In this day of constant camera presence and the ubiquity of the internet and social media, one of the celebrity archetypes of decades past, the sort who keeps extreme privacy with their home life, is rather difficult to pull off. There are those who still manage to go under the radar, like English singer Adele. When she hosted “Saturday Night Live” in October 2020 it was her first TV appearance in four years, and she took the occasion to plug her in-progress fourth studio album. Beyond that, Adele mostly kept to social media to drop hints on her activities, until she made a public appearance at the ongoing NBA Finals.

According to Entertainment Tonight, Adele actually took time to be seen by lots of people when she showed up at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona this past Saturday, July 17. The occasion: Game 5 of the 2020-21 NBA Finals between home team Phoenix Suns and the Milwaukee Bucks. Dressed in a patterned coat over plain black clothes and heels with matching black facemask, Adele looked to be enjoying the proceedings from courtside. Also enjoying are the photographers who took plenty of snapshots, especially after seeing who the English power diva was sitting beside with.

Quite noticeable in the seat to Adele’s left while she was cheering the Suns (waving an orange towel to boot), was Rich Paul, sports agent to the “King” LeBron James. There has been idle speculation that the two were seeing each other, with ESPN announcer Brian Windhorst actually saying so in a podcast following the game. At age 39, Paul is no slouch at making money ($46 million from $1 billion in active major sporting deals) comparable to the 33-year-old Grammy-winning songstress with three best-selling albums and multiple chart-topping hits like “Rolling in the Deep.”

Adele’s little outside trip also called to attention the significant progress she has been making towards losing weight. It also reignited speculation on the fourth album she promised during “SNL” last year. The last word on it was from her friend and fellow Brit, comedian Alan Carr, who told in a January interview that he got to listen to some of Adele’s new tracks and described them as amazing. Meanwhile, the Bucks-Sun Game 5 NBA Finals clash also attracted other celebrity fans to the court, one notable, Vanessa Hudgens of “High School Musical” fame, was actually on board to sing the national anthem that evening. Milwaukee won 123-119, and leads the series 3-2 over Phoenix.

Image courtesy of Yahoo News

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