Basketball

The Reign Man ... is now the Strain Man -- because ex-NBA star Shawn Kemp is officially in the marijuana business.

The 50-year-old Seattle SuperSonics legend is opening Shawn Kemp's Cannabis in Seattle on Oct. 30 -- a shop poised to become the first Black-owned dispensary in the city.

In fact, Kemp's even hosting former Sonics teammate, Gary Payton, at next week's grand opening.

"I'm looking forward to welcoming Sonics fans on a regular basis, starting with opening day," Kemp said in a statement.

"I hope that Shawn Kemp’s Cannabis will be an inspiration for people to get involved with the legal cannabis industry, especially people of color."

Oh, and if you have trouble finding the store ... it's the one with the giant mural of Shawn Kemp on the side!

Kemp isn't going at this alone ... he's got 2 partners who have already had weed success co-founding a business called Main Street Marijuana, one of the top pot shops in the area since 2014.

Kemp -- a 6-time NBA All-Star -- played for Seattle from '89 to '97 and was known for being one of the exciting players in the league.

"My name is on this company and I have worked hard to bring Shawn Kemp’s Cannabis to fruition," Kemp said. "I want to provide nothing short of the best selection, customer experience and prices in Seattle."

Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro's impressive rookie season ain't over yet -- 'cause the sharp-shooter is getting his very own rap song ... courtesy of Jack Harlow!!

The 20-year-old star has made headlines throughout his first year in the Association -- from insane highlights on the court to dating smoking hot model Katya Elise Henry.

On the heels of balling out in the NBA Finals, the former Kentucky Wildcat is getting something most athletes only dream of ... with the "I Wanna See Some Ass" MC announcing the track, "Tyler Herro," coming out Thursday.

The gesture is a pretty big deal -- Harlow is a die-hard Louisville Cardinals fan ... and Herro played at rival UK before becoming a 1st-rounder in the NBA.

But, the rivalry didn't stop Harlow from exchanging jerseys with Herro to promote the album ... and including the young hooper in the single art.

It's not the only connection Harlow has to the NBA this season -- remember, he accidentally snitched on Lou Williams when he snapped a selfie with the L.A. Clippers guard at Magic City in ATL.

Herro now joins NBAers like Kobe Bryant, Mo Bamba and Dennis Rodman ... who have gotten the song treatment in the past.

Best rookie year ever?! ... eh, close.

Shaq says if the Clippers ever want to win an NBA championship, they gotta ship Paul George’s ass outta Los Angeles ... like now!!

Some background ... after landing Leonard and PG last season, the Clips were favorites to win an NBA title in 2020 ... but ended up getting bounced by the Denver Nuggets in the 2nd round of the playoffs.

Doc Rivers was fired as head coach ... and now O'Neal -- who's got 4 rings and knows a little something about winning -- says it's time the team unloads its 30-year-old, 6x NBA All-Star who averaged over 21 points last year.

Here's how the conversation went on Shaquille's "The Big Podcast with Shaq."

Shaq: [The Clippers] gotta get rid of someone.

Co-host: Who?

Shaq: C'mon, bro.

Co-host: Pandemic P? They ain't gonna get rid of him, they gave up the farm for him.

Shaq: Well, guess what? They gave up the farm, but we can change some crops on that mug.

O'Neal went on to say that the Clippers should trade George -- who struggled mightily in the playoffs and reportedly beefed with teammates -- for multiple role players ... so 29-year-old Kawhi Leonard is clearly the man on the squad.

"You gotta use [George] to get 2 good solid players because I need Kawhi to be the man. See Kawhi, I don't want Kawhi to delegate," Shaq says.

"See, when Kawhi was with Toronto he knew he was the man, everybody knew he was the man. Now you got one guy that thinks he's the man, one guy that is the man."

Even following the 2020 disaster, the Clips still have the 2nd highest odds to win the title next year -- behind LeBron James and the L.A. Lakers.

Penn State basketball coach Pat Chambers resigned Wednesday -- following an investigation into new allegations of misconduct.

The University says the new allegations were made following a report by The Undefeated back in July that Chambers made racially insensitive comments to a black player.

The player, Rasir Bolton, told The Undefeated that Chambers made a comment to him referencing a metaphorical "noose" back in 2019.

Bolton claims Chambers approached him and said, "I want to be a stress reliever for you. You can talk to me about anything. I need to get some of this pressure off you. I want to loosen the noose that's around your neck."

Bolton said of Chambers' comment, "Due to other interactions with Coach, I knew this was no slip of the tongue."

At the time the article came out, Chambers issued a statement saying, "I failed to comprehend the experiences of others, and the reference I made was hurtful, insensitive and unacceptable. I cannot apologize enough for what I said, and I will carry that forever."

The player transferred from PSU to Iowa State shortly after the incident.

Penn State says "new allegations surfaced shortly after" the article came out -- so an investigation was launched into Chambers by Penn State's Affirmative Action and Athletics Integrity offices.

The school did not release the details regarding the new allegations.

But, Chambers issued a statement Wednesday saying he would be resigning.

"This has been an incredibly difficult year for me and my family, and we are in need of a break to reset and chart our path forward," chambers said.

"So, I’m taking a step back to prepare myself for the next 20 years."

The 49-year-old coach had been at Penn State since 2011.

LeBron James is vowing NOT to engage in Twitter wars with President Trump before the election ... saying he "damn sure won't go back and forth" with #45.

The 4-time NBA champ has engaged in mutual verbal combat with POTUS in the past ... including his famous "bum" remark when defending Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors' outspokenness against visiting the White House.

POTUS also recently ripped into the superstar ... calling him "nasty" and "a hater" for his political stance and accusing him of hurting the NBA's rankings.

Bron -- who's actively pushing to get more voters via his "More Than A Vote" campaign -- spoke with the New York Times about his public beef with Trump ... and he makes it clear he's not entertaining a long-term battle.

"I don’t go back and forth with anybody," James says. "And I damn sure won’t go back and forth with that guy."

"But, we want better, we want change in our community. We always talk about, 'We want change,' and now we have the opportunity to do that."

King James also spoke out on his decision to campaign for more voting rather than a particular candidate in 2020 ... saying, "We’ve been talking about voter suppression, we’ve been talking about police brutality, systemic racism."

"We’ve had so many things going on, and voter suppression in our communities happens to be at the forefront. So that’s something we wanted to educate our people on."

New parents across the U.S. are honoring Kobe and Gianna Bryant in a BIG way ... experts say babies with the names Kobe and Gianna have risen dramatically in 2020.

According to BabyCenter, there's been a huge increase in newborns with the names since the NBA legend and his daughter tragically died in a helicopter crash in January.

Per the site -- which gets its data from over 500,000 new babies that were registered to the site this year -- Kobe vaulted from #595 on the list in 2019 to #216 in 2020.

The site claims that's "far and away the biggest riser on the list for boys in 2020."

As for Gianna, her name among newborns rose from #76 to #24 (seriously, #24).

In case you were wondering, the top 10 for the year for boys included Liam, Noah, Jackson, Aiden, Elijah, Grayson, Lucas, Oliver, Caden and Mateo.

For girls, the top 10 went Sophia, Olivia, Riley, Emma, Ava, Isabella, Aria, Aaliyah, Amelia and Mia.

It's been nearly 2 weeks since the Lakers won the 'ship ... but the team clearly ain't ready to stop the party yet -- 'cause some of L.A.'s stars hit Hollywood on Tuesday for another celebration!

TMZ Sports got footage of Dwight Howard, Danny Green, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma and Dion Waiters hittin' up Delilah ... and the evening looked awesome.

The guys -- along with their significant others -- all were dressed to the nines ... and YG and Tyga joined the festivities later in the night as well!

No sign of LeBron James or Anthony Davis ... maybe the Dodgers' World Series game kept them glued to their TVs at home?

Or, hell, maybe they're just tired of partying!!

As we previously reported, the Lakers have been spotted raging in the Orlando bubble, at Nobu in Malibu and even in Las Vegas since beating the Miami Heat in 6 games on Oct. 11.

As for the Tuesday night celebration ... Caldwell-Pope's wife, McKenzie, posted some clips from inside the venue -- and the menu looked great to us.

Shareef O'Neal -- Shaq's son -- just revealed his second Kobe Bryant tribute tattoo ... showing off the ankle ink in a social media post Sunday.

The LSU basketball player had already gotten a calf tattoo to honor the NBA legend ... but O'Neal clearly felt that wasn't enough and underwent the needle for more Mamba art recently.

And, the new tat came out great ... it's a depiction of a famous image of Kobe celebrating -- and it looks real as hell!!

As we previously reported ... Shareef was devastated over the passing of Bryant -- sharing that he actually received text messages from Kobe just hours before the tragic helicopter crash.

In an emotional post days after Bryant's passing, Shareef reflected on everything his father's former star teammate meant to him.

"You always wanted me to be the best I could be," Shareef wrote. "you always made sure I was happy, you put me before you put yourself and when we had our moments you made me feel like I was great."

"I love you , I thank you , I miss you."

Kobe Bryant's legacy will live on at the Smithsonian -- where his jersey from the 2008 NBA Finals now hangs at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Bryant wore the jersey in Game 5 of the '08 NBA Finals -- the night the Lakers beat the Boston Celtics. Kobe dropped 25 that night.

The Celtics ended up winning the series (remember the Kevin Garnett "Anything is possible" moment?). Kobe was named MVP of the league that season. Plus Mamba led the Lakers to the NBA title in 2009 and 2010.

Kobe -- a founding donor of NMAAHC -- later donated his Game 5 jersey where it will now be featured in an installation called, "Sports: Leveling the Playing Field."

The text next to the jersey reads, "In 1996, Kobe Bryant became the first guard to successfully make the leap from high school to the National Basketball Association. At the time, experts were skeptical that high school wing players could compete in the NBA. His success ushered in the modern era of younger players in the league."

Kobe was a huge supporter of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C. -- he was a founding donor.

In fact, Smithsonian officials say the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation has contributed more than $1 million to NMAAHC over the years.

"As a founding donor, [Kobe] understood the significance of this museum to the nation and the world," museum official Spencer Crew said.

"After postponing the March installation due to COVID-19, we believe now is the perfect moment in history to honor his memory by placing his jersey on view."

FYI, Bryant’s jersey will be on view next to a pair of LeBron James 15 “Equality” sneakers by Nike, museum officials say.

Tyronn Lue will be the next man in charge of leading Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers to a championship ... the former Cavs head man has agreed to become the new coach in L.A.!

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Thursday that Lue and the team agreed to a 5-year contract ... officially setting the stage for Ty to take over from Doc Rivers.

As we previously reported, DR was booted from his role as HC just a few weeks ago after he failed to lead a stacked Clips team past the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs.

Now, Lue will take over ... and expectations are higher than ever.

The Clippers are set to return most of their stars -- including Leonard and Paul George -- in 2021 ... and could add even more firepower through trades and free agency this offseason.

Lue, meanwhile, has a championship pedigree ... he was the head man in Cleveland when LeBron James and Kyrie Irving came back from down 3-1 to the Warriors to win a 'ship in 2016.

Daryl Morey is leaving his position as general manager of the Houston Rockets ... roughly 1 year after he created an international incident with a pro-Hong Kong tweet.

48-year-old Morey was NOT fired, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski -- but rather it was Daryl who approached Rockets' owner, Tilman Fertitta, and initiated the conversation to step down.

Morey has been the GM for the past 13 seasons -- and wanted to explore other professional options for himself while spending more time with his family ... according to Woj.

Morey was successful during his run with the team -- the Rockets have made the playoffs 8 years in the row, the longest streak among NBA teams.

But he's most well-known for the China incident -- on Oct. 4, 2019 he tweeted out support for Hong Kong, which REALLY pissed off China.

The tweet read, "Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong," with a pic of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong in October.

The Tweet created a ton of backlash in China ... with massive Chinese e-commerce site Taobao yanking all Rockets merchandise and CCTV pulling NBA games from broadcast.

It was just last week that China allowed CCTV to air NBA games again -- after a massive relationship rebuilding campaign led by NBA commish Adam Silver.

Charles Barkley has agreed to put his atrocious golf skills on display to the world ... all for a charity match with Peyton Manning, Steph Curry and Phil Mickelson.

Yep, Sir Chuck is replacing Tom Brady for "The Match 3" -- which is expected to raise millions for COVID-19 relief, according to Sportico.

Remember, The Match 2 back in May was a huge success -- with Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning taking on Phil and Tom Brady.

Since TB12 is a little busy these days with the NFL season, Barkley has offered to step in and take his spot.

The only issue ... Barkley is a TURRRRRRIBLE golfer!! Like, super bad!

But, this event will be more about the trash talk than a showcase of Chuck's skills on the links.

Tiger is also out for the event -- he'll be replaced by Steph Curry, who's actually REALLY good.

The Match 3 is set to go down on Friday, Nov. 27 -- and will hope to break the $20 MILLION raised for charity by the Match 2.

Of course, Tom Brady famously struggled most of the way during The Match 2 (even splitting his pants on live TV) ... only to redeem himself with an UNREAL SHOT on the 7th hole!

An L.A. man claims he was shot in the face with a rubber bullet at the Lakers championship celebration at Staples Center ... and now the LAPD is investigating, TMZ Sports has learned.

Here's the deal ... Manny Barrientos -- a Van Nuys native who loves photography -- told KTLA 5 he headed out to Staples Center on Sunday night after the Lakers beat the Heat in Game 6 to grab some pics of the downtown L.A. party.

But, Barrientos says when police came to break up the rowdy scene ... he was shot in the mouth by a rubber bullet, which knocked out 8 of his teeth. and destroyed his lip.

"I seen my shirt all bloody," Barrientos said. "And people around me were just like, 'Your lip! Your lip is gone! Your lip is gone!'"

"My lip, it was actually on the floor at one point. A whole little chunk of it was on the floor."

Barrientos says he required emergency care to fix the damage ... and his family has now set up a GoFundMe page to try to help him pay for the medical bills.

Barrientos' family added Manny "didn’t deserve this."

The family notes Barrientos is still in the hospital recovering.

Wichita State basketball coach Gregg Marshall says allegations he punched a former player and choked a former coach are FALSE.

It's all part of a new statement Marshall released Wednesday professing his innocence in the wake of an investigation into his allegedly hostile conduct over the years.

As we previously reported, ex-Shockers player Shaq Morris told Stadium that Marshall socked him in the face TWICE for committing a foul during a 2015 practice,

Stadium reported several former players corroborated the incident.

Morris also told Stadium that Marshall also choked assistant coach Kyle Lindsted during a practice in the 2016-17 season.

Now, Marshall is speaking out ... saying the allegations are just not true -- and asserts that he's the victim of attempted character assassination.

"In response to the allegations put forward in the media, I simply state unequivocally that I have never physically struck a player or colleague," Marshall says ... "Allegations claiming otherwise are false."

He added, "It is important that the investigation conclude its work without outside influence. An unrelenting character assassination by a member of the media that repeatedly targets me and my family threatens to undermine the impartiality of the investigation."

"I am devoted to my team and the entire Shocker community. I value my players and believe in their potential."

"If there is any question of my love for my team, it’s my responsibility to do a better job of demonstrating my commitment. I am humbled and proud to serve this university and our community."

This may go down as the most rim-shakin' gender reveal of all time!!!

NBA guard Austin Rivers and his model girlfriend, Audreyana Michelle, got extra creative when revealing the gender of their baby ... by lobbing a ball to daddy -- and it poofed into a cloud of blue!!

The stunning Audreyana announced the baby on the way just days ago ... with a mirror selfie captioned, "social distancing failed."

Austin got in on the fun, too, saying, "Pretty much lol. Love you baby❤️"

Now, we know the newcomer is a baby boy ... with the couple posting the highlight of a reveal on Tuesday.

"It broke in the hand lol🤷‍♂️but yea it’s a boy. 😍 Blessed," Rivers said.

Austin and Audreyana went public earlier this year ... and have been as inseparable as you can be (considering dude was in the NBA bubble for a bit) ever since.

This is Austin's second child ... his baby boy, Kayden, was born in 2018.

Congrats to the couple!!

Barack Obama is congratulating his pal, LeBron James -- saying the NBA superstar is a legend both on and off the court ... despite what Trump thinks.

"Proud of my friend @KingJames for his fourth title, fourth Finals MVP, and for not only living up to the hype after seventeen seasons, but surpassing it as an extraordinary leader both on the court and in the public arena fighting for education, social justice, and our democracy."

Obama and LeBron have been friends for years -- with Barack reportedly counseling LeBron on how to speak out against social injustice during the NBA restart.

And, with Donald Trump recently going after LeBron as "nasty" and a "hater" ... Obama made it clear he couldn't disagree with POTUS more.

LeBron also got some love Monday from Tom Brady -- because insanely accomplished old guys gotta stick together!

"Congrats to my brother @KingJames on winning his 4th championship," 43-year-old Brady said to the 35-year-old Lakers star ... "Not bad for a washed up old guy!"

But, the self-deprecation didn't stop there!

Check out the picture Brady posted along with the caption -- it's a meme of the Bucs QB holding up 4 fingers during his "what down?" blunder on "Thursday Night Football" last week -- but with LeBron's head on his body.

Haaaaaa.

It's nice to see TB12 can laugh about it now ... considering the mistake went on to cost Tampa Bay the game against the Chicago Bears.