Basketball

Smash Mouth -- yes, that band from "Shrek" -- has got some balls on 'em ... throwing F bombs at NFL star Myles Garrett!!!

Why, you ask?

The band apparently took MAJOR offense to an interview Garrett gave ripping Kevin Durant ... where the Browns star said, "KD broke the league" by jumping to the Warriors to win a title.

"You hopped onto a 73-9 team and he took the easy way out in my mind," Garrett said on 92.3 The Fan.

He added one more shot -- "Me, I'm too competitive to try and ride on somebody's coattails to get a W."

Enter Smash Mouth -- big Golden State Warriors fans -- with expletive-laden Durant defense.

"Hey Myles Garrett,.....nobody knows who the F you are so nobody gives a F what you would do."

"And Genius the @warriors didn't win the Championship the season before KD signed. So not sure what 'coattails' you're referring to. This your Twitter page Aaaaahole? @MylesLGarrett."

So, what now? There's only one solution -- Smash Mouth must fight Myles Garrett.

Ben Simmons not only ruined his chances at a reconciliation with Tinashe ... he also blew it for EVERY OTHER PRO BALLER -- because the singer tells TMZ Sports she's 100% done with athletes.

The "Faded Love" singer was leaving Delilah in West Hollywood after hitting the club on Wednesday night -- and, after all the drama with Ben, we asked her what she's looking for NEXT in a man.

"Not to be an idiot," she told us ... noting that she finds a LOT of idiots in this town.

And when we asked if that meant no more ballers, she responded ... "Oh yeah. That's 100."

For the record, Tinashe recently dropped a ton of new music with big stars like Future, Offset, Ty Dolla $ign and French Montana ... so who needs NBA stars when you've got rappers?

It's time for TMZ SPORTS DECODES ... starring NBA superstar Paul George, who might've just given the basketball world a huge clue about his future and the future of Mr. LeBron James.

Or did he?

First a little context ... rumors in NBA circles say LeBron joining the Lakers depends on him luring another big name star to Hollywood, and most people think George -- an L.A. native -- is that star.

In order for that to happen, George would have to want to play with LeBron and, when we got him at the Fortnite Celebrity Pro-Am in L.A. and asked him ... he seemed like he was down.

"Yeah, I'm with LeBron every All-Star. Every one of my All-Stars I've been teamed with LeBron ... I like playing with him."

We continued decoding as we asked George if he even likes Los Angeles ... and once again, he gave us more positive feedback than an eastern Tinder swipe.

"I'm from L.A., I can say I love L.A. because I'm from L.A."

What do you get when you love both playing with LeBron and L.A.? Seems like Purple & Gold.

Andre Drummond says he's a HUGE fan of his new head coach, Dwane Casey -- and tells TMZ Sports he can't wait for Casey to join the Pistons so they can kill it next season.

"Love Dwane Casey," Drummond told us at the Fortnite Pro-Am at E3 in Los Angeles ... "I'm really excited to have him."

Casey was the head coach of the Toronto Raptors -- which put up the best record in the East before being swept by the Cavs in the playoffs for the 2nd straight year.

Casey was fired -- despite winning the National Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year.

Steph Curry and Kevin Durant went champagne crazy at their victory parade on Tuesday ... 'cause the Warriors sprayed and drank HALF A MILLION DOLLARS worth of booze ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Fresh off their $400k locker-room celebration after sweeping the Cavaliers on Friday, the Dubs had all the Luc Belaire Rare Gold, Luxe and Rosé they'd possibly need to keep the party going ... including 6-liter and HUGE 15-liter bottles!!

Nick Young and J.R. Smith LOVE to show skin when it comes to celebrating titles ... so it's only right we presented an NBA championship parade edition of "Who Wore it Better?!?!"

Swag Champ -- formerly Swaggy P -- lost his shirt for the Warriors parade earlier Tuesday afternoon ... spicing it up with a snazzy sport coat and a couple chains.

But, let's not forget the OG J.R. Swish ... who went completely shirtless for the Cleveland Cavs' title parade back in 2016.

So, now that both Shirtless Bros are NBA champions, we gotta ask ...

Draymond Green's over the smack talking and onto the shirt talking once again.

The Golden State Warriors' biggest troll dipped way back into a November tiff with LeBron James to bring some subtle LBJ smack talk to the Dubs' victory parade Tuesday.

You remember the story ... 'Bron posted an Arthur closed-fist meme and captioned it "Mood..." back in the fall.

Unclear what LBJ was referring to, but Green fired back later with his own "Mood..." post.

The beef chilled -- at least, until this week ... when Draymond brought back the meme on a black T-shirt -- with three rings on Arthur's hand.

FYI ... this ain't the first time Draymond's used a championship parade to take shots at the King -- tellin' the crowd at last year's party that James "started the super team, bro!" while wearing a "Quickie" shirt in reference to the series only lasting 5 games.

Ice Cube, Clyde Drexler and BIG3 league execs are currently taking part in high-level discussions to start a BIG3 league in China ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Here's the deal ... Cube, HOFer-turned-BIG3-commish Drexler and other officials are in Beijing as part of a 3-day trip to announce that the league will play exhibition games in China.

It's pretty cool ... after the upcoming BIG3 season ends, players and coaches will travel to China and hoop in exhibition games with players from China's 3-on-3 league, the JYB -- started by Taiwanese star Jay Chou.

But, that ain't the end game ... we're told it's only the 1st of a 2-part plan.

Step 2?

An entirely new BIG3 League in China ... that'll tour the country.

The Houston Rockets will win a championship without LeBron James -- but if he wants to join the squad and help out -- door's open ... so says U.S. Congressman from Texas Kevin Brady.

LeBron is a free agent ... and Houston is one of the favorites to land LBJ.

So, when we saw Brady -- whose 8th Congressional District encompasses the area near Houston -- in D.C. on Monday, we asked him to make his pitch to King James.

"This is a winning team already. They got a winning culture," Brady tell us. "This is gonna be a championship team in my view, with or without him, but he can play a role. So, if he wants to come, I'll tell you what, people would love him."

FYI -- the Rockets won 65 games this year -- more than any other team -- and took the Warriors to Game 7 before losing.

J.R. Smith's Game 1 blunder wasn't just responsible for LeBron breaking his hand ... it was also the reason the Warriors broke the Cavs -- so says Kevin Durant.

K.D. went on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Monday night and explained to the talk-show host how J.R. brainfarting and running the wrong way at the end of regulation to start the series essentially ended the Cavs.

"We knew we kind of broke them a little bit with that one," the NBA Finals MVP said.

There's more ... Durant says there will be no summer of drama when it comes to his Bay Area future -- 'cause he ain't about to leave the Dubs' dynasty yet.

As for if LeBron wanted to join up with him, Steph, Klay and Draymond -- K.D. didn't seem so sure about that.

Blake Griffin was Mali-boo'd up with his new girl on Sunday ... ditching his shirt for a cuddly walk together in Malibu.

The Detroit Pistons superstar and Francesca Aiello -- founder of Frankies Bikinis -- seem to be inseparable since they were spotted sucking face in his Land Rover on Saturday.

There was more of the good stuff during their quality time on Sunday ... with the 2 sharing a smooch after getting back to Blake's car.

23-year-old Aiello is the first girl Blake's been photographed out in public with since his split with Kendall Jenner ... but, by the looks of it, he ain't thinkin' about her anymore.

FYI -- Aiello's a Malibu native ... so no word on whether she's gearing up for a cold winter in Detroit or if it's just a little summer fling.

Either way ... good for these guys.

The greatest-of-all-time argument between LeBron James and Michael Jordan is just like the dodo bird and T. rex ... dead forever, so says Michael Rapaport.

Rapaport's point ... LBJ getting swept 4-0 by the Warriors effectively ends any conversation that he's better than MJ ... 'cause nothin' like that ever happened to His Airness.

"It's over. You're not better than Jordan. Jordan won 6 rings."

We then threw it back to Rap ... asking him if his opinion would change if LeBron got on a hot streak and ended up winning as many rings as Jordan.

"There is no 'let's say.' He got f**king swept."

Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher were teammates for 13 years with the Los Angeles Lakers, so when Fisher gets hitched to "Basketball Wives" star Gloria Govan ... Mamba HAS to be there right?

NOT SO FAST.

We got Fisher out at LAX, and talked to him all about who may, or may not be there when he and Govan jump the broom ... and it seems there's a pretty decent chance Kobe WON'T be there.

"I mean, we'll see. It depends on how many people we decide to have there. If we decide it's just family, then it's just family."

So, Kobe's not family?! Weddings come with tough choices ...

Fisher also gave us his feelings on Shaq's ex-wife, Shaunie O'Neal, basically saying she wouldn't -- under any circumstances -- be caught dead at the wedding.

Here's a hint: He doesn't give a damn.

With Kendall Jenner apparently out of the picture, Ben Simmons MIGHT be trying to rekindle things with Tinashe ... because the two hit the same nightclub on Thursday.

The 21-year-old Philadelphia 76ers star and the 25-year-old singer both hit up Poppy nightclub in West Hollywood ... and left right around the same time.

Ben left solo at 1:37 AM on Friday morning and Tinashe left about 20 minutes later at 1:56 AM.

The two had dated for a couple of months before recently splitting -- Ben was seen out a short time later going on dates with Kendall.

But, Kendall was sucking face with Anwar Hadid in New York City earlier this week -- a sign it's probably over with Ben -- and now, he coincidentally shows up at the same club as his ex?

Joel Embiid refuses to trash ex-Sixers GM Bryan Colangelo ... telling TMZ Sports the disgraced exec is a "great guy" ... despite the burner account scandal.

"He was a great guy. He did a great job for us, so I wish him luck," Embiid told us in Beverly Hills on Thursday night.

Shocking response since Embiid is one of the 76ers players who was targeted by the burner account tweets that Colangelo's wife claims she posted.

In fact, we asked Joel if he REALLY believes Bryan had nothing to do with the burner accounts and if he thinks Barbara Bottini truly acted alone.

"I have no idea," Embiid said ... "I'm sure there was an investigation for a reason. But if it was his wife, there's nothing you can do about it."

Embiid didn't seem concerned about the future of the 76ers -- in fact, he told us the Colangelo drama won't slow down "the Process."

"The Process is never starting over and it's never going to be over. There's a process for everything. It takes a lot to get where you wanna go and that's the process."'

Sen. Ted Cruz is ready to play some tight D on Jimmy Kimmel in a one-on-one basketball game -- and vows there's no chance the late-night host will throw down a dunk in his face.

The senator and late-night host are squaring up on June 16 for what might be the most random hoops matchup ever -- but Cruz was in trash-talking mode Thursday on Capitol Hill. He says he played ball in high school, admittedly not very well ... but thinks he's got enough skills to take down Jimmy.

We're guessing Cruz is engaging in a psych-out here ... just trying to get in Kimmel's head. He's a politician after all. It's kinda what they do.

From what Cruz told us, sounds like he's already been training. They've got high stakes in the game, and some ridiculous ground rules ... courtesy of Kimmel.