Basketball

Toronto Raptors guard RJ Barrett is breaking his silence on his little brother's death ... saying Nathan's passing is "a lot tougher" than any other loss he's experienced in his life.

The NBA player was emotional when he spoke about his late 19-year-old brother with reporters at Friday's practice ... his first time rejoining the Raptors since the family tragedy.

"I’ve had some people in my life, but this one hit a little harder for me," Barrett said.

"This one is definitely a little different, it’s a lot tougher, and I just think that you’ve gotta push forward every day, gotta be able to try to figure it out."

The Barrett family released a statement earlier this month ... saying Nathan was surrounded by family members and loved ones at the time of his death, although additional details have not been made public.

Nathan was also an athlete -- he followed in his brother's footsteps by playing basketball at Montverde Academy. However, he changed course and was pursuing a career as a pilot.

"If I know my brother, he would want me to be here, to be playing," Barrett added, "to try to continue to make the Barrett legacy grow."

Philadelphia 76ers hooper Kelly Oubre Jr. and his head coach, Nick Nurse, are gonna have to write out a check to the NBA -- the two were just fined $50,000 each for going ballistic on referees after their 108-107 loss to the Clippers on Wednesday.

The matchup ended in quite the controversy -- the Sixers forward drove to the basket to attempt a game-winning bucket ... and despite making contact with Paul George, a foul wasn't called.

Oubre and Nurse were irate over the no-call after the buzzer -- Oubre even flipped the bird at the officials ... and Sixers staffers had to step in to keep the two from going further.

Many believe Oubre also pointed at each official and called them a "bitch."

Tsunami Papi admitted after the game he knew a fine was coming … and he was right -- 'cause the league handed down the punishment for "verbally abusing and directing an obscene gesture" at the officials.

Nurse's fine was for "aggressively pursuing and verbally abusing game officials."

Oubre shared his regret over his actions ... saying, "I want to apologize for just losing my cool … I just ask for forgiveness. It wasn't cool, so I'll take whatever penalties come with that."

While the financial punishment is nothing to scoff at, ex-NBA player Lou Williams predicted KO would actually get a heftier fine … saying, "This is $25,000 per bitch, without a doubt."

Ice Cube will have to wait a bit longer to get an answer from Caitlin Clark on his $5 million Big3 offer ... the Iowa superstar just revealed she hasn't considered the deal yet -- as her current focus is solely on winning the NCAA tournament.

The 22-year-old spoke with reporters about Cube's proposal on Friday afternoon -- one day before she's slated to take the court against Colorado in the Sweet 16 -- and she made it clear, it's not even remotely on her mind right now.

In fact, she said she just learned of the offer this week -- at "the same exact time you all did."

Duke Blue Devils star Jared McCain is offering up his apologies to anyone up in arms over a little bit of nail polish ... saying painting his fingertips is a form of self-care for him -- and he's gonna keep being himself.

Dudes wearing nail polish has always been a pearl-clutching controversy for some reason ... despite big celebs like Harry Styles, Machine Gun Kelly and Heisman winner Caleb Williams famously rocking the look lately.

The freshman guard -- who dropped 30 points in Duke's win over James Madison on Sunday -- has also donned flashy nails on the court throughout his college career ... showing team spirit with some blue and white paint during games.

McCain's fashion choice even landed him a Name, Image and Likeness deal with Sally Hansen ... and when he was doing a paid promo with the brand, he explained why he made it a tradition.

"Just do some self care time, I think everybody should do some self care for themselves," McCain said. "For me, it's nail painting. Sorry if that offends any of you guys."

McCain revealed "there's really no crazy reason to it" -- ultimately, it's a practical move as it keeps him from biting his nails ... and one day, he thought it would be cool to add some color.

McCain explained he then had a basketball game after that appointment ... and when he had a good performance, he decided to keep up with it (even though he doesn't consider himself superstitious).

Seems pretty harmless, but some folks can't get over it -- even Williams has faced backlash during his stellar college career for painting his nails, too.

Forget poppin' bubbly, the Illinois men's basketball team got in a water gun fight to celebrate its big Sweet 16 win on Thursday ... and the celly got so wild, head coach Brad Underwood actually ditched his top for it!

The H2O battle happened just minutes after the Fighting Illini pulled off a 72-69 upset win over No. 2-seeded Iowa State in the NCAA tournament.

Underwood -- sans tee -- kicked off the war by busting through a curtain with his staff and blasting a giant super soaker on his players.

Quincy Guerrier, Max Williams, AJ Redd and the rest of the dudes came prepared, though, and returned fire with their own smaller water pistols.

The whole celebration was a vibe ... and the team certainly deserved it -- as this is the first Elite Eight they've reached since 2005.

"This team's got swag," Underwood said after the win. "They don't fear the moment, they don't fear anything, they compete."

Jeremy Roach isn't planning on letting a dislocated finger get in the way of him putting on a show in the Sweet Sixteen on Friday ... the Duke hoops star tells TMZ Sports he'll be good to go against Houston!

ICYMI, the senior guard injured his pinky during the Blue Devils' NCAA tournament win over James Madison on Sunday.

Even though it looked painful as hell, it thankfully wasn't broken ... and according to Roach, he won't be limited much by the dinged digit when Duke faces off with the Cougars.

Teyana Taylor is convinced Iman Shumpert's relationship with a woman is negatively impacting their children -- so much so, she wants an expert to get involved in their divorce ... TMZ has learned.

In new court documents, obtained by TMZ, Teyana's attorney asks the court to let her call on a child psychologist to testify about something she says went down a couple weeks ago, when their daughters were staying with their father.

According to the docs, the ex-NBA star had a female friend and her daughter staying at his home during his parenting weekend with the daughters. Teyana's attorney says they know this because Teyana saw the woman's daughter and heard the woman during a FaceTime check-in with their daughters.

Michigan politician Matt Maddock is adamant that several buses filled with the Gonzaga men's basketball team were actually packed with "illegal invaders" -- and despite being proven wrong ... he's still insisting it's true.

Maddock posted the nonsense on his X page on Wednesday night ... after seeing three large buses get a police escort away from the Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

The MI House of Representatives member -- a Republican -- said to his nearly 2,000 followers, "Happening right now. Three buses just loaded up with illegal invaders at Detroit Metro."

NBA center Isaiah Hartenstein is opening up on how people react when they find out he's actually Black ... saying the experience is like something straight out of a "Key and Peele" sketch.

The 25-year-old hooper's teammates, Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, got right to the point when they invited him on their "Roommates" podcast this week ... when the former asked Hartenstein straight-up, "Are you Black?"

The six-year vet broke it all down ... explaining his dad, Florian, is Black.

"You know how it's like lightskin? I'm brightskin," Hartenstein said. "I'm above lightskin."

The 7'0" big man went on to point out there's one big difference he notices after folks learn he's Black ... and he compared it to the famous skit from the Comedy Central show, when Jordan Peele's Barack Obama character bases his handshake approach on race.

"When they find out I'm Black, it changes," Hartenstein added. "The whole vibe changes -- it goes from, 'Hey Zay, how are you doing?' to 'Yo, Zay, what up, man? You good?'"

A hefty fine is surely coming Kelly Oubre Jr.'s way -- the Philadelphia 76ers hooper absolutely unloaded on referees over a blown call at the end of Wednesday's game ... appearing to call them a bunch of bitches.

The Sixers' 108-107 loss to the LA Clippers ended in controversy ... when KO drove the lane in hopes of getting the lead in the final seconds of the contest, but made contact with Paul George instead.

Oubre and Sixers coach Nick Nurse were both LIVID over the non-call after the buzzer ... yelling at officials and needing to be restrained.

The internet lipreaders seemed to figure out what Oubre said in the confrontation ... claiming Oubre pointed at Kevin Scott, Brandon Adair and JB DeRosa individually and said, "you're a bitch, you're a bitch, you're a bitch."

It didn't stop there -- some believe Oubre even started talking about their relatives ... also referring to them as bitches.

Some on the internet have felt the 28-year-old's frustration was perhaps warranted ... as Scott admitted after the game a foul should've been called on the play.

Despite being technically right, Oubre expressed remorse for his actions in the locker rooms ... saying, "I want to apologize for just losing my cool, because that's something I try to work on each and every day, and try to represent God in the best way I possibly can, and that wasn't it."

"So I just ask for forgiveness."

10:00 AM PT -- Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore are adamant they were not the reason for the failed deal, releasing a statement through their spokesperson on Thursday afternoon that read, "We have fulfilled our obligations, have all necessary funding and are fully committed to closing our purchase of the team as soon as the NBA completes its process."

"Glen Taylor's statement," the two continued, "is an unfortunate case of seller's remorse that is short sighted and disruptive to the team and the fans during a historic winning season."

Alex Rodriguez won't be the majority owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx after all ... the orgs' owner just announced the former MLB star's bid to buy the teams has fallen through.

Glen Taylor, the current honcho of the NBA and WNBA squads, announced the news in a statement on Thursday morning ... explaining Rodriguez and former Walmart CEO Marc Lore's effort to become new majority owners collapsed after the two missed a key deadline this week.

"Under terms of the purchase agreement," Taylor said in the statement, "the closing was required to occur within 90 days following the exercise notice issued by Lore and Rodriguez. That 90-day period expired on March 27, 2024."

"Under certain circumstances, the buyer could have been entitled to a limited extension. However, those circumstances did not occur."

Rodriguez and Lore had previously bought 40 percent of the teams in prior sales. The most recent agreement between the two and Taylor was set to give them an additional 40 percent of the franchises.

Taylor said despite the failed pact, he'll still work with Lore and Rodriguez to "ensure our teams have the necessary resources to compete at the highest levels on and off the court."

As for going forward, Taylor doesn't appear to have plans of re-entering into talks with the two about a purchase ... saying, "The Timberwolves and Lynx are no longer for sale."

The Wolves currently have one of the best teams in the NBA, holding a 50-22 record. The Lynx -- who've won four WNBA titles -- are slated to begin their season this summer.

Vanessa Bryant surprised the UConn men's basketball team with some Kobe kicks ahead of its Sweet 16 matchup with SDSU ... gifting the unreleased "Italian Camo" Protros to the squad -- and the players loved them!!

The Huskies got the amazing gifts on Wednesday, some 24 hours before they take on the No. 5 Aztecs in Boston as part of the NCAA tournament's next round.

In video posted by the team, you can see the Big East champs had no idea they were going to get the presents from Vanessa ... and the players went nuts when they officially got to unwrap the Nike sneakers -- which won't be available to the public 'til April.

"I just wanna say thank you to Vanessa Bryant and the Bryant family. We appreciate you," senior guard Hassan Diarra said after getting his pair. "We're gonna show out in the NCAA tournament!"

The shoes have been dubbed the "Italian Camos" ... and they were created to pay tribute to Kobe Bryant's Italian background.

This, of course, is not the first time UConn's gotten some custom Bryant footwear ... during last year's tourney, the team -- which is part of the Nike Mamba Program -- was gifted custom Huskies Kobe 8 Protros.

Remember, Kobe always had a soft spot for UConn ... he was famously a big fan of the school's men's and women's basketball teams when he was alive -- as was his daughter, Gianna, who went to several games with Dad during her life.

Draymond Green issued a mea culpa for his actions on his "The Draymond Green Show" Thursday morning ... admitting, "I said what I said. I deserved to get kicked out at that point."

"It just can't happen," he added.

Draymond Green was ejected from yet another NBA game Wednesday night -- this time for screaming at a ref -- and Steph Curry was so upset that it happened again, he got visibly emotional on the floor.

The latest DG meltdown happened early in the first quarter of the Warriors' matchup with the Magic in Orlando ... after Green was furious with official Ray Acosta over some foul calls.

Green went up to the ref and began screaming in his face ... and, initially, Acosta appeared to be set to let it all slide with a technical call.

Ice Cube clearly thinks Caitlin Clark can succeed in the Big3 ... but one man who's convinced she can't is ex-NBA star Kenyon Martin, who said Wednesday she wouldn't be able to score a single point in the 3-on-3 league.

The Iowa Hawkeyes star received a $5 million offer to join Cube's hoops org. on Wednesday ... but when Martin was asked how he thinks she'd fare if she accepted the deal -- he made it clear, he thinks it'd be a mess.

"It's a step under prison ball," the former NBA player said of the Big3's action on Gilbert Arenas' "Gil's Arena Show." "Could you imagine her getting stuck down on Reggie Evans?"

Shaquille O'Neal might think Ice Spice is "so dam fine," but he swears he wasn't trying to rizz up the rapper with his Instagram caption after the Super Bowl .... claiming he was just trying to be nice!!

The 52-year-old Hall of Famer explained what happened on his "Big Podcast With Shaq" this week ... saying he ran into IS when he hopped over to Taylor Swift's Allegiant Stadium suite during halftime of the big game.

Shaq shared a pic of his meet-up with Swift, Spice and others ... and he raised a ton of eyebrows when his caption praised the "Think U The S*** (Fart)" MC's beauty.

Caitlin Clark's team hasn't pounced on the Big3's $5 million offer just yet ... with Ice Cube revealing his basketball league doesn't know whether she'll take the massive payday.

The 3-on-3 organization cofounder joined the "Pat McAfee Show" on Wednesday to discuss the historic proposal ... and despite the radio silence on Clark's end so far, he's holding out hope until he gets a definitive "yes" or "no."

"They have it and if they wanna sign it, we'll be happy to have her play in the Big3," Cube said.