NBA

Blueface will not be stepping into the ring with Nick Young on Saturday -- the rapper has not yet been approved for a boxing license ... and now event promoter Austin McBroom is scrambling to find a replacement with only 3 days until fight night.

TMZ Sports is told the 25-year-old Thotiana rapper received a letter from the California State Athletic Commission on Tuesday informing him his application for a pro boxing license in the state would not be granted until he appeared before the organization in October.

Obviously, that means Blueface can't fight Swaggy P on Saturday's Social Gloves 2 card at Banc of California Stadium in L.A.

McBroom is headlining the event with rival and fellow YouTuber, AnEsonGib. Adrian Peterson and Le'Veon Bell are also fighting.

Of course, Blueface has made headlines lately for several violent altercations with his girlfriend Chrisean. It's unclear if those incidents played a role in the denial of a license.

It's not the first bout Blueface has been pulled from ... he was taken off the recent KSI card at the O2 Arena in London, where he was supposed to fight FaZe Temperrr.

Now, McBroom and his partners are working tirelessly to find a suitable opponent for the 6'7" former NBA star.

Story developing ...

Kevin Durant is demanding answers over his NBA 2K23 rating ... saying there's NO WAY he's a 96 overall in the game, and claiming he should be a 99.

KD voiced his displeasure to Ronnie Singh from 2K on Twitter ... saying, "Aye @Ronnie2K I’m gonna need an explanation on why I’m not a 99? This has become laughable."

Singh jokingly fired back at the Slim Reaper -- writing, "I am petitioning for us to remove MJ on the cover and replacing with you the real 99."

Of course, 2K ratings have always been a sensitive subject for NBA superstars ... especially when they feel they've been snubbed or slighted by the video game franchise.

Durant is coming off his best season in a Nets uniform -- the four-time scoring champ put up insane numbers when he was on the court, averaging 29.9 points per game in 55 contests.

But, KD's gaudy stats and marksmanship on the hardwood weren't enough to secure him to the top spot in the rankings -- which went to Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who got a 97.

Giannis and KD have been battling for Eastern Conference supremacy since Durant took his talents to BK -- with the Greek Freak getting the best of Kevin in the 2021 East semifinals.

Durant received a 96 rating alongside LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid -- but it's clear, in KD's mind, he should be at the top of 2K's list.

It looks like Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley might actually be able to put their heated rivalry to the side now that they're teammates ... because the two embraced at a Lakers press conference on Tuesday -- and they're both still alive!!

Of course, Pat Bev and Brodie have butted heads for nearly a decade ... with both players trading insults and questionable plays in games over the years.

Once Pat got traded to the Purple and Gold this offseason, a lot were wondering how/if the two would be able to coexist on the same team ... and so far, it looks like they'll be just fine -- either that, or it was all just a publicity stunt.

Westbrook and Beverley dapped each other up and shared a short hug at the latter's introductory presser on Tuesday ... and while it wasn't the warmest embrace, it's certainly a start.

Beverley also talked about playing alongside Westbrook during the presser ... saying he's excited to get to work.

Sorry, drama seekers ... Larsa Pippen is NOT hooking up with the son of her ex-husband's nemesis -- the 'Real Housewives' star and Marcus Jordan are strictly friends, TMZ Sports is told.

As we previously reported, Larsa and Michael Jordan's second oldest son were spotted dining together at Zuma in Miami on Sunday ... with witnesses telling us it looked like a double date with another couple.

Despite what some folks assumed by their public outing, we're told Larsa and Marcus are really just homies and aren't an item.

It would have been a big mess if it were true -- Larsa's ex, Scottie, pretty much hates his old partner in crime ... which dates back to their playing days on the Chicago Bulls and was reignited during the "Last Dance" documentary.

As for why LP and MJ were together, we're told they happen to have a similar social circle ... so it was just a good ole fashioned hangout.

Adele's simply looking to celebrate her big Emmy win ... but her fans think there's something much bigger to toast, because of something she posted ... something that makes them think she and Rich Paul have said: "I Do."

The singer was "pleased as punch" to be one step closer to EGOT status Monday, winning Outstanding Variety Special for her TV concert, "Adele: One Night Only" -- and one image of her shiny new statuette shows a personalized game box also on the table.

The box, holding what appears to be game tiles, reads "The Paul's." So, while Adele was happy about her big win, the comments section was obviously flooded with other questions -- with one straight up asking "is you married?!"

She has yet to respond to the noise, despite the post already getting over 2.7M likes ... but as you know, Adele and Rich have been going strong publicly for over a year now, after meeting a few years back.

She moved in with Rich in May ... and even responded to engagement rumors in an interview with ELLE UK last month -- saying she "might as well be married."

LeBron James and Drake stole the rights to a movie about a segregated hockey league ... this according to a new lawsuit.

The NBA star and rapper are being sued for $10 million by Billy Hunter, the former head of the NBA players union, who claims he holds the exclusive legal rights to produce any movie about Canada's old Colored Hockey League.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Hunter claims LeBron and Drake used their production companies to go behind his back and sign a deal with the authors of a book their "Black Ice" hockey documentary is based on ... icing out Hunter in the process.

Problem is ... Hunter claims he had a deal with the guys who wrote, "Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895-1925," where Hunter would hold the exclusive rights to produce a movie.

Hunter says he paid the authors, George and Darril Fosty, a combined $265,000 to lock up the movie rights to the story of a Canadian hockey league for Black players ... but says they worked out a side deal with LeBron and Drake.

In the suit, Hunter claims he confronted the Fosty brothers after hearing about their deal with LeBron and Drake and says the authors claimed the documentary did not violate their agreement with Hunter because a documentary is different than a movie ... a claim Hunter says is "absurd and made in bad faith."

Hunter, who was the head of the NBA players union when LeBron came into the league, is going after LBJ and Drake for a cut of the documentary's profits ... plus $10 million in damages.

A rep for Drake had no comment on the allegations.

Scottie Pippen's probably not going to like this -- his ex-wife is in Miami seemingly getting cozy with his old teammate's son ... and not just any teammate, it's Michael Jordan.

Larsa Pippen was spotted Sunday at Zuma -- a Japanese restaurant right in the heart of downtown -- with none other than Marcus Jordan ... and the two of them, we're told, appeared to be on a double date of some sort with another couple at their table.

TMZ has obtained photos of the pair sitting down next to each other during the lunch, and apparently leaving too -- with LP leading the way and Marcus following closely behind.

Eyewitnesses tell us they were there for about 45 minutes, and that there were no obvious signs of PDA between them. However, our sources say Larsa seemed to be trying to keep a low profile and got a little skittish when she realized folks had spotted her/were taking pics.

She's been in town this weekend with her girlfriends, hosting some sort of retail store reopening at the Aventura Mall ... which is well-documented on her social media.

What wasn't shown, though, was who else might've been in her orbit -- and now, it looks like we know ... Mike's 2nd oldest was tagging along. The age difference isn't as drastic as it usually is with Larsa's would-be SOs. She's 48, and MJ is 31 ... so 17 years give or take.

She's been living her best single life for a while now -- and has been rumored to have been romantically linked to a number of dudes in their 20s over the past few years or so ... including Ben Simmons, Harry Jowsey and more memorably, a married Malik Beasley.

Of course, she and Scottie are no longer together ... haven't been in ages, so no harm no foul. Still, though, this one's gotta sting a bit -- assuming she is, in fact, seeing Marcus.

As we've seen over the past year and change ... there's still a lot of hard feelings between Scottie and Michael dating back years to when they were on the Bulls together. And Marcus himself was obviously around back then during his father and Scottie's heyday in the NBA.

A couple of Stephanies from "90 Day Fiancé" don't seem like they're ready to settle down ... because their idea of a date night includes a strip club and a porn star!!!

Stephanie Matto and Stephanie Davison hit up Larry Flynt's Hustler Club Las Vegas for an intimate date, dining at a new rooftop restaurant and spending time in the VIP suite with XXX actress Alexis Monroe.

Matto is known for selling anything, from farts in jars to her boob sweat, so naturally, she found a way to make money at the strip club ... without getting onstage.

This time, Matto auctioned off the chance for someone to hang with her, SD and Alexis in the club's largest VIP suite ... and she says an NBA player dropped $100,000 for the honor.

Date auctions are becoming Matto's latest hustle ... remember, she auctioned off a virtual candlelight date earlier this summer, which Davison won with a $2,700 bid.

As you see, the Stephanies dressed to the nines ... wearing plunging satin dresses and high heels, and showing more skin than their porn star third wheel.

Donovan Mitchell's days in Utah are over -- the NBA star has been traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a huge deal on Thursday.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted out the bombshell news just minutes ago -- the face of the Jazz franchise is officially on the move to northeast Ohio.

Mitchell -- who was drafted by the Nuggets out of Louisville -- spent all 5 of his seasons with the Jazz after being traded on draft night ... where he established himself as one of the game's best young stars.

The Cavs are sending Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji and three first-round picks to Utah ... and the rights to swap two other future picks in the deal.

The Knicks had been floated as a potential landing spot for Spida ... but their dreams were officially squashed after the Cavs -- who made the play-in tournament last year -- sealed the deal.

Utah appears to be in complete rebuild mode -- the team traded away Rudy Gobert, a 3-time Defensive Player of the Year, and now have shipped Donovan out of town as well.

Singer and actress Cassie Ventura celebrated her 36th birthday big ... as in Texas big inside a new Houston nightclub with some super famous pals.

The vibes and drinks seemed to be flowing Wednesday at "Finish Your Champagne" and Cassie was spotted having a ball with a bubble gun, the perfect party weapon of choice.

Plenty of Cassie's famous friends turned out to help her pop the cork off the bottle ... which included NBA stars James Harden and Ja Morant, as well as industry pals Terrence J, Pleasure P, J Mulan, Alaric J. Klaos and Serayah.

A newly-single Ne-Yo was also spotted in the building ... weeks after his estranged wife revealed their marriage was done for good following cheating claims.

The R&B superstar did look unbothered though, especially as the DJ dropped plenty of Ne-Yo songs onto the party ... allowing for the birthday girl to bask in the moment.

Speaking of marriages, Cassie got married back in 2019 to Alex Fine ... who wasn't in the mix for his wife's birthday bash.

He did, however, wish her both a happy birthday and 3rd anniversary on Instagram, so all appears to be good.

It's been a long time coming, but Stephen Curry is FINALLY in the rafters at Davidson -- the NBA superstar had his jersey retired this week ... after officially receiving his degree from his alma mater!!

We know what you're thinking -- how on earth has this not happened yet?! As it turns out, Davidson has a strict rule against giving the honor to players who didn't finish their education.

With that being said, Curry -- who spent 3 seasons starring at Davidson -- put in the time to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Sociology ... and on Wednesday, he was inducted into the Davidson Athletics Hall of Fame!!

While at Davidson, Curry averaged over 24.7 points per game in his 3 seasons with the Wildcats ... including a staggering 28.6 points per game in his final year with the program.

Steph's wife, Ayesha, and their three kids were on campus to support him ... and his parents, Dell and Sonya, took the podium to share a few words about their son's latest achievement.

Steph was one semester short of graduating, so the 2-time MVP re-enrolled at the school for the spring semester, working closely with two professors to achieve his goal, per Davidson.

It was all about Steph on Wednesday ... because he was the only one walking at the commencement!!

Once Curry completed his final semester of coursework, it paved the way for Davidson to honor the three-point sniper by hanging his jersey in the rafters for good.

During his speech, Steph was overwhelmed with emotion ... calling his move to pursue education at Davidson the best decision he ever made.

Curry is fresh off winning his 4th NBA title in June after defeating the Celtics in the Finals ... so there's a lot to celebrate.

P.J. Washington just proposed to his girlfriend -- and everyone is congratulating the Charlotte Hornets hooper and his new fiancée -- even his ex, Brittany Renner.

Washington's fiancee, Alisah Chanel -- who's also pregnant -- broke the news on Wednesday via IG ... showin' off her massive diamond ring, and writing "Soooooo…..this happened this morning 😍."

"Issa fiancée 💍 WOW babe you did that 🐐 I LOVE YOU 💙"

In the comments, Washington gave his soon-to-be-wife a kissy emoji ... and right underneath his remark, was his ex-girlfriend, Renner.

"Congrats y'all!!!" Renner said.

It's pretty shocking given their history. Remember, 30-year-old Renner and 24-year-old Washington became an official couple back in 2020 -- his sophomore year with the Hornets -- and welcomed their first child in May 2021.

Soon after, things went south, big time. The former couple took shots at each other on social media. Renner, a fitness model, was also called out for allegedly having a baby with P.J. to secure some of his $12 million NBA contract.

That started the whole "#FreePJ" trend in Renner's IG comments ... though, she's always been adamant money wasn't her motivation.

In fact, Renner was recently on the Tonight's Conversation podcast ... where she claimed she only gets a few thousand bucks from P.J., not $200k like many people think.

"You can't rely on your child's father to provide for you," Renner said, "I never been about money. I provide for my child. I get $2,500 a month."

Good to see Brittney playing nice with P.J. and Alisah.

Steph Curry is known for having a wicked shot on the court, but the Warriors star can apparently rap too -- 'cause he freestyled during a charity golf tourney this week ... and name-dropped Rory McIlroy in the rhymes!!

Curry was celebrating the 3rd annual Workday Charity Golf Classic with his wife, Ayesha, in Northern California -- when he got hold of a mic on one of the tee boxes and showed the crowd that he can get busy on a beat.

Steph dropped a 40-plus-second freestyle while musician Kelley James was teeing off ... and judging from the looks and sounds of it, Curry appeared to be a natural.

"I don't know why I have the mic," Curry rapped. "All I want to do is see Kelley's ball take flight."

"Is he really good at golf? Nobody knows," Curry continued flowing. "I don't know how this is gonna go?"

The best part of Steph's freestyle was the bars ... the Golden State point guard made sure to rap about what James was doing on the hole -- and he managed to stay on the beat!!

He also gave Kelley high praise ... saying in the rap that Rory, who just won the 2022 FedEx Cup, would approve of James' stroke.

Benefits from the golf tourney went to Steph and Ayesha's Eat.Learn.Play. Foundation -- and after the event, Curry reflected on how much fun he had there.

"Another amazing day at the 3rd Annual @workday Charity Classic w/ @ayeshacurry… all benefiting @eatlearnplay 🙌🏽⛳️ Special people, unbelievable vibes... for an amazing cause."

Leave it to LeBron James to get Jay-Z to come outta social media hibernation!

LBJ -- fresh from getting crunk at Kendrick Lamar and Baby Keem's The Big Steppers Vancouver show -- soaked up MSNBC anchor Ari Melber's deep dive into Jay's highly touted verse from DJ Khaled's "God Did."

The news bit hacked into the failed drug policies of ex-Presidents Richard Nixon and Donald Trump ... while highlighting how Jay lyrically details several of America's hypocrisies.

The NBA living legend equally praised Hov and Ari's poetic delivery … prompting a response from the Roc Nation boss, who took it all in stride, stating his primary focus is to give the voiceless a voice.

On the track, Jay raps, "I left the dope game with my record clean, huh/I turned the cocaina into champagne/I cleaned up la madrina with the same soap/Me and Loro talk 'bout how we slang dope/Now the weed in stores, can you believe this, Ty?" … the last line is a nod to his cannabis company Monogram.

Jay's highly touted verse has helped DJ Khaled secure next week's Billboard 200 chart crown … but that doesn't mean the Roc Boy will be lighting up IG or TikTok anytime soon.

While speaking with Kevin Hart over the summer, Jay explained he's down with everyone using social media to their heart's content.

Former Charlotte Hornets power forward Montrezl Harrell has just cut a deal with prosecutors to close out his weed case ... his lawyer tells TMZ Sports.

Harrell -- who was charged with felony trafficking less than five pounds of marijuana after an incident on the road in May -- showed up in Kentucky court on Wednesday morning to make the plea deal official, according to his attorney, Drew Findling.

Findling says Harrell agreed to enter a guilty plea to a reduced charge of simple marijuana possession. In exchange, according to Findling, Harrell "received conditional discharge at the end of 12 months" -- meaning the conviction will be completely wiped from the basketball player's record if he stays out of trouble for the next year.

As we reported, Harrell was initially charged after cops say a car he was riding in on May 12 had three pounds of marijuana in vacuum-sealed bags inside of a backpack on the back seat.

Harrell was not arrested at the scene and was initially given a citation. He was then later formally charged. The 28-year-old had been facing up to five years behind bars in the case.

Findling said at the time his client "is a devoted family man and a committed professional basketball player and has never been a part of any form of marijuana trafficking or any other illegal activity."

Full-circle moment for LeBron James -- the NBA superstar is on the cover of Sports Illustrated once again ... this time, with his two sons, Bronny and Bryce, by his side.

The outlet released the cover for its October 2022 issue on Tuesday ... showing LeBron standing inside the Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary gymnasium with his boys to his left and right.

The honor is extra special for the King -- he first graced the cover in 2002 as a high school prodigy (when he was dubbed "The Chosen One") ... and has gone on to appear on the cover nearly 40 times over the next 20 years.

The 4-time NBA champ's wardrobe choice for the photo shoot is a nod to his iconic S.I. debut ... wearing the cover on his T-shirt.

The cover comes with a long feature about LeBron and his family ... and of course, the topic of playing alongside 17-year-old Bronny (and even Bryce) is brought up.

While the King has made it clear he wants to play alongside his oldest, he reveals he isn't counting out the possibility of suiting up with his 15-year-old, too ... which means he'd still be in the league in 2027.