Michael Jordan's alleged baby mama never planned to file a paternity suit against the NBA legend -- until her son pleaded with her to make his famous (alleged) dad step up to the plate ... TMZ has learned.

As TMZ first reported, Pamela Smith is suing Michael for paternity and child support, claiming Jordan knocked her up back in 1995, while he was still married to Juanita Vanoy.

Sources close to Smith tell TMZ that she's always had a good relationship with Michael and doesn't need the money to support herself. But we're told her son -- Grant Reynolds (a.k.a Taj) -- desperately wants MJ to acknowledge him as his son, so HE begged his mom to file the docs.


We're told Pamela's intention was never to "call Michael out" -- the lawsuit is simply so her 16-year-old son can have his real (alleged) father be a bigger part of his life.

In fact, we're told Michael and Grant have met a few times over the years and Pamela claims Michael has given the family money and gifts here and there ... but Grant always had to keep it a secret. 

Calls to MJ's rep were not returned.

Michael Jordan has been sued by a woman who claims he fathered her 16-year-old son ... and she wants a paternity test to prove it.

Pamela Smith claims in her paternity suit -- filed February 6 in Fulton County, GA and obtained by TMZ -- she became pregnant after having sex with Jordan in 1995. Pamela gave birth to Grant Pierce Jay Jordan Reynolds -- aka Taj -- in June 1996. BTW, Jordan was married to Juanita Vanoy at the time he allegedly had sex with Smith. 

Pamela says in her legal docs she welcomes a paternity test to prove Jordan's the dad. She wants full custody and child support. She also wants Jordan to pay the kid's medical expenses.

Pamela also wants the judge to make Jordan the boy's legal last name.


The docs do not describe any alleged relationship between Smith and Jordan.

"Taj" posted a YouTube video (below) in December declaring that Jordan's his daddy.

Jordan is scheduled to marry Yvette Prieto in April.

A rep for Jordan had no comment.

Consider the world record for "largest humidor ever" broken -- Michael Jordan's $12.4 MILLION Jupiter, FL palace is juuust about ready to move in to ... and it features an insane cigar-friendly home theater.

His Airness -- rarely seen these days without a tightly-rolled Cuban between his teeth -- has been building the 28,000 square foot estate for the past three years, complete with a giant state-of-the-art home theater ... outfitted with special equipment made to handle mass amounts of cigar smoke.

The 3-acre, 11-bedroom compound is being built in the middle of an ultra-exclusive golf course community called the Jack Nicklaus' Bear Club ... where Tiger Woods also lives.

It's unclear where Jordan plans to display his 5 MVP trophies and 6 NBA Championship rings ... but between the main house, the pool house, the guest house, and the 2-story guard house ... he's got plenty of choices.

FYI -- There's also a ridiculous athletic facility ... complete with b-ball court, naturally.

 

In a move that was most certainly NOT "like Mike" ... Marcus Jordan, youngest son of NBA legend Michael Jordan, was arrested early this morning Omaha, NE.

Police tell the Omaha World-Herald ... Jordan (a member of the University of Central Florida's basketball team) was spotted outside a hotel at 2:10 AM by an off-duty officer who was working security for the hotel.

The officer said Jordan, who appeared to be intoxicated, was arguing with two females. Police told the paper Jordan became uncooperative when the officer approached him and it eventually took multiple police officers to handcuff him.

According to the paper, Jordan was booked in the Douglas County Department of Corrections for resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and obstructing. He has since been released.

The term "lottery pick" is synonymous with basketball, but a clothing company claims they have the trademark on it ... and they're going after Nike for using it on a Michael Jordan jacket. 

According to a lawsuit filed in Illinois, Urban Motive Sportswear claims they have been selling an energy drink, sportswear apparel and other merchandise for years with the trademark "Lottery Pick" ... which they claim they registered back in 2004. 

But Urban claims Nike straight up stole their trademark by selling a jacket called "Jordan LS Lottery Pick Jacket." They say this violation is particularly hurtful to their business because they did a lot of marketing in Chicago -- where Jordan played most of his career -- and claim they even gifted some gear to MJ's sons.


In the docs, Urban says this trademark infringement has "damaged [them] in a manner that cannot be fully measured or compensated in economic terms and for which there is not adequate remedy at law."

They are suing Nike for trademark infringement and seeking unspecified damages. Jordan is not a named defendant. 

A rep for Nike says they do not comment on pending litigation and calls to the Charlotte Bobcats (the NBA team owned by Jordan) were not returned.

From Baltimore to Washington to Atlanta ... people waiting in lines for the new Nike Air Jordan shoe are getting CRAZY violent -- except at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles where PATIENCE IS RUNNING RAMPANT!!

TMZ spoke with several people at the Bev Center who have been waiting in line for hours ... and some for days ... and they all seem to say the same thing -- it's been cold, but everyone has been extremely cordial.

It seems to be a sharp contrast from other shoe lines across the country -- so far, there have been reports of pepper spraying at a mall in Washington, a brawl in Kentucky and girl fights in North Carolina.

Metta World Peace says his childhood hero Michael Jordan left the NBA players high and dry in the never-ending lockout drama -- by forgetting he was once one of them ... and acting like every other stubborn owner.

Jordan -- the Charlotte Bobcats' big cheese -- is among a group of NBA owners who are taking a hard line with the players in the lockout negotiations.

According to MWP, the players don't hate His Airness ... they just feel like, "he didn't support us when we most needed him."

Michael Jordan's even the greatest of all time at retirement -- with lit cigar and beverage in hand ... he hosted the Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational golf tourney in Las Vegas yesterday.


Drink it all in.

LeBron James and Michael Jordan have been sued for $150 million -- EACH! -- by a company claiming the basketball stars ruined its business by poisoning its name in the public.



A company called Lebron Jordan, Inc. claims that James' and Jordan's reps at Nike and Live Nation torpedoed a multimillion dollar deal by threatening to sue LJI unless it stopped selling a line of basketball shoes under the "Lebron Jordan" name. 

LJI insists in the lawsuit, filed yesterday in federal court in New York, that it had every right to market its shoes under the "Lebron Jordan" name.  LJI points out that no one has trademarked the words "Lebron" and "Jordan" together, and "you could not even find that name combination on Google."

As a result of the negative publicity ... LJI claims it has been damaged to the tune of $900 million.

It took a little longer than we expected -- about 6 hours and 40 minutes -- but Lil Wayne has already dropped his first tweet since leaving prison ... and it wreaks of Michael Jordan.


Back when MJ returned to the Bulls in 1995, dude released a two word press release that simply read, "I'm back" .... and since Weezy is such a huge sports nut (and not crazy about grammar) we're guessing he took his cue from His Royal Airness.

Either way, he's baaaaaakkkkkkk!  

Michael Jordan has serious money to burn -- and last night after the Super Bowl, His Airness was flexin' the size of his wallet ... in the form of a ridiculously expensive ride.


The basketball legend left a Super Bowl after-party in Miami last night and rolled out in a brand new Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano -- base price: $300K.

Riding shotgun -- his hot, 30-year-old girlfriend Yvette Prieto.

Anyone still wanna be like Mike?