BMW’s wild “X7 Pick-Up” gives us an intriguing look at what would be the first-ever Bimmer pickup truck. 

Beginning with the flagship X7 SUV, engineers in training at the German marque’s vocational school swapped out the third row of seating in favor of a teakwood-paneled flatbed that extends the body to 79 inches long with the tailgate down. 

It’s pictured hauling a BMW F 850 GS dirt bike, which suggests that the concept is meant to be taken seriously as an off-roader, despite what appears to be a seriously shallow amount of ground clearance. 

The X7 Pick-Up also inherited the production model’s 340-horsepower, 3.0-liter straight-six and some luxurious touches, including parapet elements handgrips and trim strips that are made from laser-cut pressure parts. 

Without actually seeing the five-person cabin, we can imagine that it boasts the 2019 X7’s abundance of leather, 12.3-inch infotainment screen and heated/cooled cupholders. 

Even the navy blue paint coat, which BMW says is meant to develop “extra depth when exposed to sunlight,” was inspired by the sophisticated veneers found in the world of yachts. 

If it ever gets made, the Mercedes-Benz X-Class will finally have some serious competition from BMW in the ultra-luxury pick-up space. 

As NBA Free Agency crests, every fan can only help but wonder, “What if?”

The NBA Is the What-If league for a few reasons. It’s much more fluid, free-wheeling, and player-centric than the other leagues, but by rule and tradition. 

The NFL is much more sclerotic; where coaches and schemes have a bigger impact than do individual players who can create their own offense. A single baseball player cannot possibly have the impact of a top-tier NBA star. 

As the editor of Upon Further Review: The Greatest What-Ifs in Sports History, I’ve been reflecting on the What-Ifs of this NBA season, and ranking some of the current conundrums alongside some of the greatest What-If’s of all time
.

5. What if the current Lakers and Clippers don’t win immediately?

This is not a re-writing of history, but an imagining of a quite possible scenario. 

The Lakers feature a big man who needs the ball and a power forward who likes to dominate the ball. They seem to lack a third great option. Furthermore the LeBron James of Laker vintage is a great player, for sure, just not clearly one of the two or three best in the world. Given how much the Lakers traded to acquire Davis a playoff flame-out before the finals could spell long-term trouble.

But their situation is nothing compared to the Clippers, which gave up the most valuable trove of draft picks to acquire Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. The two represent about $70 million in salary, good for nearly two-thirds of the NBA salary cap of $109 million per franchise.

Leonard and George both showed a lot of grit battling injuries last year, George undergoing surgery on each shoulder this off season and Leonard missing 95 regular season games over the past two seasons. The Clippers could be great or a disaster, owing to the vagaries of shoulders and quadriceps.

4. What if Bernard King had not blown out his knee?

The Knicks were a terrible team with one great, injured player when they won the first pick in the 1985 lottery. 

This means that with Patrick Ewing in the front court and Bernard King in the prime of his career on the wing, the first Knicks championship since 1973 would have been much more likely. 

They’d have had a brief window before Michael Jordan blossomed into greatness. And then even with the Bulls helmed by Jordan, the Knicks would have represented stiff competition in the East.

3. What if David Stern had allowed Chris Paul to be traded to the Lakers?

Of all the “What-If” scenarios, this is the easiest to fathom. The moment that David Stern wielded his commissioner’s veto was a tense one in the NBA. 

In 2011 the league was just emerging from a damaging lockout and the commissioner was sensitive to what would soon become the reality in the NBA; player-empowered super teams. 

Stern couldn’t know this then, or was too cautious and owner-oriented to trust the players to have such sway, so he interceded thwarting a Laker core of Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Andrew Bynum, and later, through acquisition, Dwight Howard. 

The selfless Paul smooths things out, keeps Howard engaged, and, quite possibly, keeps Bryant from being injured via over use. It’s intriguing and quite possible.

2. What if Bill Walton’s knees had held out?

In a chapter in Upon Further Review, Bob Ryan, Basketball Hall of Fame award-winning sportswriter considers a world with the big red head in possession of a pair of big healthy patellas.

A Portland dynasty is not hard to fathom. Ryan, who interviewed Bill Walton for his input in the story, contends that the Trail Blazers would have beaten the Bullets in 1978, Philadelphia in 1979, all manner of Lakers and Celtics for years to come.

1. What if Klay Thompson or Kevin Durant had avoided injury in the 2019 Finals?

I didn’t even want to posit a “What-If” of BOTH the Warriors superstars remaining uninjured, but even one could have made a huge difference to the NBA off-season. 

If one of the two players stay healthy, AND the Warriors win, it could definitely have given Kawhi Leonard more of an incentive to stay in Toronto. 

While The Warriors probably do still acquire D’Angelo Russel, they would be far more incentivized to flip him sooner rather than later, possibly during the current off-season. Who knows what piece the Warriors get back, but remember, their pre-Durant core did win an NBA championship and set a regular-season wins record. 

Thinking about having them as a Western Conference foe might have affected Anthony Davis’ desire to play with the Lakers and Leonard’s wish to position himself on the Clippers.

Mike Pesca hosts the daily podcast, The Gist. For ten years he reported for NPR, where he primarily covered sports. His work has been featured on This American Life, Radiolab, Inside the NFL, Baseball Prospectus and Basketball Prospectus. 

Let’s be honest: we all need to be taking care of ourselves better, and everyone knows it. Thankfully, an intrepid Reddit user asked this extremely important question: Doctors of Reddit, what is something that you wish everyone knew about their body? The thread absolutely blew up with over 55,000 comments, and here’s a choice selection of advice to help you live your healthiest life.

1. “You often will feel normal even with high blood pressure. It’s often found incidentally. So don’t wait until it gives you symptoms you don’t want to go through.”
–doctor_d9

2. “Not exercising is worse than smoking, diabetes, or coronary artery disease.”
–z3roTO60

3. “Please sleep more. 7 hours minimum, preferably 7.5-8. Sleep deprivation affects damn near everything head to toe: cardiovascular issues, mood dysfunction, dementia, cognitive slowing, and much more. I tell my patients that sleep is life.”
–MTV_WasMyBabysitter

4. “Your mental health is just as important as your physical health.”
–_Kofiko 

5. “Prevention is becoming more and more important in medicine, and treating a disease in its early stages is a lot better than catching it late.”
–manlikerealities

6. “Your kidneys and liver cheerfully do all the toxin elimination you’ll ever need. Cleanses and other ‘detoxifying’ products are bullshit and a waste of money. The people who sell them are predators who only care about your money becoming theirs.”
–taRxheel

7. “Type 2 Diabetes is more serious than most people realize. I work as a doctor in hemodialysis and most of them are due to diabetic nephropathy. It also affects your eyes nerves immune system etc. Simple life changes can help you but no one seems to care. I even lost 9 kg myself because I had a family history of diabetes and to be healthy.”
–kingofneverland

8. “That they only have one life and their behavior now (drinking, smoking, not taking medicines, or whatever…) will impact their life quality and expectancy… sounds logical, but very few patients really realize it…”
–Clamoxyl

9. “Drink water.”
–Black_parader115

10. “The frequency of bowel movements can range from every 3 days to 3 times per day and be considered normal. Having 3 soft stools per day does not mean you have chronic diarrhea.”
–HarbingerKing

11. “Take care of your feet….check your feet regularly to make sure they’re clean, dry, and haven’t started developing any sores. Even small sores and go straight to the bone. If the infection goes to the bone, chances are we are going to cut your foot off. I have helped prep about half a dozen people just this week for foot amputations.”
–stahpgoaway

12. “Many simpler diseases in the body can be compared to a car. When you don’t get regular checkups and take regular care, it’s not like you’ll notice something bad happening right away. Just like how you won’t notice a missed oil change a couple thousand miles later. But diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, alcohol dependence, etc, they all sneak up on you. Just like how eventually, that engine won’t run as smooth.”
–z3roTO60

13. “There is a wide range of ‘normal’. Don’t be embarrassed by your body….We have generally heard it all before, and trust me, we have (nearly always) seen it all before. Maybe you have something that has been bothering you for ages, but you were too scared or embarrassed to ask about it … Just ask!…There are no stupid questions, so ask away.”
–frangipani_c

14. “Ejaculating blood happens to most people at least once in their lives and in 99% of cases it resolves without taking any action within a week. It doesn’t even warrant a doctor visit. Peeing blood (for both sexes) is a serious medical emergency and you should immediately go to the ER. People think it’s the other way around.”

–StardustDoc

15. “How to check for skin cancer. If you see any moles or anything that are:

A – asymmetrical B – border (odd borders, like they’re jagged or something) C – Colour (different colours) D – Diameter (grows) E – Evolve (Well, evolves).

“Go get it checked out. It might be skin cancer.”
–evgueni72

Welcome to Second Life, a podcast spotlighting successful women who’ve made major career changes—and fearlessly mastered the pivot. Hosted by Hillary Kerr, co-founder and chief content officer at Who What Wear, each episode will give you a direct line to women who are game changers in their fields. Subscribe to Second Life on iTunes, and stay tuned. We’ll be releasing new episodes on Mondays.

Los Angeles has seen its fair share of fitness crazes take off over the years, but few have a reputation for being as fun, effective, and successful as LEKFit. Founded by celebrity fitness instructor Lauren Kleban in 2016, LEKFit is a musically driven, dance-based, full-body workout consisting of two class types: Bounce (utilizing trampolines) and Sculpt (utilizing mats). (And if you’re not in the L.A. area, digital classes can be streamed for $20 a month.)

As is always the case with Second Life, Kleban didn’t initially set out to create L.A.’s next big fitness obsession. She started dancing at a young age but ended up leaving that path to move up the ranks at Abercrombie & Fitch. Eventually, Kleban was figuratively bitten by the dance bug again when she started taking burlesque dance classes. She moved to Las Vegas to pursue her passion for dance again, working as a showgirl, which lead to choreographing shows.

Kleban’s next move was to Los Angeles, where she worked in nightlife and danced professionally before eventually teaching classes and developing her signature Bounce class. The first incarnation of LEKFit, which Kleban self-funded, was out of her garage. Now, just three years later, she’s opening a 6000-square-foot flagship space this summer, boasts a devoted client base (which includes celebrities like Busy Philipps and Emmy Rossum), and has plans for expansion.

Head to iTunes to subscribe to Second Life and listen to this episode to hear all about Kleban’s riveting career path. Scroll below to get a glimpse into the LEKFit world.

Next, the best career advice from the founder of Paige.