Basketball

Anthony Davis' tribute tattoo to Kobe Bryant was revealed this week ... and you can see in a new detailed photograph of the artwork, the piece is pretty amazing.

Remember, just days after Kobe and his daughter, Gianna, tragically passed in a helicopter crash ... both AD and LeBron James went under the needle for Kobe-inspired ink.

LeBron revealed his tat before the Lakers' game last Friday ... showing off artwork that featured a black mamba, Kobe's numbers, two roses and a "Mamba 4 Life" inscription.

But Davis hadn't publicly released his art until just this week ... when his tattoo artist showed off the piece on social media.

The ink is beautiful ... featuring a black mamba circled around Bryant's famous brand logo.

"I am mortified. I am embarrassed and I am very angry."

That's Gayle King going NUCLEAR on her own network, CBS, for releasing an interview clip with Kobe Bryant's good friend, Lisa Leslie, in which King asks about Kobe's rape case ... claiming CBS simply did her dirty.

Here's the deal ... earlier this week, CBS released a teaser clip from King's big interview with the WNBA star in which she asks if Bryant's legacy is "complicated" because of the 2003 sexual assault case.

King received a TON of backlash online from people who claim the question was insensitive and inappropriate -- including 50 Cent and Vivica A. Fox.

In a video she made Thursday morning, Gayle admitted she's been reading the tidal wave of negative comments on social media and it's been driving her crazy!

"I know that if I had only seen the clip that you saw, I’d be extremely angry with me too,” King said.

She continued, "I am mortified. I am embarrassed and I am very angry."

"Unbeknownst to me, my network put up a clip from a very wide-ranging interview -- totally taken out of context -- and when you see it that way, it’s very jarring. It’s jarring to me. I didn’t even know anything about it."

King says the sexual assault question was only a small part of a larger conversation about Kobe's life ... and she felt it WAS appropriate to ask that question at the time.

"We talked about that court case because that court case has also come up. And, I wanted to get Lisa’s take on it as a friend who knew him well, what she thought, where that should stand."

"It was very powerful when she looked me in the eye, as a member of the media, to say, 'It’s time for the media to leave it alone and to back off.'"

"I felt really good about the interview ... so, for the network to take the most salacious part when taken out of context, and put it up for people who didn’t see the whole interview, is very upsetting to me and that’s something I’m going to have to deal with them."

"There will be a very intense discussion about that."

Southern Methodist Univ.'s women's basketball coach Travis Mays told his players to kill themselves if they weren't willing to try harder ... this according to former team members.

The first player to go public was ex-player Klara Bradshaw who wrote a blog post saying Mays was so upset with how the team was performing during a 2017-18 season practice, he said the following:

"If y'all don't want to get it together, if y'all don't get together and get connected, you might as well go and commit suicide."

Bradshaw -- who lost her father to suicide 2 years prior -- was so upset by the comment, a team trainer removed her from the workout.

The Dallas Morning News reports Mays -- a 1990 1st round pick in the NBA Draft -- later apologized to Bradshaw for the comment ... but other players also spoke out about the toxic culture surrounding his coaching style.

Ex-player McKenzie Adams recently tweeted the same 2017-18 season was "one of the most mentally traumatic experiences ever."

SMU's athletic director, Rick Hart, condemned Mays' comment to the Morning News, saying "It's absolutely a term that shouldn't be used in any capacity or any form."

Mays addressed the claim in a statement, saying, "It's one of those things where sometimes you can push. And it's our job to push people outside of their comfort zones."

"And sometimes you can say things, whether it's using the wrong verbiage or at the wrong time when you don't need to express some of that."

Shareef O'Neal is honoring Gianna and Kobe Bryant by tattooing their jerseys on his body ... and the pictures are amazing.

As we previously reported, Shaq's son became VERY close with the Bryants -- he basically viewed Kobe as an uncle.

Shareef has been deeply affected by their deaths and has been searching for ways to pay tribute to the Bryants. He's been posting a lot on social media. He went to the Bryant tribute at Staples Center. And now, he's inking their numbers on his leg.

Check out the pic ... you can see Gigi's #2 jersey she rocked for her Mamba Academy team. He also added Kobe's #8 and #24, the two numbers he wore with the Lakers.

Of course, LeBron James and Anthony Davis have also inked Kobe tributes on their legs -- both got imagery of a Black Mamba snake with the words, "Mamba 4 Life."

Originally Published -- 6:32 AM PT

We all know the backstory ... Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant clashed during DH's first stint with the Lakers.

But, Howard says he's spent the entire 2019-20 season trying to prove to Mamba that he's a winner ... and he's devastated that KB won't be around to see him achieve his goal.

"There are nights where I just cry myself to sleep just thinking about it," Howard told reporters Tuesday after the Lakers beat the Spurs.

"It was just really hard, 'cause for me, a lot of people thought me and Kobe hated each other and stuff like that and there were times where we just didn't understand each other ... and I didn't get a chance to tell him how appreciative I was for our time together and how thankful I was to be back here in L.A. and stuff like that."

Dwight continued ... "All year long I wanted to show him that I was going to do whatever it takes to help this team win. I've been wearing his shoes since the season started. I wanted him [to help me] in the dunk contest and all these things."

This is one of the most violent college basketball fights EVER -- courtesy of the women of Alabama St. and Texas Southern.

ASU was being blown out 81-54 on Monday night in a super testy Southwestern Athletic Conference game in Montgomery ... when a fight broke out and escalated QUICKLY.

The benches cleared and a BUNCH of players threw wild haymakers -- some connected, some didn't -- but good lord, it was crazy.

Staffers and security rushed on to the court attempting to stop the brawl -- but the players overpowered them at first.

At one point, the fight spilled on to the scorer's table -- and the combatants came thiiiis close to knocking the whole thing over.

Eventually, officials were able to separate the teams and sent everyone to the locker rooms. A spokesperson for the ASU police tells us there were NO arrests made.

Reps for Alabama State were pretty pissed over the whole incident on Tuesday ... saying there WILL be repercussions for their players' actions.

"I am extremely disappointed by the behavior of our women athletes at the end of their game against Texas Southern University," ASU President Quinton T. Ross Jr. said in a statement.

"Alabama State University has a zero-tolerance policy for this type of behavior."

Ross added the school is now launching a full-blown investigation into the fight ... with suspensions and other disciplinary actions almost certainly on the way.

Justin Bieber is adding to his growing cartoon art collection ... with a tribute to Kobe Bryant ... complete with imagery of the Black Mamba balling out with the Lakers.

Our sources tell us Justin's team reached out to Idiot Box Art owners Emily Bright and Tamara Martin to purchase their newest original piece honoring Kobe ... and the Biebs snagged one for only $1,200.

The cartoon art -- depicting a teddy bear wearing Kobe's #8 Lakers jersey over a Mamba hoodie and some Nikes -- is made of hand-cut wood covered in acrylic paint and finished with a coat of resin. The piece is one of 5 created, and it's 41.5 inches X 24 inches.

We're told the Kobe art sold out in a few hours ... so the artists are making miniature versions for $200 a pop, and they're going on sale February 6 and 7 with 24 percent of profits going to the MambaOnThree Fund.

Everyone who attends the Lakers game Friday night will get a free Kobe Bryant tribute shirt, courtesy of the team ... 20,000 in total.

The hard-working people at Staples Center have draped a Kobe shirt on every single seat -- half of the arena will get Kobe #8 shirts. The other half will get #24 shirts.

It's just one part of the Kobe Bryant tributes at Staples on Friday -- the first game for the Lakers since Kobe passed away on Sunday.

There will be a moment of silence, visual tributes to Kobe around the arena and we're told some players are considering addressing the crowd ... but nothing is set in stone yet.

Tickets for Friday's game against the Portland Trail Blazers are already rising in value -- with the cheapest tickets just to get in the building hovering around $800 on the secondary ticket market.

We're expecting to see a massive turnout both inside and outside Staples Center -- where Kobe played for nearly all of his 20 years with the Lakers (the Lakers previously played at The Forum).

Tonight will be emotional. In fact, Carmelo Anthony -- who was very close with Kobe -- did not make the trip because he's still mourning Kobe's death.

Amazing tribute to Kobe Bryant on the golf course Friday ... Tony Finau took the green in a Lakers jersey -- and after the PGA Tour star sank a huge birdie putt, he celebrated with a Kobe follow-through!!

The cool moment all went down at the Waste Management Open in Phoenix, Ariz. ... where Finau honored Bryant at the famous 16th hole for the 2nd straight day.

The 30-year-old golfer -- sporting the classic No. 8 yellow Bryant uni -- hit his tee shot just off the green ... but he channeled his inner Kobe on the ensuing putt.

The roll -- which was about 20 feet total -- wasn't an easy one ... but Finau jarred it. Afterward, he hit the Kobe celly, and the fans went wild!!!

Of course, golfers at the tourney have been honoring Kobe all week ... Finau himself donned the same Bryant jersey in his opening round Thursday.

Other stars like Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas also sported their Bryant swag this week ... and the tributes have been really amazing.

We broke the story, Kobe and his 13-year-old daughter were two of the nine people who tragically died in a helicopter crash on Sunday.

Kawhi Leonard says he knew the pilot on Kobe Bryant's doomed helicopter -- and had flown with him regularly -- even describing the guy as "one of the best."

The L.A. Clippers star opened up about his business relationship with Ara Zobayan during a media session after Wednesday's practice ... clearly still emotional about the tragedy.

"[I had] flown with him a lot," Leonard told reporters ... "Great guy. Super nice. He was one of the best pilots."

Leonard says Zobayan would often joke about how he was dropping off Kawhi and going to pick up Kobe ... and would pass along messages between the two NBA superstars.

"He'll drop me off and say he was about to pick up Kobe -- 'Kobe said hello!' -- Or, he'll just be like, 'I just dropped Kobe off and he said hello!' You know, vice versa."

Leonard added, "He was a good dude. I'm sorry for everybody."

As we previously reported, Zobayan was an experienced pilot and certified flight instructor who had logged over 8,000 hours of flight time.

Officials believe Zobayan got caught in extremely thick fog on the morning of the fatal flight -- and crashed into a mountain while trying to fly out of the bad weather.

9 people were killed in the wreck including Zobayan, Kobe, his daughter Gianna and others.

When asked if he would continue to use private helicopters to travel, Leonard admitted he was still thinking things through ... saying, "There's a lot of thoughts in my head."

Leonard has previously talked about the major influence Kobe had on his NBA career -- and how Mamba motivated him to win a championship during his run with the Toronto Raptors.

LeBron James is back to doing what Kobe Bryant would probably want him to do -- putting in work at the Lakers practice facility to gear up for his big game on Friday.

Bron and Lakers teammate Anthony Davis were grinding hard outside the team facility in El Segundo, CA on Wednesday ... working on their abs, footwork and even doing some soccer drills.

The Lakers haven't played since Saturday -- and a game scheduled for Tuesday was postponed in the wake of Kobe's death.

But at this point, the Lakers are still scheduled to play on Friday at Staples Center against Carmelo Anthony's Portland Trail Blazers ... in what will certainly be an emotional event for the players and the fans.

We're told the Lakers are planning on paying tribute to Kobe in some way on Friday, but the details are still being worked out. You can expect a moment of silence at the very least.

The last time LeBron took the court, he passed Kobe on the NBA's all-time scoring list ... moving up to #3.

After the game, Kobe tweeted at Bron saying, "Continuing to move the game forward @KingJames. Much respect my brother."

It was Kobe's final tweet.

Kobe was not only close with LeBron and several other Lakers players, but was super-tight with Carmelo. And he played with Trevor Ariza during TA's time with the Lake Show.

Rick Fox says the rumors he had died on the helicopter with Kobe Bryant Sunday "shook" his family ... with Kenny Smith saying he exploded into tears when he found out Fox was alive.

"It was hard to deal with," Fox said on TNT's "Inside the NBA" special Tuesday night. "It shook a lot of people in my life."

Shortly after Kobe's chopper went down in Calabasas this weekend ... reports began to swirl that Fox -- Bryant's ex-teammate -- was on-board with the NBA legend in the fatal crash.

Fox says the rumors turned his family upside-down ... with his best friend, Monmouth men's basketball head coach King Rice, calling him frantically to make sure he was OK.

"I said, 'I'm going to talk to my best friend' and I answered it and I said, 'Hey, man, this is crazy about Kobe,'" Fox said. "And he just was bawling."

"And I started crying. And he was like, 'You're alive!' And I'm thinking, 'Yeah, like, what do you mean?' And it was in that moment that my phone just started going."

Fox said his mom, his brother and his sister all called, adding, "Look, this has been a lot to process for all of us."

Smith said his experience with the rumors were an emotional ride as well ... and he broke down on the set talking about the relief he felt when Fox finally texted him back that he was alive.

"The race to be first and tell a story, you don't know what it does to people," Smith said.

Demand for Kobe Bryant memorabilia is surging like crazy in the wake of his death -- with collectors paying INSANE prices to scoop up valuable items, TMZ Sports has learned.

But, with the high demand comes scam artists looking to push fakes ... and the market is already on high alert.

We spoke with multiple high-end collectible dealers who are all saying the same thing ... people are clamoring for anything Kobe ... and they're paying anywhere from 2x to 20x the price Kobe stuff was fetching before his death.

For example, a game-worn and signed Kobe jersey from the 2004-2005 season was expected to hit $6,000 before his death ... but pre-bidders have already bumped the price to a starting $6,500 and the auction still runs for another month!

Another high-end dealer who didn't want to be mentioned by name says an extremely rare Kobe basketball card (which was originally expected to sell around the $2,500 range) has sold in the private market after Kobe's death for nearly $50,000.

Other dealers have told us straight-up they're pressing pause on selling Kobe items because it doesn't feel right to capitalize on emotional fans.

As for the fakes, multiple dealers have told us it's not uncommon for forgers to push out fake items and fake signatures on eBay and other platforms.

LeBron James' son honored Kobe's legacy in the best possible way Tuesday night ... throwing down an insane dunk and showing big love to his NBA pops afterward.

Bronny James was playing in his first high school game since Bryant tragically passed in a helicopter crash Sunday ... and the scene at Sierra Canyon was emotional.

LeBron was able to attend after the Lakers postponed their game against the Clippers to mourn Kobe's death ... and Bronny and his team honored the legend throughout the night.

Sierra Canyon wore Lakers and Kobe shirts in the pregame warmups ... and the team -- along with its Campbell Hall HS opponents -- took a 24-second shot-clock violation to start the night as a tribute to Bryant.

But, the most amazing ode to Kobe came during the 3rd quarter ... when Bronny took a lob from his teammate and hammered it home so hard, the gym exploded.

It looked awfully familiar ...

Bronny's squad ended up rolling to a victory ... and afterward, LeBron was loving the moment with his fam -- sharing an incredible embrace with LBJ Jr. and his wife, Savannah.

LeBron said earlier this week Bryant's death was SUPER tough on him, writing in an emotional goodbye to the 41-year-old, "I promise you I’ll continue your legacy man!"

"I’m not doing well. I’m sick."

That's Shaquille O'Neal admitting he's really struggling after the death of his "brother" Kobe Bryant -- saying he hasn't eaten or slept since finding out the horrible news.

"It just hurts," Shaq said on his "The Big Podcast with Shaq" show ... noting that he was already in bad shape because his sister, Ayesha, also passed away recently.

"I’m just getting over the death of my sister. You guys told me the other day when I came in, I looked like I needed some rest. And I haven’t been sleeping after Ayesha’s death."

Shaq opened up and talked all about his relationship with Kobe -- the good times and the bad times -- saying despite the way it looked in public, it was all love behind-the-scenes.

"All the stuff that is documented between us .. this is what brothers do."

"I love Kobe Bryant. I'm the first to say ... I've got 4 rings ... I couldn't have gotten 3 without him."

Shaq says he's glad the two became closer in recent years -- but wishes they would have communicated more because he really loved and respected KB.

Kobe Bryant's high school will honor the NBA star with a 33 second moment of silence at Tuesday night's basketball games ... to honor the man who used to wear #33.

A rep for Lower Merion High School in the Philadelphia area tells us the boys and girls varsity teams will take on Upper Darby High at the Kobe Bryant Gymnasium starting at 7 PM.

This is the first home game for the LMHS Aces since Kobe's death -- and school officials plan to address the community before the games tip-off.

"Principal Sean Hughes will read a statement on behalf of the school community. The statement will be followed by 33 seconds of silence, as 33 was the number worn by Mr. Bryant when he was an LM Aces player."

School officials ultimately decided NOT to cancel the games because they believe Kobe would WANT the players to compete.

In fact, head basketball coach Gregg Downer met with the players in private on Monday and said -- "Kobe would want the balls bouncing, the sneakers squeaking and you doing what he loved and what you love."

Kobe played for LMHS from 1992 to 1996 -- where he racked up 2,883 points and led the team to a state championship in 1996.

After his stellar high school career, Kobe went straight to the pros -- drafted 13th overall in the 1996 NBA Draft.

Kobe's #33 high school jersey was retired by Lower Merion in 2002 at a ceremony attended by his parents, teachers and even Shaquille O'Neal.