Cleveland Cavaliers

J.R. Smith just copped a sweet deal in his cell phone throwing incident back in July ... TMZ Sports has learned, and if he stays outta trouble for 6 months ... he's totally in the clear.

ICYMI -- Swish allegedly took a fan's cell phone and threw it into a construction site ... after the guy tried to snap a pic of the Cleveland Cavs star outside of The Park, an NYC hot spot.

Smith -- who appeared before a judge in a Manhattan courtroom Thursday morning with attorney Alex Spiro -- had his case adjourned in contemplation of dismissal.

Plain talk -- as long as he buys the fan a new cell phone ($600) AND doesn't screw up ... the case will be dismissed.

LaMelo Ball is already getting treated like a king in Ohio ... 'cause the kid got a LeBron James-style billboard to welcome the high school baller to his new home!!

ICYMI -- the youngest Ball bro announced his return to prep hoops earlier this week ... enrolling in elite SPIRE Academy private school in Geneva for his senior year.

The billboard -- paid for by Overtime -- popped up just minutes from Quicken Loans Arena on I-90, by West 3rd Street Thursday night ... so a LOT of people are gonna see it.

It's a play off the MASSIVE Bron poster that used to hang across from the Q. Of course, that's been replaced by the hideous Guardian of Traffic banner.

The hype is real for the former No. 7 recruit in the Class of 2019 ... and we'll see if he can live up to it as he's scheduled to suit up for SPIRE next week.

With the first overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft ... the Cleveland Cavaliers select -- LaMelo Ball?!?!

Don't laugh ... Ball's new high school coach tells TMZ Sports that could EASILY happen now that Melo's announced he'll play at Spire Prep Academy this season.

"In my opinion, LaMelo Ball can be the No. 1 pick in a year or two going to the Cleveland Cavaliers," Jermaine Jackson says.

"Ain't no question about it."

Jermaine would know ... dude played several years in the Association from 1999 to 2006 and has been around the game in some capacity ever since -- and he says Melo is just THAT talented.

"He's known as that all over the world" J.J. says ... "He has a talent that, some of it just can't be taught."

Of course ... getting LaMelo to that point means Jermaine will have to navigate around LaVar Ball -- who's been known to meddle in Melo's teams.

But, Jermaine tells us he's off to a great start with the Big Baller ... and says he foresees no issues with the BBB founder.

"If LaVar's meddling in our team, we'll have conversations and we'll talk. And, I'm about what's right. It's not about who's right. It's about what's right."

Jermaine says Melo arrives in Ohio to join the team Friday and could see some run in the team's game in Philadelphia on Saturday.

Khloe Kardashian might just be the good luck charm The Cleveland Cavaliers need ... she was in the crowd to cheer on baby daddy Tristan Thompson as his team got it's first W of the year.

Khloe was spotted at Quicken Loans Arena Tuesday in the same section we saw her seated in so many times last year. It's been a rough season for Tristan and the LeBron-less squad ... they came into the game winless (0-6), and fired their head coach Tyronn Lue just a couple days ago.

The team's luck changed with Kardashian in the crowd ... locking down a 136-114 victory over The Atlanta Hawks. Tristan had a good game too, with 11 points and 13 rebounds.

Ty Lue getting fired is actually a GOOD THING ... so says NBA champ Dahntay Jones, who tells TMZ Sports the coach is better off with a new team, hopefully a legit contender.

Lue is currently unemployed after the Cavs started the season 0-6 ... and, while some say the team did him dirty after 3 straight NBA Finals appearances, Jones sees it differently.

"I think it could be a positive thing for him," Jones says. "He knows how to lead stars, lead veterans and lead a team that's trying to go towards a championship that has a chance to win a championship."

Currently, with Kevin Love out for about a month ... the team has turned to rookie Collin Sexton and 2nd-year pro Cedi Osman. Jones thinks it's just not the right roster for Ty's skill set.

"He's best with teams that are already built and ready to win a championship."

Ty Lue is getting some love from the Rivers family -- Doc and Austin -- with Doc even saying he'd be down to hire the fired Cavs coach if he doesn't land on his feet.

Lue got his walking papers from Cleveland this weekend after a 0-6 start -- but a lot of people around the league think he got done dirty.

So, when we saw Doc and Austin at Craig's Sunday night, we asked how they felt about Lue.

Austin's never played for Ty but says he's got a ton of respect for him -- based on what he's seen and heard from other big stars in the league.

"Ty's a great dude. He's a good coach," Austin said ... "Whoever gets him will be lucky."

He added, "Heard a lot of great things about him so I think he'll be fine."

By the way, Austin and the Washington Wizards were in town to play the Clippers, coached by his father, Doc.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are bad without LeBron James -- like, 0-wins bad -- but that's not such a terrible thing if you're a fan looking to score a REALLY cheap ticket last minute.

The Cavs squared off with the Brooklyn Nets in Cleveland Wednesday. Neither franchise has high hopes for the season, but it's still early, and the contest was only Cleveland's second at home.

However, in looking at Flash Seats -- the ticket sale and resale service launched by Cavs' owner Dan Gilbert -- you'd think the team was 0-60.

Nosebleed seats were reselling for as little as $2 an hour and a half before tip-off.

Granted, the seats suck ... but when a ticket goes for less than a bottle of water in your arena, there are some major issues.

They might be on different teams -- 2,300 miles away -- but J.R. Smith and LeBron James are still giving each other crap ... and it's pretty funny.

Smith was walking around East Lansing, Michigan (the Cavs play the Pistons on Friday) when he started joking about how LeBron is following him everywhere.

"I can't go nowhere and get away from this motherf**ker," Smith said while pointing the camera at a Blaze Pizza sign.

FYI, James is an investor, franchisee and paid endorser of the pizza company.

Smith continued to joke ... "Look at this sh*t. Look at this n****. He everywhere. He just keep following me!"

Of course, Smith and James had the awkward moments when J.R. brain farted, and screwed the Cavs at the end of Game 1 of the NBA Finals last year ... but it's clear the two are still friends.

One more thing ... J.R. was spotted by some fans with cell phones and he DIDN'T steal them and throw them into a construction site!

Lonzo Ball's famous Big Baller Brand arm tattoo was covered up during his pre-season debut with the Lakers on Wednesday night ... and it's all because the NBA asked him to keep it under wraps.

Just like J.R. Smith, the NBA reached out to Ball about his tattoo -- and reminded him about a league rule that prohibits players from "displaying any commercial logos or corporate insignia on their body or in their hair."

Smith has the "Supreme" logo on his right leg -- and said the NBA told him he'd be fined for every game it wasn't covered up.

Since the same rules apply to Ball -- with BBB being an apparel brand -- the Lakers tell us he decided to put tape (it could be a bandage) over the logo while the team played the Golden State Warriors at T-Mobile Arena in Vegas.

Ball could probably afford the fine since he's in the middle of a $13 million contract -- but ultimately decided it just wasn't worth it.

Shirtless J.R. Smith made his return Thursday night ... and we all have Baker Mayfield to thank for it -- 'cause the Cavs star WENT CRAZY after the rookie led the Browns to a win!!!

It all went down at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland ... where J.R. had luxury box seats to see the Baker-led Browns finally win a game for the first time since 2016.

You'll remember ... the last time J.R. celebrated a massive Cleveland victory -- he went topless in public for hours ... rockin' no shirt for the entire Cavs' championship parade.

Well ... about midway through the second half of the Browns-Jets game -- J.R. promised to make another shirtless appearance if they pulled out the comeback.

And then Baker did it -- AND OFF WENT THE SHIRT!!

"It's over! Let's go! Let's go!" a topless J.R. screamed after the win. "We outchya! No shirt shorty! We out here!"

LeBron James is out ... and now the City of Cleveland has announced they're replacing the legendary banner with a new icon ... a Guardian!!!

No, not Groot. Or Rocket. Or even Mantis ... it's the Guardian of Traffic!

ALL HAIL THE TRAFFIC GOD!!

It's true -- the greatest athlete in the history of the city (maybe the world) is being subbed out for an image of the statue that overlooks traffic on the Hope Memorial Bridge.

City officials proposed the idea during a meeting early Friday morning -- claiming the statue is one of the "iconic landmarks" in town ... adding, "We all serve as guardians in terms of protecting and working within our community."

Okay, but honestly ... wouldn't you rather have Baker Mayfield or Bernie Kosar or Drew Carey?

Hell, throw Ricky Vaughn up there!

The Guardians of Traffic poster will include a slogan for the city -- "All For The Land."

And, if the guardian looks a little grainy to you -- it's 'cause the city wanted it that way ... saying it's a mosaic of "a composite of crowd-sourced images" of Clevelanders.

Immediate reaction to it hasn't been great ... with some tweeting, "Wait, is this real or a meme?"

NBA star J.R. Smith has turned himself into police in New York -- and has been charged with a crime -- stemming from a July incident where he allegedly threw a cell phone, TMZ Sports has learned.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... Smith was being investigated for allegedly stealing a cell phone from a person outside of The Park -- a hot spot in Chelsea. Officials believe Smith threw the phone into a nearby construction zone, damaging the item.

Now, we've learned Smith appeared at an NYPD station in Chelsea early Friday morning where he was charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief and issued a desk appearance ticket to appear in court at a later date.

We spoke with Smith's attorney, Alex Spiro, who tells us, "This is nonsense, and we aren't responding to nonsense. He was issued a ticket."

No one is more plugged in to the NBA scene than Matt Barnes -- so, naturally, he's got all the inside scoop on the Draymond Green vs. Tristan Thompson incident and he's finally talking about it.

Barnes appeared on "Lunchtime with Roggin and Rodney" on AM 570 LA Sports and told the guys he's already spoken with his ex-Warriors teammate, Draymond, about the altercation and says the media got it all wrong.

"He was never actually hit and he actually tried to make peace through people that wanted him to squash it," Barnes says.

It had been reported that Tristan sucker punched Draymond when they met up at an ESPYs after-party at Delilah nightclub ... but Barnes says that's simply not true.

TMZ Sports had spoken to multiple witnesses who told us the guys actually made peace afterward and are on much better terms now.

Multiple witnesses tell TMZ Sports ... Draymond Green and Tristan Thompson cooled off and actually dapped each other up after a heated altercation at an ESPYs after-party.

We spoke with multiple people who were inside Delilah nightclub on July 18 when Draymond and Tristan came face to face.

Everyone we spoke to says it did not appear Tristan actually punched Draymond -- but he did make an aggressive gesture toward him.

LeBron and Kevin Durant did intervene and diffused the situation.

We're told when things cooled off ... Draymond and Tristan talked things out and actually made peace. At one point, our sources say they shook hands and the night went on without any more drama.

Before Draymond Green's alleged violent confrontation with Tristan Thompson ... the NBA star was partying with LeBron James and Kevin Durant and witnesses say he was in a great mood.

There are reports Draymond and his crew went from LeBron's Uninterrupted party at The Highlight Room to Delilah nightclub ... where Green approached Thompson and was struck in the face by the NBA star.

Some reports say Draymond was trying to apologize to Tristan for disrespecting him after the NBA Finals -- but TT was having nothing of it and had to be restrained.

Witnesses who saw Draymond and LeBron at The Highlight Room say the guys were hanging out and enjoying the evening ... no static, no tension.

We got video of Draymond and LeBron having a conversation before leaving for the next spot with KD -- but unclear what they were talking about.

No, this is not a picture from last season ...

LeBron James and Kevin Love were in the gym together Thursday morning -- smiling like two guys who don't hate each other's guts.

Of course, Bron just ditched Kev and the Cavs for L.A. -- and according to multiple reports, he didn't even text Love before going public with his decision.

And, don't forget ... LBJ and Love's 4 years in Cleveland together weren't exactly drama free -- remember Bron admitted he called out Kevin on Twitter a few years ago?

But, that's all water under the bridge ... because Kevin posted this reunion pic in a Vegas gym ... and captioned it, "Thursday morning work."