Exclusive Around the NBA: February, 2026! (3 Viewers)

[wizenheimer]

Many players still come from poor or modest families. Not millionaires' sons. LeBron and KD specifically referenced grew up poor.
Inclusion of Deni a red flag for me. I love the guy, he's a rising star but not in category of LeBron, KD, Steph Curry who are superstars known to the most casual fans. Why include him? I can only think of one reason and it isn't pretty.

He didn't just mention Deni, he singled him out by saying "especially Deni. I don't know whether it was pretty or ugly....but there was an obvious agenda

Shabazz is commonly a Muslim/Persian name and he made an awkward tweet about the NBA being several degrees away from being for 'poor' people; AND being Zionist. That really didn't make much sense as there have certainly been more Muslim NBA players than Israeli.

I haven't paid that close of attention to this but the only thing I recall Deni saying was that he was distressed about the war and praying for his country. Maybe I missed something but that doesn't seem to be very political to me. Looks like Shabazz decided to merge a couple of his ideological views into an NBA diss

 

[Sheldon Shape]

He didn't just mention Deni, he singled him out by saying "especially Deni. I don't know whether it was pretty or ugly....but there was an obvious agenda

Shabazz is commonly a Muslim/Persian name and he made an awkward tweet about the NBA being several degrees away from being for 'poor' people; AND being Zionist. That really didn't make much sense as there have certainly been more Muslim NBA players than Israeli.

I haven't paid that close of attention to this but the only thing I recall Deni saying was that he was distressed about the war and praying for his country. Maybe I missed something but that doesn't seem to be very political to me. Looks like Shabazz decided to merge a couple of his ideological views into an NBA diss

Deni also said along the lines of, you're not from there so you're not educated enough to talk about what's going on over there which is pretty lazy and stupid to say. People don't need to be there to recognize apartheid and genocide. If he doesn't want to feel insecure about his place, he should spend less time chastising people who criticizing him and more time creating distance from the worst genocider of our lifetime.