Los Angeles Clippers

Work hard, play hard ... that's the way it was for LeBron James and Chris Paul Sunday -- who hit the gym together during the day and the CLUB together at night.

LeBron and CP3 spent their Sunday training at the gym at UCLA with Bron's Cleveland Cavs teammate Tristan Thompson ... and even posted a pic to Instagram.

But when the sun went down, Bron and Paul freshened up -- and hit up Greystone Manor in West Hollywood.

The two arrived around midnight and spent about 2 hours in the place ... finally leaving the when the club shut down.

The two have been good friends for years -- but the big question, when the tab came ... who paid?

What do Blake Griffin and Michael Richards have in common? They both tested their comedy chops at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood. Safe to say, one went better than the other ...

The L.A. Clippers superstar appeared at the legendary Sunset Strip comedy club to perform at open mic night ... and decided to read some of his "Slam Dunk Poetry."

Griffin's been reciting some of his work -- inspired by snap-off warm-up pants, mouthpieces and bobblehead dolls -- as part of an ad campaign for Vizio.

Now, it seems he's taken his show on the road. And so far, people seem to be diggin' it.

At the very least ... his comedy club debut went better than Kramer.

Doc Rivers is no stranger to national controversy (see: Donald Sterling) ... so the question we had to ask -- could NBA Commissioner Adam Silver have handled the Ray Rice situation better than Roger Goodell?

Of course, Silver was hailed as a hero for his swift and thorough handling of the Sterling scandal -- when he sent a team of NBA investigators to L.A. ... who quickly gathered facts and independently verified the authenticity of the Sterling recordings.

On the other hand, Goodell is being accused of bungling the Rice case -- after admitting he screwed up on Ray's initial punishment and claiming he was never able to get his hands on the elevator security footage.

L.A. Clippers star Matt Barnes admits ... he's not proud of all of his tattoos -- in fact, Barnes says there's one piece of ink he hated so much, he HAD to go out and cover it up.

Barnes was out at Kitson in L.A. Wednesday to support teammate DeAndre Jordan when he told us about the regrettable work he got on his arm back when he was a teenager ... and why he had to make it go away.

Despite the fact he called her a "pig" in open court ... despite the fact he's STILL suing her ... Donald Sterling got together with estranged wife Shelly to celebrate their 60th anniversary on the beach ... and TMZ Sports has the shocking photo.

The two put their insanely nasty war on hold last weekend -- and bathed their bodies in the sun at the Balboa Bay resort in Newport Beach.

Multiple sources connected to the couple tell us they decided to get together to celebrate their 60th anniversary ... but they still consider themselves very much estranged.

As one source put it, "It looks weird from the outside ... but it's just the way they are."

Sure, Donald trashed the hell out of Shelly for the past couple of months ... but at the end of the day, his bank account is up $2 BILLION.

V. Stiviano has just filed new legal docs in her war with Shelly Sterling -- claiming she NEVER slept with Donald Sterling ... 'cause he's into men and she was his beard.

TMZ Sports has obtained the lawsuit -- which Stiviano filed in response to Shelly's allegations that V. accepted cars and property from Donald that he didn't have the authority to give her.

In the new docs, Stiviano argues that the items in question were given to her in exchange for being Donald's "beard" -- and she insists Shelly knew about it.

Stiviano states ... she was "not ever a sexual partner of Donald T. Sterling" and "believes that [Sterling] is a homosexual and enjoys sexual acts and or sexual congress with males."

In the legal doc, filed in L.A. County Superior Court, Stiviano says Shelly was "acutely aware of [Donald's] sexual orientation and condoned same as well as acknowledged and approved [Donald's] gifts of money [to Stiviano]."

Stiviano also says the gifts she received were NOT community property -- but rather Donald's separate property.

Stiviano is also suing Shelly and Donald for defamation -- claiming they slandered her in the media by calling her a thief and saying she embezzled money and property from Donald. She's demanding no less than $10 MILLION.

We reached out to Donald's camp -- so far, no word back.

Story developing ...

Here's a photo of the new L.A. Clippers owner in a public photo with TWO black people.

Take THAT Donald Sterling!

Steve Ballmer hit up the L.A. Dodgers game with Magic Johnson and Clippers President Doc Rivers last night.

It's interesting ... considering it was a photo featuring Magic Johnson that led to Donald Sterling's downfall ... when he blasted V. Stiviano for posting a photo of Magic on social media.

In audio posted on TMZ Sports, Sterling screamed at Stiviano for being seen in public with black guys and told her not to bring any black people to his games.

Earlier this week, Sterling himself admitted -- "I'm finished. I'm over."

Yup.

For the first time in months, Donald Sterling seems to have his feet planted firmly in reality -- with the ousted Clippers owner telling TMZ Sports, "I'm finished. I'm over."

Sterling was out in Beverly Hills over the weekend when our photog walked up to him and ask about the latest with the Clippers saga -- and that's when Donald shooed our guy away saying, "I'm finished. I'm over."

It's an interesting comment -- considering on Wednesday, the judge denied Donald's last-ditch effort to block the sale of the Clips to Steve Ballmer.

Steve Ballmer's purchase of the L.A. Clippers is already paying off -- huge sponsor State Farm is jumping back into bed with the team now that the old Sterling regime is dead ... TMZ Sports has learned.

A rep for the insurance giant tells us it reinstated its deal with the Clippers almost immediately after the NBA made the official announcement yesterday that Ballmer's $2 billion deal had been approved.

We broke the story ... State Farm suspended its relationship with the Clips after we posted Sterling's racist audio recordings.

More than a dozen advertisers jumped ship back in April.

Steve Ballmer is now the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers.

Ballmer completed the deal with Shelly Sterling for $2 billion. After several attempts by Donald to block the sale failed ... the deal closed on Tuesday.

Shelly Sterling's attorney, Pierce O'Donnell, tells TMZ, "Shelly is confident he will bring a championship to the city of L.A. in the very near future. We wish him and his family every success."

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver just reminded Donald Sterling that his ongoing battle to block the sale of the Los Angeles Clippers is costing the league a ton of money, and ultimately ... it's coming out of his ass.

The league filed a countersuit against Sterling yesterday, and in the docs -- obtained by TMZ Sports -- it points out Sterling's initial agreement to sell the team to Steve Ballmer included a provision that indemnified the league from future claims brought by him, Shelly Sterling, or the Clippers.

In other words, if the sale went awry, and anyone wanted to block it -- the league would not have to foot the bill for legal fees. The countersuit makes it clear ... the league expects Donald to pay up.

Interesting that the league included that provision in the sale. League Commissioner Adam Silver obviously expected a fight from Donald.

Donald Sterling is now willing to talk about selling the team over which he's waging legal war ... because he just met with Steve Ballmer to talk about the sale of the Los Angeles Clippers.

Ballmer went to Sterling's Beverly Hills estate Monday at 3 PM, along with Shelly Sterling's lawyer, Pierce O'Donnell ... who brokered the $2 billion deal.

Sources tell TMZ Sports ... Donald has softened his position and is now considering signing off on the sale ... in no small part because his lawyers have told him he's going to lose his court case.

Our sources say Donald himself requested the meeting.

The always charming Donald Sterling called his wife a PIG in open court moments ago ... because, well, that's the kind of guy he is.

Shelly Sterling was stepping down from the stand ... where she testified that she still loves Donald and only called for a medical evaluation for him because she was afraid he suffered a recent stroke.

But as she got off the stand and made her way toward Donald, the curmudgeon lashed out ... saying, "Stay away from me you pig!"

The judge told Donald to calm down.

In what seemed like a response to Shelly's testimony about Donald possibly having a stroke -- Donald also told his estranged wife, "How can you say that?!"

4:50 PM PT -- The hearing is over ... and Donald was his usual unlikable self in the court room.

During the hearing, he trashed his wife Shelly ... saying, "It’s ludicrous to think she could run a corporation. She’s beautiful, but she can’t run anything”

He also called Shelly's lawyer a "smart ass."

Donald told the court he believes he could strike a BETTER deal than Shelly for the Clippers -- saying he could fetch between $2.5 and $5 billion for the team.

Cue the band ... Donald Sterling is finally in court to "face the music" in a Los Angeles courtroom.

Sterling snuck into the courthouse -- dodging reporters and photogs outside -- and took a seat for his trial to determine who gets to sell the Clippers.

Shelly Sterling is also in court. She did not hide as she silently walked into court earlier this morning.

Donald is expected to testify today ... after skipping day one of the trial. Shelly's attorney had called Donald out and claimed he was "on the run."

Stay tuned ...

Donald Sterling's trial is set to begin any minute in L.A. ... and the disgraced Clippers owner has not arrived -- and now, Shelly Sterling's lawyer says he believes Donald is "on the run."

Shelly's attorney Bert Fields just arrived to L.A. County Superior Court and after trashing Donald's "sham" motion to move the case to federal court ... said he believes Sterling is in hiding.

"I even understand he left town," Fields said ... "That's the kind of guy he is. He's willing to do anything rather than face the music."

Fields added, "But he's ultimately gonna have to face it ... as Joe Louis once said, 'He can run but he can't hide.'"

Donald Sterling says he's tracked down a doctor who thinks his mind is in perfect working order -- and he wants the doc to testify during the trial ... or else he'll suffer "grave" injury.

Sterling just filed new court docs in his legal war with his estranged wife Shelly -- begging the judge to postpone the start of the Clippers trial so he can bring in a neurologist who will tell the judge Donald is NOT mentally incapacitated.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ Sports, Donald says Dr. Jeffrey Cummings -- Director of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health -- will vouch for him ... but will be out of town and unable to testify in court until after July 20th.

Sterling says Shelly's assertion that the Clippers deal must close by July 15th (the end of Steve Ballmer's escape clause) ... is complete B.S.

Sterling says the only deadline that should matter to the court is September 15th -- the day the NBA says it will seize the team and sell it in a public auction if a deal isn't closed.

Donald claims if he is not allowed to use Dr. Cummings to prove his mental competency ... he will risk "grave and irreparable injury insofar as his defense will be impaired and his assets will be subject to distribution without his consent."