Season 12 of Basketball Wives premiered this week with new cast members, new tensions between longtime friends Evelyn Lozada and Jennifer Williams, and new allegations of people being scammed by Jennifer’s new husband.
OG cast members Jackie Christie, Brandi Maxiell, and Brittany Renner also returned for the new season, which debuted on May 5.
Jackie welcomed her daughter Chantel Christie-Jeffries to the cast. Chantel is married to an NBA player and moved into the same building as her mom, but trouble already appeared to be brewing between mother and daughter when Chantel refused to give Jackie a key to her home.
Related: ‘Basketball Wives’ Star Jennifer Williams Gets Real on Red Carpet About Her Marriage (Video)
Other new players this season include beauty mogul Ming Lee and her former partner, WNBA star Ty Young.
Part of the episode focused on Brittany’s spiritual awakening.
“Being Muslim was never on my Bingo card,” she said. “I was going through a lot of different hardships and there were times when I was praying multiple times a day for God to change my situation, and low and behold, it happened.”
The story then shifted back to Jennifer and her marriage to Christian Gold. The two exchanged vows in September 2024, during an intimate ceremony in Paris. Jennifer said in the premiere, no one from the cast attended her wedding.
That may be because last season the other women urged her not to marry Christian, especially after he admitted he’d been jailed for grand theft auto. Then in a twist, he was arrested a week before the wedding, for violating his probation on a false imprisonment conviction.
Following his arrest, the judge in the case allowed him to serve two days before traveling to France for the wedding, but right after the ceremony, he had to return to DeKalb County, Georgia, to serve out the rest of his 15-day sentence.
On the Basketball Wives premiere, producers played an audio recording from last season when Evelyn told a private investigator about Jennifer: “Her ex-boyfriend scammed her, then she meets this guy. She doesn’t have street smarts. I worry about her marrying him.”
The recording clearly upset Jennifer. She told Christian the situation was “super wack.”
“I have known Evelyn almost 25 years now. When I’ve known you for that long, and that’s how you address something, I don’t respect that,” Jennifer said in a confessional during the premiere.
The video later cut to Christian returning to Los Angeles after serving his sentence in Georgia. Jennifer picked him up in a Rolls-Royce SUV.
Evelyn had a videocall with her ex-boyfriend Carl Crawford’s cousin. The woman alleged Christian scammed her out of $1,500. The woman said she didn’t really understand how his bitcoin trading program worked, but she trusted Christian after seeing him online with Jennifer.
The woman said Christian allegedly offered a lifetime membership to his investment program for $1,500. After sending in the money via Cash App, the woman said she never heard from him again. She became frustrated as she watched Christian and Jennifer showing off their wealth on social media. The woman told Evelyn she was “robbed.”
Christian dismissed the woman’s claims and suggested $1,500 is nothing in his world. “I would never risk my reputation and my integrity and my character for $1,500,” he said.
Near the end of the episode, Jackie hosted a Friendsgiving dinner for the group, and the ladies got a few laughs over Jackie’s terrible cooking.
Things got serious when the subject turned to Jennifer’s marriage.
“Seeing Jennifer, I’m hoping that we can have an amicable conversation, but I also feel like Jennifer needs to know what is going on with Christian,” Evelyn said in a confessional. “I’m always gonna have my receipts and I printed everything out so Jennifer can see it for herself.”
At the table, Evelyn brought up Carl’s cousin and other people who said they were scammed. Jennifer told Evelyn Christian is a day trader and sometimes there are losses. But Evelyn countered Christian’s been ripping people off and she has receipts.
“I’m not interested in it,” Jennifer said calmly.
“The lady that’s on disability with $30,000? You don’t care about these people?” Evelyn asked.
Brandi stepped in and asked, “Jennifer how do you feel about this? Jen, do you care?” Jennifer deflected and snapped at Brandi. She said she didn’t want to hear it and walked out.
Chantel said she was confused. Evelyn told her, “It’s kind of like a Ponzi scheme, whatever he’s got going on.”
Jennifer shouted from the stairwell, “Stop talking about Christian!”
Evelyn shot back, “Tell your man to stop stealing money, stop being a f–ing thief!”
An exasperated Jackie said: “I’m gonna pray for this.”
Basketball Wives airs Mondays at 8/7c on VH1. Watch a video below of the cast attending the Los Angeles season 12 red carpet event and Jennifer sharing her thoughts about Evelyn.
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