Weird Week in Hoops: Kawhi's jokes, Lil Baby's bricks, and Pepe's pink slip

Every Sunday, theScore's most discerning minds highlight the week's lighter moments from around the basketball universe. Here's what caught our eyes this week.

Be warned: Weird Week contains coarse content. Prolonged exposure may cause loss of vision, tennis elbow, hornblower's syndrome, and/or equine body dysmorphia.

Rockets reinvent musical chairs

The injury-depleted Rockets suffered a 15th straight defeat on Friday against Utah, and naturally, Stephen Silas' bench was sparse. The nine Rockets who played amount to a total cap hit of $8.4 million, which is less than what Utah's seventh-highest-paid player, Royce O'Neale, makes in a year ($8.5 million).

Houston's 2020-21 season is starting to resemble the NBA version of the family photo from "Back to the Future." Quick, somebody photoshop Bernie Sanders on the bench, if that's still a thing people do.

Cartoon skunk stinks it up in Space Jam sequel

Animated skunk Pepe Le Pew's scenes in the forthcoming "Space Jam" reprisal ended up on the cutting room floor. The character's removal from the film reportedly has nothing to do with the 2019 piece by The New York Times' Charles Blow that claims Pepe "normalized rape culture."

Instead, it turns out the scene, which depicts Pepe hitting on a female character played by actress Greice Santo, was cut as part of a directorial change. According to Deadline, the scene involves an unwanted physical advance by Pepe before Santo's character slaps Pepe in response. Sounds like a smart decision on the part of director Malcolm D. Lee.

Lil Baby: Brick layer

Atlanta wordsmith Lil Baby participated in an All-Star Weekend game of two-on-two with fellow rappers 2 Chainz, Quavo, and Jack Harlow. Quavo and Harlow made light work of Baby and Chainz, and it's easy to see why considering the former's efforts from the free-throw line.

To Lil Baby's credit, the event raised money for local charities. Also, he's not a professional basketball player. That brings us to Dwight Howard, who is a professional basketball player despite his best efforts to make it seem otherwise. This was Howard on Friday against the Wizards:

Bring back bully ball

Players today have no idea how easy they've got it. Don't believe us? Here's archival footage of the "Bad Boy" Pistons squaring off against Jordan's Bulls in the 1990 Eastern Conference finals:

Ah, yes, basketball, just as Dr. Naismith intended it to be played.

[TOP SECRET] Update on 'CLAW' project

Director Smith, find enclosed the latest on the cyborg-like autonomous weapon experiment.

Unit name: Kawhi Leonard
Build: 2011
Serial No.: 2
Field test:

Notes: Pattern recognition software working as intended.
Status: Fully operational.

Burn after reading.

Joker basks in the Greek Freak's glory

Every group project has that one person who takes an equal share of the credit after letting someone else do most of the heavy lifting.

After last Sunday's All-Star Game, Nikola Jokic was that guy, proudly hamming it up with the MVP trophy before its rightful owner, Giannis Antetokounmpo, came to take it back. Pay attention to the background:

Always new heights, depths in collegiate hoops

Sure, being one of the tallest people on the planet means a lifetime of uncomfortable transit, ill-fitting pants, and immensely clever people stopping to ask you how the weather is approximately 1.5 feet above their own heads.

However, there are a few perks - most of them related to basketball, to be honest.

"The weather up here is fine, Gary; how's not being able to fetch your son's frisbee off the roof of the garage treating you down there? Does that make you proud, Gary?"

Speaking of NCAA action ...

Only Dave Pasch knows what the hell his Pac-12 broadcast partner Bill Walton was doing with the microphone during this recent conference tourney tilt:

And here's longtime broadcaster and octogenarian Dick Vitale mistaking an air ball for a clutch bucket from beyond the arc by Tennessee:

While we're on the topic of NCAA hoops, the collegiate ranks are littered with former NBA vets enjoying varying degrees of success as coaches like Juwan Howard, Patrick Ewing, Penny Hardaway, and others.

We'd be remiss if we didn't mention former 76ers guard and ex-interim Suns coach Lindsey Hunter, who led Mississippi Valley State to a 2-22 record this year. Mississippi Valley State ranks 347th in offensive rating and 346th in defensive rating (out of 347 teams). Is that good?

Come back next Sunday for more oddities, inanities, and obscenities from the wonderful world of basketball - and remember to send your nominations and submissions to andrew.potter@thescore.com.