Basketball

Kyrie Irving is facing justified consequences for propagating antisemitic views -- despite some in the Black community feeling like he's getting a "lashing" ... so suggests Rev. Al Sharpton.

We got the civil rights leader in NYC Wednesday to speak about the growing sentiment that KI is being overly-punished and made an example of by the powers that be in the NBA ... even though he's apologized for his controversial comments of late.

The Reverend says people should denounce bigotry no matter what, and that applies to Kyrie too. He says just because African-Americans have been subjected to racism and mistreatment historically doesn't mean it's okay to normalize hatred of another group.

Sharpton also seems to be hinting that the two shouldn't automatically be conflated.

Sharpton apparently believes Kyrie's promotions were antisemitic -- and that he's on the side of those who are calling for accountability.

Even though Kyrie has tried walking it all back, some feel it's empty because he's implied the Holocaust is simply a cultural issue important to Jews, rather than an outright atrocity.

Since then, he's been suspended and has met with Commissioner Adam Silver, who's Jewish. But the debate about his treatment rages on, especially across racial/cultural lines.

NBA star Miles Bridges has filed for a restraining order against the woman who accused him of domestic violence ... claiming she's harassed him repeatedly -- and won't stop.

Bridges spelled out his claims in new court documents, obtained by TMZ Sports, alleging that despite a June 27 argument between the two that turned physical and ultimately resulted in the basketball player's arrest ... Mychelle Johnson will not leave him alone.

Bridges says on three separate occasions, including just two days after he accepted a plea deal to close out his criminal case with Johnson, she's showed up to his home or places he's staying and harassed him, causing him emotional distress and anxiety.

The first incident allegedly happened on Oct. 12. In the docs, Bridges claims he had been renting an Airbnb in Los Angeles ... when Johnson unexpectedly entered his side gate with their two kids.

Bridges said in the documents that due to the ongoing criminal case with Johnson -- and the protective orders that had been put in place -- he ran inside in an attempt to avoid her.

He claims, though, his door would not lock -- so he had to hold it shut as Mychelle allegedly attempted to break in by swinging a hose nozzle at the home.

Bridges says after she couldn't get in, she then stole his dog, and left with their children.

Nearly three weeks later, on Oct. 31, Bridges said in the docs that Johnson followed him and his friends home from an L.A. hookah lounge at around 2:30 AM, and sat in his driveway with their two kids in her car demanding he speaks with her. He claims he didn't want to due to the ongoing criminal case.

Bridges says despite attempts from his friends and bodyguards to get her to leave, she refused and stayed parked there for nearly 6 hours before leaving.

On Nov. 5 -- two days after Bridges pleaded no contest to one count of felony domestic violence stemming from their June 27 incident to close out his criminal case -- the 24-year-old former Charlotte Hornets star said he was forced to call the LAPD after Johnson showed up to his Airbnb and "stood outside the home antagonizing me and refusing to leave."

Bridges says officers showed up ... and were able to convince her to leave without incident.

Bridges -- currently an NBA free agent -- is asking a judge to order Johnson to stay at least 100 yards away from him and have no contact with him or his dog.

Ime Udoka will not be the next head coach of the Brooklyn Nets after all -- the team just elevated Jacque Vaughn to the position after parting ways with Steve Nash.

There were reports the Nets were eyeing the Celtics coach -- who is currently serving a one-year suspension for having an improper relationship with a female employee.

Team owner Joe Tsai reportedly faced pushback from "strong voices" against hiring Udoka ... pleading to go in a different direction when hiring Nash's replacement.

Of course, the Nets were already facing a ton of issues without Ime ... from Kyrie Irving's backlash for sharing a link to an antisemitic film on social media, Kevin Durant's offseason trade demand and the team's underperforming start to the 2022-23 campaign.

Vaughn played in the NBA from 1997-2009 ... suiting up for five different teams.

JV is 65-161 as a head coach -- he spent just over 2 1/2 seasons with the Orlando Magic ... and served as interim head coach for the Nets after Kenny Atkinson got canned in March 2020.

WNBA star Brittney Griner is transferring to a Russian penal colony -- known for its terrible living conditions -- and her team has no idea where exactly she is or how she's doing.

BG's move from the detention center in Iksha began on Friday ... which happened to be one day after she met with U.S. embassy officials.

It's something Griner's family and team have feared ever since her conviction in August ... as a penal colony is far worse than a detention center. Prisoners are forced to perform labor, and it's much more difficult to make contact to the outside world.

Griner's team was not made aware of the update until Tuesday ... and her current location is unclear. Her legal team says it may take up to two weeks to be notified of her destination.

Lindsay Colas, Griner's agent, released a statement saying the number one concern is her client's health and well-being.

Colas says Griner's camp continues to work with the U.S. government in an effort to bring her home and keep her safe in the meantime.

"We are thankful for everyone's support, and hope that as we near nine months of detention, that BG and all wrongfully detained Americans will be shown mercy and returned home to their families for the holidays," Colas said.

The White House also released a statement ... slamming the move.

"Every minute that Brittney Griner must endure wrongful detention in Russia is a minute too long," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

"As the Administration continues to work tirelessly to secure her release, the President has directed the Administration to prevail on her Russian captors to improve her treatment and the conditions she may be forced to endure in a penal colony."

Griner has been in custody in Russia since February ... after she was accused of bringing hashish oil in her luggage at a Moscow airport.

She pleaded guilty to drug charges in July ... and was sentenced to 9 years in prison.

Griner spent her 32nd birthday behind bars last month ... and her appeal was denied on October 25.

La La Anthony ensured her son, Kiyan, will have the best birthday gift ever ... she pulled a one-of-a-kind Miles Morales Spider-Man card worth over $100K, and mom's reaction is amazing!!

And, the odds of landing the unique card ... one in 602,400!

Anthony recently visited Ken Goldin at the Goldin Auctions company headquarters in New Jersey where she cracked boxes from the 2021-22 Upper Deck Marvel Spider-Man set ... and got the Purple Light FX Miles Morales card.

“Breaking boxes with my son Kiyan is the highlight of the hobby for me," La La said. "I love understanding a world he’s a part of and enjoys so much. I was so excited to bring home this incredibly rare card to him, it’s truly a gift of a lifetime."

La La's reaction when she saw the card was priceless ... she was absolutely shocked, explaining they'd never landed such a prized card in the past.

Of course, Morales took over as Spider-Man for Peter Parker after his comic book death a decade ago.

Kiyan, 15, is an avid collector of Marvel and superhero cards, so the gift from mom will surely mean a lot to the rising hoops star.

“The fact that La La pulled this one-of-a-kind card featuring Miles – an inspiration and hero that so many people look up to – is really marvelous," Goldin, who has sold some of the most valuable memorabilia items ever, told us.

"This was the first one-of-one card I’ve ever pulled in my more than 40 years of collecting, too which made it even more special!”

Kyrie Irving reportedly had a "productive and understanding visit" with NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday.

The report comes just 5 days after the All-Star guard was suspended at least 5 games for failing to adequately apologize for sharing a film containing antisemitic beliefs on Twitter.

Silver was furious with Irving after several opportunities to denounce antisemitism and the contents of the film ... saying he would be meeting him in person to address the matter.

"While we appreciate the fact that he agreed to work with the Brooklyn Nets and the Anti-Defamation League to combat antisemitism and other forms of discrimination, I am disappointed that he has not offered an unqualified apology and more specifically denounced the vile and harmful content contained in the film he chose to publicize," Silver said at the time.

According to Shams Charania, the meeting went down earlier today ... and the report states it went well for both sides.

The report says the conversation is "paving the way" for the Nets and Irving to move forward ... which could potentially mean his return to the court once the 5-game punishment is up later this week.

Nick Cannon is ripping the Brooklyn Nets for "dehumanizing" Kyrie Irving with a list of demands that must be completed before he can return ... comparing the team to a master attempting to break a slave.

Cannon defended Irving during a conversation with Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt this week ... saying, "I can wholeheartedly say I know Kyrie Irving is not antisemitic."

Greenblatt says he took serious issue with Irving sharing a film that questioned the legitimacy of the Holocaust ... which he explained is dehumanizing to Jewish people.

Cannon says it goes both ways, though ... claiming the conditions of Irving's suspension -- including meeting with Jewish leaders and completing training -- is similar to "buck-breaking."

Nick explained the term for Greenblatt, saying ... "The slave masters would bring the buck -- the one that gets out of line -- so all the other slaves would see lash after lash, show them the power to set an example. 'This is what you must do to fall in line.' So, when we see the 6 things that Kyrie must do to get his job back, that's dehumanizing."

Cannon came under fire for making antisemitic comments in 2020, when he agreed with long-held stereotypes about Jewish people ... including having control over banks and much of the world's wealth. Nick also suggested white people were "a little less" than dark-skinned people.

He also defended ex-Public Enemy member Professor Griff for saying back in the late '80s Jews spread wickedness around the world.

Cannon later apologized for his comments ... saying he was "ashamed of the uninformed and naïve place that these words came from."

Keyontae Johnson is back playing college basketball for the very first time since collapsing on the court almost two years ago ... and the guy got back to doing his thing -- dropping 13 points!!

Johnson -- who transferred to Kansas State this August -- was in the starting lineup for the Wildcats on Monday against the Texas-Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros ... helping the Wildcats secure a victory.

After the 93-59 win, Johnson talked about how emotional the moment was for him.

"I'm feeling good," Johnson said.

"Just thanking God every day for giving me the opportunity to get here and play again, just staying patient."

"The feeling before the game, I was a little emotional, but I knew the game was going to go so I had to keep going, just play and just lay everything right out for my team."

As we previously reported, the small forward crashed onto the court during the Gators-Florida State Seminoles game on Dec. 12, 2020.

The 23-year-old was transported to the hospital in critical but stable condition ... and was put into a medically induced coma.

Three days later, he was awake but never returned to the hardwood ... until now.

Dick Vitale -- a legendary college hoops announcer -- was hyped for KJ and is happy to see the young man ballin' again.

"Scored 13 points," Vitale said on Twitter, "but it really was the BEST PERFORMANCE OF THE DAY that he is healthy & doing what he LOVES!"

There's at least one powerful celeb who ain't buying Kyrie Irving's apology ... Howard Stern absolutely shredded the NBA star, calling him a "f***ing moron" and a "douchebag!"

Of course, Irving (kinda sorta) apologized last week hours after he was hit with a minimum five-game suspension for pushing an antisemitic book/film on social media. Many felt the apology fell well short of what Irving needed to say to undo the harm he caused.

Count Stern, who happens to be Jewish, among that group ... the world's most famous radio host went in on the 30-year-old hooper Monday morning during his show.

"This Kyrie Irving is a complete douchebag. I mean what a f***ing ... you know he's a flat earther? He's a douchebag," Stern said.

Then, Howard mockingly imitated Kyrie, saying ... "Just let me hate the Jews. Don't bust my balls. I just wanna go on Twitter and hate Jews. Can't you just leave me alone? Everyone hates Jews. Why ya picking on me? I'm just an NBA player. I don't understand anything. A lot of people hate the Jews. Why ya picking on me? The Earth is flat. I think Jews are lizards. Next question. Just leave me be," Stern said to his millions of listeners.

Kyrie has served three games of his suspension ... meaning if he satisfies the team's requirements to return -- meeting with Jewish community leaders, etc. -- he could return this Saturday against the Clippers in Los Angeles.

Even if he returns, Irving reputation has suffered a massive blow ... as have his pockets.

Nike suspended its lucrative partnership with the Nets guard and halted the release of an upcoming signature sneaker.

It's not the first time Stern's gone after a celebrity who made offensive comments. Just a few weeks ago Howard compared Kanye West to just about the worst person possible ... Adolf Hitler.

"Kanye used to be fun crazy. Now he’s like Hitler," Stern said, also calling Ye a "douchebag."

A couple weeks after Stern made the comments, Kanye responded while on a podcast, telling him to "shut the f*** up," adding, "I used to be a fan of you."

Unlike Ye, Irving is yet to fire back at Howard.

Don't ever, EVER make a bad call in the presence of Meek Mill ... the rapper tripped a referee during the 76ers game and it was all caught on live TV!!

Kidding ... it was clearly an accident -- a funny accident -- and the ref was totally fine.

The Philly rapper was sitting courtside with Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin and Will Makris at the Suns-Sixers game at the Wells Fargo Center Monday night.

The "Dreams & Nightmares" rapper got in on the action in the 2nd quarter when his stretched-out legs got in the way of the officials running alongside the court near the Sixers' bench.

The ref fell right near Sixers' coach Doc Rivers ... who helped him back to his feet. MM quickly apologized to the ref.

Meek also acknowledged the incident on social media, using lyrics from Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind."

"Hov once said 'I be spiked out I can trip a referee'", Meek said, "Lol I apologized to him that’s brazyyy tho 😂😂😂😂"

Rubin, however, says differently ... saying on his IG story, Meek tried to put the blame on him.

The Cavs might have lost, but Donovan Mitchell was winning after the game -- hitting up an L.A. hot spot with his beautiful girlfriend ... and TMZ Sports has the vid!!

Cleveland lost just its second game of the season against the Clippers on Monday ... falling 117-119 and snapping an 8-game winning streak, despite Spida's 30-point effort

26-year-old Mitchell and his lady, Tinara Westbrook, decided to get over the loss at The Nice Guy in West Hollywood ... enjoying a peaceful meal late into the night.

The 3-time All-Star and hair entrepreneur have been going strong this year ... making their romance "Instagram official" back in September.

Spida is off to an insane start in his first season in Wine & Gold ... averaging 31.2 points, 6 assists and 4.1 rebounds a game.

Westbrook was in attendance for the Cavs vs. Clippers game at Crypto.com Arena ... and she had some pretty good seats for the matchup.

Kyrie Irving will not lose his NBA career over his most recent controversy ... so says Julius Erving -- who tells TMZ Sports there's just no way teams won't give him another chance.

"The owners are greedy," Dr. J said out at LAX this weekend. "He's going to end up in the league playing for somebody, no matter how toxic he is."

There are many in Association circles that would disagree -- with some believing after he tweeted a link to an antisemitic film and then refused to apologize over it for several days, he's too radioactive to the roster at this point.

But, Erving -- an NBA legend -- tells us he believes that's just simply not the case.

"As long as he's young enough to score those buckets, and do what he does, be Kyrie, he's going have a job," he said.

Irving is currently serving a suspension from the Brooklyn Nets over it all that the team says will last at least five games -- although no one within the org. has guaranteed he'll be back with the team this year.

Erving clearly believes if the Nets somehow cut ties with the point guard, his career would resume elsewhere -- and it would do so fairly quickly.

Ultimately, the former 76ers star gave Irving some advice going forward.

Ex-NBA star Ben Gordon was arrested again this week ... after he allegedly attacked two McDonald's security guards in Chicago.

TMZ Sports has learned ... 39-year-old Gordon was taken into custody around 3:30 AM on Friday. Chicago PD says the 2004 third-overall pick was being escorted out of the Mickey D's when he got physical.

Police say Gordon struck a 29-year-old male guard in the face and threw him to the ground ... before shoving a second 21-year-old male guard to the ground as well.

It's unclear why Gordon was being kicked out of the restaurant in the first place.

Gordon was booked for two counts of misdemeanor battery -- cause bodily harm and make physical contact -- as a result of the alleged altercation. The two guards declined medical attention.

The arrest comes less than one month after Gordon was accused of punching his 10-year-old son in the head at an airport for dropping a book.

Shortly after making bail in that arrest, Gordon was taken into custody in connection to an open assault case for a 2020 incident in Manhattan.

Gordon won an NCAA Championship at UConn in 2004 ... and averaged 14.9 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in the Association.

Kyrie Irving may have gotten suspended for promoting a movie based on antisemitic themes, but there's still a large platform that's not only carrying the movie, it's making a profit as well.

"Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America!" is listed on Amazon for users to rent at $10.99 or purchase for $48.99. We've reached out to Amazon, asking if the company has any plans to limit access or remove the film altogether, and have gotten no response.

While the criticism Kyrie has received for promoting, and at first, refusing to denounce the antisemitism in the film has been justified ... there's been little to no public outcry for Amazon to yank the flick.

In fact, Amazon's listing for the film even includes a "Watch and chat with others" feature -- which it does make available for other TV/movies -- but it just makes it that much easier for the hate to spread.

What's more -- on Friday, both the Brooklyn Nets and Anti-Defamation League asked Jeff Bezos and the leaders at Amazon to remove the movie.

As we reported, Kyrie is currently serving at least a 5 game suspension after the Brooklyn Nets said Thursday, "We were dismayed today, when given an opportunity in a media session, that Kyrie refused to unequivocally say he has no antisemitic beliefs, nor acknowledge specific hateful material in the film. This was not the first time he had the opportunity - but failed - to clarify."

Just a few hours after the Nets announcement, Kyrie attempted another apology, saying, "To All Jewish families and Communities that are hurt and affected from my post ... I am deeply sorry to have caused you pain, and I apologize."

Nike is pressing pause on its endorsement deal with Kyrie Irving ... and now his signature shoe is being shelved.

The shoe giant announced Friday it was suspending its business relationship with the NBA star, explaining ... "At Nike, we believe there is no place for hate speech and we condemn any form of antisemitism."

Nike also says it will no longer launch the Kyrie 8 basketball shoe, adding ... "We are deeply saddened and disappointed by the situation and its impact on everyone."

As you know ... Kyrie's faced a ton of backlash ever since tweeting out a link to an antisemitic film last week.

Nike isn't the first to come down on Irving. The Nets announced Thursday they were suspending him at least 5 games after he refused to outright apologize for promoting the film. The Nets said Kyrie will not be allowed to play for the club again until he "satisfies a series of objective remedial measures that address the harmful impact of his conduct."

The point guard finally issued a lengthy mea culpa on his social media after being suspended, but folks are questioning his sincerity.

The woman who initially accused Eric Bledsoe of roughing her up during an incident last month ultimately ended up refusing to cooperate with authorities ... this according to prosecutors.

In official documents, obtained by TMZ Sports, authorities said a 30-year-old woman called cops in Lost Hills, Calif. on Oct. 26 -- claiming Bledsoe had slapped her after she had knocked his phone out of his hand following a dispute.

However, according to the docs, when investigators arrived on scene ... the woman -- who they say had redness on her face -- "told deputies that she did not get into a physical altercation with the suspect, and she did not want to give additional information about the incident."

Bledsoe was still arrested, and booked on a charge of misdemeanor domestic violence.

But, according to the docs, when the woman was pressed further about the incident by a follow-up investigator, "she stated she would not cooperate with the prosecution of suspect."

Officials added in the docs that the woman "later emailed the investigating officer reiterating that she was not desirous of prosecution."

Prosecutors formally dropped the case on Oct. 28 ... with officials saying in the documents that the woman's "inconsistent statements about whether there was a physical altercation" played into the decision.