Last week, sports drama series “The Greatest” debuted on Prime Video, detailing the life of Muhammad Ali and how he grew from Cassius Clay, the Olympic champion, to one of the biggest sports and civil rights icons of all time.
The show has gotten high marks from critics and counts Michael B. Jordan and Ali’s widow, Lonnie, as executive producers. But what might not be known is the role another major sports heavyweight played in its inception.
Authentic Brands Group, which owns the likeness of Ali, was inspired by the post-NBA career and platform of Shaquille O’Neal in thinking about how to tell Ali’s story to a new generation. Authentic also owns the likeness of O’Neal, who is a significant owner of the New York-based brand management company, and saw how he leveraged his basketball fame into all manner of endorsements after his retirement, from pitching Epson printers and Carnival Cruise Line to DJing at music festivals. (O’Neal also spoke with Lonnie Ali regularly, and was instrumental in helping to make her feel comfortable with the project and production team.)
“He’s still incredibly popular, and his businesses are doing amazing. It’s really all because of his platform,” Corey Salter, chief executive of entertainment at Authentic Brands Group, told me. “So what we wanted to do with Muhammad Ali, and this was a long time in the making, is what is Muhammad’s platform? How do we make that come to life again?”
Authentic Brands Group has an extensive portfolio, ranging from clothing brands (Quiksilver, Champion and Forever 21, to name a few) and media (Sports Illustrated), to likenessess of celebrities such as O’Neal, Marilyn Monroe, David Beckham and Elvis Presley. (The company recently filed lawsuits with other Presley music rights holders against AI companies Anthropic and Suno, alleging copyright infringement. Salter said the lawsuit is ongoing and that the company will “vigorously defend” its intellectual property.)
In 2023, Authentic Brands Group launched its film, TV, audio and commercial production arm that’s focused on telling stories around the company’s intellectual property.
In many ways, the origin story of “The Greatest” exemplifies how Authentic Studios thinks about its projects and why they’ve embarked on the production business.
Though Ali died in 2016, “The Greatest” will allow him to remain in the cultural zeitgeist, Salter told me.
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“We are giving platforms for our living legends and our icons,” Salter said. “It just really brings him back to people that unfortunately didn’t get to see him in his prime and what he accomplished in his lifetime.”
The genesis of the studios segment goes back to the 2022 release of Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis.”
Years earlier, Authentic Brands had licensed the Elvis IP to Warner Bros. and built a good working relationship with the Australian film director Luhrmann. But as the team sat as guests in the mezzanine section during the film’s premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, the group realized there could be more opportunities in being directly involved in production, rather than just licensing their IP.
“If we make compelling, interesting and great content, the brand should get that lift,” said Colin Smeeton, president of Authentic Studios. “It’s just a way for us to expand the reach and scope of the brands.”
The Authentic Studios banner has four labels: O’Neal’s Jersey Legends Productions, Beckham’s Studio 99, Sports Illustrated Studios and Authentic Productions, which includes all of the other Authentic-owned brands. The studio is based in Beverly Hills and has about 35 employees. The entertainment segment of Authentic Brands Group makes up about 25% to 30% of the company’s overall business, and the studio is profitable, Smeeton said.
Among the projects that O’Neal’s production company has released are a three-part docuseries on the life and career of NBA legend Allen Iverson and a Netflix show called “Power Moves with Shaquille O’Neal,” about his and Iverson’s plans to revitalize the Reebok brand. The company also has produced commercials.
“When a project comes to me, I like to do what’s known in my office as ‘Shaq it up,’” O’Neal told me in an interview. “You’ve got to allow the writers and everybody else to have their creative process, and then I’ll make it Shaq.”
What exactly does Shaqing it up entail?
“A lot of humor has to be involved,” he said. “When you get home and you turn on the TV, I want to make you smile.”
As I’ve written, IP has become the name of the game in Hollywood. With reboots and sequels, the entertainment business is betting that people will flock to familiar stories and names. Just look at the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery — a major draw for bidders Skydance and Netflix was the company’s extensive portfolio of IP, which includes “Harry Potter,” “The Lord of the Rings” and DC Studios.
Expanding that thinking to brands is a logical next step. After all, the success of 2023’s “Barbie” may be the best recent example of harnessing a brand name with a compelling storyline. And, for a while, that film boosted sales of Mattel’s Barbie dolls.
Authentic Studios wants to expand into digital, build on its YouTube footprint and explore vertical storytelling. The studio is developing projects based on the brand Quiksilver’s origin story and the story of retail brand Guess.
“It’s not about doing more; it’s about making sure that the projects that we do make and do develop actually matter and make them count,” Smeeton said. “If we’re going to spend the time and energy, we want to make sure that it is going to be entertaining for the viewer and the fan, but it ultimately is going to be a good outcome for the brand as well.”
Stuff we wrote
Film shoots
Number of the week
NBC News data analyst Steve Kornacki has become a mainstay of election coverage. And that paid dividends for the network last week, when its “Kornacki Cam” drew a record 29 million views across all platforms, my colleague Stephen Battaglio reported.
Kornacki’s coverage spanned 10½ continuous hours and was woven into NBC’s election night broadcast.
Final figures showed NBC averaged 6.7 million viewers in prime time, followed by ABC (5.2 million), Fox (4.31 million), CNN (4.1 million), MS NOW (3.7 million) and CBS (2.7 million).
What I’m watching
Other than watching UCLA continue its 9-0 season with a win over Minnesota this past weekend, I caught the first episode of “The Greatest,” as part of my reporting for the newsletter. The season starts with Cassius Clay’s gold medal-winning match at the 1960 Rome Olympics. I thought the acting was strong, and the theme of fighting racism and injustice at home was especially compelling.
The Lakers could have had plenty of excuses for a bad performance Monday. They were without Reaves and Quentin Grimes. They were groggy after flying in from Detroit that morning. Instead of falling back on those reasons to lose, they discovered ways to win, uncovering new layers to a team still in its early stages.
“Every game is going to present different challenges, and that’s why every game you learn something new,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “And you hopefully grow from whatever you learn. That’s the beauty of this. And after 82 games, hopefully you’re a pretty darn good team.”
But only 12 games in, what kind of team are the Lakers?
All things Lakers, all the time.
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Dozen-game progress check
On offense, the Lakers are who we thought they were. They’re as efficient as expected for a team that got its wish-list center to pair with Doncic and Reaves. They’re first in NBA offensive rating (121.5), points per game (121.9) and field-goal percentage (50.5).
The defense is also as most expected. That is, it’s the team’s weak spot. The Lakers entered Monday 21st in defensive rating. The only other team with a winning record outside of the top 13 was Denver (5-4).
“I think we can be way better than 21st,” Doncic said. “I think we have the potential for that.”
Doncic said the Lakers, who inched up to 19th in defensive rating (113.9) after Monday, relax after building big leads, allowing opponents to claw back. They survived comeback attempts from Detroit and Atlanta, but Stephen Curry and the Warriors burned them.
The Lakers’ biggest defensive flaw is rebounding. Despite making a massive sign-and-trade to add center Walker Kessler, the Lakers are 29th in the NBA in rebounding (40.3 per game). Giving up 13.5 offensive rebounds a game, the Lakers allow 18.2 second-chance points a game, the third-worst in the league.
Redick said before the Lakers played the Clippers on Oct. 28 that the team needed Kessler to pick up his rebounding rate, especially defensively. The 7-foot-2 center has responded with six double-doubles in the last seven games.
“A lot of it is about timing, a lot of it is about hitting the guy first, not getting pushed under the rim,” Kessler said of finding his rebounding rhythm. “And I got to do a better job of those balls that I get my hands on, securing the ball.”
Walker Kessler, here tangling with Portland’s Donovan Clingan, has been a standout on defense for the Lakers.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Kessler, who still wears a wrap on his left pinky after missing part of the preseason with a jammed finger, had four turnovers against the Pistons. Even when he got both hands on the ball, it would get stripped.
The Lakers try to mask the rebounding woes by forcing turnovers. They’re second with 18.6 turnovers forced per game and third in steals with 10.8 per game. Matisse Thybulle leads the team with 2.1 steals per game. Doncic cares more about people knowing he’s averaging two steals per game than the fact he was the first player since Wilt Chamberlain to average more than 40 points per game through nine games.
Kessler’s rim presence has allowed the Lakers to dial up their defensive pressure.
“Sometimes he may not block them, but just the shots that he alters allows us to get out and run and get stops,” guard Collin Sexton said. “He’s a big part of our defense and he’s the anchor on the back line. You go down there, you got to deal with Walk.”
Kessler has won many of those battles. Entering Monday, opponents were shooting 45.1% within six feet of the rim against Kessler, the lowest mark in the NBA among players defending at least 50 attempts from that distance, according to the Lakers.
The fourth starter
Ziaire Williams reacts after sinking a three-pointer against Portland last month.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The starting power forward spot was one of the biggest question marks heading into the season. The Lakers have found two strong solutions.
Lineups with Doncic, Reaves, Kessler, Thybulle and Ziaire Williams have a 132.5 offensive rating, the best in the league for any five-man group that’s played more than 50 minutes. The second-best offensive group is the starting lineup with Jake LaRavia in Williams’ place.
But adding LaRavia into the starting group has profound defensive impact: Doncic, Reaves, Kessler, Thybulle and LaRavia have a defensive rating of 93.6 points allowed per 100 possessions, the third-best five-man lineup that has played more than 50 minutes. As a result, the LaRavia group has the best net rating in the league (30.9 compared to 16.8 with Williams).
“He’s a winning player,” Redick said of LaRavia’s sometimes unnoticed contributions. “I mean, it’s simple as that. Puts the team first always, whether he’s starting, coming off the bench — 12 minutes, 20 minutes — you know you’re going to get A-plus effort. Now, having been with us for two years, you know he’s at the point where you’re typically going to get A-plus execution of our schemes and our communication and our rules.”
For a weak rebounding team, LaRavia adds a much-needed jolt on the boards. Averaging 3.5 rebounds and 1.7 offensive boards per game, the Lakers have a 53.2% rebounding rate when he’s with Doncic, Reaves, Kessler and Thybulle compared to 42.1% when Williams is in the group.
Williams, who missed three games with a foot injury and hasn’t returned to the starting lineup since, is trusted to guard on the ball and gives the second unit a scoring punch with his hot-shooting start. The Lancaster native is shooting 45.2% from three while taking the fourth-most three-point attempts on the team.
He was four for eight from three-point range Sunday, but frustrated Pistons fans swore he didn’t miss a shot. He knocked down two early threes to contribute to the Lakers’ 26-point lead in the second quarter then staved off the comeback with another clutch three-pointer after the Pistons cut the lead to one during the fourth quarter. He added an emphatic exclamation mark with a cutting dunk off a Kessler assist with 93 seconds left.
Williams just knows how to pick his spots.
On tap
Wednesday at Bucks (1-9), 5 p.m. PST
Former Miami Heat mainstays Tyler Herro (22.3 points per game) and Jaime Jaquez Jr. (16.4) lead the rebuilding Bucks after the Giannis Antetokounmpo era. While a mismatch on paper, this could still be a difficult game at the end of a tiring three-games-in-four-days trip.
Sunday at Suns (3-6), 1 p.m. PST
The Lakers will enter the game on multiple days of rest for the first time since their season opener. They played their first three weeks without a two-day break. The Suns are without center Mark Williams (shoulder), which could open the floodgates for a big game from Kessler.
Favorite thing I ate this week
The pink room pizza from Unc’s in Detroit.
(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)
In the great pizza debate of thick or thin crust, I go Detroit almost every time. The airy, chewy crust is like biting into a pizza pillow. Since last year’s trip to Detroit, a new pizza place opened downtown, so there was some great pizza right around the corner. Unc’s Pink Room pizza has pepperoni, whipped ricotta, hot honey and banana peppers. Returning readers know I love a sweet and spicy pizza combo.
Asking for a friend: Do you eat Detroit pizza with a fork and knife or with your hands? The gooey cheese pulls create kind of a mess with your hands, but cutting with a fork and knife feels too formal for pizza. (OK, the friend is me.)
I’m walking beside the River Seine in the French city of Rouen when I realise that I’ve been speaking French – without pausing to find a word or struggle with grammar – for five whole minutes. Anna, my French “prof” for the week, nods encouragingly and so I continue. It’s a breakthrough moment, if only for my confidence.
This is the last day of a DIY language course that I devised when Rouen’s language schools told me they were full for the only week I could get away. When I then enquired about their private tutors, I was told no one was available. This turned out to save me a pretty penny: language school tutors cost €60 an hour while Anna – who I discovered on the website Apprentus – is a cost-effective €19 an hour.
The writer (on the left) and her tutor Anna by the River Seine in Rouen.
For the last couple of winters I’ve tried to spend a week or so brushing up my “intermediate” French language skills, in situ. A spate of new research on the remarkable cognitive benefits of learning a second language have made me a keen user of apps and podcasts – and yet no amount of AI-generated tutoring can compete with talking to (and being corrected and helped by) a real person.
Learning in situ also comes with a chance to travel, to communicate with dozens of people, to experience the culture that accompanies the language one is trying so hard to learn. Last winter, I went to a language school in Montpellier. Three hours a day didn’t come cheap. The class was large: 12 pupils from across the world. I spent my mornings pinned to a plastic chair in a cramped, tatty classroom, listening to my peers struggle through various exercises.
This isn’t the best way to learn. A recent study published in Nature suggests that moving helps us concentrate, remember and generally learn more effectively. Little wonder that I left Montpellier feeling I hadn’t learned much.
So I was delighted when Anna suggested that we do our two-hour classes on foot round Rouen. “If it rains,” she said, “we can talk over goûter.” LeGoûteris the French tradition of taking a small snack between lunch and dinner – a bit like English teatime.
Having booked Anna (a political sciences student at the University of Rouen Normandy) for 10 hours of French conversation over five days, I reserved a studio apartment (bang in the historic heart of Rouen for less than £60 a night) and bought a ferry ticket from Newhaven to Dieppe. Rouen is a one-hour train journey from the port, and the combined ferry-train ticket (return) cost a thrifty £65.
Anna and I met outside the ornate Saint-Maclou church, clearly both a little nervous. After all, we were about to spend 10 hours alone together, with no prior knowledge of each other. It also turned out that I was Anna’s first pupil since she’d registered on Apprentus. Moreover, she had signed up expecting to help kids with their homework. Instead she got me – a woman old enough to be her mother.
‘When it rained, Anna introduced me to Rouen’s best tea houses’. Photograph: David Soulsby/Alamy
We needn’t have worried. Anna had come straight from a (peaceful) protest march, and within minutes we were chatting away about the concerns of French students, as we strolled. Anna doubled as a tour guide, showing me all her favourite corners of Rouen – while simultaneously correcting my French. When it rained, she introduced me to Rouen’s best tea houses (the Dame Cakes salon de thé was a particular favourite), in effect doubling as my dining companion.
While Anna’s first language is French, she also speaks excellent English, meaning she could explain complex grammar to me. Her Senegal heritage meant that I also learned about the turbulent history of west Africa, as well as being brought up to speed on the ongoing student protests. We spent one fascinating lesson – which also involved riding Rouen’s buses – discussing Senegal’s matrilineal history of priestesses and queens, in French. Who knew? Not me!
Anna’s suggestions for lessons included an outing to Rouen’s Musée des Beaux-Arts (free, as are most of Rouen’s museums) which bills itself as France’s biggest impressionist collection outside Paris. We walked Rouen’s riverside pathways, which run for miles up and down the Seine, and ambled through the city’s beautiful, medieval quarters, stopping to explore areas such as the Place de Vieux-Marché, where Joan of Arc was burned alive. As these areas are largely car-free, we didn’t have to worry about dodging mopeds or shouting over the roar of traffic.
I could have hired Anna for longer, but two hours of one-to-one tuition each day felt optimal for my brain as it struggled to recall a very distant French A-level. I used the rest of my time to read a French novel, listen to French radio and TV, and wander Rouen with the self-challenge of talking to as many people as I could. Imagine my delight when, on my last day, a shop assistant asked me if I was local!
Anna and I finished our week with hugs and promises to keep in touch. My “prof” (the French abbreviation of professeur/e, commonly used to mean teacher) had proved to be informative, knowledgable, cost effective and great fun. And my six days, including food, transport, tutor and accommodation, had cost little more than £600.
On the ferry home, I couldn’t help wondering if human connections like this – an on-foot tutor, guide and new best friend rolled into one – might be the (fun) future of language learning.
Annabel Abbs (writing as Annabel Streets) is the author of The Walking Cure, published by Bloomsbury (£10.99).To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply
NEW YORK — UCLA climbed into the top 10 in the first regular-season Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll of the season on Monday while Florida remained No. 1 and the top four were unchanged.
The Gators, who began the season with wins over then-No. 14 Miami and Jacksonville, earned six more first place-votes and had 53 of the 60 from a national media panel. Duke earned the other seven first-place votes, Illinois held down No. 3 in the poll, and UConn was fourth after winning an NCAA championship game rematch with then-No. 16 Michigan on Friday night.
Michigan State rounded out the top five Monday, taking the place of Arizona, which lost its opener to the Bruins a week ago.
The former Pac-12 rivals met in Las Vegas, where the Bruins’ Trent Perry scored 21 points to help them overcome a career-best 38 from the Wildcats’ Ivan Kharchenkov. Arizona got within a point with 3:11 left before the Bruins held on for the 84-75 win.
It sent UCLA from No. 22 in the preseason poll to No. 9, its highest ranking since the final poll of the 2022-23 season.
“Huge,” Bruins coach Mick Cronin said of beating Arizona. “They’re going to win a lot of games, man. I don’t know exactly how many [wins] they’ve averaged over the last three years, but I’d guess it’s close to 30. So when you get a win over a team like that, it’s massive.”
Virginia moved up three spots to sixth after a trio of wins last week, including a victory over then-No. 12 Arkansas. Texas and Houston were next, then UCLA and Louisville, which moved up one spot to round out the top 10.
Tennessee fell three spots to No. 11 after beating Wofford in its only game last week. Arizona dropped seven spots to No. 12.
“It’s not about how we start the season. It’s about how we end the season,” Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd said. “Obviously, it hurts when we’re losing. Just remember that feeling. We’ll have a tough stretch in another game, and we’ll need to dig deeper.”
The rest of the Top 25
St. John’s, Gonzaga and Kansas rounded out the first 15 in the poll. Texas Tech, Miami and Alabama were next, while Arkansas dropped seven spots to No. 18 after its loss to Virginia, and Michigan fell four spots to No. 20 after its loss to UConn.
USC, Vanderbilt, Brigham Young, Kentucky and Nebraska finished out the top 25. The Wildcats, who play the Jayhawks on Tuesday night, are one week shy of becoming the first school in the nearly 78-year history of the AP poll to be ranked for 1,000 weeks.
In and out and on the bubble
The Huskers, who opened their season with wins over Le Moyne and Providence, jumped into the poll thanks in part to Iowa State’s loss to Memphis. The Cyclones fell from No. 18 out of the poll, and were third among the others receiving votes.
Memphis was the first team outside of the top 25, followed by Saint Louis, which had an impressive win over Missouri last week.
Conference watch
The Southeastern Conference not only had the No. 1 team in Florida but seven of the top 25. The Big Ten was next with three of the top 10 and six in the poll. The Big 12 had five ranked teams, the Atlantic Coast Conference had four, the Big East had two and Gonzaga gave the new-look Pac-12 one team in the top 25.
The UK government’s electric vehicle (EV) targets are expected to be reduced this week in a move likely to be welcomed by carmakers but opposed by environmental groups.
Under the current rules, 80% of new cars sold in the UK must be electric by 2030 but industry groups have long called for “urgent relief”.
New petrol or diesel cars are due to be phased out by 2030 and by 2035 all new cars must be zero emission.
But the speed of the transition to electric has been hotly debated, including within the cabinet.
The government has been consulting on reducing its 80% rule and a significant reduction is now expected.
Downing Street has insisted no decision has been made.
A government source told the BBC it would approach the issue in a “pragmatic and balanced” way.
If ministers do decide on a steeper watering-down of the rules, it will arguably be interpreted by some – alongside the approval of the Jackdaw gas field – as Prime MInister Andy Burnham prioritising economic considerations over environmental ones.
Sustainability groups say any weakening of the 2030 target will threaten the UK’s long-term electrification and climate goals.
Leon Goretzka (Aston Villa): Although it was 4-4 in the end at Man Utd, Goretzka was a beast. He was calm under pressure and moved the ball really well as well. He obviously got a goal but his passing, movement and the ability to just be calm and handle every situation presented to him was really, really good.
Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool): How this guy has not got a new deal I don’t know. He keeps coming up big, high energy and he is vitally important to the way Liverpool play. When he is fit and available and firing on all cylinders it feels like they have a chance in this title race.
Enzo Le Fee (Sunderland): Where would Sunderland be without this guy? He has been good, he has been scoring, chipping in with big moments. Also his ability to take the ball when under pressure, take his side up the pitch and also have that little bit of innovative play and free thinking. He is exceptional.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (Everton): Bossed the game for Everton against Coventry. Unbelievable goal but he absolutely bossed it. There was nothing more he could have done. Never gave the ball away, defensively he was solid. Attacking wise – goals and assists.
Another diverse earnings week is ahead, with results spanning AI infrastructure, semiconductors, space technology, energy, fintech, healthcare, and speculative growth stocks. The lineup offers investors a broad look at where capital is flowing, how demand is evolving, and which emerging technologies are beginning to translate into commercial growth.
As a Los Angeles City Council candidate six years ago, Nithya Raman gave a firm “No” when asked if she supported the Olympics coming to Los Angeles.
Responding to a questionnaire from the Democratic Socialists of America, Raman added: “There was no vetting of this process, extremely rushed budgeting outreach, and the residents of our city had no say in any of it.”
Once in office, she joined just one other council member in voting against the prime city contract outlining the city’s partnership with the LA28, the private nonprofit hosting the event. And in August she voted against a deal outlining how LA28 would reimburse the city for the extra trash collection, policing and other services that will be expanded during the 2028 Summer Olympics.
My, how time, fortune and politics can change things.
With her election this week as mayor of Los Angeles, Raman won herself a ticket to sit among the dignitaries for the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics on July 14, 2028. And she will be asked to take center stage at the closing ceremony — handing the Olympic flag to the mayor of Brisbane, Australia, host city for the 2032 Summer Games.
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In the little more than 600 days before the Games begin, Raman will oversee the city’s preparations.
Those looking for signs of friction might note that the mayor-elect has closely allied herself with City Controller Kenneth Mejia, who has been locked in a battle with LA28 over its failure to publicly report some of the details of its finances.
It’s unclear what position Raman will stake out in that conflict and another one dear to several members of the City Council — getting LA28 to agree to set aside a certain percentage of as much as $4 billion in contracts to businesses based in the city of L.A.
During her run for mayor, Raman did what she has done on many other issues — project a more moderate, conciliatory stance on the Olympics.
“Nithya supports a successful Olympics that showcases the best of Los Angeles and delivers the economic boost Angelenos deserve: more customers for local businesses, opportunities for workers, and lasting improvements in our neighborhoods,” a spokesperson for the mayor-elect said in a recent statement. “She wants residents to share in the excitement and the benefits long after the closing ceremony, but not left to cover the bill unfairly.”
Raman’s rep said she also will “enforce the city’s agreements with Olympic organizers, put strict financial safeguards in place, and make taxpayer obligations public before commitments are made.”
She also pledged that the security around the Olympics will “respect every Angeleno’s dignity and rights, especially immigrants and our most vulnerable neighbors.”
Raman also signaled over the summer that she is ready to be a fan. In an Instagram video, she touted the opening of a new cricket grounds in Pomona, practiced her bowling (like pitching in baseball) and enthused: “The second most popular sport in the world coming back to the Olympics, and coming back, right here in L.A., is really exciting.”
LA28 Chairman Casey Wasserman congratulated the new mayor.
“We look forward to working closely with the mayor-elect, her team, and leaders at every level of government to deliver a safe, secure and fiscally responsible Olympic Games,” Wasserman said in a statement. “With less than two years until the LA28 Opening Ceremony, there is much work to be done. We’re confident that, together, we’ll be ready to welcome the world to Los Angeles and showcase the magic of our city.”
Harris-Dawson is running
It’s still a month away, but the City Council is going to have to cast a pivotal vote: Who should serve as its president under a Raman administration.
City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, in a quick interview Friday, said he will seek the council’s top leadership job for another two years. Harris-Dawson, who supported Mayor Karen Bass in Tuesday’s election, said he was unaware of anyone else angling for the job.
“I intend to be president,” said Harris-Dawson, who faces term limits in 2028.
Meanwhile, council members are still processing the Raman victory and what that will mean for the city. Harris-Dawson said the election revealed a divided city, with newer arrivals to L.A. backing Raman and “people who have been here for generations” lining up behind Bass.
“This race, I think, exacerbated the divisions of the city,” he said. “That showed up a lot more than I was expecting, and the divisions were a lot deeper than I expected.”
Raman’s young progressives
Gen Zers crisscrossed the dance floor, Modelos and seltzers in hand, as the DJ bumped her head to the beat.
But this was no Friday night at Zebulon. This was election night in L.A., and Nithya Raman’s campaign had taken over the plaza outside the Greek Theatre in Griffith Park for the occasion.
“We’ve had a mayor that’s failed young people,” Rutik Shinglot, a 26-year-old working in public affairs, shouted over the noise. “I think L.A. is ready for a change.”
Many of the young progressives at Raman’s election night party at the Greek Theatre had knocked on doors or made phone calls for the now mayor-elect. Unionized UCLA and USC student workers sported bright-pink United Auto Workers shirts. Others wore a red pin brandishing the Democratic Socialists of America’s logo.
Their excitement seems to have made it to the ballot box: Partial returns showed young people ages 18-34 had increased their share of the vote compared with the same early returns in 2022.
She garnered the support of niche progressive celebrities young folks trust, including comedians Brennan Lee Mulligan and Rekha Shankar of Dropout (formerly known as CollegeHumor) who emceed Raman’s election night party.
By clinching the endorsements of both DSA-LA and the regional UAW, she unlocked two major pools of young L.A. progressives — eager to build on national momentum — to campaign on her behalf. Rafael Jaime, president of UAW 4811, said the region’s members had contacted 116,000 voters in support of Raman. DSA-LA knocked on more than 110,000 doors with the help of more than 1,600 volunteers.
At DSA-LA, the endorsement created “a mechanism to build up our canvassing infrastructure citywide,” said Keshav Kundassery, 27, a member of both DSA-LA and UAW 4811. “We need to exercise those muscles right now to be ready for the fight that’s waiting for us in 2028.”
State of play
— THE ROAD TO RAMAN: Bass started election night ahead of Raman but the tide quickly changed. By Thursday, the mayor had conceded and Raman was giving her first press briefing at the Original Farmers Market.
— THE NEW AGENDA: What initiatives will Raman pursue once she’s in office? Bike lanes, housing voucher, new apartments, a new police chief and lots of data crunching. “L.A. has been flying blind when it comes to measuring the impacts of the dollars spent. That is going to change,” said former deputy mayor Rick Cole, a Raman advisor.
— WHERE WERE THE VOTES? We’ve got a preliminary map showing how different parts of the city voted in the mayoral election.
— ROY REIGNS: Deputy Atty. Gen. Marissa Roy romped to victory in her race against Deputy Dist. Atty. John McKinney. Council aide Jose Ugartehad a lead that’s been steadily shrinking over community organizer Estuardo Mazariegos in a South L.A. council race. Meanwhile, political aide Barri Worth Girvan was leading business owner Tim Gaspar in the west San Fernando Valley.
— SIGNS OF THE TIMES: On election day, Ugarte’s camp released video that appeared to show Mazariegos supporters stealing an Ugarte lawn sign and replacing it with one for Mazariegos.
— CH-CH-CH-CHANGES: L.A. voters approved all eight of the ballot measures that were on their ballot, hiking taxes to pay for the fire department, sending more city money to public parks and giving the council the power to cut the number of weekly meetings from three down to one.
— SECOND TIME AROUND: In a case of ballot deja vu, Los Angeles County voters reelected Sheriff Robert Luna, rejecting former Sheriff Alex Villanueva by a wide margin once again.
QUICK HITS
Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program to address homelessness went to Venice, a neighborhood represented by Councilmember Traci Park, and to Sylmar, which is represented by Councilmember Monica Rodriguez.
On the docket next week: The L.A. County Board of Supervisors will take up a motion Tuesday to lay out steps to fix the county’s restraining order system, in response to reporting by The Times on ways the system fails survivors.
Stay in touch
That’s it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to LAontheRecord@latimes.com. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.
Édouard Manet’s “Execution of Maximilian” will go on view at Pasadena’s Norton Simon Museum next week, marking the first time the painting has been exhibited on the West Coast. The historic canvas, on loan from London’s National Gallery, has a fascinating backstory and represents a key moment in French political history, making its arrival shortly after this country’s stunning midterm election particularly auspicious.
The painting is the second of five versions Manet created (circa 1867-68) shortly after the shocking execution of Austrian archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, who briefly served as the emperor of Mexico after being encouraged to do so by the French emperor Napoleon III. In 1867, Maximilian — along with his generals Tomás Mejía and Miguel Miramón — faced a firing squad made up of soldiers loyal to former Mexican President Benito Juárez, who had been forced out of Mexico City in 1863 when French forces descended on the capital. Maximilian’s ouster and death stunned many Europeans, who blamed Napoleon III for the bloodshed.
Manet’s monumental canvas is cold and unyielding in its impersonal depiction of the violent episode, and in many ways helped birth the modern historical political painting. Through Manet’s eyes, political violence is not heroic, but pedestrian, benign even. It contains echoes of another famous political painting: Francisco de Goya’s “The Third of May, 1808,” which also depicts death by firing squad — this time the execution of civilians by French troops during Napoleon’s notorious occupation of Spain.
The canvas coming to the Norton Simon was long neglected and is thought to have been discarded by Manet when he became dissatisfied by discrepancies in the size of the figures he painted. His family cut the canvas into four pieces after his death and sold them separately. It was saved from oblivion by Manet’s friend Edgar Degas, who managed to get a hold of all the fragments. The painting was acquired by the National Gallery in 1918 at Degas’ studio sale, and the painting was pieced together again in the late 1970s.
“Manet’s Execution of Maximilian is not only an icon within the history of nineteenth-century art, but also a profound reflection on the ways in which images shape our understanding of political events and collective memory,” said Emily Talbot, vice president of collections and chief curator at the Norton Simon in a news release. “By bringing this extraordinary painting together with historical materials that document the French intervention in Mexico, we invite visitors to consider how history is constructed in visual form.”
The painting will be on view at the Norton Simon from Nov. 14 to March 1, 2027.
I’m Arts editor Jessica Gelt ready for a jubilant walk through a museum on the heels of a roller coaster of an election. This is your arts and culture news for the week.
[Update: A previous version of this story said Manet’s “Execution of Maximilian”had not been shown in the U.S. for 20 years. It has not been shown on the West Coast before, but was shown in New York in 2024.]
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The week ahead: A curated calendar
FRIDAY
LA Phil’s incoming music director Daniel Harding conducting at the Hollywood Bowl in 2025.
(Etienne Laurent/For The Times)
Daniel Harding Leads Bernstein & Brahms The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s incoming music director leads the orchestra for Leonard Bernstein’s “Symphony No. 1,” with mezzo-soprano Avery Amereau, and is joined by Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes for Johannes Brahms’ “Second Piano Concerto.” 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com
Idina Menzel The Broadway star joins with the Pacific Symphony, led by conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez, for a night of hits. 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 300 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. scfta.org
NOW 2026 REDCAT’s New Original Works Festival features a different program each week over three weekends. First up, Alfonso Abraham Cervera and Irvin Manuel Gonzalez’s “las cosas que enter(r)amos,” a mix of Latinx American social and folk dance, storytelling, and contemporary dance; Scottie Harvey’s “Hole Gazers,” a comedic satire about fantasy, surveillance and life online; and Jeonghyeon Joo’s “how to bathe properly,” a solo work for haegeum, a two-string instrument, performed in a staged Korean sauna. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, through Nov. 21. REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd St., downtown L.A. redcat.org
Radio Galaxy Joey McIntyre, Lesli Margherita, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Meera Simhan, Rishi Golani and Jordyn Rahman star in a new play by Michèle Aldin Kushner about a New Jersey teen who dreams of becoming an astronomer. Directed by Kimberly Senior. Through Nov. 22. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. thewallis.org
Sable Elyse Smith “Sky Fence Ground” features new woven works on paper, a recent video work and a monumental kinetic sculpture by the multimedia artist. Opening reception, 6-8 p.m. Friday, exhibit runs through Dec. 19. Regen Projects, 6750 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles. regenprojects.com
SATURDAY
Angela Anh Nguyen Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND) presents the artist’s “Entropy,” a site-specific installation that addresses the collective experience of the 2025 Eaton and Palisades fires through social media, monitoring apps, and other forms of digital communication. Opening reception, 1-4 p.m., exhibit runs through Dec. 13. Old Fire Station No. 6, 534 E. Edgeware Road, Angelino Heights. nomadicdivision.org
Takes Care of Them Four large-scale prints by artist Dyani White Hawk (Sicangu Lakota) each depict a dress adorned differently to reflect on the roles of Lakota women in four areas: Wówahokuŋkiya (Lead); Wókaǧe (Create); Nakíčižiŋ (Protect); and Wačháŋtognaka (Nurture). Autry Museum of the American West, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park. theautry.org
SUNDAY
Billie Holiday and The Blues L.A.’s Marlonius Jazz Orchestra, led by virtuoso bassist and composer Marlon Martinez, is joined by Brooklyn vocalist Mara Kaye for this tribute to Holiday and deep blues cuts. 8 p.m. Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. sierramadreplayhouse.org
Camerata Pacifica The November program includes a world premiere by Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Mozart’s “Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat Major,” alongside contemporary chamber works by Michael Daugherty, Missy Mazzoli and the late Sarah Gibson. 3 p.m. Sunday. Bank of America Performing Arts Center, Janet & Ray Scherr Forum Theatre, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Huntington, Rothenberg Hall, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino; 8 p.m. Thursday. The Colburn School, Zipper Hall, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A.; and 7 p.m. Friday. Music Academy of the West, Hahn Hall, 1070 Fairway Road, Santa Barbara. cameratapacifica.org
Romeo and Juliet: Time Enough for Love Open Fist Theatre Company presents a new age-reversed adaptation conceived and directed by Christian Lebano. Previews, 7:30 Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday, play runs Nov. 13-Dec. 19. Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. openfist.org
Sage Ni’Ja Whitson: Revival_ _Revival A free processional performance across the once predominantly Black community of Santa Monica, visiting sacred historic sites lost to time and gentrification, with a live score of gospel, house, hip hop, and voice. Audience members are invited to wear white clothing and white masks, and the procession closes with a fellowship meal at Ocean Bay Beach. 2 p.m. First AME Church, 1823 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica. 18thstreet.org
WEDNESDAY
Destiny of Desire Karen Zacarías’ smart and fearless homage to telenovelas yields an epic, twisting yarn, full of coincidences and cliff-hangers, mistaken identities and gobsmacking revelations. It’s invigorating fun but also radiant with insight into the age-old debate between nature and nurture. When I first saw the play at South Coast Repertory in 2016, I was seduced by the production’s Brechtian energy. And I’m eager to see what fresh light director Marcela Lorca sheds on a play that my students at CalArts one year claimed as their favorite of the semester — and they have excellent taste. (Charles McNulty) Through Dec. 20. Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. centertheatregroup.org
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, from left, Kara Young, Glenn Davis and Jon Michael Hill in the Broadway/Steppenwolf Theatre Company production of “Purpose.”
(Marc J. Franklin)
Purpose The original Steppenwolf Theatre Company cast of the Broadway production of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning drama reassembles at the Geffen Playhouse for the most anticipated dramatic event of the season. The play, about a prominent Black Chicago family headed by a civil rights icon with skeletons in his closet, has the scope, heft and flamboyant idiosyncrasy of the landmark American domestic dramas of the past. Under the assured direction of Phylicia Rashad, the actors brought the characters so richly to life in New York that I can’t wait to experience their ensemble alchemy in L.A. (Charles McNulty) Through Dec. 13. Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood. geffenplayhouse.org
THURSDAY The Heiress Theater 40 presents the classic American romantic drama, adapted by Ruth Goetz and Augustus Goetz from Henry James’ novel “Washington Square.” Directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky. Through Dec. 13. Beverly Hills High School, Mary Levin Cutler Theatre, 241 S. Moreno Drive. theatre40.org
Kafka’s Letter to His Father Keeping things in weird perspective, CAP UCLA, in collaboration with Brightwork Ensemble, presents a production of Czech composer Jiri Trtik’s opera “Letter to His Father.” About Kafka’s artistic liberation from paternal authority, it is produced by and stars the most transformative tenor of our time, Timur. (Mark Swed) 8 p.m. Thursday-Nov. 14. UCLA Nimoy 1262 Westwood Blvd. cap.ucla.edu
Las Migas The Spanish Latin Grammy-winning all-women quartet melds traditional flamenco with contemporary stylings to reimagine the classic art form. 7:30 p.m. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. thewallis.org
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra with Isata Kanneh-Mason The New York-based classical ensemble is joined by the British pianist for a program featuring Mozart, Handel, Haydn and Welsh composer (and New York transplant) Katie Jenkins. 7:30 p.m. Broad Stage at Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, 1310 11th St., Santa Monica. broadstage.org
Dispatch: A harrowing exhibition of Iranian art in Chinatown
“Lunch,” by BSisters (Behnaz and Baharak Khaleghi), on view at the Fellows of Contemporary Art gallery in Chinatown.
(Fellows of Contemporary Art)
“Lunch,” a centerpiece installation at Fellows of Contemporary Art’s new exhibition centered on the works of Iranian-born women artists in California, is an upsetting sculpture that’s as soft and intimate as a pillow.
The piece, by the Bay Area duo BSisters (Behnaz and Baharak Khaleghi), riffs on the myth of Zahāk — a vain tyrant with snakes around his head that eat human brains to keep him alive. It’s a tale from the Shahnameh, a 1,000-year-old Persian epic poem. BSisters have rendered it here in cozy pastel fabrics and gauzy spilled cotton, materials that speak to how women activists in Iran have been brutalized and consumed by the fundamentalist regime there. The sculpture — very funny and unnerving at once — also evokes the strange mix of distance and intimacy of Iranian immigrants to the U.S., watching the current conflict curdle their hopes for change into deeper worry.
It’s one of several affecting pieces on display at FOCA’s Chinatown gallery as part of “I Saw a Woman, Pounding Light into Mortar,” an exhibition in which six California-based Iranian women artists grapple with distance and helplessness, amid a conflict where both governments seem driven by an almost cannibalistic consumption of people and resources.
“Growing up in Iran, political repression was never something distant from our everyday lives. It shaped our childhood, our experiences as women, and the ways we learned to express ourselves,” said Katayoun Bahrami, the exhibit’s curator. “Living in the United States now, I feel a constant tension between building a life here and remaining deeply connected to what is happening back home. This past year has been especially painful. After the deadly crackdown on protesters in January and the war that followed, hope and anger have been hard to separate. Watching from thousands of miles away, unable to do much, has brought a sense of helplessness that is difficult to describe.”
Much of the work here is quietly devastating in evoking absence, fear and exile. Shaghayegh Cyrous’s video installation “Reenacting the Future” is a mirror image of a mother and daughter, filmed over 12 years in the U.S. and Iran, a visual echo cleaved by exile. Narges Poursadeqi’s sculpture “Between Dots of Blindness” could fit in a desk drawer, but the braille poem it spools through a music box feels like the last thing you would shove in a suitcase, fleeing for a new country.
“This exhibition was born during the internet and phone shutdowns in Iran, when we had no way to reach our families or know whether they were safe. That silence was terrifying,” Bahrami said. “Bringing these artists together became deeply personal for me. I recognize parts of my own fears, memories, and longing in their work. Through their art and our conversations, I’ve found ways to process feelings that are difficult to carry alone. Curating this exhibition has helped me turn some of that helplessness into something meaningful. It has also reminded me how much we need one another, especially when we feel powerless to change what is happening.”
“I Saw a Woman, Pounding Light into Mortar” at FOCA-LA through Nov. 28; 970 N. Broadway, Suite 208, Los Angeles 90012.
— August Brown
Culture news and the SoCal scene
Director Zhailon Levingston sits outside before the rehersal of “Passing Strange” at the Pasadena Playhouse.
(Carlin Stiehl / For The Times)
“Passing Strange,” a 20-year-old musical that takes place in downtown L.A. and went to Broadway, has never been performed here — until now. Pasadena Playhouse hosts its SoCal premiere.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is shaking things up. This week it announced a slew of new leadership positions that will go into effect alongside incoming music director Daniel Harding. The orchestra’s post-Dudamel future is shaping up to be quite interesting.
The most anticipated play of the season is about to open as “Oh Mary!” heads for the Ahmanson. Ticket sales have been so brisk that Center Theatre Group has already booked the show again for next season.
A “Do Not Enter” sign hangs on the fence at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Sept. 25 in Washington.
(Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP photo)
The Kennedy Center may be closed indefinitely for renovations, but that did not stop its Trump-anointed leaders from announcing who would be recognized at this year’s Kennedy Center Honors — to be held by necessity at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 7. Honorees include singer-songwriter Paul Anka, music producer David Foster, actor Andy Garcia, playwright David Mamet and country singer Barbara Mandrell.
Welcome to Bunker Talk. This is a weekend open discussion post for the best commenting crew on the net, in which we can chat about all the stuff that went on this week that we didn’t cover. We can also talk about the stuff we did or whatever else grabs your interest. In other words, it’s an off-topic thread.
This week’s caption reads:
The control room of the Project Mercury Mission Control Center, at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Brevard County, Florida, 1961. (Photo by NASA/FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
PRIME DIRECTIVES:
If you want to talk politics, do so respectfully and know that there’s always somebody that isn’t going to agree with you.
If you have political differences, hash it out respectfully, stick to the facts, and no childish name-calling or personal attacks of any kind. If you can’t handle yourself in that manner, then please, discuss virtually anything else.
No drive-by garbage political memes. No conspiracy theory rants. Links to crackpot sites will be axed, too. Trolling and shitposting will not be tolerated. No obsessive behavior about other users. Just don’t interact with folks you don’t like.
Do not be a sucker and feed trolls! That’s as much on you as on them. Use the mute button if you don’t like what you see.
So unless you have something of quality to say, know how to treat people with respect, understand that everyone isn’t going to subscribe to your exact same worldview, and have come to terms with the reality that there is no perfect solution when it comes to moderation of a community like this, it’s probably best to just move on.
Finally, as always, report offenders, please. This doesn’t mean reporting people who don’t share your political views, but we really need your help in this regard.
So far, Lake said Friday afternoon, he hasn’t heard back.
“I don’t know if he read it,” Lake told The Times. “He probably says, ‘I don’t care about it anymore. I’m not trying to see this. It doesn’t matter. You said what you said.’ But at the same time I … felt like it was right for me to at least say,’ Hey, man, I didn’t mean it in any disrespectful way.’”
Lake and teammate Trent McDuffie each intercepted a pass thrown by Herbert during the Rams’ 24-9 victory over the Chargers on Sunday. During an appearance on the “St. Brown Podcast” this week, Lake mentioned that Herbert “was throwing deli meat” and “seeing ghosts” during the game.
The comments left Lake and the two hosts — Detroit Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and his brother, former NFL receiver Equanimeous St. Brown — in stitches.
After his quotes went viral, however, Lake was left with a bad taste in his mouth.
“You know, I was with my boys,” said Lake, who played high school football with Amon-Ra St. Brown at Mater Dei. “I was in a comfortable environment. I was trying to say stuff funny. But looking back on it, they have a big platform. And when you say stuff like that, people are going to take it in ways that you may not mean it. … In no way shape or form was it supposed to be disrespectful.”
The Chargers are 0-7 this season, and Herbert is seen as a key contributing factor. A two-time Pro Bowl selection who is just two seasons removed from throwing for 23 touchdowns and three interceptions over 17 games, Herbert has only five touchdowns and a league-high 10 interceptions this year. He ranks 31st in QB rating among passers with at least 100 attempts.
But Lake said he thinks Herbert is “still a great quarterback,” citing the seventh-year player’s arm strength, running skills and processing ability.
“Obviously there’s some things going on over there that they probably want to fix and probably want to polish up,” Lake said. “You look at their roster from top to bottom, [they’re] still very, very talented, him included.”
While real-world tech mogul Elon Musk suffered a major setback this week after pouring more than $200 million into Texas Republican campaigns that lost to protect his business empire, over on HBO’s “The Gilded Age,” robber baron George Russell is fighting tooth and nail against looming federal regulations to save his.
The period drama returned Sunday with its fourth season. After leaving George (Morgan Spector) at a major turning point in Season 3 — seemingly done with his marriage following Bertha‘s (Carrie Coon) forced engineering of their daughter‘s marriage, as well as his own survival of a near-fatal shooting — the couple is still at odds. As the new season picks up, George unravels under the looming threat of anti-monopoly laws targeting his industrial empire. And that’s just part of all the drama and fun that made the episode the show’s most-watched premiere yet, averaging nearly 4 million viewers across platforms, according to the cabler/streamer. Season 4 promises more tension as the Russells try to maintain their wealth and status while Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) tries to regain her position, all while the show’s various relationships face challenges, ultimatums or bittersweet developments. Ahead of this week’s second episode, I spoke with Sonja Warfield, who is co-showrunner of the series alongside creator Julian Fellowes, about how Season 4 kicks off — including that unexpected cameo from David Letterman and Matt Damon.
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Also in this week’s Screen Gab, our writers recommend a new stand-up special from everyone’s favorite sitcom principal and a sports drama chronicling the life of Muhammad Ali. — Yvonne Villarreal
Turn on
Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times
Janelle James at the Vic Theatre in Chicago, where her Netflix comedy special was filmed.
(Elizabeth Sisson / Netflix )
“Janelle James: How Romantic” (Netflix)
Among the many gifts “Abbott Elementary” showered upon the culture was bringing Janelle James to national prominence. As work-averse principal Ava Coleman — a selfish, insulting character one is always delighted to see — she is as attractive as she is difficult. And as the show has gone on, the actor has found layers to play, including hints of a kind of existential melancholy. James began in stand-up — her biggest brush with fame was touring with Chris Rock in 2017 — and now she’s headlining her own, first hourlong special, which debuts Tuesday on the streamer and was filmed at Chicago’s Vic Theatre. Hang on through an opening salvo of political jokes that elapsed time and Tuesday’s election results have rendered stale (Rudy Giuliani, anybody? Joe Biden?) as James, laughing and dancing, unwinds into her real material — spending 24 hours in labor, the problems and perks of being suddenly famous, men and how they are, having money with a poor person’s mind. Of the power of comedy (and being on a hit sitcom) to unite a diverse audience, she says, “There’s one of everything in here. … We can all be in here and share a laugh, then everyone goes back to their respective neighborhoods, never to speak again. But for a small moment in time we were all friends. Because of me. So that’s nice.” — Robert Lloyd
Jaalen Best as Muhammad Ali in Prime Video’s “The Greatest.”
(Brooke Palmer / Prime)
“The Greatest” (Prime Video)
The multitude of projects about Muhammad Ali just received a new entry with Prime Video’s limited series “The Greatest,” starring newcomer Jaalen Best as the legendary boxer. The project traces Ali’s breakthrough as a gold medal boxer through his brutal battle with Sonny Liston. Viewers looking for a companion piece to the drama can check out Ken Burns’ 2021 epic documentary “Muhammad Ali.” Burns called the four-part miniseries an extensive look at a “man who may be the most iconic figure of the 20th century.” The filmmaker added that Ali was also a “very complex, dynamic man” who had an immeasurable impact stretched into politics, culture and religion.” — Greg Braxton
Guest spot
A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching
Morgan Spector and Carrie Coon in Season 4 of “The Gilded Age.”
(Karolina Wojtasik / HBO)
Clocks have rolled back and “The Gilded Age” Sundays have returned — the perfect couch rotting combo for fall. Lingering crises and fresh new scandals collide in Season 4 as our favorite New York elite navigate a fracturing power marriage, perilous childbirth, a horse-carriage breakdown that ignites a night of forbidden passion, and a titan‘s struggle to maintain his empire. Even Jack’s new invention, the electric mixer, couldn’t whip up a more delicious start. Episode 2 airs Sunday on HBO and will stream on HBO Max. I spoke with Sonja Warfield, the co-showrunner of the drama, about the premiere, that David Letterman and Matt Damon cameo and what’s ahead this season. — Y.V.
You said you were looking at social media a bit after the premiere. What stood out to you about what fans were responding to?
Marian. Someone had a lot of thoughts about some of Marian’s costumes. But then I read something about Marian and Larry having sex, and they don’t want to hear about her complaining about him this season — something like, “She just needs to go over there to his house and get her ring back.”
It’s been interesting to see the conversation around Marian’s freak-out the morning after she had sex with Larry — and the ramifications of premarital sex at that time.
Louisa [Jacobson, who plays Marian] did an amazing job conveying the gravity of the transgression; it just was all over her face. And Harry’s reaction, because he’s kind of surprised. They just had this roll in the hay, but it transmits to him as well. So really, kudos to Louisa for selling that. Wonderful actors like Louisa Jacobson help the viewer along in their understanding that this is about the worst thing that you can do, and then we have the scene afterwards. That walk of shame back and the aunts even say, “Oh, it was better that you took a cab because the impropriety of that.”
We also see Gladys survive this traumatic, life-threatening breach birth, ultimately welcoming a baby boy. Some of us have PTSD from Lady Sybil’s death in “Downton Abbey” and were very nervous about where it was going.
One of the first things I said to Julian when we first started working together was, “I might never forgive you for what you did to Lady Sybil.” I remember every frame of what Lady Sybil went through. … We wanted to make sure that [“The Gilded Age”] was different, so we worked closely with a doctor who specializes in Victorian medicine to figure out how we can make it traumatic, her life is salvaged, but she’s forever changed. It’s women’s health. There’s still more questions than answers, and especially back then when they had not even surfaced. Maternal mortality rate has been lowered in recent years in America. It’s real jeopardy, and it happens all the time and every day.
Women’s health and decisions surrounding it are not the only timely modern parallel. Something that looms large is wealthy business titans trying to exert profound, direct influence over American politics and policies. How was it to dig into that history this season, given the current real-world backdrop?
As we got the research in, and we started having conversations with Dr. Dunbar [Erica Armstong Dunbar is a co-executive producer and lead historical consultant on the series], it became abundantly clear that the reason why there have been so many regulations in business is because of the Gilded Age. We’re just right back where we started. I love this argument that is being used today that was being used back then, which is “let us regulate our ourselves.” That’s ridiculous. They changed America, and brought in wealth and industry and the railroad and all of that; at the same time, it has to be regulated. They cannot regulate themselves. Greed is one of the seven deadly sins.
Audra McDonald, left, and Denée Benton in “The Gilded Age.”
(Karolina Wojtasik / HBO)
Were you nervous about having this plot about anti-monopoly legislation or how it would be received by studio brass, given the Paramount and Warner Bros. merger?
It was not in my mind because it is the real history. We are being historically accurate.
There is a moment eight minutes into the premiere episode that, if you blinked, you missed it: David Letterman and Matt Damon made cameos as background actors. Apparently, David has long wanted to be a background actor, and this stunt was filmed as a field segment for the new season of his Netflix interview show; Damon got his start as a background actor. Were you in disbelief when you heard about this request?
I am a huge David Letterman fan. When I heard that there was a possibility that I could meet David Letterman, I was ecstatic and really kind of selfish. We shoot tandem sets, so there are two sets going at a time. My mandate was, “I’m on the David Letterman set that day. Take me there.” All the way in Long Island. I had an event that night. I didn’t care. I waited for David.
Forget Matt Damon.
What was so funny was that my dad is a huge Matt Damon fan, and whilst I was awaiting David Letterman, I had an audience with Matt Damon, who is the most lovely, kind person ever. So empathetic and gracious and wonderful, and game whatever they had cooking on Letterman’s show. Then I met David Letterman. It was an absolute blast. I was like, “This is a the best day at work in a long time.” It all started because someone on our staff was friends with someone on David Letterman’s show.
We see them casually crossing the street. Was it hard to decide what scene to plop them into?
It was really about scheduling. And what would be the least conspicuous because David Letterman does have that long beard. We held on to it for so long. We shot that back in May.
I want all good things for Peggy, in life, love and career. Her wedding to William is on the horizon. What did you want out of that moment for her?
Well, once I knew we had a bigger budget, I wanted all of it too. I really do think we deliver. I want to be mindful here. The location of where she gets married is exquisitely beautiful. We enter the wedding and the marriage with trepidation because there is real conflict, inherent conflict with this family in the form of Elizabeth Kirkland, played by the incredible Felicia Rashad. I think all weddings are fraught because you’re bringing together these different factions, and people want different things and have ideas and dreams. I think Peggy’s wedding delivers on all fronts. I think it delivers in terms of dramatic tension. I think it delivers in terms of set decoration. It delivers in terms of costume and, of course, performances and direction. I can’t wait for the audience to watch it and then watch it again. Accompanying the wedding will be some beautiful photography done by the Tyler Twins. Their work is really just exquisite, and I’m excited for the world to see all this. We’ve been holding all of this in.
Peggy and William are at the dawn of their relationship, just as Bertha and George are navigating a major stress point in their union.
Marriage is a journey. I’ve been married and divorced, and I just remember my dad’s advice early on was that there are always going to be these trials, and if you can make your way through them and end up together, you will be stronger for it. For Bertha and George, who’ve been married for many years now — he didn’t make a lot of money when they were first together, and now they they’re in this place of extreme wealth, and their lives have changed. And now he is going through something that couldn’t have been predicted. And Bertha rides for her husband. There are times when couples can go their separate ways, and, like my dad said, if you can find your way back together through the storm, and you’ve weathered it together, you’re stronger. I want that for Peggy and William. They want a Bertha-George marriage — if Bertha and George make it through.
I really worry about Agnes’ stress levels this season. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that. Later in the season, she delivers one line — “That article was poppycock!” — in a way that will live in my head as a GIF forever.
I even said something to Christine during the season — “We’re really putting you through it this season.” I love it, and she loved it too. She had a ball, and especially in Episode 3, which I got to write with Julian. I loved writing some of that dialogue because she just has so many highs and lows throughout the season, and it was like a masterclass for me to watch Christine go from the highest high to the lowest low. She wants revenge; she is out for blood because someone is attempting to take away her opportunities. It was delicious, and I’m glad that you liked it, and I hope the greater audience enjoyed it.
Is there a moment coming up from Episode 2 that you’re excited for people to see?
I’m excited for people to see more of the Black elite in Newport.
What’s the film or TV show that you’re recommending to everyone right now?
Well, I’m behind, but I love “Nobody Wants This” [Netflix]. I have not been able to watch all of it; we had a premiere for “The Gilded Age” and lots of things going on. But I love that show. I got to meet the whole cast at the Emmys. I’m a free advertisement for that show.
In the wake of President Trump’s historic, humiliating, crushing midterm trouncing, his most loyal followers are doing what could reasonably be expected from such a fine, upstanding bunch — variously jumping ship, backstabbing and doubling down on sycophancy and lies.
With dizzying speed, the Trump era has been upended by this democratic Democratic revolt, and not even the staunchest of MAGA supporters seem to know what to do — not even the president himself.
The big man met his defeat with unusual equanimity on Wednesday, promising to work with Democrats, who most certainly have other ideas in mind. By Thursday, the president was complaining about daylight saving time, and bragging about home improvements, offering media a tour of the ballroom construction, a peek at the emperor’s new granite, if you will. For Trump, at least, it was as if the election never happened.
But with Democrats gearing up an avalanche of investigations, those in Trump’s orbit clearly know it’s going to be a dark winter.
Let’s check in with the jumpers, the stabbers and the bottom kissers to see what they’re up to.
Sinking ship
It’s not unusual for top government officials to skedaddle after a midterm election. The two-year mark offers a somewhat elegant exit for those who have suddenly decided to spend more time with family.
So it was little surprise when Trump’s legal lapdog Harmeet Dhillon announced Thursday that she was resigning from her job as the head of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. Someone had to be first, and it doesn’t shock me it was one of the few women left in the administration.
Under her tenure, civil rights were dismantled, which is not historically what the office is for. The agency was hollowed out of the nonpartisan legal experts who made a career serving government — more than 75% of the staff left. Instead, she wielded her power to, as she proudly put it, destroy diversity, equity and inclusion — making observers such as myself wonder whether she actually understood what civil rights are.
“Harmeet Dhillon has been the most destructive, lawless, and hateful head of the Civil Rights Division in DOJ history,” said Stacey Young, founder of Justice Connection, a group that supports current and former civil servants driven to near-insanity by the lawlessness of the Trump era. Young served in the Civil Rights office herself, across the administrations of five presidents.
“After she upended the division’s mission-critical work, the civil servants who dedicated their careers to protecting vulnerable communities were instead told to target them — and more than three-quarters of the division’s lawyers left,” Young continued in a statement. “Dhillon wielded the enormous power of the Justice Department to threaten universities, state and local officials, and election workers in spurious cases that rarely won in court.”
Rarely won in court is the key part there, because for all her vitriol and energy, Dhillon mostly lost when an actual judge was involved. But CBS reported her near-perfect losing streak wasn’t what ultimately drew Trump’s ire — it was her performance on “60 Minutes.”
So we know the ship is sinking — did Dhillon jump or was she pushed? Either way, buh-bye.
The knife-wielder
Leave it to Vice President JD Vance to stab someone in the back the moment it seems convenient. In the run-up to the election, Vance doubled down on every hateful thing he could lay his hands on.
He came out in support of Vivek Ramaswamy’s smarmy ad that used his opponent’s childhood rape as ammunition. He supercharged his racist attacks on Black immigrants, claiming illegal Somali voters were going to “flood” the polls.
Then, when the blue tsunami washed all that garbage away, he posted a long missive on social media explaining how the loss had nothing to do with the economy, or gas prices, or out of control Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. It was all about Iran.
“The reason we lost is the war,” Vance wrote. “The president himself said so last night.”
That would be Pete Hegseth’s war, you know, the belligerent, pec-flexing Trump sycophant whose name has also been floated as a presidential contender, God help us all. In truth, a Hegseth run is the only possible thing that could make Vance look good at this point.
But snakes gonna slither, so Vance (who, to be fair, was never that into this war) is using the moment to subtly blame the Defense secretary, and the blow seems to have landed, with his party, and with his boss.
Asked about Vance’s take, Trump said he agreed the war caused the midterm loss, but he had “no choice.” Now, there are rumblings that Hegseth’s days are numbered.
Kissy, kissy
Hegseth, meanwhile, doubled down Thursday on his crazy he-man routine. I mean, honestly, it’s alarming that this guy is making decisions about lunch, much less war.
In a five-minute video filmed with some kind of Nixon-era filter, Hegseth rambled between sucking up to Trump, making it seem like the war is going great, personal grievance that he might be held accountable for the war, and just making weird, scary pronouncements.
Here’s three of my top picks:
“Narco-terrorists should die, not be caught and released,” he said, apparently promoting extrajudicial executions.
“This is not about me, but of course the other side, in case you’ve noticed, they’re obsessed,” he said shortly after, referring to his side, in fact, and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie’s (who has long been a thorn in Hegseth’s side) threat to impeach Hegseth if he didn’t resign.
“A disgruntled, defeated congressman, along with all his Democrat allies, has also dropped sham articles of impeachment against yours truly, just like they tried against President Trump twice,” Hegseth complained. “It’s all about the politics of personal destruction. Didn’t work against President Trump, and it won’t work with me.”
Well, we’ll see, Pete.
But what about the Dems?
Meanwhile, literally every Democrat ever was busy working on which investigations they will pursue once the new, blue Congress is sworn in.
Chief among those was California’s own Robert Garcia, the Long Beach congressman who will now be the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Garcia has been waiting for this moment for a long time, and he’s ready.
It’s “critical that we take on corruption at the White House, that we take on corruption at places like ICE and DHS,” Garcia told me, referring to the Department of Homeland Security.
And as the Democrats do that, there’s only going to be more scurrying in Trump’s top ranks.
Justin Herbert famously loves Subway subs. During his rookie season in 2020, the Chargers quarterback told GQ magazine he was “living off” the sandwiches, consuming both a Steak Philly sub and a Chicken & Bacon Ranch sub each night for dinner. He has since appeared in at least eight TV commercials for the restaurant franchise.
But the Chargers quarterback was making his own sandwiches Sunday — or at least that’s how it seemed to an opposing defender who picked off one of his passes that afternoon.
“He was throwing deli meat out there,” Rams safety Quentin Lake said this week on the “St. Brown Podcast,” apparently joining the current inclination of using sandwich-related metaphors to describe bad passes.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but like we knew we were going to get a couple [interceptions], at least one,” Lake added.
The Rams snagged two during their 24-9 victory over the Chargers. Midway through the first quarter, Lake stepped in front of a pass intended for Charlie Kolar and returned it 45 yards to the Chargers’ 19-yard line, setting up a Rams field goal for a 3-0 lead.
Late in the third quarter, Rams cornerback Trent McDuffie also got a pick in front of Kolar and returned it 26 yards to the Chargers’ 22-yard line. Two plays later, quarterback Matthew Stafford connected with receiver Puka Nacua for an 18-yard touchdown and a 24-9 lead.
Herbert completed 24 of 32 passes for 257 yards with no touchdowns. His struggles under new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniels are seen as a large factor in the Chargers’ unexpected 0-7 record.
The seventh-year quarterback has thrown for five touchdowns and a league-high 10 interceptions this year, with at least one pick in each of this season’s seven games. In 2024, Herbert finished the 17-game season with 23 touchdowns and only three interceptions.
This week wasn’t the first time this season Herbert’s passes have been described like a lunchtime menu item.
On Sept. 27, after Herbert threw a floater to then-Buffalo Bills safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, former NFL quarterback and current Fox broadcaster Tom Brady offered this on-air analysis: “Poor awareness. Poor decision. Throws him a meatball sub.”
This season, random social media users have given other quarterbacks the Subway treatment, including New England’s Drake Maye, Denver’s Bo Nix, Cleveland’s Deshawn Watson and even Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, a two-time league MVP and three-time Super Bowl champion.
Herbert told reporters on Wednesday that he hadn’t “heard anything about” Lake’s comments.
“We’re really just focused on what’s going on in this building and playing football and doing what we can and doing our best to go put our best effort out on Sunday,” Herbert said. “That’s all that really matters. Anything outside of that is out of our control.”
Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh didn’t agree with Lake’s assessment of Herbert’s performance on Sunday.
“I don’t see that,” Harbaugh said. “Everybody’s entitled to their opinion, [but] it’s not what I see.”
He added that he thought Herbert “did his job exceptionally well” against the Rams, except for “two throws he would have liked to have back.”
Sam Farmer makes his picks and predictions for Week 9 of the NFL season, with the 6-1 Bills beating the 6-1 Vikings and the Packers winning in Foxborough.
ITV bosses are said to be left scrambling to come up with ideas as This Morning faces the possibility of being off air for a second day following a power outage at the studios
This Morning could be off air for the rest of the week(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
It was first revealed by Lorraine Kelly that her show wouldn’t air due to the outage, although she explained that bosses were hopeful that normal scheduling would resume as soon as possible. However, This Morning and Loose Women were then cancelled due to the outage.
Good Morning Britain was extended by an additional half hour to fill the void. However, sources now claim that bosses behind the scenes are worried that the power issues will not be resolved in time for tomorrow’s daytime schedule.
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“It appears to be a wider area outage rather than just the studio, and it’s not an easy fix,” a source told The Sun. They added: “Daytime is worried about plans going south for the rest of the week. Lots of work and planning could go to waste.”
Earlier today, ITV addressed the scheduling issues caused by the power cut. In a statement, the network said: “Following a power cut overnight in the wider area where our Covent Garden studio is based, we are unable to broadcast Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women live today. We will return to our normal schedule as soon as possible.”
The trouble began this morning when Lorraine Kelly was the first to reveal ITV were having issues with their daytime shows. She revealed she was on the way to work when she was told there was a power outage and her show couldn’t run.
Meanwhile, Lorraine said on social media: “Hello there, I’m on my way to work, but there’s been a little bit of a hoo-ha. There’s a power outage at the studio, so my show won’t be on today. But you can still watch GMB.
“They’re going to fix it around 11 o’clockish. So, This Morning will still be on as well, just a bit later. It’s a bit of a shame. I was really looking forward to Sharleen Spiteri from Texas, but we shall reschedule, and it’ll all be fine. I will see you tomorrow!”
Although it was originally planned for This Morning to be delayed, it was subsequently replaced by best bits from past episodes of This Morning. Loose Women was also completely off air.
Fans were left fuming by the outage, and had hoped it would be fixed in time for both This Morning and Loose Women but that wasn’t the case. “Ahh, the gremlins have got in! #ThisMorning,” one fan wrote, as another added: “@itv all over the place today.. no #lorraine cutting #gmb off.”
A look at two of this week’s top high school football games in the Southland:
Friday
Gardena Serra (5-5) at Palos Verdes (9-1), 7 p.m. Somehow Serra upset Sherman Oaks Notre Dame last week, then won a coin flip to finish in third place in the Mission League. The reward is a rematch against a Palos Verdes team it lost to 17-14 in the season opener on Aug. 14. All eyes will be on AJ McBean, the star Serra running who played sparingly in league play because of a hamstring injury. Will he play? Serra will be doing everything possible to make sure the duo of Ryan Rakowski and Jalen Flowers stays quiet. The pick: Palos Verdes.
Sun Valley Poly (9-1) at Marshall (10-0), 2 p.m. Two league champions meet in a City Section Division 1 opener. Marshall quarterback Nathaniel Cadet left its win over Eagle Rock with a shoulder injury and will try to get back into the lineup. Poly won the East Valley League title, and coach Boo Williams is hoping his team’s speed advantage helps. The pick: Marshall.
DID you know that the UK’s oldest carnival dates back nearly 180 years – and has one of Europe’s biggest float processions?
Bridgwater Carnival first started in 1847, taking place on the first Saturday of November.
Bridgwater Carnival is a tradition that dates back to the 1800sSource: AlamyIt’s a huge celebration with parades, floats, marching bands and performersSource: Alamy
The carnival – which is free to attend – is a full-day celebration starting at 10.30am with circus performances, live bands, dances and fairground rides.
These will be held at spots across the town like the High Street, Cornhill Stage and at St Mary’s Church.
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This part ends at 6pm, before the two-hour long procession then start.
Down the main streets are huge parades where locals can show off their illuminated floats and there will be marching bands too.
Afterwards, there’s a tradition called ‘squibbling’ where around 150 people line up along the roads carrying a long pole which holds a large firework.
All at once, these are set off with the fireworks lighting up the sky.
It’s expected that 150,000 people will descend on the town this year to see the celebrations.
One visitor who previously attended said: “All of the Somerset carnivals are magical, however Bridgwater is the largest and most spectacular. “
Another added: “I wish my own home town could put on such a display.”
While the event is free, it is encouraged to ask for donations as it’s run by volunteers.
It’s completely free for visitors to attendSource: Alamy
The origin of the Bonfire Night celebrations in Bridgwater can be traced back to the year of the foiled Gunpowder plot in 1605.
Bridgwater celebrated heavily as most of its residents at the time were protestant.
However, it wasn’t until later on in 1847 when the celebrations turned into a carnival by the Victorians who even made their own squibs fireworks.
If you want something even grander to visit this weekend, the world’s largest bonfire night with 40,000 visitors is set to be even more popular this year and it starts tomorrow.
Squibbing is a firework tradition at the end of the nightSource: Alamy
Tuesday’s results weren’t just a repudiation of Trump or MAGA, but a rejection of the white nationalism that has crept from margins to mainstream over the past decade.
Weeks after Sean “Diddy” Combs was hospitalized for a head injury suffered while serving time in federal prison, his release date has moved up.
The disgraced music and alcohol mogul is now set to be released on Feb. 6, 2028, nearly a month sooner than his projected release date last month, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate database. Combs was sentenced in October 2025 to more than four years in prison following his July conviction for transporting prostitutes across state lines for drug-fueled sex parties known as “freak-offs.”
The release date for Combs has changed multiple times since his conviction, and although he was initially projected to be freed in June 2028, the embattled producer’s release date has been moved forward and back, as dates frequently change due to a variety of factors.
Combs, 56, was reportedly placed in solitary confinement in late September following an NBC News report that he allegedly obtained a contraband cellphone, had access to a tablet that had been “jailbroken” to remove various restrictions and was stashing booze, often called pruno or toilet wine. The report also detailed ways in which Combs was allegedly living it up on the inside and receiving massages and special meals.
In October, after his head injury, the circumstances of which are unclear, he was transferred out of Fort Dix, a low-security federal prison in New Jersey, to another low-security prison, FCI Allenwood in Pennsylvania, where he is now an inmate in the general population.
“The continued scrutiny of every mundane detail of Sean Combs’s life in prison has reached the point where the media characterizes ordinary prison life as news,” a spokesperson for Combs said in a statement to NBC News. “The only real news is that Sean continues to serve his sentence while awaiting the court’s decision on his appeal.”
Times staff writers Alexandra Del Rosario and Andrea Flores contributed to this report.
Welcome back to The Times’ Lakers newsletter, where, no, we did not get a Luka Doncic bobblehead.
Fans and even some Lakers players walked away with the coveted statuettes after the Lakers’ win over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday. Sandro Mamukelashvili said he would display his in his office next to bobbleheads of former teammates Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobli.
With Doncic eavesdropping on his postgame interview Sunday, Jarred Vanderbilt said he didn’t need a bobblehead.
“I don’t want to see no more Luka,” Vanderbilt said minutes after Doncic walked out of the locker room.
If the beginning of the season is any indication, we’ll all be seeing more Luka.
All things Lakers, all the time.
Get all the Lakers news you need in Thuc Nhi Nguyen’s weekly newsletter.
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Luka’s scoring magic
When half-court isn’t hard enough, Luka Doncic goes for the full-court heave. When a traditional three-pointer is a bore, he’ll try a one-handed, underhand three instead. Doncic keeps pushing the ball higher and higher on trick shots that are approaching the rafters before they ultimately drop softly through the net. And with Doncic, they almost always do.
“He’s done it so many times now,” Lakers forward Matisse Thybulle said of Doncic’s array of trick shots, “that [you] just kind of chalk it up to that’s just Luka.”
Doncic is not only just up to his old scoring tricks, he’s made them even better. After leading the league in scoring last year, Doncic is averaging 38.3 points per game through the first two weeks. And that’s despite what he deemed a “terrible” start while he was still trying to find his offensive rhythm.
“We live on a spaceship and we’re going at the speed of light at all times when he’s on the court,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said Sunday after Doncic scored 45 points with six assists in a “supernova” performance that still felt “normal” enough to get overshadowed by his 15 defensive rebounds and five steals.
In his last five games, Doncic is averaging 43.4 points and 8.6 assists on 53.2% shooting from the field and 44.7% from three. His five consecutive games with 35 or more points matches the longest such streak for a Lakers player since Kobe Bryant averaged 53.6 points across a five-game heater in March 2007.
The Lakers (6-2) celebrated the Slovenian superstar’s scoring prowess Sunday with a bobblehead giveaway. The miniature statue showed Doncic shooting a one-legged fadeaway jumper, one of his classic shots.
Doncic’s jump shot has become his calling card while turning into one of the league’s most dangerous scorers. Beginning in the 2023-24 season when Doncic won his first scoring title, at least 35.3% of his field-goal attempts each year have been from three. He never attempted more than 33.2% of his shots from beyond the arc during an NBA season prior to that year. The uptick in attempts has closed the gap between how many points he’s scoring from two compared to points off three-pointers, and this season, the hot-shooting Doncic is scoring more on threes than twos. Through his first six games, Doncic scored 66 points on twos and 105 on threes. His 5.8 made threes and 13.5 three-point attempts per game both lead the league. In the small sample size, he’s shooting a career-best 43.2% from three.
(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)
For those who have known Doncic through different phases of his career, watching this dominant scorer emerge feels like watching a Pokémon evolve.
“He just polished a lot of his offensive weapons, let’s say,” Doncic’s longtime Spanish agent Quique Villalobos said. “If you ask me what is different from Luka in Europe than Luka in the NBA, Luka in the NBA is scoring much more.”
The 18-year-old Doncic won EuroLeague MVP averaging 16 points, 4.3 assists and 4.8 rebounds. Even considering that EuroLeague games are 40 minutes compared to the NBA’s 48, Doncic’s 22.2 points per 36 minutes during his final EuroLeague season is still less than his NBA rookie rate of 23.7 points per 36 minutes.
Different rules also help NBA players stuff box scores. The NBA court is bigger (94 feet by 50 feet compared to 91.86 feet by 49.21 feet in Europe) allowing more space to move. Doncic knows he can take advantage of the NBA’s defensive three-seconds violation by timing his attacks when the center leaves the paint. Doncic’s pacing remains one of his sharpest scoring weapons.
“I would say his patience,” Lakers guard Collin Sexton said of what makes Doncic such a prolific scorer. “And really not be able to be sped up at times. When you’re not able to be sped up, you’re able to control the game at your speed and do what you want to, no matter what the defense is doing.”
Doncic moves at a slow pace, but is creating loud moments. He is becoming ubiquitous around Crypto.com Arena. The full-page ad he bought in The Times for the season opener was blown up to more than six feet tall and displayed on the concourse at a recent game. Lakers girls wore his No. 77 jersey during a performance on his bobblehead night. And the sight of him hitting a contested step-back jumper will live in the nightmares of defenders all season.
New rules are a flop
As gracefully as a 40-year-old can manage, Al Horford attempted to spin across the lane. The Golden State Warriors’ center stepped on Vanderbilt’s foot and the Lakers’ forward fell backward. Vanderbilt looked at referees in disbelief when he was called for a flop.
The NBA’s new flopping emphasis has been a headache for players and coaches as they struggle to understand how referees will interpret the rules. While offensive players are often chastised for flopping in an attempt to get free throws, every clip in the NBA’s four-minute video about flopping focused on defensive players. During the video shown to players and coaches, the NBA’s head of referee development and training Monty McCutchen emphasizes moments where the defenders’ reactions are “theatrical and excessive” and are “in a manner inconsistent with the contact.”
When asked about the new emphasis from referees, Redick echoed sentiments shared by Minnesota coach Chris Finch last week, saying the NBA’s focus on defensive flopping doesn’t align with what the goal should be.
“We all recognized the fans want the offensive players to stop flopping, and all of our flopping fouls have been defensive,” Redick told reporters in San Francisco. “The reality for the officials [is] each crew is so different and what they interpret is so different.”
Flopping is one of the NBA’s four points of emphasis this season. It may conflict with another area of focus, which involves cracking down on offensive players forcefully using their off-arm to create separation. Offensive players get a win with the emphasis on defensive flopping while the defense is supposed to get the advantage if referees are legislating off-arm push-offs out of the game.
The two sides are then left asking for different things on the same play such as the Warriors’ Brandin Podziemski pleading for the foul while Austin Reaves motioned for a flop with his arms extended and palms up after the two collided on an in-bounds play last Friday.
Neither player got what they asked for.
On tap
Wednesday at Kings (1-6), 7 p.m. PST
The Kings finally won a game, taking down Dallas for their first win of the year Monday. Rookie guard Darius Acuff Jr. isn’t shy in his first NBA games: he is second in the NBA in field goal attempts per game with 23.6. He is averaging 26.1 points per game.
Friday vs. Trail Blazers (5-1), 7 p.m. PST
The Lakers lost to the Trail Blazers last week but Portland is already a different team. Ja Morant will be out for at least most of November after he suffered a grade 2 hamstring injury on Oct. 29. The dynamic guard will be out for four to six weeks.
Sunday at Pistons (6-1), 3 p.m. PST
The Pistons have impressive early season wins over Boston and Philadelphia despite an injury to center Jalen Duren. The center who was at the center of an offseason contract feud was sidelined for at least two weeks with a hamstring injury, the team announced Oct. 25.
Monday at Atlanta (4-4), 4 p.m. PST
Forward Jalen Johnson is backing up his first career All-Star selection and a third-team All-NBA honor by leading the Hawks with 18.1 points, nine rebounds and 7.9 assists this season.
Favorite thing I ate this week
Lime and cilantro marinated bean salad.
(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)
I somehow got into the bean evangelist corner of the internet and now I’m a believer. I’ve been on the fibermaxxing routine with meal-prepped bean salads, including this cilantro lime find from Pinterest. The dressing is sweet, savory (from a tablespoon of miso paste), tangy and herby and it all came together in 20 minutes. It would have been even faster if I didn’t accidentally spill an entire bowl of marinated red onions on the floor during assembly.
