LOS ANGELES (AP) — Puka Nacua says he is thinking less about his contract situation with the Los Angeles Rams these days and more about how to be a good father, friend and teammate after his eventful offseason.
The Rams' All-Pro receiver gave some details about the changes in his life over the past several months after the Rams' organized team activities Thursday.
Nacua hadn't spoken at length publicly since he spent time in a holistic rehabilitation facility and was sued for allegedly biting a woman and making an antisemitic statement on New Year's Eve.
“I feel like I’ve learned is it’s OK to ask for support,” Nacua said.
Nacua described his time in rehab as “a short stint,” and he hasn't missed any offseason workouts heading into his fourth season with the Rams.
But the two-time Pro Bowl selection also says he has worked with a team therapist and attended unspecified weekly meetings in recent months, and he is trying to improve the structure of his day-to-day life.
“Little did I know that even just writing in a journal, as simple as that, and finding ways to express some of the things I have near and dear to my heart ... it’s been a great improvement in my life,” Nacua said.
Nacua entered the rehab facility early in the offseason, apparently before he was sued in March by a woman who claims he made an antisemitic statement and bit her on the shoulder. Plaintiff Madison Atiabi also claims Nacua bit her friend’s thumb during a night of partying.
Nacua also issued a public apology last December after he performed a gesture that plays upon antisemitic tropes while appearing on an internet livestream. He also made sharply critical comments against NFL officials on social media.
Nacua turns 25 years old on Friday, and the prolific receiver says he has turned a corner in his off-the-field life. His son was born last October, shortly before trouble started for Nacua off the field during his wildly prolific season for the Rams, who reached the NFC championship game. Nacua led the NFL with 129 catches and ranked second with 1,715 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns, earning unanimous All-Pro honors.
“I have a young son, and I think of the things that I have the opportunity to share with him, and the great things that I’ve been able to accomplish, and to enjoy those moments, but also to teach him in some of the mistakes I’ve made,” Nacua said. “There’s an opportunity for him to learn before some of those wrong decisions can be made.”
Nacua will be at the center of the Rams' passing game this fall alongside Davante Adams and NFL MVP Matthew Stafford, but Nacua is also entering the final year of his rookie contract.
Nacua and the Rams have not yet reached an agreement on a long-term contract extension, although general manager Les Snead has a history of finalizing big deals shortly before the start of training camp.
When asked if he could envision playing in 2026 without an extension, Nacua made it clear he leaves that side of his life up to his agent.
“I haven’t really thought about it,” Nacua said. "I enjoy playing football. It’s been the biggest dream come true. So to be out here, and play for this organization specifically, has been awesome. I couldn’t imagine myself playing anywhere else, but it’s been fun to go out here and be around these guys, and hopefully let all those things handle themselves.”
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FILE - Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua warms up before an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers, Nov. 30, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Rusty Jones, File)
Days after the state’s primary, California voters are in a familiar position -- waiting to find out which candidates will go on to the general election in their most high-profile races, for governor and Los Angeles mayor.
It’s not surprising those have yet to be resolved, along with several closely contested congressional races, because the state routinely takes days, or even weeks, to fully tally races. Nor is it unusual for President Donald Trump to complain about the pace of the count and allege fraud, as he did Thursday. It’s something he’s done repeatedly in the past.
What was unusual was that Trump announced that his Department of Justice was investigating the count: “Why the vote counting DELAY???,” the president posted on his social media account.
He suggested that the state's Democrats were somehow cheating so two candidates he favors — Republican Steve Hilton in the governor's race and Spencer Pratt in the nonpartisan mayor's race — would be bumped from the top two slots and therefore ineligible for the November general election.
“You see what’s happening in California, they’re rigging the election," he told reporters during an Oval Office gathering Thursday.
Trump's posts prompted a response from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose press office posted a clip of a CNN video explaining how the nation’s most populous state prioritizes accuracy and accessibility over speed, drawing out the count.
“For the record: we wish the votes were counted faster, too,” Newsom’s office posted.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles declined to comment about whether it was investigating the ballot counting.
The law in California practically mandates a drawn-out count. Ballots are mailed to every eligible voter — some 23 million of them — and the state has permissive rules for returning them. They will be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and arrive at an election office within seven days.
Only after the polls have closed and most of the country has gone to sleep can local election workers begin the lengthy process of verifying the legitimacy of the late-arriving mail ballots and then start to tabulate them.
If a voters' signature on the ballot envelope doesn't match what's on file, election officials are required to give those voters a chance to come in and prove their identity so the ballot will count, delaying a final tally further.
“We might not like how California administers its elections (and I don’t),” wrote Stephen Richer a former Republican election official in Maricopa County, Arizona, on the social platform X. “But that doesn’t make it fraud.”
Last year, Newsom signed a bill requiring the vote count to be completed within 13 days, rather than the previous 30 days. To get an extension, counties must inform the Secretary of State's Office that they have a reason for a delay.
That's not quick enough for the president: “The Dumocrats are at it again!” the president wrote on his social media platform. “They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS.”
State Assemblymember Marc Berman, a Democrat who wrote the bill to accelerate ballot counting, said Trump’s comments were disappointing and “a lie.”
“While Trump is laser focused on lying about our elections and undermining voters’ faith in our democracy, so that Republicans can then try to pass policies like Voter ID laws that make it harder for people to vote, our priority is to make sure that every validly cast ballot is counted,” he said in a statement.
Some experts warned that the count from Tuesday's primary might take even longer than after previous elections.
“What compounds things this time around is that Democrats have been holding on to their ballots,” said Rick Hasen, a UCLA law professor.
The state's millions of Democrats this year were exceptionally slow to send in their ballots, apparently waiting until the last minute to make a selection in the ever-evolving governor's race. The state operates a primary in which the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, move on to the general election, and Democrats had been fretting for months that having so many Democrats in the race would splinter the vote in such a way that two Republicans would claim the top two spots.
Democratic voters appeared to wait until the end to see which of their candidates were emerging as favorites. The high number of late ballots will likely make the delay in getting final counts even greater.
While millions of ballots have been counted by now, it's the uncounted ones that loom largest for close races.
Despite being an overwhelmingly Democratic state, California has featured some of the nation's closest congressional elections, sometimes decided by just a few hundred votes, so there's often no way to determine a winner until the weekslong ballot count has concluded. In 2024, one House race wasn't called until December.
Things get even more complicated in a primary election, such as Tuesday's. That's because the news isn't just the top vote-getter but also the second place finisher. To know the true outcome of any race, enough votes need to be tallied to know for certain who finished in first and second.
Another side effect of the enormous crush of late mail ballots that get tallied last is that the final vote gets more and more Democratic. That's because Republicans are more likely to return their ballots early or vote in person, on Election Day. Those ballots get counted first.
The gradual shifting of the vote to Democrats as ballot counting goes on has sparked all sorts of conspiracy theories.
Republicans have long complained about the California count, even though the GOP did well in close House races in the state in 2024. The Republican National Committee filed lawsuits in other states challenging the legality of counting mail ballots that arrive after Election Day and the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to rule on the issue sometime this month.
But worries about the California vote count aren't only a partisan issue. Voting advocates have urged state lawmakers to better fund local election offices so they can process the avalanche of late-arriving ballots faster.
“The Legislature needs to throw a lot more money to get the count quicker,” Hasen said.
Associated Press writers Christopher Weber in Los Angeles and Sophie Austin in Sacramento contributed to this report.
Ballots are inspected the day after California's primary election at the LA County Ballot Processing Center Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in City of Industry, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Ballots are sorted the day after California's primary election at the LA County Ballot Processing Center Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in City of Industry, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Workers sort ballots the day after California's primary election at the Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in City of Industry, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
