TMZ Sports - Page 50

LeBron James' team may have been eliminated this week, but he still has something to celebrate ... his son Bronny is now a graduate of Sierra Canyon School.

LeBron and his wife Savannah James, along with Bronny's grandma Gloria, were front and center on Thursday at the graduation ceremony.

As we reported, Bronny has tapped USC for his next move. The high school basketball star clearly has his sights set on following in his dad's very large footsteps -- as in joining the NBA.

The proud papa posted, "Continue to fly high,” with a crown emoji.

As for LeBron ... he seemed to leave the retirement option open but most people think he's just signaling to the Lakers .... get better players.

Lamar Odom is adding another assist to his stat line -- the ex-NBA star is stepping up to help a local rehab center that fell on hard times recently ... by raising money to keep it from closing its doors forever.

TMZ Sports is told ... Lamar's recent decision to acquire three California treatment centers has garnered the attention of several facilities in serious need of assistance after being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

We're told Lamar met with the family-owned Wavelengths Recovery out of Huntington Beach back in April ... and he felt compelled to partner with the center to help keep its lights on for good.

To get the ball rolling, Lamar has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for food, payroll, renovations and more ... and plans to hold a silent auction, with all profits going toward Wavelengths.

As we previously reported, the 2-time NBA champion recently launched the Odom Wellness Treatment Centers to fight substance abuse ... a cause he has vowed to fight for following his near-fatal overdose in 2015.

Odom previously invested in facilities in San Diego, El Cajon and Lemon Grove ... and he's determined to help save as many lives as possible.

In fact, he even offered his services to "Jackass" star Bam Margera back in April ... although it's unclear if the two were able to connect.

Shannon Sharpe's home in L.A. was burglarized last week ... and cops say the thieves made off with around $1 million in goods from the ex-NFL star's residence.

Law enforcement tells TMZ Sports ... the break-in happened back on May 19 between 7 PM and 9:30 PM -- after Sharpe had left his place for a few hours in the early evening.

We're told when Sharpe returned home after dinner with friends and noticed something was not right ... so he called the police.

Shannon told cops he was missing expensive watches, jewelry and some designer bags.

According to law enforcement, there were no obvious signs of forced entry -- and an investigation into the matter remains ongoing.

No arrests have yet been made ... but make no mistake, Shannon wants the perpetrator held accountable. So much so, Sharpe has put up a $50k reward for info leading to an arrest and conviction.

Shakur Stevenson vs. Devin Haney is a fight virtually everyone in boxing wants, but it's still not the biggest scrap out there for the star boxer from Jersey, who tells us a matchup with Gervonta "Tank" Davis is actually number one!

"I think both [Davis and Haney] fights is great fights for me," the 25-year-old undefeated lightweight told Babcock when he joined the "TMZ Sports" TV show this week (airs weekdays on FS1).

"Obviously, I think me and Tank is a bigger fight, but me and Dev is a fight where I could establish who I am as a fighter."

Stevenson (20-0, 10 KOs) has made it clear ... he wants smoke with all the top 135 lb. fighters, including the champ, Haney (30-0), Davis (29-0), and Vasiliy Lomachenko (17-3), who many believe actually beat Devin last Saturday night in Vegas.

Now, there's talk Devin, who has to cut a lot of weight to make 135, could go up in weight class ... and if he does move to junior welterweight, Shakur says he'll understand, because cutting weight sucks. But, it's not the move he'd make with so many doubting whether he truly won his last fight.

"If [Devin] can't make the weight and he don't feel the same, then just go up, but if it was me, if I was in his shoes, I would have the [Loma] rematch," Shakur told us, adding, "I would have to show the world that that dude can't f*** with me. That's how I would do it."

Regardless of what the other top fighters do, Shakur has a plan mapped out.

"It's definitely some great fights to make," Shakur told us, adding, "If [Devin] stays, I think me and Dev should fight next. If he doesn't stay and he decides to go to 140, I think me and Lomachenko should bang it out. I think that's the big fight and the world get to see who I truly am, how special I am."

Stevenson clearly has a lot of respect for Lomachenko ... and believes the 35-year-old future Hall of Famer proved he's not done with his performance against the younger and bigger Haney.

"I feel like Lomachenko just showed the world that he's not washed. He's not washed up. Now that we know that, I think it's only right, throw me in there with him, and let's see if I'm the truth. I'll keep saying I'm the truth."

There's much more ... we talked to Stevenson about his take on the Haney-Loma fight (which has changed a bit now that he's rewatched it on TV), what he and Devin said to each other in the ring after the Loma fight, and whether there's truly a chance boxing fans get these super fights.

Antonio Brown's ownership "partners" with the Albany Empire say they've been frozen out by the former NFL star, and they have a message for AB ... buy us out, or we're prepared to go to court!

TMZ Sports talked to Charlotte von Schiller and her husband Steve ... who purchased a 5% stake in the organization last year before Brown came on board. Antonio now owns 95% of the franchise.

Unfortunately for the von Schillers, they say things have been absolutely awful since Antonio took over ... and he has even failed to acknowledge they own even the smallest piece of the Empire.

"If he wants to actually own 100% then he needs to buy us out. Otherwise, he only owns 95%, and that's just the facts," Charlotte told us.

The von Schillers tell us they've repeatedly attempted to have civilized conversations with AB about a buyout of their portion of the franchise, but instead, he's essentially told them to get lost, and at times has allegedly berated them on the phone.

"The disregard and disrespect from AB and his group has been incredulous."

In fact, it's gotten so bad, the von Schillers have consulted with an attorney ... and tell us they're ready to go to court if necessary.

But, they hope it doesn't turn into a legal battle ... and would instead like to reach an agreement amicably.

Brown's tenure in Albany, depending on who you ask, has been an unmitigated disaster, with players and coaches quitting midseason over AB's alleged erratic behavior.

Several former players and a coach previously told us Antonio ordered them locked out of their team hotel rooms after complaining about missing paychecks.

Joe Burrow's professional women's volleyball league just added some serious firepower ... Olympic legend Kerri Walsh Jennings has now come on board -- and she's bringing a team with her!!

Walsh Jennings -- a three-time Olympic gold medalist -- announced the move earlier this week ... and told TMZ Sports on Thursday she's absolutely fired up to partner with the Bengals quarterback and others in the new league.

If you're unfamiliar, Burrow helped launch the Pro Volleyball Federation earlier this year ... promising to bring super competitive, professional indoor volleyball games to cities throughout the country. Jason Derulo has already revealed he's in on the project, telling us back in February he's launching the league's Nebraska team.

Walsh Jennings, in addition to being an equity holder in the league, is bringing on a squad of her own in San Diego ... and she said with her, Burrow, Derulo and others involved, the org. has sky-high potential.

"What's clear is that the opportunity is ginormous here," Walsh Jennings told us. "The sport is so hungry for this elite, top, most-echelon place, and the time is now for women's sports."

Walsh Jennings says the goal for the league -- which will kick off its inaugural season in February 2024 -- is to ultimately have seven or eight teams. Right now, it's at six. Every squad, Walsh Jennings said, will have 14 players -- and signings will happen soon.

And, when it all finally comes together and they get to go head-to-head during a real season ... she promised she was going to be super competitive with Burrow and Derulo.

"Just knowing what I know of the other owners," she said, "I know we're all going to take this, carry this crown of being owners with a lot of pride, a lot of honor. And we're going to want to win."

Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli and his pregnant wife will be adding a couple more players to their roster at home ... turns out they're about to have -- of all things -- twins!!!!

The MLB skipper's bae, Allie Baldelli, shared the exciting, and wildly ironic, news on Thursday ... using pics of their dog and their young daughter.

In the images, you can see the couple's toddler holding ultrasound images of the unborn Baldellis around her head.

“BOY TWINS," Allie captioned the pics. "due in september 🤍🙃🤍🙃."

Baldelli currently has his baseball Twins in first place in the American League Central ... but in a matter months, he'll have a whole new set of twins to manage -- and we're sure he's fired up for the task.

Glen "Big Baby" Davis isn't ready to give up on first-year head coach Joe Mazzulla just yet ... telling TMZ Sports if the Celtics are able to come back and beat the Heat and advance to the NBA Finals, he deserves to keep his job.

We got Davis out at LAX just hours before Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals tips off at the TD Garden in Boston ... and the NBA champ said Mazzulla's future with the team is contingent upon whether or not he can rally Boston from down 3-1 to beat Miami in the ECF.

"If you pull this off, you get to stay," Davis said. "If you don't, you're outta there buddy."

FYI -- no team has EVER been able to come back from trailing three games in NBA playoff history ... but after winning Game 4 on Tuesday, the Celtics are hanging on by a thread.

Davis also weighed in on why the Celtics have been inconsistent this season ... and he's pointing the finger at former head coach Ime Udoka, who was suspended by the team following an infidelity scandal last year.

"It f***ed the whole team up," Glen said. "They just had to go get another coach. It kind of f***ed 'em up a little bit."

Udoka, who was engaged to Nia Long, was suspended by the Celtics for the entire 2022-23 season ... even after the first-year head coach led the Cs to the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors.

Although Udoka is no longer with the team, Davis still views the 2-seeded Cs as a good team ... but said Boston's dynamic duo of Jayston Tatum and Jaylen Brown needs to play better.

"Jayson Tatum. Jaylen Brown. They better get that s*** in order, got dammit -- at least a good fight," Davis said. "We can come back. I truly believe. Miami hasn't been good all year. They haven't been consistent. They're playing well right now. We just gotta get on the same level."

Bud Light and Miller Lite have found themselves at the center of a political debate, something Troy Aikman says will never be the case with his beer company, EIGHT ... the Hall of Famer tells us they'll never get political -- left, right, or center -- they just want to make good beer!

"I think there are a lot of companies out there that want to tell everybody who they are, or what they are about, and they're not focused on the product itself," Aikman told Babcock on the TMZ Sports TV show (airs weekdays on FS1).

Troy continued, "We wanted to get the message out there if you're tired of all these points of view by all these big companies and you just want a company that's focused on what it is that they do," then EIGHT is for you.

Of course, Bud Light and Miller Lite have faced boycotts from angry customers over recent ad campaigns.

In fact, Bud Light sales are reportedly down over 20%, and Anheuser-Busch, who makes BL, market cap (total value of companies stock) has taken an $18 BILLION hit, down from over 132B in April, to about 113B today.

Clearly, Americans are split on many issues ... and Aikman believes most consumers just want a company that isn't phony, and most importantly, makes a good product.

"With so many of these companies coming out with bold, oftentimes polarizing positions, and they lack authenticity, and it's really just trying to gain market share. I think people see through that."

The 3x Super Bowl champion continued ... "I think they just want companies that are focused on the brands themselves, they don't want brands that are trying to get political, we're certainly not. We don't want to be a part of any debate outside of someone drinking EIGHT beers while they're having a discussion is really our perspective."

Troy says EIGHT, which he launched last year (he says sales have steadily grown since), is still only available in Texas ... but that will likely change in the future.

Until then ... Aikman says you can count on them to keep churning out beer while avoiding polarizing issues.

"I just think the last thing people want is another point of view."

Nike might not be distancing itself from Ja Morant over his recent gun-flashing incident after all -- the shoe giant just released his latest signature sneaker on Thursday ... and it sold out in minutes.

The scheduled Ja 1 "Hunger" colorway drop was seemingly up in the air after Nike erased all his shoes off its site last week ... which led to speculation about whether the brand was potentially going to suspend the sale -- or even its relationship with the All-Star guard altogether -- due to his off-court issues.

Luckily for sneakerheads, the kicks still dropped on Nike's SNKRS app ... and quick-acting fans were able to purchase them for $110 before they sold out, as reports claim there was an incredibly small supply.

Despite all the controversy, the shoes were clearly a hot commodity ... with a ton of people going to Twitter to express their frustrations over missing out on the drop.

In fact, one fan tweeted a photo claiming their size was sold out within three seconds of launching on the app.

Of course, hopeful buyers can always go to reseller sites like GOAT and StockX ... but they'll end up paying a bit more than the retail price. Right now, the shoes are selling for around $200.

Nike has been radio silent following Ja's second video ... which is a stark contrast from the Swoosh's statement in support of its athlete following his initial incident in March.

Ja signed a multi-year deal with Nike in 2019 ... and was introduced as its first Gen Z signature athlete.

How much does Travis Kelce hate the NFL's new kickoff rule? Well, in an epic, one-minute rant about it this week, he called it everything from "dumb" to "stupid" to "wack" to "boring!"

The Chiefs star held nothing back on his and his brother, Jason Kelce's "New Heights" podcast on Thursday -- calling the league's new regulation that will allow teams to fair-catch kickoffs in exchange for receiving the ball at the 25-yard line one of his least favorite rules ever.

"I think this is absolutely stupid," the Kansas City tight end said.

"I don't think this is making the game safer. I think it's making it more boring and taking a lot of excitement out of the game's opening play. This is wack."

Travis' biggest gripe with the rule is it'll essentially incentivize players to never return a kickoff again -- unless it's a horrible kick.

Jason agreed, saying he predicts it'll all feel just "ceremonial" now.

"We're just getting closer and closer to removing special teams," the Philadelphia Eagles star said.

"We're just going to have guys, 'Hey, I'm going to run 80 yards for no reason and then we're going to start the drive!'"

"It just deflates the excitement of like the first kickoff," Travis added.

The guys are not alone in their feelings -- Travis' head coach, Andy Reid, also ripped the rule this week ... worrying it might eventually lead to taking contact out of the game altogether.

Patrick Mahomes is breaking his silence on his little brother's arrest ... saying Wednesday, "It's kind of a personal thing that I'm going to keep to myself."

The Kansas City Chiefs star met with media members for the first time since Jackson Mahomes was hit with three aggravated sexual battery charges stemming from an alleged February encounter with a woman ... and it wasn't hard to see the quarterback did not feel comfortable speaking about it all publicly.

He told a reporter twice that he wanted to keep his feelings on the matter private ... saying he's going to do his best going forward to separate his family matters from his football career.

"At the end of the day," the QB told the media member, "I come here to play football and try to take care of my family, at the same time."

"So," he continued, "just kind of keep it to myself and just go out there and play football when I'm in the building."

The 27-year-old was then asked a broader question about how he'd balance it all going forward.

"It's your family," he said, "but you have to come in here and do a job. And that's what I try to do every day."

As we reported, Jackson was arrested on May 3 ... after a restaurant owner alleged he grabbed her and forcibly kissed her multiple times at her Kansas establishment three months ago. The younger Mahomes was also accused of shoving a male member of her wait staff earlier in the evening.

Jackson appeared in court for a hearing on the matter on May 16 ... but he's yet to issue a plea on the charges.

The social media star's attorney, though, did say at the time of the initial allegations back in February that Jackson had done nothing wrong.

"Our investigation has revealed substantial evidence refuting the claims of Jackson's accuser including the statements of several witnesses," Brandan Davies said. "We have reached out to law enforcement to provide the fruit of our investigation so that they may have a complete picture of the matter."

Houston Rockets star Jalen Green wants his fans to know he's no Ja Morant ... assuring his followers he didn't have a gun as he vibed out to NBA YoungBoy on Instagram Live on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old guard was riding in his car and listening to the rapper's "Bitch Let's Do It" as thousands of fans tuned in ... and given the eerie similarities to Ja's most recent gun-flashing video, plenty of users begged Green to not pull out a weapon.

"Don't flash no gun," one follower said ... as another added, "Don't pull a Ja and pull the gun out."

Jalen noticed the comments and laughed ... before putting all concern to rest by letting everyone know he wasn't strapped.

"Everybody's commenting, 'Don't pull no pistol out,'" Green told a passenger in the car. "They wildin', my n****, man."

"I don't got no gun."

The clip comes as Ja faces serious backlash for his second gun-related video in three months ... which has resulted in a suspension from all Grizzlies activities and an NBA investigation.

Hours before Green's live stream, Morant posted a cryptic message on his Instagram ... which had fans concerned over his well-being and led to cops making a welfare check on the All-Star.

Swedish tennis player Mikael Ymer temporarily lost his mind during a tournament Wednesday -- breaking both his racket AND an umpire's chair in a wild temper tantrum ... and the outburst was so bad, he was ultimately disqualified over it.

The crazy scene all went down during Ymer's during his round of 16 match at the Lyon Open in France ... when he thought his opponent, Arthur Fils, hit a ball out of bounds.

Ymer swore up and down the ball did not catch the line ... but the umpire disagreed.

For several moments, Ymer argued with the official ... imploring the man to come down from his chair to check the mark, but the umpire wouldn't -- insisting it was in-bounds.

A few minutes later, after the quarreling had stopped, Ymer lost the game to Fils -- and then Ymer went ballistic.

Video from the court shows the 24-year-old hit his racket not once, but twice, against the umpire's chair ... severely damaging both in the process.

Ymer calmed down and walked to his bench ... but soon after, he was DQ'ed, giving Fils the automatic win.

Former NFL running back Kapri Bibbs -- a member of the Denver Broncos' Super Bowl-winning team in 2015 -- was arrested in Los Angeles earlier this week ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell us ... officers put Bibbs into cuffs on Sunday night at the Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica for public intoxication.

Further details surrounding the arrest were not made immediately available ... but jail records show Bibbs was booked at a nearby station at 1 a.m. on Monday.

We're told he was released several hours later ... with a misdemeanor citation.

Records show he's due in court for a hearing in the case in July.

Bibbs went unpicked in the 2014 NFL Draft ... but latched on with the Denver Broncos' practice squad that year. In 2015, he was called up to the team's main roster ... and helped the Broncos in a season that ultimately saw them beat Carolina in Super Bowl 50.

Bibbs later spent time with the Washington Football Team and the Green Bay Packers. In his 28 career games in the NFL, Bibbs logged 311 rushing yards and three rushing TDs.

The Dallas Stars will be without their captain for their elimination game on Thursday -- and the contest after that if they somehow win -- 'cause the NHL just announced Jamie Benn's been suspended two games for his violent play on a Golden Knights player Tuesday night.

The incident -- which happened just 1:53 into the first period of the Stars' Western Conference Finals game against Las Vegas -- looked dirty as hell ... you can see in a replay, Benn appeared to take his stick and purposely ram it Mark Stone's jaw after the two had gotten tangled up on the ice.

Benn was ejected from the game over it ... but NHL officials reviewed the play further during a hearing Wednesday -- and determined the 33-year-old needed more punishment, announcing it was hitting him with a two-game ban.

The suspension is a huge deal for the Stars, who will now have to start the first half of their journey to win four games in a row over the Knights without one of their best players.

For his part, Benn claimed the incident was a "just heat of the moment" deal ... adding that he needs to be "more responsible with my body and my stick."

"Emotions are high and, you know, it was just an unfortunate play," Benn said on Wednesday.