Caitlin Clark about her “like” of Taylor Swift’s Instagram post endorsing Kamala Harris. She answered by saying she has an “amazing platform” and encourages everyone to register to vote.

Twitter

Taylor Swift and Magic Johnson were newcomers to Forbes’ annual tally of the world’s billionaires, which the outlet released on Tuesday. They were joined by 263 other new additions

The Daily Beast

“If I see Taylor Swift and get to shake her hand, take a picture, I’ll be good,” Shaquille O’Neal said during our red carpet interview. The former Los Angeles Lakers player shared he went on Google to see if he had met Swift, 34, before since he meets “a lot” of celebrities all the time, but it appears they have not yet crossed paths.

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“She’s a fabulous person. I’m happy for her. I’m proud of her. She’s done a lot. She’s definitely a cultural icon,” O’Neal continued to gush. “I just want to shake the hand of greatness.”

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Rumors swirled about Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves potentially dating Taylor Swift before the pop-star was romantically involved with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Reaves recently addressed the previous rumors about Swift and himself, per FanDuel's Run It Back. “My first initial reaction… I was back home in Arkansas, I was playing cards with my friends,” Reaves said. “And one of my friends sent it to me. I was just like, ‘are you serious?' As much as I try to stay out of the media… it's almost impossible.”

Clutch Points

Lamar Odom laughed when he was asked if he had any advice for Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who is dealing with a similar level of crossover fame now that he is dating pop star Taylor Swift. “My advice would be to be strong and stay by her and be as close to her as possible,” he said. “There are going to be millions of women that want to taste what Taylor Swift is tasting and it can be overwhelming because we’re men. He just has to be strong and stick by his girl and he’ll be alright.”

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Zain Fahimullah, a social media design associate for the Clippers, was about to board a flight home to Los Angeles after visiting his family in New York when he saw that Swift and The 1975 singer Matty Healy breaking up was trending on Twitter. He decided to pile on. He posted side-by-side photos of Swift and Reaves to his Twitter account, RefrigeratorLAL, writing, "Following her breakup, Taylor Swift was reportedly seen in an Arkansas Bar this weekend with star Laker basketball player Austin Reaves." "Since I'm working for the Clippers, I didn't want to tweet it off my main, so I tweeted it off there," Fahimullah, a Lakers fan, told FOX Sports last week of his burner account. 

FoxSports.com

But Fahimullah's intentions were apparently much purer. He just thought the rumor could be funny.  "Austin is the trending boy, like the Lakers' darling of the summer," he said, explaining his choice of Reaves. "He just signed this [four-year, $54 million] deal. He's going to Team USA. Also, the contrast between Austin Reaves and Taylor Swift makes it even funnier. Austin being this small-town kid, like a farmer. And Taylor Swift being this mega-superstar. So, I think that's why I chose him." When Fahimullah's flight landed, his phone had so many notifications that he couldn't believe his eyes. His tweet currently has 4.4 million views.

FoxSports.com

In his appearance on ESPN's 'The Lowe Podcast' with host Zach Lowe, Reaves opened up about the speculation, emphasizing his preference for a low-key lifestyle. "I am a very simple person that likes to keep all my business on a down low," Reaves said. "I mean, she is literally amazing -- music, what she has done for her career. Her fans are literally the best fans in the world. But yeah, not for me. I am happy where I am at."

BasketNews

Since there was no relationship between the two, Reaves was asked about the communication to put those rumors to an end. Did Team Swift reach out to Team Reaves? "I do not think there was any communication," he responded. "And I probably would not know that just because my circle is so small. That one was so out of left field. I do not go out. I am a homebody. Me being at the bar, first of all, was far-fetched. And then her being in Arkansas, I would assume, was pretty far-fetched, too."

BasketNews

Kobe Bryant surprised Taylor Swift with her very own championship banner at LA’s Staples Center (now Crypto.com Arena, the home of the Los Angeles Lakers, Clippers and Kings).

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The banner was taken down during the pandemic, and hasn’t been seen since. The pushback to the banner from fans of the Lakers, Clippers and Kings was almost immediate. People thought the banner, which was nearly the size of three Lakers championship banners, was far too big.

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