TMZ Sports - Page 42

Julius Erving loves Kobe Bryant and even played with the Mamba's father ... but he tells TMZ Sports the NBA shouldn't retire the Lakers legend's numbers league-wide like it did with Bill Russell earlier this summer.

Most believe that following Adam Silver's decision to honor Russell by permanently hanging up his #6 following the Celtics legend's death -- he should do the same for Kobe, who tragically passed away in 2020.

But, Dr. J -- who called Russell a good friend of his -- clearly feels differently.

"I don't think he should be compared with the Russell situation," Erving said of Kobe out at LAX. "We're fresh into that but let's see how that works out. Maybe at some point in time. Bill was 86 years old, so address it like that to an 86-year-old -- multiple champions, multiple coaching champions, multiple on-and-off the court champion, or whatever -- there's no comparison."

"I wouldn't even try to compare Kobe Bryant to Russell."

Instead, Erving said he believes the posthumous honors that Bryant receives should be left up to his former L.A. team.

"It's more of a franchise situation with the Lakers," Erving said. "If they wanted to do it, which I think they already have, that makes sense -- but for the whole league to do it, probably not."

Christopher Martin -- one half of the iconic rap duo Kid 'n Play -- says the "House Party" reboot is in great hands with LeBron James ... telling TMZ Sports the NBA superstar is working nonstop to make sure the movie is a success.

As we previously reported, the modern version of KnP's iconic flick has been delayed a bit ... with star actor Jacob Latimore saying it was for the best.

We spoke with Martin at LAX about the project ... and he said he heard from sources -- AKA King James himself -- the reason behind the pushback is because it will be a theatrical release instead of on HBO Max as originally planned.

Speaking of the King, Martin couldn't say enough nice things about the hooper/big time producer ... adding he's "very involved" and has "complete ownership" over the operation.

To top things off, Martin says LeBron even hooked him up with some of his signature Nike shoes ... which he was wearing when we spoke with him!!

Also -- we know what everyone's asking ... will Kid 'n Play make it into the reboot??

Fedor Emelianenko, Wanderlei Silva, Chael Sonnen, Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin, Dan Henderson, Chuck Liddell, Glover Teixeira ... all MMA legends Quinton Jackson fought (some wins, some losses) -- but none of these beasts qualify as the greatest fighter Rampage has faced -- that honor belongs to Jon Jones.

TMZ Sports caught up with the 44-year-old (don't say retired -- more on that later) fighter last month at LAX ... where we asked the former MMA champ what advice he's given to Jones as he (fingers crossed 🤞) gets closer to his first fight in the heavyweight division.

"Honestly, no cap," Rampage flatly told us, adding, "Jon Jones is the best person I ever fought. I don't think I can give him advice. He's a better fighter than me, you know what I'm saying. I keep it 100."

It's high praise coming from one of the most well-known (and badass) MMA fighters to ever grace a cage.

FYI, Jon and Rampage fought in September 2011. Bones won by rear naked choke in the 4th round.

Of course, all of Jon's incredible exploits have come in the light heavyweight division (205 lbs.) ... but now he's facing men who weigh up to 265 lbs. More weight, more power. Will that be an issue for Jones? We asked Rampage.

"I don't know about Jon Jones' chin. It's been rumors that he don't got a strong chin. The heavyweights, man, you know they hit harder but I feel like Jones is a smart fighter. It was really hard for me to hit him, he wouldn't let me hit him. Granted, Jones is a dirty fighter. When you get close to him, he gon' poke you in the eye and kick ya knee backward."

Quinton continued ... "Heavyweights, they a different monster. They hit hard. They catch you slippin' -- look at Francis Ngannou. That guy hits you, it lights out. Game over."

We also asked Rampage -- who hasn't fought since December 2019 -- if he was done fighting for good.

"Nah, man. I ain't done. I'm not happy with my performance last fight. I can't leave the MMA fans like that."

Jackson's referring to his Bellator 237 scrap with the legend, Fedor. Emelianenko defeated QJ halfway through the first round by technical knockout (TKO).

But, if there's one more fight, Rampage says it might not be MMA ... there's a good chance it's a boxing match against former champ Shannon Briggs.

"I'm in talks with fighting Shannon. That fight has been almost a year in the making, but I wanna do some boxing before I retire," Quinton says.

Buffalo Bills Punter Matt Araiza -- accused of gang-raping a 17-year-old girl while in college -- has been released by the team, the organization announced Saturday.

As TMZ Sports previously reported, 22-year-old Araiza was sued in San Diego County Superior Court earlier this week.

Araiza, nicknamed the "Punt God," is accused of gang-raping a 17-year-old woman, only identified as "Jane Doe" in the suit, at a Halloween party at his house on October 17, 2021.

The woman, who says she was inebriated upon arriving at the party, says Araiza gave her a drink that she later believed contained "other intoxicating substances."

Doe claims the two engaged in sexual acts outside of the punter's home. She says Araiza then led her inside, and threw her onto a bed. She claims he gang raped her with two of his Aztecs teammates -- Nowlin "Pa'a" Ewaliko and Zavier Leonard -- who are also named as defendants in the lawsuit.

The woman claims the sexual abuse went on for about an hour and a half, before the party was eventually shut down. In the suit she says she "stumbled out of the room bloody and crying."

Doe is suing Araiza, Ewaliko and Leonard for unspecified damages.

Araiza, shortly after the allegations came to light, adamantly denied the claims, saying ... “The facts of the incident are not what they are portrayed in the lawsuit or in the press. I look forward to quickly setting the record straight.”

The Bills initially issued a statement saying they were aware of the allegations, saying they “conducted a thorough examination,” but couldn't comment further due to the active suit.

However, after sitting Araiza (the team's starting P) during Friday night's preseason game, the Bills, a Super Bowl favorite, announced Saturday afternoon they were parting ways with the league's most talked about punter.

Buffalo GM Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott briefly met with the media, telling reporters the situation was bigger than football, adding Matt must deal with the serious issue.

As for specifically when the organization learned or the incredibly troubling allegations, Beane said the following.

"I know it's a question of when did we hear this or what was the timeline -- late July from her representative spoke to [Bills attorney Kathryn D'Angelo] and laid out some of the things that they were accusing Matt and others of. At that time, our process, we tried to be thorough and thoughtful. Not rush to judgment, and I would say it's not easy. You're trying to put facts around a legal situation, sometimes with limited information. So, ultimately that's where we're at today with the decision."

Araiza was selected in the 6th round of the 2022 NFL Draft ... and recently went viral after he boomed an 82-yard punt during his first game.

Araiza has not been arrested or charged with a crime.

Baseball is known as 'America's National Pastime' ... but in Canada it looks more like a rerun of the Jerry Springer show.

Check out this video, obtained by TMZ, showing 2 women getting into a free-for-all with others in the nosebleed section of Rogers Centre in Toronto last night.

As the L.A. Angels were routing the Blue Jays 12-0, the women started going at it after they got into some sort of nasty argument. Over what? We don't know.

But our sources tell us one of the women, who was sitting in her seat watching the game, had her hair pulled by the other woman from behind.

That's when everybody went all Springer -- and fists started to fly!! One guy planted his fist in the face of the woman who had her hair pulled. Onlookers were astonished, yelling, "Oh s---t" and "Wow!!"

Other people jumped in and yanked the women off each other ... the hair-puller then screamed as she dashed down a flight of stairs.

We're told her rival went after her and the two got into it again inside a tunnel at the stadium.

We're not sure what happened after that ... but we've called police ... so far no word back. Fingers crossed that no one got hurt too badly.

Gotta love those Canadians, though. They really know how to fight.

Hailey Davidson -- the transgender golfer aiming to make the LPGA Tour -- tells TMZ Sports she's very grateful for Caitlyn Jenner's support this week ... but she's striving to have a further chat with the former Olympian with the hopes that it will help "clear up some assumptions" going forward.

Jenner threw her support behind Davidson on Fox News on Wednesday, saying she believed Davidson -- unlike transgender swimmer Lia Thomas -- had no unfair advantage over her female opponents because "golf is a totally different game."

Davidson called Jenner's backing "awesome" ... but tells us she did find at least part of the conversation as a whole "a bit vague."

Specifically, the 29-year-old, who underwent gender reassignment surgery last year, says she wished Jenner had left out the sweeping assumption that she can still crush a golf ball.

"My big thing is just, I appreciate the love and support, but definitely to clear up some assumptions would be awesome," she said.

"Because I definitely don't hit it as far as people say. Like, nowhere close."

Davidson said she's reached out to Jenner in an attempt to have a conversation with her about it all. She's yet, though, to hear back.

But if the conversation does take place, Davidson tells us she's hopeful Jenner would hear her out about her golf game ... and more.

"I would love to talk to her in regards to more about how we are athletes and her experience may not be everyone's experience," she said.

"Everyone's experiences are different and everyone's built different. With what she was training to do, yeah, I'm pretty sure she's pretty big and strong."

Davidson said she, however, is not necessarily like that. In fact, she tells us after undergoing hormone treatment, she's lost a ton of power and clubhead speed.

Ultimately, Davidson said she's just hoping everyone can one day be treated equally.

"I understand [Caitlyn's] point that golf is a little different," she said. "But again, all sports are really the same in the end when it comes to the athlete."

AEW star Darby Allin says moments before he drove a Jeep 96 feet over his home and into trailers, legendary stunt performer Travis Pastrana gave him a scary warning -- you're gonna break your back, dude!!!

TMZ Sports spoke with Allin right after he pulled off the insane, death-defying stunt ... and the 29-year-old told us Pastrana -- who set the whole thing up -- gave him some chilling parting words.

"Travis Pastrana helped set it up," Darby said. "And he's like from Nitro Circus, [the] first-ever double backflip. He's a wild man. So he helped set it up."

"And he straight up told me like before I went, 'There's a good chance you're going to break your back doing this.'"

Allin told us the stunt was far more dangerous than he initially led on -- 'cause his car was missing some VERY key parts!!

"I was terrified because when I got the stunt car, it didn't have any brakes, and it didn't have a speedometer," Allin said. "So, I was just like, 'Alright, here we go, dude.' I literally didn't know how fast I was going."

"If I got scared and decided to pull out at the last minute, I couldn't because I had no brakes," Allin said. "So, I just winged it."

Darby said the experts told him to go 36 MPH during the stunt, but because he was without brakes or a speedometer, he couldn't tell how fast he was going.

DA says he lost track of where he was while flying through the air, but the moment he hit the trailers, he immediately told his AEW boss Tony Khan, who was on FaceTime with him for the entire stunt -- "I can make it Wednesday."

Allin's pulled off a lot of wild stunts in the ring ... but he describes this one as a "totally different feeling."

A Roberto Clemente rookie card -- one of the greatest outfielders in MLB history -- is hitting the auction block next month ... and is expected to sell for over $1,000,000!!

TMZ Sports has learned Clemente's 1955 Topps rookie card -- recently graded a PSA 9, indicating "mint" condition -- will go up for auction in September at PWCC Marketplace and could rival the previous record for a Clemente card, $1.107 million.

PWCC officials tell us the '55 Clemente rookie card is in the "upper echelon of quality for vintage trading cards."

The card's front features two images of Clemente in his Pittsburgh Pirates uniform and baseball cap, and the back has stats from when Roberto played in the minor leagues.

"There are just so few copies of this card in this quality in existence that they require the highest level of custodianship possible," said PWCC exec Jesse Craig.

"We're talking about a museum-quality piece here."

During his rookie season, Clemente played 124 games for the Pirates, tallying 121 hits, 23 doubles, and a .255 batting average.

A 12-time Gold Glove winner and 15-time All-Star, Clemente finished his career with four batting titles, 2 World Series rings and a World Series MVP award.

Clemente was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973.

The auction is still a few weeks away ... so bidders start saving.

Anthony Edwards is a dog on the court, and a dog lover off it ... and that's why the NBA star's agent commissioned an artist in Los Angeles to paint a picture of his beloved bulldog, Ant Jr., and gifted it to the hooper.

Edward's agent, Omar Wilkes, knows how much Ant Jr. means to his client, so he hit up L.A.-based artist Andre Simmons to create a portrait of the pup.

We're told Wilkes -- who also reps Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young -- contacted Simmons with the idea for Anthony's birthday.

Dre tells us he started working on the painting on a Friday, and dropped it off at Klutch Sports agency the following Tuesday.

Ant Jr.'s rocking a custom No. 1 home jersey in the painting like Edwards ... who averaged over 20 points per game in his 2nd NBA season.

James Harden's yacht birthday party literally takes the cake -- takes the cake and throws the whole 4-tier dessert overboard -- during the NBA star's wild bday celebration!

The Philadelphia Sixers guard was caught on video partying with his friends and family on a yacht this week in Marina Del Rey in California, celebrating his 33rd birthday.

Everyone was taking photos of Harden, dressed in all white, holding the large cake near the side rail of the yacht, when out of nowhere, he tossed the dessert overboard.

The party DJ was in complete shock ... saying on the mic, "Happy Birthday -- oh my God!"

But, was it real?! The cake's large, and while Harden is obviously a big, strong, world-class athlete, the cake seems awfully light! So, likely fake, but still super funny.

Thankfully, the fun didn't stop when the cake departed the boat ... Harden even showed off his "sexy" dance moves in front of the camera to Pretty Ricky's 'On The Hotline'.

There was also a cool ice sculpture of Harden aboard the yacht.

Harden and his guests celebrated the big 3-3 by sipping on Tequila Diamante, according to the party drink menu. They also enjoyed JH's new vino, J-Harden Wines.

Little League World Series player Easton Oliverson has taken yet another huge step toward a full recovery from his terrifying bunk bed fall ... his family just announced he underwent successful skull surgery Friday morning.

Oliverson's relatives shared a picture of the 12-year-old -- who suffered severe injuries in a near-fatal fall in the Williamsport dormitory on Aug. 14 -- showing the little boy resting comfortably in his hospital bed after doctors replaced a piece of his skull that they initially removed following his accident.

"This sweet boy is out of surgery.🤍," the family said in a caption on the photo. "We couldn’t be any more thrilled to let everyone know that his surgery went perfect."

Oliverson's family also said in the social media post that doctors "are very happy with the outcome" -- adding that Easton would be staying the night in the PICU for observations.

"THANK YOU for the thoughts, prayers, and messages concerning this procedure," they said. "Easton, his parents, and our entire family will be forever grateful 🤍💙"

"We are so grateful."

Easton has slowly but surely recovered since he needed emergency surgery earlier this month ... taking his first bites of food and his first steps just days after suffering the injuries.

He's even been spotted playing catch with stuffed animals in his hospital room.

Easton's family said Thursday they anticipate him returning home to Utah soon "if he continues to work hard and listen to his doctors."

Bills punter Matt Araiza will NOT be participating in Buffalo's final preseason game ... after a woman made serious rape allegations against him in a lawsuit earlier this week.

22-year-old Araiza -- AKA the "Punt God" -- was originally slated to suit up and play in the Bills' matchup against the Carolina Panthers on Friday night ... but before kickoff, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the team reversed course and will sit him down.

The decision comes following a civil lawsuit in which a woman accused the former San Diego State star of raping her with his SDSU football teammates during a Halloween party in October 2021.

In the suit, the woman -- who's 18 now but said she was 17 at the time of the incident -- claimed she was sexually assaulted by the punter (who was 21 at the time) and two other Aztecs football players for over an hour at his SD home.

The Bills released a statement on Thursday ... saying the team was aware of the allegations and was investigating the situation.

Araiza's attorney denied the allegations in a statement to the Los Angeles Times, saying, "It's a shakedown because he's now with the Buffalo Bills."

"There is no doubt in my mind that Matt Araiza ever raped that girl," the attorney added.

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Taurean Prince was arrested in Miami on Thursday night ... TMZ Sports has confirmed.

Jail records show the 28-year-old was booked at 7:51 PM due to an outstanding warrant. A police spokesperson tells us it stems from an alleged drug-related incident in Texas.

Further details have not yet been released.

Prince -- who looked stern in his mug shot -- is still in custody, the records show.

Prince, a star at Baylor, was taken by the Jazz in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft, but was traded to the Atlanta Hawks just days later. He's bounced around the league since, but played well for the T-Wolves after being traded to the team last year.

He's since signed a 2-year, $16 million extension with Minnesota ... and is expected to be a key player on the team this season.

First up, the "Road House" remake ... after that, a Mark Wahlberg flick?!

If Wahlberg had it his way, that's the Hollywood career path Conor McGregor would take ... 'cause the face of the "Ted" franchise said this week he wants to put the UFC superstar in one of his upcoming films!!

Walhberg made the revelation on Barstool Sports' "Pardon My Take" podcast ... explaining he truly believes McGregor has the chops to kill it on the silver screen.

"In the right movie," the 51-year-old actor said, "absolutely!"

Conor will get his first shot to prove that later this year ... when he stars alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in the upcoming "Road House" remake.

And, if that goes well, seems his next stop could be on a Wahlberg film.

"I gotta get Conor to be in a movie," Wahlberg said.

Of course, Mark has tried to get the 34-year-old fighter to be in a movie for years -- he told us in 2015 he was attempting even back then to cast him.

If it doesn't go down -- don't count on Wahlberg stepping into McGregor's world instead ... Mark told the 'PMT' guys that his son absolutely won't let him get in a ring with the fighter.

"My son comes up to me and goes, 'Dad, don't you dare! Don't you even think about it!'"

AEW star Darby Allin is known for his death-defying stunts in the ring -- but this time, he's reached new heights OUT of it ... pulling off a 96-foot jump over his home in a Jeep!!

"Sketchiest stunt I ever did!" Allin wrote on social media.

In the video, Allin's Jeep gains some speed as it zooms up a makeshift ramp and launches into the air ... and man, was it close to the roof of his home!!

At one point, the Jeep's right back tire skids off the side of it ... but Allin, somehow, was still able to nail a sick landing into a bunch of trailers.

No word on how fast Allin was going or what led him to try the stunt ... but the 29-year-old pro wrestler naturally has a penchant for defying the norm.

You'll recall ... during a match against Jeff Hardy in May, Allin took the meaning of extreme to another level when he hit Jeff with his signature Swanton Bomb finisher off the ladder.

Hardy -- who's no stranger to pulling off jaw-dropping stunts inside the squared circle -- went crashing into 8 steel chairs set up directly behind him ... and the whole crowd lost it!!

As crazy as that Swanton Bomb was, it's not shocking for Allin ... who has a reputation for defying gravity and pushing his limits.

A wild fight broke out in the stands at a high school football game in Mississippi Thursday night ... leaving one man bloodied, and the chaotic scene was captured on video!!

It all went down during a football game between the Wayne County War Eagles and the Quitman Panthers ... when two men began screaming at each other during the contest.

In the clip, a man wearing a blue Heidelberg football shirt stood up and told the other guy, who appeared to be wearing a navy shirt, "I'll whoop your ass," as the two went back and forth.

The video shows the guy responding by saying, "Come on out to the parking lot. Come whoop my ass" ... and that's when all hell broke loose!!

The guy in the Heidelberg football shirt walked down the stadium stairs, and that's when the guy in the navy shirt attempts to pick him up and unloads a series of punches.

It's unclear how many punches were thrown, but the fight left one guy bloodied ... as spectators nearby tried to separate the two parties and restore some semblance of peace.

We reached out to Wayne County H.S. and Quitman H.S., and they tell us they have no reason to believe either individual seen fighting in the video was affiliated with either H.S.

The Chief of Police with Wayne County School District's Police Department told us he had "no comment" at this time.