Basketball

Master P says he and Kobe Bryant nearly came to blows in the Lakers facility years ago -- and it would've DEFINITELY gone down if Lamar Odom hadn't played peacemaker.

P was on "The Red Pill With Van Lathan" podcast talking about his business ventures, hip-hop legacy and basketball career ... when he broke down how things got heated with Black Mamba.

"We had a couple words," P says ... noting that he's more about action than talkin'.

Here's the thing -- P wouldn't say what specifically led to him and Kobe's face off, but you can tell it got very real for a second, and that Odom intervening might've cost us all a much better story.

We have to ask the question -- you knew we were gonna do it -- if it had gone down, who ya got?

Answer: Chris Childs.

Shaquille O'Neal says there are pretty clear (unwritten) rules when it comes to hitting the clubs before an NBA game -- the worse the opponent, the later you can rage!

"If you're playing against a good team the curfew is 2 AM."

"If you're playing a bum team you can stay out a couple extra hours."

It's a relevant question considering Russell Westbrook rolled up to a Miami nightclub at 1:30 AM on Monday morning ... hours before the Thunder played the Heat.

Westbrook ended up posting a triple double as OKC went on to smash Miami 115 to 93 ... so, it all worked out. Shaq says he used to do the same shtick back in the day.

"When I played teams that were not good I stayed out til 5 or 6, still had 30 (points)."

Ice Cube is escalating his beef with the royal family of Qatar -- warning the Emir not to threaten BIG3 players or ANY American athlete.

We broke the story -- Cube and his BIG3 partner, Jeff Kwatinetz, filed a $1.2 BILLION lawsuit against several Qatari investors ... including royal family member Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani.

Cube claims the investors screwed the league out of millions -- and then made threats saying, "You should think of your safety and the safety of you and your family."

Now with the Emir of Qatar visiting with President Trump on Tuesday, Cube decided to send a message ... taking out a full page ad in the NY Times saying:

"Hey President Trump, when you meet today with Putin's new friend, the Emir of Qatar, please tell him not to threaten the BIG3 and American athletes!"

Clyde "The Glyde" Drexler also added his name to the message.

Russell Westbrook rolled into LIV nightclub in Miami at 1:30 AM on Monday morning ... hours before the OKC Thunder are set to play the Miami Heat.

So ... the question -- big deal or nah?

Some people think it's a problem when pro athletes party on game day (remember when Jason Kidd got pissed at the Bucks for hitting the strip club before losing to the last place Lakers?).

Others like Magic Johnson don't care as long as the players perform on the court or the field (he gave Yasiel Puig a party pass back in 2013).

The issue here ... it's a crucial time for the Thunder. They're currently 7th in the Western Conference, but haven't clinched a playoff berth yet.

Lady Baller Alert ... Lonzo Ball and his girlfriend are having a baby girl!!

TMZ Sports broke the story ... Zo's H.S. sweetheart Denise Garcia is pregnant with a Baby Baller. Zo talked with Mike Trudell about his kid on the way on Thursday, revealing the baby is due July 16.

We're told the pregnancy is going well and the baby is looking healthy. Denise's family is excited to meet the baby. Zo says adding a girl to the BBB empire is gonna be a big change.

"It’s crazy. My whole family is all boys. We only have like two girls in the whole family," Ball says. "It’s just my mom and her mom. My dad has five brothers (and two sisters), I have my two brothers (obviously). All boys."

Ice Cube and his partner in the BIG3 basketball league have filed a $1 BILLION lawsuit against multiple Qatari investors who allegedly failed to pony up their money for the league.

TMZ Sports has obtained the complaint in which Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz are suing several individuals including Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani ... the CEO of the Qatari Investment Authority.

Cube says the Qataris were supposed to invest $5 MILLION and be passive investors in the league -- but instead "quickly started to insinuate themselves into the affairs of BIG3 despite failing to live up to even their most basic obligation to fully fund their investment."

Cube says the Qataris would openly brag about their individual wealth -- with one guy, Ahmed Al-Rumaihi, even blowing $700k during a gambling session in Vegas following the BIG3 championship game.

"These members and associates of the royal family made excuse after excuse for not paying, all of which is documented in text messages and emails, where the blame for their failure to fund the millions they owed the BIG3 ran the gamut from their 'sinuses,' 'hiking,' it being a 'long day bro,' and to bad press regarding Qatar associations with alleged funding of terrorism."

"Also, like a simple debtor in hiding from a collection agency, these Defendants with their purported links to the Qatar royal family, would go into hiding and refused to return phone calls and ignore Plaintiffs."

Cube says in Dec. 2017, Kwatinetz attempted to set up a meeting with Al-Rumaihi who instead of substantively responding "sent a picture of his teeth being worked on, apparently to conjure sympathy."

, Cube claims Al-Rumaihi eventually got so pissed off over the repeated requests for the money that he loudly screamed at Kwatinetz and threatened his life saying, "You don't know who I know in L.A. and what they're capable of. You should think of your safety and the safety of you and your family."

Cube and Kwatinetz are now seeking $1.2 BILLION in damages in order to pay $20 million per player in the league.

Josh Norman is so confident he'd take Cam Newton 1-on-1 in basketball, he told Cam straight-up ... and TMZ Sports has the video!

We got Josh after a beach workout in L.A. with his NFL bros Julian Stanford and Demario Davis ... and the stud safety opened on why we keep spotting him droppin' sweat on the sand.

But, things got really interesting when our guy asked Norman about ballin' up Cam at his charity game in South Carolina this weekend.

Turns out, Cam was on the phone with Josh ... and when we asked who the better baller was, Norman wasn't about to back down.

"Me, of course. I'm not gonna say him."

FYI, a bunch of NFL stars are coming out to hoop at Norman's event -- but, is it gonna be bigger than Quavo's Huncho Day?

As impressed as Reggie Bush was with Villanova's dominating victory Monday night, he tells TMZ Sports the triumph had NOTHING on the women's NCAA final, which featured an INSANE buzzer beater.

In case you missed it -- and you shouldn't have -- Arike Ogunbowale splashed a three as time expired to put Notre Dame on top of Mississippi State, and the shot was Mamba-Jordan-esque.

We got Reggie Bush out in L.A. Monday night, and Bush says it was THAT shot and ending that was the best in college hoops, and NOT Villanova's easy dominance over Michigan.

BTW -- the big shot by Ogunbowale was her SECOND in two games ... she also hit a long shot in the final seconds to beat undefeated UConn in the Final Four.

Villanova star Donte DiVincenzo had a busy night -- after he led the Wildcats to an NCAA title, he deleted thousands of old tweets ... including one that featured the n-word.

As DiVincenzo heated up during the game, people started combing through the 21-year-old's social media history ... and found a tweet from 2011 that read, "Ballin on these n**gas like I'm derrick rose!"

The line is actually a lyric from a Meek Mill track that came out a week before the tweet -- but the Internet freaked out anyway.

There were more questionable tweets that also surfaced.

After the game, Donte confirmed the Twitter account was his, but said he didn't remember ever posting the n-word tweet.

"It’s my account, yes ... but I never remember doing that.”

Villanova reportedly put out a statement saying Donte's account had been hacked, but later took back the statement.

All of the tweets on the account have since been deleted.

Donte DiVincenzo wasn't the only thing on fire last night ... the students at Villanova blazed up several bonfires near campus Monday night after the Wildcats beat Michigan.

Thousands of Nova fans flooded the streets to celebrate. Others set off fireworks.

Some climbed light poles -- despite the fact the Radnor Township Police Dept. had said they would be greasing the poles as a deterrent.

Still, the police were out in force and so far it doesn't appear there were riots or any kind of student vs. police fighting. We're calling cops to confirm.

Most of the celebration consisted of dancing and yelling and drinking ... and one of the guys on the light pole appeared to be chuggin' a beer.

To the victor ...

Dennis Rodman is GOING IN on LiAngelo Ball ... telling TMZ Sports the dude sucks at hoops and has a snowball's chance in hell of making the NBA.

"He's not good at all," Rodman says ... "He's awful."

We pointed out LiAngelo dropped 72 points during a game in Lithuania on the day he announced he'd be entering the 2018 NBA Draft ... but that didn't seem to impress Rodman one bit.

"Teams over there [in Lithuania] just pretty much suck."

Still, Rodman says he gives LiAngelo a 10% chance at getting drafted "just because of social media."

On a positive note, Rodman says he's still sober and feeling great.

He's also excited for his son, Dennis Rodman Jr., who's a baller in his own right ... and getting offers from some of the biggest college programs in the country!

Sister Jean needs a break -- which means no raging party for the NCAA title game Monday night ... so says a rep for Loyola-Chicago.

The 98-year-old superstar is apparently exhausted after rolling with the Ramblers during the team's incredible run to the Final Four after traveling with the team for 2 weeks of March Madness.

"Sr. Jean is getting a much needed break after all of our travel and her media commitments these last few weeks," a rep for the school tells TMZ Sports.

"I am not certain if she will be watching the game in the confines of her room, but she will not be watching with the team."

As for her future, the school seems to be easing back on her travel schedule as well -- saying, "[She will not] travel with any our other teams this spring."

Here's former NCAA stud Derrick Williams answering a question that always gets asked -- but to some here at TMZ Sports, it doesn't make any damn sense.

We got Williams at LAX and after talking to him about the turmoil his Arizona Wildcats program is going through -- we wanted to know if he thought Villanova could beat an NBA team.

Before you drag our camera guy, we should say this came after 'Nova obliterating Kansas in their Final Four matchup ... looking every bit like the most dominant team in COLLEGE basketball.

Obviously, Derrick understands that COLLEGE hoops is a different game than the pros, because he says "No way" ... which is obviously the right answer.

BTW ... the worst team in the league right now is the Phoenix Suns, and they're pretty bad so MAYBE if 'Nova got hot from 3 ... they could lose by 30 instead of 40.

Villanova or Michigan??

Nick Young doesn't give one single "f**k" who wins the game ... telling TMZ Sports he doesn't care for NCAA basketball.

Swaggy P hit Nightingale nightclub in West Hollywood after his Golden State Warriors beat up on the Phoenix Suns earlier in the day ... so, we tried talking to him about March Madness.

But, Young told us straight-up, "You know, I don't give a f**k about the NCAA."

He didn't explain why ... but maybe it's because his USC Trojans didn't get an invite to the tourney this year.

Interesting note ... Swaggy's not the only one who's turning the channel -- ratings are reportedly down 3% from last year.

For those who DO care ... Villanova takes on Michigan in the NCAA Championship Monday night.

Before Larsa Pippen went egg huntin' with the kiddies on Sunday, she hit the sunny shores of South Beach to brighten up everyone's Easter weekend.

And yes, there was plenty of cake to go around.

No sign of Scottie or the kids ... but seems like Larsa was enjoying her solo outing.

The 40-something mother of 4 frolicked in the sand rockin' an itty bitty bikini ... looking absolutely incredible, as she usually does.

LiAngelo Ball will be suiting up for an NBA team next season, and it ain't just 'cause of his talent -- so says Shareef O'Neal.

We spoke to Shareef -- a top NCAA prospect -- after LiAngelo dropped 72 POINTS in an exhibition game out in Lithuania earlier this week ... and asked if he thought the middle Ball bro was NBA-bound.

Reef told us he did, but not because of Gelo's breakout performance.

"I think he's gonna make it on a team just 'cause his brother's already there, and I feel like just the platform that that family has he can make it on a team," O'Neal told TMZ Sports.