Basketball

WNBA star Brittney Griner is transferring to a Russian penal colony -- known for its terrible living conditions -- and her team has no idea where exactly she is or how she's doing.

BG's move from the detention center in Iksha began on Friday ... which happened to be one day after she met with U.S. embassy officials.

It's something Griner's family and team have feared ever since her conviction in August ... as a penal colony is far worse than a detention center. Prisoners are forced to perform labor, and it's much more difficult to make contact to the outside world.

Griner's team was not made aware of the update until Tuesday ... and her current location is unclear. Her legal team says it may take up to two weeks to be notified of her destination.

Lindsay Colas, Griner's agent, released a statement saying the number one concern is her client's health and well-being.

Colas says Griner's camp continues to work with the U.S. government in an effort to bring her home and keep her safe in the meantime.

"We are thankful for everyone's support, and hope that as we near nine months of detention, that BG and all wrongfully detained Americans will be shown mercy and returned home to their families for the holidays," Colas said.

The White House also released a statement ... slamming the move.

"Every minute that Brittney Griner must endure wrongful detention in Russia is a minute too long," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

"As the Administration continues to work tirelessly to secure her release, the President has directed the Administration to prevail on her Russian captors to improve her treatment and the conditions she may be forced to endure in a penal colony."

Griner has been in custody in Russia since February ... after she was accused of bringing hashish oil in her luggage at a Moscow airport.

She pleaded guilty to drug charges in July ... and was sentenced to 9 years in prison.

Griner spent her 32nd birthday behind bars last month ... and her appeal was denied on October 25.

La La Anthony ensured her son, Kiyan, will have the best birthday gift ever ... she pulled a one-of-a-kind Miles Morales Spider-Man card worth over $100K, and mom's reaction is amazing!!

And, the odds of landing the unique card ... one in 602,400!

Anthony recently visited Ken Goldin at the Goldin Auctions company headquarters in New Jersey where she cracked boxes from the 2021-22 Upper Deck Marvel Spider-Man set ... and got the Purple Light FX Miles Morales card.

“Breaking boxes with my son Kiyan is the highlight of the hobby for me," La La said. "I love understanding a world he’s a part of and enjoys so much. I was so excited to bring home this incredibly rare card to him, it’s truly a gift of a lifetime."

La La's reaction when she saw the card was priceless ... she was absolutely shocked, explaining they'd never landed such a prized card in the past.

Of course, Morales took over as Spider-Man for Peter Parker after his comic book death a decade ago.

Kiyan, 15, is an avid collector of Marvel and superhero cards, so the gift from mom will surely mean a lot to the rising hoops star.

“The fact that La La pulled this one-of-a-kind card featuring Miles – an inspiration and hero that so many people look up to – is really marvelous," Goldin, who has sold some of the most valuable memorabilia items ever, told us.

"This was the first one-of-one card I’ve ever pulled in my more than 40 years of collecting, too which made it even more special!”

Kyrie Irving reportedly had a "productive and understanding visit" with NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday.

The report comes just 5 days after the All-Star guard was suspended at least 5 games for failing to adequately apologize for sharing a film containing antisemitic beliefs on Twitter.

Silver was furious with Irving after several opportunities to denounce antisemitism and the contents of the film ... saying he would be meeting him in person to address the matter.

"While we appreciate the fact that he agreed to work with the Brooklyn Nets and the Anti-Defamation League to combat antisemitism and other forms of discrimination, I am disappointed that he has not offered an unqualified apology and more specifically denounced the vile and harmful content contained in the film he chose to publicize," Silver said at the time.

According to Shams Charania, the meeting went down earlier today ... and the report states it went well for both sides.

The report says the conversation is "paving the way" for the Nets and Irving to move forward ... which could potentially mean his return to the court once the 5-game punishment is up later this week.

Nick Cannon is ripping the Brooklyn Nets for "dehumanizing" Kyrie Irving with a list of demands that must be completed before he can return ... comparing the team to a master attempting to break a slave.

Cannon defended Irving during a conversation with Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt this week ... saying, "I can wholeheartedly say I know Kyrie Irving is not antisemitic."

Greenblatt says he took serious issue with Irving sharing a film that questioned the legitimacy of the Holocaust ... which he explained is dehumanizing to Jewish people.

Cannon says it goes both ways, though ... claiming the conditions of Irving's suspension -- including meeting with Jewish leaders and completing training -- is similar to "buck-breaking."

Nick explained the term for Greenblatt, saying ... "The slave masters would bring the buck -- the one that gets out of line -- so all the other slaves would see lash after lash, show them the power to set an example. 'This is what you must do to fall in line.' So, when we see the 6 things that Kyrie must do to get his job back, that's dehumanizing."

Cannon came under fire for making antisemitic comments in 2020, when he agreed with long-held stereotypes about Jewish people ... including having control over banks and much of the world's wealth. Nick also suggested white people were "a little less" than dark-skinned people.

He also defended ex-Public Enemy member Professor Griff for saying back in the late '80s Jews spread wickedness around the world.

Cannon later apologized for his comments ... saying he was "ashamed of the uninformed and naïve place that these words came from."

Keyontae Johnson is back playing college basketball for the very first time since collapsing on the court almost two years ago ... and the guy got back to doing his thing -- dropping 13 points!!

Johnson -- who transferred to Kansas State this August -- was in the starting lineup for the Wildcats on Monday against the Texas-Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros ... helping the Wildcats secure a victory.

After the 93-59 win, Johnson talked about how emotional the moment was for him.

"I'm feeling good," Johnson said.

"Just thanking God every day for giving me the opportunity to get here and play again, just staying patient."

"The feeling before the game, I was a little emotional, but I knew the game was going to go so I had to keep going, just play and just lay everything right out for my team."

As we previously reported, the small forward crashed onto the court during the Gators-Florida State Seminoles game on Dec. 12, 2020.

The 23-year-old was transported to the hospital in critical but stable condition ... and was put into a medically induced coma.

Three days later, he was awake but never returned to the hardwood ... until now.

Dick Vitale -- a legendary college hoops announcer -- was hyped for KJ and is happy to see the young man ballin' again.

"Scored 13 points," Vitale said on Twitter, "but it really was the BEST PERFORMANCE OF THE DAY that he is healthy & doing what he LOVES!"

There's at least one powerful celeb who ain't buying Kyrie Irving's apology ... Howard Stern absolutely shredded the NBA star, calling him a "f***ing moron" and a "douchebag!"

Of course, Irving (kinda sorta) apologized last week hours after he was hit with a minimum five-game suspension for pushing an antisemitic book/film on social media. Many felt the apology fell well short of what Irving needed to say to undo the harm he caused.

Count Stern, who happens to be Jewish, among that group ... the world's most famous radio host went in on the 30-year-old hooper Monday morning during his show.

"This Kyrie Irving is a complete douchebag. I mean what a f***ing ... you know he's a flat earther? He's a douchebag," Stern said.

Then, Howard mockingly imitated Kyrie, saying ... "Just let me hate the Jews. Don't bust my balls. I just wanna go on Twitter and hate Jews. Can't you just leave me alone? Everyone hates Jews. Why ya picking on me? I'm just an NBA player. I don't understand anything. A lot of people hate the Jews. Why ya picking on me? The Earth is flat. I think Jews are lizards. Next question. Just leave me be," Stern said to his millions of listeners.

Kyrie has served three games of his suspension ... meaning if he satisfies the team's requirements to return -- meeting with Jewish community leaders, etc. -- he could return this Saturday against the Clippers in Los Angeles.

Even if he returns, Irving reputation has suffered a massive blow ... as have his pockets.

Nike suspended its lucrative partnership with the Nets guard and halted the release of an upcoming signature sneaker.

It's not the first time Stern's gone after a celebrity who made offensive comments. Just a few weeks ago Howard compared Kanye West to just about the worst person possible ... Adolf Hitler.

"Kanye used to be fun crazy. Now he’s like Hitler," Stern said, also calling Ye a "douchebag."

A couple weeks after Stern made the comments, Kanye responded while on a podcast, telling him to "shut the f*** up," adding, "I used to be a fan of you."

Unlike Ye, Irving is yet to fire back at Howard.

Don't ever, EVER make a bad call in the presence of Meek Mill ... the rapper tripped a referee during the 76ers game and it was all caught on live TV!!

Kidding ... it was clearly an accident -- a funny accident -- and the ref was totally fine.

The Philly rapper was sitting courtside with Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin and Will Makris at the Suns-Sixers game at the Wells Fargo Center Monday night.

The "Dreams & Nightmares" rapper got in on the action in the 2nd quarter when his stretched-out legs got in the way of the officials running alongside the court near the Sixers' bench.

The ref fell right near Sixers' coach Doc Rivers ... who helped him back to his feet. MM quickly apologized to the ref.

Meek also acknowledged the incident on social media, using lyrics from Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind."

"Hov once said 'I be spiked out I can trip a referee'", Meek said, "Lol I apologized to him that’s brazyyy tho 😂😂😂😂"

Rubin, however, says differently ... saying on his IG story, Meek tried to put the blame on him.

The Cavs might have lost, but Donovan Mitchell was winning after the game -- hitting up an L.A. hot spot with his beautiful girlfriend ... and TMZ Sports has the vid!!

Cleveland lost just its second game of the season against the Clippers on Monday ... falling 117-119 and snapping an 8-game winning streak, despite Spida's 30-point effort

26-year-old Mitchell and his lady, Tinara Westbrook, decided to get over the loss at The Nice Guy in West Hollywood ... enjoying a peaceful meal late into the night.

The 3-time All-Star and hair entrepreneur have been going strong this year ... making their romance "Instagram official" back in September.

Spida is off to an insane start in his first season in Wine & Gold ... averaging 31.2 points, 6 assists and 4.1 rebounds a game.

Westbrook was in attendance for the Cavs vs. Clippers game at Crypto.com Arena ... and she had some pretty good seats for the matchup.

Kyrie Irving will not lose his NBA career over his most recent controversy ... so says Julius Erving -- who tells TMZ Sports there's just no way teams won't give him another chance.

"The owners are greedy," Dr. J said out at LAX this weekend. "He's going to end up in the league playing for somebody, no matter how toxic he is."

There are many in Association circles that would disagree -- with some believing after he tweeted a link to an antisemitic film and then refused to apologize over it for several days, he's too radioactive to the roster at this point.

But, Erving -- an NBA legend -- tells us he believes that's just simply not the case.

"As long as he's young enough to score those buckets, and do what he does, be Kyrie, he's going have a job," he said.

Irving is currently serving a suspension from the Brooklyn Nets over it all that the team says will last at least five games -- although no one within the org. has guaranteed he'll be back with the team this year.

Erving clearly believes if the Nets somehow cut ties with the point guard, his career would resume elsewhere -- and it would do so fairly quickly.

Ultimately, the former 76ers star gave Irving some advice going forward.

Ex-NBA star Ben Gordon was arrested again this week ... after he allegedly attacked two McDonald's security guards in Chicago.

TMZ Sports has learned ... 39-year-old Gordon was taken into custody around 3:30 AM on Friday. Chicago PD says the 2004 third-overall pick was being escorted out of the Mickey D's when he got physical.

Police say Gordon struck a 29-year-old male guard in the face and threw him to the ground ... before shoving a second 21-year-old male guard to the ground as well.

It's unclear why Gordon was being kicked out of the restaurant in the first place.

Gordon was booked for two counts of misdemeanor battery -- cause bodily harm and make physical contact -- as a result of the alleged altercation. The two guards declined medical attention.

The arrest comes less than one month after Gordon was accused of punching his 10-year-old son in the head at an airport for dropping a book.

Shortly after making bail in that arrest, Gordon was taken into custody in connection to an open assault case for a 2020 incident in Manhattan.

Gordon won an NCAA Championship at UConn in 2004 ... and averaged 14.9 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in the Association.

Kyrie Irving may have gotten suspended for promoting a movie based on antisemitic themes, but there's still a large platform that's not only carrying the movie, it's making a profit as well.

"Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America!" is listed on Amazon for users to rent at $10.99 or purchase for $48.99. We've reached out to Amazon, asking if the company has any plans to limit access or remove the film altogether, and have gotten no response.

While the criticism Kyrie has received for promoting, and at first, refusing to denounce the antisemitism in the film has been justified ... there's been little to no public outcry for Amazon to yank the flick.

In fact, Amazon's listing for the film even includes a "Watch and chat with others" feature -- which it does make available for other TV/movies -- but it just makes it that much easier for the hate to spread.

What's more -- on Friday, both the Brooklyn Nets and Anti-Defamation League asked Jeff Bezos and the leaders at Amazon to remove the movie.

As we reported, Kyrie is currently serving at least a 5 game suspension after the Brooklyn Nets said Thursday, "We were dismayed today, when given an opportunity in a media session, that Kyrie refused to unequivocally say he has no antisemitic beliefs, nor acknowledge specific hateful material in the film. This was not the first time he had the opportunity - but failed - to clarify."

Just a few hours after the Nets announcement, Kyrie attempted another apology, saying, "To All Jewish families and Communities that are hurt and affected from my post ... I am deeply sorry to have caused you pain, and I apologize."

Nike is pressing pause on its endorsement deal with Kyrie Irving ... and now his signature shoe is being shelved.

The shoe giant announced Friday it was suspending its business relationship with the NBA star, explaining ... "At Nike, we believe there is no place for hate speech and we condemn any form of antisemitism."

Nike also says it will no longer launch the Kyrie 8 basketball shoe, adding ... "We are deeply saddened and disappointed by the situation and its impact on everyone."

As you know ... Kyrie's faced a ton of backlash ever since tweeting out a link to an antisemitic film last week.

Nike isn't the first to come down on Irving. The Nets announced Thursday they were suspending him at least 5 games after he refused to outright apologize for promoting the film. The Nets said Kyrie will not be allowed to play for the club again until he "satisfies a series of objective remedial measures that address the harmful impact of his conduct."

The point guard finally issued a lengthy mea culpa on his social media after being suspended, but folks are questioning his sincerity.

The woman who initially accused Eric Bledsoe of roughing her up during an incident last month ultimately ended up refusing to cooperate with authorities ... this according to prosecutors.

In official documents, obtained by TMZ Sports, authorities said a 30-year-old woman called cops in Lost Hills, Calif. on Oct. 26 -- claiming Bledsoe had slapped her after she had knocked his phone out of his hand following a dispute.

However, according to the docs, when investigators arrived on scene ... the woman -- who they say had redness on her face -- "told deputies that she did not get into a physical altercation with the suspect, and she did not want to give additional information about the incident."

Bledsoe was still arrested, and booked on a charge of misdemeanor domestic violence.

But, according to the docs, when the woman was pressed further about the incident by a follow-up investigator, "she stated she would not cooperate with the prosecution of suspect."

Officials added in the docs that the woman "later emailed the investigating officer reiterating that she was not desirous of prosecution."

Prosecutors formally dropped the case on Oct. 28 ... with officials saying in the documents that the woman's "inconsistent statements about whether there was a physical altercation" played into the decision.

Kevin Durant thinks the Brooklyn Nets should have shut up and let Kyrie Irving dribble ... saying the organization should have not gotten involved in his teammate's antisemitism controversy.

He does, however, say he trusts the organization to make the right decision when asked about Kyrie's 5-game suspension.

KD spoke with the media on Friday about the Nets' decision to punish Kyrie over inadequately addressing the decision to post a link to a movie riddled with antisemitic beliefs ... and he feels like it was none of the team's business.

"I ain't here to judge nobody or talk down on the life or how they feel with their views and things," Durant said. "I just didn't like anything that went on. I felt like it was all unnecessary. I felt like we could have just kept playing basketball and kept quiet as an organization."

Durant also took a jab at the media ... saying outlets were quick to spark outrage after Kyrie posted the tweet.

"Everybody has an opinion on the situation, and we're hearing it nonstop."

As we previously reported, Kyrie has been under fire for several missed opportunities to apologize and denounce antisemitism ... which resulted in his suspension and a fiery statement from NBA commish Adam Silver.

The Nets also voiced their dissatisfaction when handing down the suspension ... saying, "Such failure to disavow antisemitism when given a clear opportunity to do so is deeply disturbing, is against the values of our organization, and constitutes conduct detrimental to the team."

Kyrie eventually released his latest attempt at a mea culpa on Thursday ... which still wasn't enough for some critics.

Nets GM Sean Marks spoke about Irving's most recent comments on Friday ... saying it's a "step," but there's still more that needs to be done.

Marks also said the Nets never considered waiving Irving ... but it's clear the team is not happy.

Shaq has advice for Kanye West -- get your affairs in order before commenting on his ... after Ye took a shot at O'Neal on social media.

The interaction started when Kanye tweeted ... "Shaq is in business with Jamie Salter. Jaimie first said he's 50/50 with David Beckham and 50/50 with Shaq. I said "Jamie . . . There’s no such thing as 50/50 in business . . . Who has the extra 1 percent for the control and voting rights."

Ye continued ... "Jamie then said he's actually got the 51 percent on both those deals   We as the creators and talent get so caught up in our vanity that we don’t read or understand the fine print  Like Dave Chapelle said, we need to stop giving up control over our own names and our likeness."

Jamie Salter is a Canadian billionaire ... and his company, Authentic Brands Group manages Shaq's name and likeness. Jamie previously said ABG bought 50% of Shaq's future earnings. The company also owns more than 50 brands, many very large. O'Neal is one of the company's largest shareholders.

The tweet didn't sit well with Shaq, who responded to Kanye, writing, "Believe me you don't know me like that. Worry about your business, and to quote the once great Kanye west " I got more money than you, so why would i listen to you" take my advice get your family business in order. Have a great day brother."

It all seemingly started when Shaq (and Charles Barkley) ripped Kyrie Irving for publicizing the controversial film, "Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America!" Shaq said the NBA superstar was "not conscious" and didn't care who he offended.

Naturally, West took issue with Shaq's criticism of Irving, writing on Twitter, "They make us bully ourselves because of our business alignments."

Ye has evidently taken a liking to 30-year-old Kyrie ... showing support for the Nets hooper by posting a photo of him on social media.

Both men have been accused of being antisemitic.

Kyrie Irving is finally apologizing for tweeting out a link to an antisemitic film ... though many fans are questioning the sincerity of the Brooklyn Nets star's mea culpa.

The 30-year-old wrote out the "I'm sorry" in a lengthy post on his Instagram page late Thursday night -- one week after he promoted the film "Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America!"

He began by admitting he made a mistake in pedaling a movie that contained "anti-Semitic statements, narratives, and language that were untrue and offensive to the Jewish Race/Religion."

He then apologized to people of Jewish faith for his actions -- something he had refused to explicitly do despite having multiple opportunities in the days after he pressed "send" on his tweet.

"To All Jewish families and Communities that are hurt and affected from my post," he wrote, "I am deeply sorry to have caused you pain, and I apologize."

Some have found the line to be insincere -- believing it to be nothing more than "I'm sorry if I offended you" rhetoric.

Kyrie then apologized for not explaining the parts of the documentary that he actually agreed with ... another line with which fans took umbrage -- considering the entire film is laced with antisemitic tropes.

Finally, Irving wrote, "I had no intentions to disrespect any Jewish cultural history regarding the Holocaust or perpetuate any hate." Some have blasted him for this comment as well. The question -- is he really acknowledging the Holocaust happened, or is he saying he's sorry he offended Jewish belief that it happened?  There's a huge difference between the two.

Irving's apology came just hours after the Nets announced the point guard would be suspended for at least five games over the situation. The team said in a statement he will not be allowed to play for the org. again until he "satisfies a series of objective remedial measures that address the harmful impact of his conduct."