Los Angeles Lakers

Magic Johnson is the consummate diplomat, turning LaVar Ball's threat to yank Lonzo from the Lakers into a testament on parenthood.

The beloved President of Basketball Operations for the Lakers was leaving Mastro's in Bev Hills Friday night with his wife Cookie, when our photog asked about LaVar's ultimatum -- put my 2 other sons on the team or say goodbye to Lonzo.

Magic doesn't miss a beat ... heaping praise on the elder Ball.

As for taking in a screening of "Black Panther" this weekend ... well, there's one thing more pressing.

The house-cleaning in Cleveland was all for nothing -- because LeBron James is leaving the Cavs to sign with the Lakers in the off-season ... at least, that's what LaVar Ball believes.

The Big Baller was at his pop-up shop in L.A. when we asked about the possibility of Bron coming out West to play with Lonzo when he becomes a free agent at the end of the season.

LaVar is not only convinced it's going to happen -- he tells TMZ Sports, "Lonzo is gonna make HIM a better player!"

He also loves the idea of having "two stars" on the same team -- and already has a nickname for the duo.

Lonzo Ball is "a ballplayer," not a rapper -- so says T.I. ... who tells TMZ Sports he's got ZERO interest in hitting the studio with the rookie MC.

Don't get it twisted -- T.I. thinks it's great Lonzo dropped a track in honor of LaVar ... but the King of the South ain't convinced Ball's serious about mastering the craft.

"He would have to establish himself and really, really put in the work as an artist, and he'd really have to dedicate himself to the arts, in order for me to take him seriously," T.I. told us at LAX.

Don't think T.I. realized 'Zo released a full 17-track mixtape, but the bottom line -- Ball's got A LOT of bars to spit to get respect in the rap game.

Lonzo Ball tells TMZ Sports there's no animosity whatsoever with new Lakers teammate Isaiah Thomas -- despite the fact they might be competing for the same job.

Lonzo -- who was at a Big Baller Brand pop-up shop in L.A. -- is sidelined right now with a sprained MCL and Thomas is playing the point guard spot while he's out.

Thomas' agent has made it clear Isaiah is demanding a starting role -- meaning he won't surrender the job to Lonzo without a fight.

LaVar Ball is back in the U.S. -- and he's digging in his heels on his threats to the Lakers ... sign my other sons or I'm taking Lonzo Ball somewhere else.

"Man, who don't want they sons to play all on the same team?" Ball told us in front of his reality TV show crew at LAX ... "Name one father who don't want they sons to play on the same team?"

We asked if Lonzo would REALLY leave if LaVar doesn't get his way -- he looked at the camera and said, "I'll let y'all figure that out."

When it came to Magic Johnson, LaVar tried to deflect -- but ultimately told us he's not afraid of the Lakers' President of Basketball Operations.

The comments come in the wake of reports Magic was upset with LaVar over Ball's criticism of Lakers' head coach Luke Walton.

In the end, Ball says he still believes Lonzo will be the NBA's Rookie of the Year and even gave us a mid-season grade for his son.

The Lakers have been CRUSHIN' IT the past few games ... and you can tell by all of the huge celebrity fans who've rushed back to their courtside seats!

Pharrell, Floyd Mayweather, Will Ferrell and a bunch of other stars were all courtside to watch the Purple & Gold put a beating on the OKC Thunder 106-81 ... L.A.'s 8th win in the last 10 games.

L.A. fans can be fickle when it comes to their sports teams -- even Jack Nicholson stopped coming to games and thought about giving up his tickets back in 2015 when the Lakers were terrible.

But now that the Lakers are on a hot streak, there's a pretty good chance we'll see Jack, Leo ... hell, maybe even David Beckham again?!

76er and Lakers fans REJOICE ... the broke ass jump shots of Markelle Fultz & Lonzo Ball can be fixed ... according to a pro shooting coach who says he knows the antidote to their bricks.

Fultz is befuddling the basketball world with his sudden inability to find the hoop, with videos of 76ers practice showing the #1 pick can't even draw iron anymore.

We spoke to Chris "Lethal Shooter" Matthews, an ex-pro hooper, who's worked with huge NBA stars on their form, and drawn millions of views on social media for his shooting exhibitions.

He says he can help Fultz, and Lonzo, another young player who can't seem to hit the broad side of a barn.

"I really truly believe I can help take those guys to the next level when it comes to the art of shooting."

Matthews goes on to tell us -- with all due respect -- exactly what he thinks the 76ers are doing wrong with Fultz ... and how he'd change things up.

Watch Chris in action below, the teams might wanna take the help.

Big Ballers come in all shapes and sizes ... so IG superstar The Fat Jew says LaVar Ball should hire him to be an official brand ambassador for BBB!!

"If they want like a heavyset guy with, like, a Shrek kinda body ... I would be down to rep for BBB," Fat Jew told TMZ Sports. "Yo, LaVar, let me know!"

Sounds like a joke, but we're pretty sure he's 100% serious. Fat Jew says he bought a pair of ZO2 slides in spite of their ridiculous price tag ... and ain't even mad they took almost a month to arrive.

Move over, Ball bros -- Shareef O'Neal says the Lakers are his #1 choice when he goes pro ... and if we were Magic Johnson, we'd start working OT to make it happen.

We got Shaq's son touching down in LAX ... and asked who he'd want to draft him since his NBA career is creeping up.

Shareef told TMZ Sports his favorite team and player were the Cavs and LeBron James, respectively ... but there's 1 thing that puts the Purple and Gold above playing with the King.

Mark Wahlberg wants to direct the movie based on Caron Butler's life ... and guess who's super stoked to hear that??

CARON BUTLER!!

TMZ Sports spoke with Tuff Juice about Marky Mark wanting to tackle Butler's story of a drug dealing childhood to becoming an NBA All-Star in his directorial debut ... and he says it's a dream come true.

Butler says Wahlberg is his top choice to direct the flick ... even with HUGE names like Peter Berg and Spike Lee being interested in joining the project.

The L.A. Lakers have backed out of plans to ink a 10-day contract with Jamil Wilson in the wake of a sexual battery lawsuit in which the player is accused of giving a woman herpes.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... the woman claims she's been diagnosed with herpes simplex 2 and believes Wilson gave it to her during unprotected sexual encounters. She believes he knew he was a carrier but concealed it from her in order to gain consent.

The Lakers had reportedly planned on signing Wilson on Wednesday ... but according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the team is hitting the brakes. Woj says the team isn't ruling out signing Wilson somewhere down the line.

Wilson's agent, Steve McCaskill, told ESPN the player plans on taking legal action of his own.

The Ball bros (mostly LaMelo) had some sick hoops to kick off their pro careers in Lithuania ... but there was some ugliness, too -- and we cut up the video for all you Ball fans/haters out there.

Young Melo probably had the plays of the game -- a dope, no-look dish on a fast break and a Kobe-esque up-and-under reverse (see that, Lakers??). But LM also got sloppy with the rock and missed all his 3-balls.

LiAngelo got the start and looked sluggish out the gates ... but recovered to outscore his little bro, 19 to 10.

Of course, LaVar was watching in the stands -- and lost his mind whenever anything good happened.

Oh, and over 100,000 FANS tuned in. BBB's clearly doing something right.

Lonzo Ball just won Christmas ... going full Big Baller style, copping a $350k Rolls-Royce for his dad, LaVar, and his mom, Tina ... and their first ride was caught on video.

Ball unveiled the new ride on his social media with the hashtag "It's the least I could do" ... though something tells us he knows he's doing the most.

Of course, the Balls aren't strangers to fancy cars -- all the boys push Lamborghinis -- but we're guessing Lonzo felt it was time his dad got in on the act as well.

We had our office car experts check the ride out, and it looks to be a Rolls-Royce Dawn, which retails around $350K ... good use of Lonzo's $6 million salary from the Lakers this year.

Get this ... Lakers player Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is serving a 25-day jail sentence -- AND playing in the NBA at the same time.

No, this is not a joke.

24-year-old KCP was sentenced to 25 days after pleading guilty to violating his probation stemming from a DUI arrest in Michigan back in March.

The NBA player was initially sentenced to 12-months probation -- and was required to submit to drug and alcohol testing. Problem is ... he didn't comply, so the judge ordered him to be locked up.

But here's the catch ... the judge allowed KCP to do a "work-release" sentence -- where he's locked up at a facility for most of the day ... but he's allowed to leave to do his job.

Lonzo Ball ain't the only Lakers rookie looking to make a dent in the sports apparel game ... his teammate, Kyle Kuzma, is also hawking his own line of shirts -- and they're selling like crazy.

Kuzma teed up some "Kuzmania" shirts on his website over the weekend -- and sold all 1,000 of 'em super quick. Now, he says he's got another batch on the way.

And get this ... they actually have a reasonable price tag at $27 a pop ... roughly half the price of a Big Baller Brand shirt.

And with Kuzma coming off a 38-point performance against the Rockets, his stock is rising in a big way.

Think LaVar's jealous??

Of course, Kuz and Lonzo are pretty tight -- Kuz even roasted Zo for his "$600" BBB hat -- but you gotta wonder if this is a little bit of a swag rivalry.

Kobe Bryant just got the first endorsement for the political career we're not sure he even wants yet ... U.S. Congressman Peter King says Kobe's got everything it takes to be an all-star politician.

Magic Johnson seemed to hint that Kobe's post-NBA calling was politics during a speech at the Mamba's jersey retirement ceremony, when he said Bryant had the ability to bring all people together.

We saw King -- who represents New York's 2nd district -- in D.C. and asked for an expert's opinion on the honorable Kobe Bryant from California, and here's the thing ... King seemed down with it.

BTW -- King uses all kinds of weird hoops analogies to give Kobe props, but the main takeaway is, he's on board.