TMZ Sports - Page 50

Duke basketball star Paolo Banchero is finally addressing his run-in with police near the Durham, NC campus ... vowing to learn a lesson after getting jammed up by the police.

As we previously reported, 19-year-old Banchero -- who many believe could be the #1 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft -- was cited for aiding and abetting his Duke teammate, Michael Savarino, who was busted for DWI last week.

20-year-old Savarino, who happens to be Coach K's grandson, was pulled over by North Carolina Highway Patrol after they allege he blew a stop sign.

Banchero was a passenger in the car at the time of the stop ... which ultimately led to his citation.

On Monday, Paolo finally broke his silence, telling the media he wasn't able to speak in specifics but made it clear he wants to move on past the incident.

"You can't really say much about it, but we learned from it and handled it as a team. We moved on and we want to get on with our season."

Banchero said he didn't regret the incident, adding, "My teammates had my back, so it wasn't too hard for me."

The freshman had his best performance of the season during Duke's 107-81 win over Citadel Monday night, dropping 28 points, and admitting the situation's been weighing on him the past week.

"I'm not going to say it wasn't on my mind the past two games. It was. I feel like today was a bounce-back game for me and I felt good out there.''

The likely future NBA star says he's ready to learn his lesson and move on with the season ... one Duke hopes will end in an NCAA championship.

"Got a big trip coming up. Two big games Gonzaga and Ohio State next Tuesday."

Horrifying moment during the Citadel vs. Duke game on Monday ... Bulldogs head coach Duggar Baucom collapsed on the sideline and needed to be taken to the hospital.

It all went down at Cameron Indoor Stadium ... when just a few minutes into the first half, Baucom terrifyingly crashed to the floor.

You can see in video from the arena, trainers and players rushed to the 61-year-old, who was eventually helped off the court and taken to Duke University hospital, where he stayed overnight for further evaluation.

Fortunately, Bulldogs assistant coach Jack Castleberry -- who took over for Baucom during the game -- said after the contest that Baucom was "coherent" and was "as good as he can be" considering the circumstances.

"He just said he was in pain," Castleberry said. "You can tell with the look in his eyes that it was very, very genuine."

After the 107-81 loss, the team said that Baucom -- who is in his 7th season with the Bulldogs -- is expected to be fine and is scheduled to travel back with the team Tuesday.

"The Citadel Head Coach Duggar Baucom is alert and in good spirits," the team said in a statement.

"He is scheduled to return back to Charleston with the team Tuesday morning. Our thoughts and prayers are with Coach B and his family at this time."

Ex-NFL safety and current ESPN analyst Ryan Clark was on the receiving end of disgustingly racist and homophobic slurs on Instagram this week ... and instead of firing back, he killed with kindness.

42-year-old Clark -- who played for the Giants, Washington Football Team and Steelers from 2002-2014 -- shared the awful Instagram DM on Tuesday ... showing an avatar-less troll spewing some of the worst words in the book.

The person also mentioned Clark's 2011 Super Bowl loss against the Green Bay Packers in the most NSFW way possible.

But, instead of stooping to the person's level, Clark responded with the nicest comeback possible -- "God bless you and yours. I hope you live forever."

The Super Bowl champ also spoke about the DM on Twitter minutes ago ... saying, "Y’all at least go to put a picture up Green Bay fans!! This isn’t even fun. Sheesh!!"

"Man good thing racism doesn’t exist huh?"

It's not the first time Clark has spoken out against racism -- back in 2020, he broke down in tears addressing an incident when his son and 2 other Arizona State football players were called the n-word by a customer at a local Whataburger ... and instead of de-escalating, the restaurant manager threatened to call the police on the players.

Scary moment in the WWE on Monday night ... Seth Rollins was attacked by a fan during "RAW" -- and the wrestler needed droves of security to help get the guy off of him.

It all went down just seconds after the superstar had beaten Finn Balor in the ring at Barclays Center in New York ... when a man left his seat, jumped some railing, and speared Rollins while the 35-year-old was on his way back to the locker room.

Video shot by fans standing next to the altercation is WILD -- the man absolutely rocked Rollins ... taking him to the ground in violent fashion.

Rollins was able to fight back long enough for WWE refs and security to help him -- and fortunately, Seth was able to wriggle free and avoid any serious injury.

WWE officials confirmed the attack was not fake at all ... and said they were working with law enforcement to make sure the man "will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

"WWE takes the safety of its performers very seriously," WWE officials said.

TMZ Sports has learned the NYPD did arrest the fan ... and the man has since been hit with 2 criminal charges -- attempted assault, attempted violation of arts and cultural affairs -- disrupting live sporting event.

Michael Strahan is the new Rocket Man!!!

The 'GMA' host just revealed a secret ... that one Jeff Bezos gave him a ring not too long ago and invited him to hitch a ride into space on the Amazon founder's Blue Origin rocket.

Michael says it took about a nanosecond to say yes ... after being super inspired having been on hand for a previous launch.

Here's the thing about Bezos -- he's like one of the best PR guys in PR even though he's not really in PR. He's using every trick in the book to grab attention away from Elon Musk and Richard Branson. This time ... Bezos' rocket is flying the daughter of Alan Shepard -- the first American who ventured into space -- and a father/son duo. And, of course, there's Michael.

Strahan will blast off on December 9 and there's lots of training to do. He says he's headed to the Blue Origin facility for a week-and-a-half of training. So far, he's only met his crewmates via Zoom.

Didn't know this, but apparently, astronauts on Blue Origin get some sort of stipend. Strahan's donating his to The Boys & Girls Club.

Speaking of $$$ ... MS didn't say, but we're guessing he's getting a free ride.

Kanye West got a little QT with his son, Saint, and also got in a round of catch with the old pigskin -- but it wasn't Ye tossing the ball ... it was Tom Freakin' Brady!

The rapper-producer brought his 5-year-old to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers game Monday at Raymond James Stadium, where they hung out one-on-one with none other than the G.O.A.T himself inside their luxury suite before kickoff.

Check out the video ... looks like Saint helped TB warm up by throwing a ball back and forth, while papa bear filmed. Not just that, but Tom chopped it up a bit with the kid, too.

Super cute moment, no doubt -- and you can tell the Bucs QB knows a thing or 2 about talking to kids. He does have 3 of his own, one of whom he references here.

According to Tom, Saint is just like his middle son, Ben, who's apparently pretty creative. Ye makes a suggestion that gets a chuckle out of TB ... who knows, they may schedule a follow-up play date after this!

All in all, a very cool daddy's day out with at least one of his brood -- and peep the music Ye put on this video. It's the Sunday Service version of "God's Plan" ... another sign he and Drake are totally cool now.

No sign of Ye's other kids here, who might have been back on the West Coast with Mom ... even though she was a little busy herself.

As you know ... Kim went out to dinner Sunday night with Pete Davidson, where they had their own little booth ... and where PD was flashing some bruised skin.

Shaquille O'Neal says his former weed business partners stiffed him out of a ton of cash -- and now he's suing them for more than $1 MILLION.

The Big Diesel spelled it all out in a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ Sports, in which the NBA legend claims he and his fellow plaintiff, Jerome Crawford, invested $150k into a new marijuana biz way back in December 2016.

In the suit, Shaq says their investment was supposed to help the company "pursue opportunities in the field of legal cannabis."

O'Neal, though, claims that by late 2017 ... the company "seemingly had no licenses, no revenue, and no operations."

Shaq says when he and his attorneys pressed for details on how their money was being used, the company initially didn't respond.

In 2018, Shaq says after he threatened litigation, the company agreed to pay him and Crawford back in installments of $10,000 each.

The problem ... Shaq claims the company only paid the first installment of $20k -- and now, he is suing to get his initial investment back with interest ... plus a lot more for allegedly mismanaging the company.

Iman Shumpert is a champion once again ... and just like coming back from a 3-1 lead, it was a shocking upset win.

The former Cavs guard -- who made history when he became the first former pro hoops player to advance to the finals of "Dancing with the Stars" last week -- took home the Mirror Ball trophy with his partner, Daniella, after a freestyle dance that had all of social media talking.

It was a nail-biter 'til the end ... and a lot of folks thought Siwa was going to take it all. But, there can only be one winner, and it was the 6'5" hooper crowned champ.

Shumpert is the first NBA player to ever win it all ... joining other pro athletes like Emmitt Smith, Shawn Johnson, Hines Ward and more who have come in first.

Shump's fellow Cavs champ LeBron James gave a big shoutout to Iman after the win ... saying, "Congrats bro!! That's so (fire emoji)"

As we previously reported, Iman's wife, Teyana Taylor told us before the show the NBAer had an advantage after spending countless hours at her dance rehearsals -- and it clearly paid off!!

Shumpert tasted victory in 2016 with the Cleveland Cavaliers ... becoming the first team to come back from a 3-1 deficit to win it all.

Michael Irvin's bromance with Amari Cooper is on pause for now ... 'cause the Dallas legend tells TMZ Sports he's FURIOUS with the Cowboys star for not getting the COVID vaccine.

"I'm absolutely hot about it," The Playmaker said. "Are you joking?!"

Because of Cooper's unvaccinated status, after he tested positive for COVID last week, he was automatically ruled out of the Cowboys' games against the Chiefs and the Raiders.

Of course, Dallas got kicked in the teeth by Kansas City with the star receiver out on Sunday -- and its chances of beating the Raiders without Cooper on Thanksgiving aren't looking great either.

When we asked Irvin -- who's been a huge fan of Cooper's since the player was traded to Dallas in 2019 -- about it all in NYC on Monday, he didn't hold anything back, saying, "I'm so hot at Amari Cooper for not being on that field."

"I got a guy who makes $21 million on the bench at home not playing," Irvin added. "It's crazy."

Irvin says he knows even with the vaccine Cooper still might have been forced out of the games regardless, but he said he's mad at Amari for not even attempting to diminish that chance.

"You have to try to mitigate any issue that could cost you a game or a Super Bowl, and COVID is one of them," Irvin said. "You go get vaccinated to try to mitigate it, best you can."

For Dak Prescott's part, Cooper's quarterback chose not to criticize his wideout after the loss to the Chiefs over the vaccine decision ... telling reporters he's pretty sure Cooper would have missed the two games regardless.

Oscar De La Hoya, one of the greatest boxers ever, has received endless lavish and expensive gifts ... but the best present ever?? The tattoo his GF Holly Sonders just got inked on her shoulder.

TMZ Sports talked to the boxing great and his famous girlfriend ... and asked the couple about the tat.

"It actually tops everything that I've ever been given. Who can top this?" Oscar says, "I've been given everything you could possibly imagine. And a tattoo, a beautiful portrait of me looking up at the sky to my mother. The '94 Olympic Games were just incredible."

What prompted Holly to get the ink ... which she says took 2.5 hours to complete?

"There was no reason for it," Holly says, adding, "I have 3 tattoos. I've wanted a 4th for a while."

So, Sonders just wanted to show her man some love.

FYI, the tattoo was done by Oscar's brother-in-law, Esteban Camacho ... and commemorates the moment De La Hoya became The Golden Boy, winning Olympic gold at the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona, Spain.

De La Hoya and Sonders started dating a few months back after they met at a boxing event where Holly was working ... and sparks flew.

They've basically been inseparable since ... hence the tattoo.

There's more ... we also talked to Holly and Oscar about Sonders' NFT drop, featuring 1,000 of her favorite hottest/sexiest photos.

The pics are fire on their own ... but Holly also told us she's raffling off a round of golf. As for Oscar ... he decided to throw in an awesome prize, too (boxing fans will like this).

Kyle Kuzma's pregame outfit Monday night featured an oversized sweater that looked more like a damn blanket  ... and naturally, he got roasted like a marshmallow over it.

The 26-year-old showed off his Raf Simons oversized-sleeve virgin wool jumper -- which comes with a $1,659 price tag and sleeves that almost reach the floor -- on his way into the locker room before Monday's game against the Charlotte Hornets ... and the dude's NBA buddies had a blast at his expense.

"Cmon bro 😂," DeMarcus Cousins commented on Kuz's IG pic showing off the 'fit. "S*** getting outta hand now."

Isaiah Thomas added ... "Come on killa… lol that one ain’t it haha."

J.R. Smith even took a break from class to get in on the clowning sesh ... saying, "Man hellll nawwwwwww 😂😂😂"

Not everyone hated it, though -- WNBA player Liz Cambage praised the interesting wardrobe choice ... saying, "he went and done did it 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽."

Influencer Zack Bia had a simple reaction, adding, "Yes."

LeBron James even went in on his old teammate ... saying, "Ain’t no f***ing way you wore that!!! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂. I’m not pressing the like button cause this is outrageous Kuz! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣"

There's a first time for everything -- LeBron James was just hit with a one-game suspension as a result of Sunday's wild incident ... the first time he's ever been banned in his 19-year career.

It's a shocking decision, especially because the Lakers' next game is in New York against the Knicks on Tuesday ... and Madison Square Garden is the biggest stage in the NBA.

Detroit Pistons player Isaiah Stewart was also suspended two games for his involvement in the incident ... with the league saying he escalated the altercation by "repeatedly and aggressively" pursuing James.

LBJ was ejected for just the second time of his career after elbowing Stewart in the face during a boxout in the 3rd quarter ... which sparked an insane altercation.

As it turns out, Bron reportedly felt awful about the 'bow throw ... with NBA insider Shams Charania reporting the future Hall of Famer tried to get Stewart's number to apologize for the incident.

Evander Kane's divorce case has just taken another nasty turn ... the NHL player is now claiming his ex faked a pregnancy the last few months, and he's asking a judge to order her to take a mental exam to prove she's fit to care for their daughter.

It's all in new court docs, obtained by TMZ Sports, in which Kane says his estranged wife, Anna Kane, has been lying to him about her pregnancy since July.

The San Jose Sharks star claims up until earlier this month, he had believed Anna was pregnant with their second child, which was due in February 2022.

Evander says Anna had spoken about the baby often, and he says he had seen her belly grow with his own eyes throughout the last several weeks.

Evander, though, says after he reviewed recent medical bills -- it was brought to his attention that Anna had actually had an abortion way back in July.

Evander is accusing Anna of pretending to be pregnant for months ... going as far as wearing "some sort of pregnancy belly" to deceive him and cause him mental trauma.

Evander says all of it is so deeply disturbing, he's worried about the potential impact it might have on the couple's daughter -- and he's now requesting the court step in and give him full custody of their girl while also ordering Anna to undergo an examination to prove she's mentally stable.

For her part, Anna said in her own court docs that she did have the abortion in July, and acknowledged "I was less than forthcoming with [Evander] with regards to my decision."

She admitted in the docs that she "did not inform [Evander] or the court that I was no longer pregnant." She did deny, however, wearing any sort of prosthetics in an attempt to look pregnant.

Anna also claimed in her docs she is mentally stable and is fully capable of caring for the couple's daughter -- and is asking the court to deny Evander's requests.

Evander has been granted temporary custody of the child -- with a hearing on the matter slated for December.

Mark Cavendish -- one of the greatest road sprinters of all time -- says he's in pain after a violent spill during an event in Belgium ... leaving him with 2 broken ribs and a collapsed lung.

The crash happened at the Six Days of Ghent competition Sunday night ... when the 36-year-old -- alongside his teammate -- collided with cyclist Lasse Norman Hansen.

You can see in the footage, a biker ahead of Cavendish and Hansen lost control ... causing them to crash into each other at full speed and go spinning on the track floor.

Cavendish stood up after the crash but was taken to the Ghent University Hospital for observation --- his team, Deceuninck-Quick-Step, announced Monday he broke 2 ribs on his left side and a small pneumothorax.

"It is expected that Mark will be discharged either later today or tomorrow morning," Cavendish's team said, "and will then undergo a period of recuperation."

Cavendish -- in his hospital bed -- thanked all the fans for showing love via IG -- saying, "Just want to say how overwhelmed & thankful I am for all the support and well-wishes."

"In a bit of pain, but a couple of nights with the incredible staff here at Ghent University Hospital should sort me out."

Cavendish -- who won 34 Tour de France stages -- was just named, by the Tours' director,  as one of the greatest sprinters in Tour history and cycling.

Indiana Fever guard Kysre Gondrezick is opening up on her time away from the WNBA ... saying she needed to focus on her mental well-being.

Gondrezick -- the #4 pick in the 2021 WNBA draft -- posted a letter to Instagram on Monday ... detailing some of the struggles she faced this past season, including the loss of someone extremely close to her.

"My mental health was at a high risk as I was under a lot of stress coping with my own personal traumas," Kysre said.

"After losing my father, the pressure began to mount for what I considered my job as a facet of grieving, I wasn't present to the idea of effectively knowing how to cope," she continued.

Kysre admits she didn't know how to effectively cope with her father's loss ... and that she lost sight of his presence, her focus, and ultimately lost the fun in the game.

Gondrezick knew those emotions -- although she couldn't readily identify them -- were beginning to take a toll on her ... so it was time to put a pause on things in her life that were affecting her mental stability.

Once she realized she couldn't even enjoy the rest and recovery period over the WNBA Olympic break -- something she knew she needed -- that's when the first-round draft pick knew something needed to change.

Kysre sought professional help and put various areas of her life -- like social life and additional activities -- on pause for the last five months.

Lastly, she closes by saying she's a much better person who is comfortable in her skin ... and thanked everyone who showed her love in her time of need.

Kobe Bryant's two youngest daughters are showing a little glimpse of that Mamba Mentality already ... by playing hoops with Pau Gasol at the Lakers facility -- and it's adorable!!

Vanessa Bryant shared the footage this weekend ... showing Bryant's best friend and teammate Gasol on the court with 4-year-old Bianka and 2-year-old Capri.

Bianka is quick to show off her defensive skills against the 7-foot-1 center and manages to steal the ball from between his leg -- with the help from her sister and Gasol's daughter, Ellie.

Bianka also got a chance to dunk with an assist from Gasol and Bryant's longtime agent Rob Pelinka ... right near her dad's jersey #24 painting on the facility's wall.

Gasol loved every moment of it -- saying, "Always the best times with the kids."

The 41-year-old retired NBA star considered Kobe as his brother ... and has spent time with the Bryant family on a consistent basis since the fatal accident in January 2020.

In fact for Halloween, the Gasols and the Bryants all dressed up as Dalmatians for Vanessa's Cruella De Vil costume and hung out at one of Kobs's favorite places in the world -- Disneyland.