Philadelphia 76ers

Charles Barkley says there's one game in his NBA career he doesn't remember -- because he was SO drunk, it's a miracle he even got on the court.

It all went down in the late '80s after Barkley had been told he was being traded from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Chuck told "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" he was so happy to be getting out of Philly, he got "blasted" drunk around 11:30 AM that day ... shots, chugging, the whole deal.

Problem is ... about 3 hours into the booze sesh, Chuck's agent called back and said the deal was off and he needed to be ready to play for Philly THAT NIGHT.

What ensued, according to Barkley, was a mess.

Barkley says it's the only time he ever played drunk -- but he played HUNGOVER a bunch of times.

An Australian politician is so pissed Ben Simmons didn't make the NBA All-Star game, he took the floor during a government session and alleged a full-fledged "Anti-Australian conspiracy!"

"No one with two brain cells to rub together would want Goran Dragic on their team," M.P. Tim Watts said this week in his Parliamentary address.

FYI, Simmons was born and raised in Australia before moving to the U.S. -- and the people Down Under are clearly bitter he's not getting the love they think he deserves.

"In a record breaking rookie year for the Philadelphia 76ers, Ben is currently averaging nearly 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists per game. He’s already had five triple doubles," Watts said.

He's also upset Australian-born NBA player Joe Ingles was not included in the 3-point contest -- saying, "[It] makes me think there’s some kind of anti-Australian conspiracy going on at league head office at the moment."

"If you thought that Australia was angry about the Simpsons vs. Australia TV episode, Yanks, you ain’t seen nothing yet."

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.

Joel Embiid says he's OVER Rihanna -- officially declaring he's moving on after trying to get a date with her for years.

Seems Lakers rookie Josh Hart thinks Embiid's making a mistake.

Backstory ... Embiid has long claimed he hit on Rihanna back in the day and she told him to come back when he made the NBA All-Star team.

Well, now he has ... he'll be a starter on the East ... so, TNT's Kristen Ledlow asked Joel if he had a message for RiRi now.

He shot her down -- it was hilarious.

So, we asked ex-Villanova star Josh Hart if Embiid's making a mistake.

Everyone in Philly was feeling competitive AF this weekend during the Eagles' playoff game against the Falcons ... including 76ers star Joel Embiid.

Embiid got a little rough with an Eagles fan Saturday during a tailgate at the game, when the guy pushed the NBA star and intercepted an incoming pass to him in the lot.

Safe to say, Embiid wasn't having it ... he shoved the dude right back.

Embiid -- who's 7 feet tall -- doesn't usually back down against fans who challenge him in sports. He definitely didn't hold back while playing one-on-one with folks 2 summers ago.

Jalen Rose is taking the vegetarian approach with Joel Embiid -- NO BEEF -- 'cause the ex-NBA star has nothing but love for the Sixers stud ... despite being the butt of his joke the other day.

ICYMI -- Embiid poked fun at Rose in an interview with SportsCenter when he said his conditioning level was at 81 percent ... followed by "shoutout to Jalen Rose."

Of course, that's the number of points Kobe Bryant scored on Rose during his career-high performance against the Toronto Raptors back in 2006.

Rose says he's not pissed at all by the comment ... and showers the young baller's game with props.

Meek Mill kicked it with a VIP visitor -- Philadelphia 76ers superstar Joel Embiid ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Meek being a famous Philly native, has become friends with Embiid, who's now joining the public outcry against Meek's 2 to 4 year prison sentence for violating parole. Joel went to visit Meek last Friday, along with 76ers co-owner Michael Rubin, and we're told the visit went as good as it could.

As one Sixers source put it, "They really lifted Meek's spirits."

Meek has also spoken with Colin Kaepernick recently, and Colin said Meek "wanted people to know regardless of his unjust situation, he’s in good spirits and humbled by the support the people have shown him."

NBA #1 overall pick Markelle Fultz has a new BFF -- 17-year-old cancer survivor Mike Shelly, who's insane half-court shot at Saturday's 76ers game led to a once-in-a-lifetime VIP experience.

Here's the deal ... Mike balled out in a shooting contest during Sixers vs. Warriors, winning Chick-fil-A (Markelle's favorite thing ever) for all the fans in the arena.

Pretty epic -- but Shelly's no stranger to overcoming the odds ... crushing stage 4 cancer to suit up for his high school football team.

So when Mike got an invite back to the Wells Fargo Center, Fultz gave him a hero's welcome -- telling him he had a better jumper and asking if they could bro out over some chicken sandwiches! (The 76ers hooked Mike up with 76 Chick-fil-A gift cards, FYI).

The franchise also gave Shelly courtside seats, a future road trip with the squad and more!

Awesome story.

How did it feel to jam the rock down Lonzo Ball's throat??

Ben Simmons wouldn't say ... but his smirk told us everything we needed to know.

TMZ Sports got Ben hitting Delilah and Warwick with 76ers bro Robert Covington after they took out Lonzo's Lakers at Staples -- why not celebrate, right?!

Simmons straight up dominated their matchup ... so when we asked about his dunk that sent 'Zo to the shadow realm, Ben reacted pretty much how you'd expect.

B.S. seems to love the club scene -- and so far, it hasn't impacted his play. He was out early Wednesday morning and still killed it later that day.

FYI, we bumped into a couple of the 76ers assistants on gameday ... and they didn't seem to mind.

Here's Ben Simmons & Joel Embiid proving that nothing says criminal justice reform quite like beating the Clippers, 'cause after doing just that, the two young NBA stars want everyone set free.

And by everyone we mean Meek Mill & LiAngelo Ball (BTW, at the time this is being written 'Gelo is reportedly on his way back to the U.S. with his teammates, so Embiid is getting his wish).

The young 76ers hit up Poppy in West Hollywood Monday night after their victory in Staples, and our guy decided to ask Simmons about Mill and Embiid about Ball.

Embiid was down with cutting Ball a break (interesting considering his history with the family) and Simmons was all about Meek getting out from under his 2-4 year sentence.

Gilbert Arenas is tired of all the haters saying Jahlil Okafor sucks 'cause the 76ers are trying to cut bait ... telling TMZ Sports the big man's just stuck behind a superstar in Philly.

"He’s not a bust – there’s just a better player in front of him," Gil said, giving props to Joel Embiid. "He’s not a (Hasheem) Thabeet, he’s not a (Michael) Olowokandi – he’s better than those guys."

Basically, give Jah a change of scenery, and the former #3 overall pick can ball out.

Arenas also brought up the Lakers -- saying they have the reverse situation with former #2 pick Brandon Ingram (the starter) and rookie Kyle Kuzma (who's playing behind him).

Jahlil Okafor is opening about his infamous '15 streetfight in front of a Boston nightclub -- saying he lost his cool hours after the 76ers blew their chance to finally win a game that season.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... Okafor went on a violent bender on Nov. 25, 2015 -- socking at least 2 men in the face outside Storyville Boston nightclub hours after Philadelphia (0-15 at the time) lost to the Celtics.

Okafor is now explaining the situation to SB Nation saying, "We were almost about to win that game against the Celtics and it ended up getting away from us in the fourth quarter," Okafor said.

"I remember just being upset because I thought we were about to get our first win. And I just decided I'm going to go out that night. I don't remember a lot of it, because I was really intoxicated."

"And me being drunk, I wasn't in my right state of mind. I remember being taunted -- just random stuff I would hear all the time on the court. I just reacted differently."

Okafor says he was so embarrassed after the fight, he didn't leave his house for 2 weeks.

Forget the Clippers ... Ben Simmons turned PHILLY into Lob City today -- with the help of a stud 12-year-old hooper diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

The 76ers superstar hit the gym Thursday to surprise Tyler Osowski -- who just underwent a major operation in June to help him walk better.

Simmons had heard Tyler was a HUUUGE Sixers fan -- and loves Simmons -- so, he worked with FOX 29's Dawn Timmeney to set up a shootaround.

What ensued was pretty great -- the two bro'd down on the court and Tyler even dished up a pretty sweet alley-oop!

He's unemployed at the moment, but think Nerlens Noel misses playing for the Philadelphia 76ers??

"NAH."

It was that simple when we asked the 23-year-old about his old squad outside of Warwick nightclub in L.A. last night, where he was partying until 2 in the morning.

Noel's story is bizarre ... he was the 6th overall pick in the '13 NBA Draft -- and after bouncing from the 76ers to the Mavs, he's currently a free agent.

After watching the clip, seems a Philly reunion is out of the question.

Oops.

Seems Markelle Fultz was so excited to publish his first sponsored Instagram post after he was drafted Thursday night, he forgot to fill in the template ... and left out the Philadelphia 76ers.

It's not uncommon for sponsors to give stars a template to publish on social media -- Scott Disick accidentally posted the instructions once -- and Fultz made a similar flub at Tissot's expense.

"Excited to head to (City) and join the (team name). @Tissot.us is helping me get started with my (team name) watch. #ThisIsMyTime #NBADraft."

Oops.

Don't worry, Fultz noticed his mistake and quickly filled in the blanks.

Rookie mistake.

Mick ... and Adrian ... and Paulie ... and Apollo might ALL be rolling in their graves after this -- 'cause here are a bunch of the Philadelphia 76ers doing "Rocky" quotes -- and it's so bad, it's good.

Jahlil Okafor, Joel Embiid, Nik Stauskas and more all take a swing and delivering some of the most famous quotes from the franchise ... despite the fact they have terrible Philly accents.

Our favorite part ... Dario Saric singing "Eye of the Tiger."

The team is honoring the 40th anniversary of the original "Rocky" -- and will include the theme at Wednesday's game against the Wizards.