Golden State Warriors guard Kelly Oubre Jr. has filed a lawsuit against his ex-girlfriend, claiming the woman tried to extort him out of millions of dollars.
According to a lawsuit obtained by TMZ, Oubre says his ex-girlriend Makena LeDuff contacted him on Jan. 11 and demanded a huge sum of money. LeDuff allegedly said that if Oubre didn’t give her $3 million by the end of the week she would launch a smear campaign against him.
The lawsuit states that LeDuff threatened to go public with false claims that Oubre was involved in “criminal conduct.” Oubre’s legal team says the allegations were “crafted to cause maximum and irreparable harm to Kelly, his reputation, and his career.”
This is actually the second lawsuit Oubre filed against LeDuff. He said in court documents back in 2019 that she stole his two dogs, slashed his tires and refused to leave the house he was renting in Beverly Hills after the two broke up. Oubre said in the most recent lawsuit that he still has not gotten his dogs back. The 25-year-old also claims LeDuff threatened him with a social media post in 2019 in which she was brandishing a rifle.
“Makena posted a photo on her Instagram account, where she intimated that she would take physical action against Kelly, Kelly’s friends, or anyone else that tried to enter the house to help Kelly to retrieve his things,” the lawsuit reads.
You can see a screenshot of the Instagram post here.
Oubre is asking the judge to force LeDuff to pay for property she allegedly damaged and give him back his dogs.
Oubre is averaging 11.1 points per game with Golden State this year. He already brought us one of the best troll moments of the season.
The Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers were reportedly the two finalists to acquire James Harden, but did only one of them ever have an actual chance to land the former NBA MVP?
Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports said on his “Posted Up” podcast this week that Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta did not want to trade Harden to Philadelphia. That may have something to do with former Houston general manager Daryl Morey now being the president of basketball operations for the 76ers.
“After that, I was told that Tilman Fertitta – the Houston Rockets owner – he was just adamant that they not make a deal with Philly, obviously with Daryl Morey being the GM over there now,” Haynes said, via Dan Feldman of NBC Sports.
The Rockets ended up trading Harden to the Nets in a multi-team deal. They landed a boatload of picks and also acquired Victor Oladipo from the Indiana Pacers, so it’s certainly possible Brooklyn’s offer was the best one on the table.
Or, perhaps Morey instructed Rockets GM Rafael Stone to not trade Harden to Philly. Stone still could have used the Sixers as a negotiating tactic even if that were the case.
Had the 76ers offered Ben Simmons, even Fertitta may have been willing to take that deal. It does not sound like Simmons was ever on the table, however.
Morey resigned as GM of the Rockets following last season. It initially looked like he was going to take time off to be with his family, but he then signed a deal with the 76ers. Fertitta may have been bitter about how that went down. He also could have been bothered when Morey was fined for tampering with Harden.
Damian Lillard has a memory like an elephant.
Lillard called out a Portland Trail Blazers reporter on Wednesday night over a past tweet regarding the best backcourt in the NBA.
In a Twitter conversation last week, someone said that the Blazers had the best backcourt in the NBA. Aaron J. Fentress, who covers the Blazers for The Oregonian, responded by adding the Washington Wizards’ backcourt of Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal to the conversation.
Lillard scored 40 points with 13 assists and no turnovers in the Trail Blazers’ 132-126 win over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night. He thought that was the perfect time to throw the big game in Fentress’ face and bring up the Wizards mention.
Fentress seemed pretty stunned that Lillard was bringing it up, and Lillard seemed to enjoy sticking it to Fentress (we know Lillard respects the media).
As this shows, players will use just about anything as a source of motivation. It also shows that some players put way too much stock into social media conversations. And when it comes to the debate, Lillard and C.J. McCollum make one heck of a backcourt.
Shaquille O’Neal offered some extremely harsh criticism of James Harden on Thursday night.
O’Neal spoke on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” and shared his thoughts on Harden’s exit from Houston. O’Neal specifically questioned whether Harden gave Houston his all, as the guard claimed. Shaq picked apart Harden for his postseason struggles and for not making things work despite the Rockets constantly bringing in players he wanted.
Shaq raised the stakes on Harden, saying if he doesn’t win in Brooklyn this year, “it’s a bust.”
Harden entered the season unhappy with the Rockets and is out of shape. He’s been angling for a trade, and escalated matters with his postgame comments on Tuesday that O’Neal referenced. A day later, the Rockets traded him to Brooklyn in a massive trade (full details here).
Harden forced his way out of Houston, and now the pressure is on him to win big in Brooklyn.
Kevin Stefanski returned to the Cleveland Browns’ facility on Thursday following a 10-day absence due to a positive test for COVID-19. Apparently his players teased him a bit.
Stefanski told reporters that players messed with him about his COVID symptoms, which included a loss of taste and smell. Quarterback Case Keenum said he hid something in Stefanski’s office and asked if the coach could smell it.
The good news is Stefanski is feeling well enough where he can joke about the matter. We know COVID hasn’t been such a laughing matter for one of the Browns’ players.
Cleveland managed its first playoff win since 1994 by beating Pittsburgh last weekend. They did it without Stefanski, but the win meant a lot to his replacement.
The Seattle Seahawks stunningly fired Brian Schottenheimer as their offensive coordinator on Tuesday, and Russell Wilson is not in favor of that move.
Wilson spoke with reporters on Thursday and expressed his fondness of Schottenheimer, who served as the team’s offensive coordinator for three seasons. Wilson told the media that he was not in favor of the decision to part ways with Schottenheimer.
Wilson described himself as “close” with Schottenheimer. The Seahawks offense set a franchise record for points this season, while Wilson set a franchise record for touchdown passes. But the team’s offense did not adapt to defenses playing them differently in the second half of the season. Schottenheimer was fired over “philosophical differences” with Pete Carroll, who likes running the ball more.
Although Wilson does not like seeing Schottenheimer being fired, he did say that his highest priority is winning. He says that he trusts Carroll to make the right decisions for the franchise, and if that means making a change, he trusts it.
The Seahawks going 12-4 in the regular season and then losing to a banged-up Rams team in the first round of the playoffs have thrown a lot of things off in Seattle and led to the big change. Wilson is the franchise player and hoping the team heads in the right direction.
Cleveland Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry is staying above the trash talk ahead of his team’s playoff game against Kansas City on Sunday.
Landry was asked Thursday about Sammy Watkins’ tweet but declined to get into things.
Watkins, who is in his third season with the Chiefs, downplayed how much of a challenge the Browns would present for them in the playoffs.
Just like Landry, Baker Mayfield didn’t publicly take issue with things.
The Browns are taking smart approaches. Rather than try to motivate the Chiefs with some trash talk in response, they’re wisely staying away. There is no reason to give the No. 1 team in the NFL any more motivation ahead of a playoff game.
The San Francisco 49ers are losing defensive coordinator Robert Saleh to the New York Jets, but they have a replacement in mind.
The Niners are expected to promote linebackers coach DeMeco Ryans to defensive coordinator, according to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport.
49ers reporter David Lombardi says that Ryans has been the internal favorite for DC for a while.
Ryans played in the NFL from 2006-2015. He was a linebacker for the Houston Texans and Philadelphia Eagles and made two Pro Bowls.
Becoming defensive coordinator would be a meteoric rise for Ryans. The 36-year-old was hired as a defensive quality control coach in 2017 and only became an inside linebackers coach in 2018.
Yet another NFL head coach job has been filled.
The New York Jets are hiring Robert Saleh as their new head coach, the team announced on Thursday. ESPN’s Adam Schefter says Saleh is getting a 5-year deal.
Saleh began to receive attention as a head coach candidate last year after coordinating the defense that got the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl. He was a finalist for the Browns job, but they chose Kevin Stefanski instead.
This year, Saleh was a candidate for numerous head coaching jobs, and he was a finalist for the Jets, which he ended up receiving.
The Jets are coming off a 2-14 season and haven’t had a winning season since 2015. Saleh will have his work cut out for him, but at least the Jets have the No. 2 pick in the upcoming draft, and it helps that the Patriots don’t have a quarterback. What hurts is that Buffalo and Miami are both teams on the rise.
Interestingly, Schefter says that Saleh will bring 49ers passing game coordinator Mike LaFleur with him as his offensive coordinator.
The Golden State Warriors are barely treading water in the Western Conference, and they may need to get more inventive with their offense.
Warriors swingman Kent Bazemore told reporters Thursday that he recently shared some thoughts with star player Stephen Curry about the triangle offense.
“Just trying to figure out other options to score,” said Bazemore, per Wes Goldberg of the Bay Area News Group.
The Warriors are currently 6-5 but rank 23nd in offensive efficiency (per ESPN). The triangle does not seem like much of a fit on paper for them, as it is geared more towards wing players with a midrange game, or dominant big men. But Curry has some wing-like tendencies with his ability to play off the ball, while someone like Draymond Green facilitates the offense. Head coach Steve Kerr also has a strong connection to the triangle. He won three titles playing in the triangle for the Chicago Bulls under Phil Jackson.
Even if they incorporate some elements of the triangle, the Warriors likely won’t be revamping their offense drastically. But they would not be the only team in their division to turn to a triangle-influenced offense this season.
