Los Angeles Clippers

Blake Griffin has broken his silence about his broken hand ... saying he regrets punching his friend in the face during a dispute in Toronto ... and apologizes for "creating a distraction."

Griffin just issued a statement about the Jan. 23rd incident -- saying, "A situation among friends escalated and I regret the way I handled myself towards someone I care about."

"I want to apologize to the Clippers organization, my teammates and the fans for creating a distraction.

"I am working with the team on a resolution and getting back in the game as soon as possible."

The Toronto Police tell TMZ Sports they are NOT investigating the reported Blake Griffin restaurant fight that went down during the Clippers' recent trip to Canada ... because no one has filed a report.

We spoke with Toronto Police Service media relations officer, Caroline De Kloet, who says Blake's name is not in their system which means there's nothing actively underway.

According to several reports, Griffin punched the team's equipment manager during an altercation at a Toronto restaurant ... and broke his own hand in the process.

The other person involved in the fight was reportedly hospitalized for his injuries.

If you wanna rub elbows with the most powerful men in hip-hop -- get yourself tickets to a Clippers game -- just like Jay Z, DJ Khaled, Future and more did Wednesday night.

This is interesting ... L.A. Clippers star Austin Rivers says if he had to compare his team to a rapper -- they'd be Kanye West because people hate 'em ... but respect 'em at the same time.

23-year-old Rivers was leaving Hyde on Sunset when he told us ... despite the team's 9 GAME win streak, there's still no love out there for the 4th place Clips.

"The people don't care for us too much," Rivers said ... "I don't know why, I'm new here!"

When you play pro ball in L.A., schmoozin' with the celebrities is part of the job ... just ask Chris Paul who chummed it up with Floyd Mayweather and Kevin Hart before Monday's game.

Both Floyd and Kev had courtside seats to watch the Clippers take on the Phoenix Suns -- and each star got a personal visit from CP3 before tip off ... pretty cool, right?

BTW, Kev took his son to the game ... and judging by the look on his face as the Clips pulled away ... dude had a good time.

Everyone wants to be LeBron James -- including Kings owner Vivek Ranadive -- so, he got Jamie Foxx to teach him how ... and the video is HILARIOUS!!

The two hooked up during the Clippers vs. Kings game earlier this week ... when Foxx busted out a PERFECT IMPRESSION ... complete with the King James facial expressions.

He even nailed the look LeBron gives when he backpedals after a bad play.

Here's video that should make Mark Cuban happy -- DeAndre Jordan getting shot with a water cannon ... right in front of Billy Crystal.

Doc Rivers says he had a MUCH better summer than Mark Cuban ... and we're guessing it all has to do with DeAndre Jordan.

We spotted Rivers out in L.A. Tuesday night... just hours after Cuban went on "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" and sorta took a shot at the Clippers honcho for the way he got DJ to back out of his handshake deal with the Mavs and resign with the Clips.

"I respect the fact that when his professional life was about to dissipate and disappear and go up in flames, they did what they had to do and they got DJ back," Cuban said on the show.

At the very least, it seems Cuban and Rivers aren't exactly on the best terms ... more reason to be excited for the Clippers vs. Mavs match up in October.

The NBA has slapped the L.A. Clippers with a $250,000 fine for underhandedly trying to recruit DeAndre Jordan back to the team ... but the league claims the shady activity went down BEFORE the famous house lockdown.

According to the NBA, the Clippers violated league rules during a presentation to Jordan on July 2nd -- in which the team tried to entice DJ into resigning by dangling a potential 3rd party endorsement guarantee in addition to his NBA contract.

It's unclear exactly which company the endorsement would have been with -- but the fact it was included in the presentation at all is a big no-no under league rules.

In the end, the NBA ruled that the move had NO BEARING on Jordan's ultimate decision to resign with the Clips ... which probably had more to do with Blake Griffin, Doc Rivers and others racing to his Houston home, locking the doors, and giving him the hard sell.

Former Clippers owner Donald Sterling is suing V. Stiviano and TMZ over the recording and publishing of a conversation he had with Stiviano.

Sterling filed the lawsuit Friday in L.A. ... claiming Stiviano "surreptitiously" recorded their convo sometime between September 2013 and April 2014 -- and then either she, or her agents, provided that recording to TMZ.

TMZ posted the recording on April 25, 2014

In the docs, Sterling accuses TMZ of publishing the tape in violation of his privacy rights -- and says, as a result, he's been damaged "on a scale of unparalleled and unprecedented magnitude." He also says Stiviano and/or TMZ doctored the contents of the recording.

Blake Griffin just might be the last superstar standing in Meek Mill's corner -- that's how it sounded when we got this video of Blake ... at least when the convo started.

TMZ Sports caught up with BG in Brentwood, and we had to bring up the Drake-Meek beef since Blake and MM have some history. Meek name-dropped Blake in his 2012 hit "Burn" ... and shortly after that Blake called the Philly spitter one of his favorite rappers.

So, now that all the cool kids (Kanye West, Odell Beckham Jr., Kevin Durant, Will Smith, etc, etc ...) are backing Drake -- where's Blake's loyalty?

Watch the clip. Blake's still all about Meek, we think. Maybe he's just being less vocal about it.

He hasn't played 1 minute for the Clippers yet ... but Paul Pierce has already found a way to DISAPPOINT his new coach -- when he CHOKED on the mound at the Dodgers game.

FYI -- Pierce had the honor of throwing out the 1st pitch at Dodgers Stadium earlier this week ... but failed ... and got showered with boos from the crowd.

So, when we saw Doc Rivers in L.A. yesterday, we showed him the footage for the first time to get his candid reaction -- and it was hilarious.

"On no. That is awful."

Check out the clip ... Rivers does offer a pretty good excuse for Pierce ... and then reveals an embarrassing baseball secret about himself.

DeAndre Jordan knows it's coming, knows he's gonna catch it -- the absolute WRATH of Dallas Mavericks fans, but last night he could NOT care less ... for one awesome reason.

DJ celebrated his 27th birthday with a bunch of NBA pals at Mastro's Steakhouse in Bev Hills, and on his way out addressed the inevitable -- the Clippers' first game in Dallas and how the fans will treat him.

Watch the video ... 'cause DeAndre's response makes it clear he's soooo FULL of something, and that's dessert.

"Time heals all wounds" ... even in the NBA ... so says Blake Griffin who tells TMZ Sports he's confident Mark Cuban and DeAndre Jordan will find a way to squash their beef.

Dallas Morning News ... wins.

Mark Cuban says he got straight lied to by DeAndre Jordan -- claiming the NBA star insisted he was "on a date" Wednesday night ... when he was really in a secret meeting with the Clippers.