Houston Rockets

Houston Rockets guard and famed beard enthusiast James Harden is VERY protective of his legendary facial hair -- but the NBA star tells TMZ he'd ONLY consider shaving his crumb catcher if it raises money for charity.

But not just ANY charity ... Harden says it "depends on which charity."

And EVEN IF he finds the right charity, Harden tells TMZ the razoring of the face fuzz would have to raise more than $80,000!!!

FYI -- Harden has been sporting a beard since 2008 ... and the last time we saw him without his scruff, it just didn't look right.

It's the kind of "Storage Wars" story that would make Dave Hester proud -- some guy in Maryland bought a unit for $300 at a storage auction recently only to find more Dikembe Mutombo memorabilia than you can shake a giant finger at.

The winning bidder is Adrian Petrus ... who competed for the contents of a forceclosed unit -- and just like on "Storage Wars," Adrian had no idea what was inside.

So you can imagine how pumped he was when he opened the locker and realized the whole thing was packed full of Mutombo items -- signed basketballs, shoes, jerseys, trading cards and photos of Dikembe with celebs like Michael Jackson and Nelson Mandela.

The locker also contained works of art painted and signed by Mutombo's brother.

So who would abandon such an incredible cache of Dikembe stuff?

Turns out, the unit belonged to one of Dikembe's brothers ... who lost the locker recently after missing several rental payments.

We're told the brother had gone back to the Congo to deal with family issues in the wake of his father's death -- and simply forgot to make his locker payments. Sucks.

Petrus tells us .. once he realized what he had, he reached out to Dikembe to try and make a deal to return the items ... but never heard back. So, naturally, the next step ... is eBay.

NBA player Royce White -- who famously missed his rookie season with the Houston Rockets due to mental health issues -- is at the center of a criminal investigation in Texas after allegedly beating up his then-girlfriend ... TMZ has learned.

We know ... White's ex-girlfriend Tania Mehra -- a Maxim model -- filed a police report on August 30 to report an incident that went down at Royce's Houston-area home back in June.

According to law enforcement, records show someone called 911 on June 22, 2013 to report a laceration above Tania's right eye. Cops say at the time, Tania claimed she suffered the injury from an "accidental fall."

But Tania changed her tune last week ... and filed an incident report in which she claims she LIED on the night of the incident -- and says in reality, Royce is to blame for her injury.

Cops tell TMZ, "The victim said she had lied earlier because the suspect played for the NBA and did not want the incident to damage his career."

Law enforcement also tells us, "The victim stated that White had assaulted her after she became angered by his advances toward her friend."

Cops say the incident is "under investigation" -- and so far, no charges have been filed against the 22-year-old NBA player.

Sources connected to the investigation tell us ... Tania claims Royce also grabbed a candleholder and threw at at her during the altercation ... but it missed, instead smashing into a mirror and causing it to shatter.

We've reached out to White's reps for comment -- so far, no word back.

FYI -- White was famously profiled on an episode of HBO's "Real Sports" in a segment that chronicled his battles with OCD and anxiety disorder.