TMZ Sports - Page 29

Emma Stone couldn't contain her excitement during her beloved Suns' big win over the Lakers ... going right up to the Phoenix bench and dapping up Devin Booker and Bradley Beal!!

TMZ Sports has obtained video of the "Poor Things" actress making her way out of Crypto.com Arena in the closing minutes of her team's 127-109 road win on Thursday ... and as she walked by the players, she made sure to show some serious love.

In the clip, you can see Stone -- who grew up in Arizona -- go right up to Book and Co. and express her excitement over the dub. The TV broadcast caught a bit of the interaction, too ... which also included a wave to Grayson Allen.

Book and Beal certainly deserved the special moment with the A-lister ... as they had 31 and 37 points in the contest, respectively.

Stone -- who attended the game with PT director Yorgos Lanthimos and costar Ramy Youssef (in the blue beanie in the vid) -- was reppin' PHX throughout the night ... rocking a team hat as she enjoyed the action from her courtside seat.

No, Travis Kelce will not stop playing football and ride off into the sunset with Taylor Swift after this season ... he just revealed he has zero intentions of retiring anytime soon.

The Kansas City Chiefs star made it clear to reporters during a news conference Thursday that he will not hang up his spikes once the final whistle blows on this year ... despite speculation from many online.

"I have no reason to stop playing football," he said. "Man, I love it."

Of course, Kelce kind of sparked the rumors himself ... when he said in an interview in 2023 that he had given thought recently to what life after football would be like.

However, Kelce shut down all that talk Thursday ... telling media members, "I just love the challenge [football] gives me every single day to try to be at my best."

Kelce is coming off of his worst statistical season since 2015, failing to record 1,000 receiving yards for the first time in seven years. He's also completely blown up off the field, starring on "Saturday Night Live" and in various commercials. And, of course, he's dating the most famous pop star on the planet.

Yet still, he says he's not ready to give up the game just yet.

Well, that didn't take long ...

Roughly 24 hours after parting ways with Bill Belichick, the New England Patriots have hired a new head coach ... Jerod Mayo!!

ESPN's Adam Schefter just reported Robert Kraft made the decision on Friday morning, explaining the team will formally announce the move at a news conference next week.

According to Schefter, the Patriots were able to bypass the NFL's normal, lengthy hiring process because they had written in Mayo's most recent contract that he'd be Belichick's successor.

37-year-old Mayo becomes the youngest current NFL head coach. He's also the Pats' first-ever Black head coach.

Mayo has spent the entirety of his football career in Foxborough -- he was picked by New England in the first round of the 2008 NFL Draft ... and played eight years for the org. alongside Tom Brady.

Following his career -- which included one All-Pro selection -- he joined Belichick's staff as a linebackers coach in 2019, holding that role until The Hoodie's departure this week.

Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann are still beefing with a bank over their Georgia mansion ... and now the bank says it has every right to foreclose on the place to collect the money it’s owed.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Truist Bank claims the couple defaulted on their mortgage … and now the bank has the right to foreclose on their mansion.

Kim and Kroy are going through a messy divorce, but they're still living inside the family residence ... remember, Kroy's got the primary bedroom and Kim has the nanny suite and basement.

Truist Bank says it's well aware of the divorce proceedings, but it claims that's not enough to block its foreclosure rights.

TMZ broke the story ... in October, Kim and Kroy asked a judge to stop the bank's foreclosure auction so they could sell it on their own ... and they've slashed the price on the estate to $5.5 million.

Truist Bank says it voluntarily delayed the auction in November ... but Kim and Kroy haven't been able to sell it themselves, and now the bank is apparently getting impatient and intends to exercise its foreclosure rights so it can collect on the debt.

Meanwhile, Kim and Kroy remain at each other's throats over their finances and divorce proceedings ... that is, when they're not banging.

Asante Samuel is sending a message to NFL owners looking into hiring Bill Belichick ... warning them, under no circumstances, do NOT give him general manager powers!!

Samuel tells TMZ Sports given the way it all ended in New England ... Belichick's next employer shouldn't even remotely entertain the idea.

"If any owner would give Bill Belichick that power again," the former Patriots star said, "that would be crazy."

Belichick, of course, held both the head coach and GM roles for New England during his 24-year tenure in Foxborough ... and despite some of the greatest success ever during that timeframe, things ultimately flamed out recently.

Samuel made it clear he believes it all shows Tom Brady was the reason for the winning in New England ... telling us straight up, "One man, one player determined your success."

And, he says that's exactly why if Belichick ends up on a new sideline next year ... he shouldn't have a GM hat, too.

Samuel also continued his questioning of Belichick's legacy ... asking just hours after it was revealed Belichick and Robert Kraft had broken up, "How does a coach fall off?"

"Here's my thing," he said. "You're a coach. You don't have to be fast. You don't have to be strong. You don't have to be agile. All you have to do is use your mind like you always been doing and coach. So if you're so great of a coach, how do you fall off? You didn't lose anything!"

Thursday marked the end of Bill Belichick's reign in New England ... and according to Deion Branch, it also signaled the end of an era that will never, ever be duplicated.

Branch minced no words when talking about his former head coach just hours after The Hoodie and the Patriots agreed to part ways ... telling TMZ Sports, "To do the things that he's done within this era, it'll never be matched again."

Branch played for Belichick from 2002 to 2005 ... and then once more from 2010 to 2012. During that timeframe, he won two rings -- and a bevy of other games -- so he saw firsthand what the coach could do.

And, he made it clear it's something that he doesn't expect to see again in his lifetime.

"There's no arguably," the ex-wideout said. "There's nothing to argue here. There's nothing to argue. [He's] the greatest coach to ever coach the game of football."

In total, Belichick won six Super Bowls for New England, and piled up a 266-121 record.

Branch called Thursday's end "a sad day," though he said he was sure Belichick will roam another NFL sideline soon -- and catch Don Shula's all-time wins mark soon after.

"Is he going to coach? Yes," Branch said. "Is he going to be successful elsewhere? Yes."

Tom Brady is weighing in on Bill Belichick's departure from New England ... saying he's thankful he was able to play for the greatest NFL coach of all time.

TB12 shared his thoughts about the huge Patriots news in a lengthy Instagram post on Thursday ... saying Belichick was "a great leader for the organization, and for all of the players who played for him."

"We accomplished some amazing things over a long period of time, many of which will be hard to replicate."

Brady and Belichick were one of the greatest combos in NFL history -- they led the Pats to 19-straight winning seasons and 17 division titles during their time together.

They also appeared in nine Super Bowls ... taking home the Lombardi Trophy six times.

"He worked every day to help us achieve the ultimate goal, in the ultimate team sport," Brady continued. "And, although we were successful, some of the greatest lessons, I learned, were in the moments where we faced the most challenging adversities."

"I could never have been the player I was without you Coach Belichick. I am forever grateful. And I wish you the best of luck in whatever you choose next."

It seems to put an end to any speculation there could still be bad blood between the two ... as many believed Bill played a large role in Brady's departure to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020.

Brady also had BB's back during the season ... saying the Pats' struggles were not his fault.

Belichick also poured his heart out at Thursday's press conference ... saying he's grateful for the 24 years in NE, the coaching staff, players and especially the fans.

"Fans here are amazing," the 71-year-old said. "So many memories of fans, the send-offs, the parades, the Sundays."

It was a Seahawks reunion Wednesday night ... as Russell Wilson and many of his former star teammates in Seattle came together to celebrate Pete Carroll's excellent career the same day we found out he'd no longer be coaching the team.

The gathering happened at the Legions Sportsbar in Bellevue, WA ... several hours after the Seahawks revealed the 72-year-old would no longer serve as HC, but will be an advisor for the franchise going forward.

Wilson, who won a Super Bowl with Pete in 2014, shared a photo from the shindig with Carroll ... saying he is "grateful for all you've done for me, my family, teammates and so many others!"

Wilson -- a 3rd round draft pick in 2012 -- played 10 seasons under Carroll before being traded to the Broncos.

"One of the Greatest Ever," Wilson wrote on X.

"Keep Shooting” Coach. Grateful for the memories @PeteCarroll. Best is Ahead."

Wilson wasn't alone at the party ... Richard Sherman, Tyler Lockett, Bobby Wagner, Kam Chancellor, Sidney Rice, and Jermaine Kearse also pulled up.

Carroll told reporters during an emotional press conference Wednesday that he was grateful for his supportive wife, kids, and Seahawks organization ... and looks forward to bringing some "cool stuff" to the franchise.

Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic's all-time rant on referees after losing to the Los Angeles Lakers just cost him a ton of dough -- the league announced it has fined him $25k for his comments.

As we previously reported, the first-year coach went scorched earth on officials over the free throw disparity in the fourth quarter of Tuesday's contest ... calling it "completely BS" the Lakers got 23 attempts, while his squad only got two in the 132-131 loss.

Considering it's against NBA rules to criticize officials in public, a financial punishment was pretty much a sure thing as soon as the comments came out of Rajakovic's mouth.

The punishment was made official on Thursday ... with Joe Dumars announcing the decision.

Many will say the rant was worth the $25k ... as it quickly went viral on social media, with some talking heads giving DR props for sticking up for his players.

Nick Saban is clearing the air on his decision to retire ... adamantly denying he is walking away from his legendary career due to the NIL era.

It's no secret -- the seven-time national championship winner was a huge critic of allowing student-athletes to cash in on their popularity ever since it was introduced in 2021 ... and now that it's resulted in massive checks for some of the top stars in the country, he felt it was just a fancy way of saying "pay for play," which could lead to tampering through the transfer protocol.

Deion Sanders' farewell post about Saban even seemingly hinted at the 72-year-old not being able to keep up with the NIL and transfer facet of his job ... saying, "The game has change so much that it chased the GOAT away."

But, Saban is shooting down that notion in an interview with ESPN on Thursday ... explaining that's not what led him to retirement.

"Don't make it about that. It's not about that," Saban said of the speculation. "To me, if you choose to coach, you don't need to be complaining about all that stuff. You need to adjust to it and adapt to it and do the best you can under the circumstances and not complain about it."

Saban feels like he's not alone in thinking the NCAA has a big issue on its hands ... adding, "I think everybody is frustrated about it."

He also pointed out Bama continued to find success in the NIL era ... but at the end of the day, it was time to move on and hand over the reins to someone else.

Saban did, however, open up on the challenges he faced this past season ... saying he didn't experience any major health issues, but seemingly suggested his age was finally catching up to him.

The good news for Bama?? Saban said he'll stick around and help with the transition ... which was made clear when he arrived on campus Thursday morning.

Aaron Rodgers is back on the Pat McAfee show ... just about 24 hours after Pat announced the 4x NFL MVP was done for the season, the Jets signal caller made an unannounced appearance on the ESPN airwaves!

But, the guys stuck to sports ... only discussing Bill Belichick and Nick Saban's departures in New England and Alabama. There was no talk of Jeffrey Epstein, Jimmy Kimmel, Anthony Fauci, COVID-19, or any other hot-button issues.

The 5-ish minute visit would likely not even be newsworthy if not for the announcement that McAfee made on yesterday's show, saying, "Aaron Rodgers' Tuesday, season 4, is done."

Pat went on to explain that he was relieved Aaron wouldn't be back on the show ... for a few months, at least.

“There will be a lot of people who are happy with that, myself included, to be honest with you. The way it ended, it got real loud. I am happy that he’s not going to be in my mentions going forward, which is great news.”

The announcement was met with anger by some fans who perceived McAfee as turning his back on Rodgers. Thursday's appearance would seem to put any speculation to bed that Aaron and Pat have any beef.

In fact, Pat addressed some of the reaction (he said he was getting "absolutely crushed"), seemingly clarifying that Rodgers wasn't going to join on Tuesdays because his football season's over, and he wants to enjoy his time off.

When Aaron logged off, Pat commented on his bond with AR before moving on with his show.

Young Thug's YSL RICO trial continues to provide unintentional entertainment ... today's edition introduced an unlikely name into the mix -- LeBron James!!!

On Thursday, YSL co-founder Trontavious "Tick" Stephens took the stand yet again when he was quizzed about LBJ's potential ties to the YSL -- due to the fact the NBA's scoring leader occasionally doing the "wipe your nose" hand sign with teammates and calling them "slime" as a term of endearment.

Prosecutors argue the WYN gesture is code for offing a rival in the streets and "slime" is also a gang-related term and pressured Tick to cough up what he knew about LBJ and YSL ... which wasn't much.

Tick admitted he's seen LBJ pull off different handshakes with his team -- but his mind seemed to slip into the Twilight Zone on the other questions .. namely, he couldn't remember.

The case has been bridged on potentially having YT potentially having crimes in his rap lyrics and the court played his and Rich Homie Quan's 2014 hit "Lifestyle" for everyone to analyze.

We're not sure what streaming the party track accomplished ... Thug, Yak Gotti and others remained emotionless as the platinum smash blared in the courtroom but it looked like the attorneys were trying hard not to catch a vibe.

Michael Irvin has recently been accused of misconduct in Texas ... cops tell TMZ Sports they've launched a criminal investigation into the Dallas Cowboys legend.

A spokesperson for the Allen Police Department would not confirm details of the new probe into the Hall of Famer ... but the rep did say, "It's very early in the investigation."

"At this point," the spokesperson said, "we aren't prepared to release any classification regarding Mr. Irvin."

Levi McCathern, Irvin's attorney, said in a statement to Pro Football Talk his client has done nothing "wrong or inappropriate."

McCathern added it "will turn out to be much ado about nothing."

This, of course, is not the first time in the last year the 58-year-old has been accused of misconduct ... back in February, a hotel employee in Arizona said Irvin acted inappropriately when he had an encounter with her while he was in town to help cover the Super Bowl.

Irvin was adamant he did nothing wrong ... and filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit that was settled roughly seven months after the allegations first surfaced.

The Playmaker has since made regular appearances on both Fox Sports 1 and NFL Network. In fact, he was just recently on an episode of "Undisputed," arguing the Cowboys should sign Dalvin Cook.

Robert Kraft says both he and Bill Belichick agreed to break up this week ... calling the decision to split a mutual one that was made "amicably."

Kraft just spoke with reporters about the move at a news conference in Foxborough ... saying the decision was "so hard."

"This is a very emotional day for me," the New England owner said.

Kraft told media members he was very grateful for Belichick -- a man who he employed to oversee his team for the past 24 years -- saying matter-of-factly, "he's the greatest coach of all time."

Kraft added that he'd continue to wish Belichick success ... joking that that stance would only change if and when Bill coaches against the Patriots.

Belichick also spoke at the news conference, and he confirmed that through a series of discussions with Kraft this week, they both did indeed mutually agree to separate.

Belichick thanked all of his former players, coaches and Patriots fans for their support the last two-plus decades.

Belichick did not reveal where he'll go next -- but he did say he's "excited for the future."

Neither the coach nor the owner took questions at the presser.

The 71-year-old coach first joined New England in the 2000 season ... and went on to win six Super Bowls for the org. In his Pats tenure, he piled up a 266-121 record.

Michael Strahan came on his own show to share that his daughter was recently diagnosed with a rare brain cancer ... and it explains why he'd taken off so much time from his TV jobs back in the fall.

The 'GMA' host sat for a segment on the ABC program Thursday opposite his coworker Robin Roberts -- where he and his 19-year-old, Isabella, revealed she's been receiving treatment lately for a malignant tumor doctors found in her brain in October.

The cancer is known as medulloblastoma, and in the package they aired ... Roberts goes into detail about the size of the tumor that was discovered by doctors -- noting it was about as big as a golf ball and lodged toward the base of her skull.

Once they discovered the tumor, Isabella underwent emergency surgery at Cedars-Sinai in L.A. ... which is where Michael's daughter was attending college at USC.

Once her father caught wind of everything, he says he booked it to the West Coast -- Mike's normally working in NYC -- and he was by Isabella's side for a good long while ... which now explains his absence from 'GMA' and Fox NFL Sunday around that time.

The procedure to remove the mass appears to have been a success -- with the operation happening right around her 19th birthday -- and her recovery was long and arduous.

Now, though ... Isabella says she's doing much better as she continues to receive treatment -- including radiation, which has caused her to lose her hair. In February, Michael says she'll begin chemo as well. Of course, the whole journey has been stressful on the family.

Larsa Pippen wasted no time scrubbing her latest sexy snap from social media on Wednesday ... and we're told it's all due to her own pops getting involved.

The 49-year-old reality TV star had people talking after sharing a beach pic in a tiny, black bikini with her 5.4 million Instagram followers ... which featured a suggestive pose and the caption, "Sunshine on my mind."

The post was later removed from her profile ... leaving folks wondering if she had second thoughts about the risqué image.

Sources tell TMZ Sports Larsa's dad is the reason behind the move ... as he hit her up to express his disapproval of the shot.

Worth noting -- Larsa's dad has intervened with her sex appeal in the past ... as she explained back in 2022 he begged her to delete her OnlyFans account, even though she doesn't go nude on the subscription platform.

But, it's not just Larsa's pops who got upset over her latest IG post -- some folks flooded the comments with criticism ... even accusing her of touching up her body with Photoshop.

"Bro this soooooo edited it’s sad," one user said ... with another pointing out Larsa's kids probably weren't too thrilled with their mom putting so much on display.

"Don’t need to see all that!" another said. "Don't you have teenagers?? Be a role model, Mom!"

There were also some supportive replies ... with people praising Pippen for doing her thing and feeling comfortable in her own skin.