Money

The basketball net from one of the most legendary sporting events ever -- Willis Reed's miraculous comeback in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals -- is up for auction!!!

The backstory ... Red Holzman's NY Knicks -- who had a great 60-22 season -- were favored to beat the L.A. Lakers in the Finals. However, the Knicks championship aspirations appeared to sustain a death blow when superstar Willis Reed tore his thigh muscle in Game 5.

Knotted up at 3 games each, no one expected Reed to play in the decisive 7th game. Somehow, he did ... limping onto the Madison Square Garden hardwood to a roaring ovation.

Reed scored the game's first 2 baskets ... and played lockdown defense on Wilt Chamberlain.

The Knicks won the game 113-99 ... and were NBA champions for the first time.

After the game, the net from one of the hoops was presented to Holzman ... and the Hall of Fame coach kept them until his death in 1998.

After he passed away, Red's family held the net until now ... when they put the historic piece of memorabilia up for auction at SCP Auctions.

Now, it can be yours, hoop fans ... bidding ends Saturday afternoon.

Terrell Owens is suing the hell out of an Atlanta storage company, claiming in a new lawsuit they stole $1 MILLION worth of his stuff ... and sold it without him even knowing!!!

TMZ Sports broke the story ... back in April, one of Owens' old storage units was auctioned off after the company that housed it claimed the Hall of Fame WR stopped making payments to them.

The unit was full of amazing items ... there was a custom bust of TO, old playbooks, autographed helmets and sweet Nike cleats.

But, TO says he was NEVER made aware that the storage company still had his stuff ... and in a federal lawsuit filed this summer in Georgia -- he's claiming Atlanta Peach Movers straight-up stole it.

In the lawsuit, Owens says on July 14, 2014 ... he and the storage company had talks over his unit that left him under the impression all of his stuff had been returned to him.

He alleges he has written proof from the company that says his debt was all paid off and his items were out of the unit and back in his possession.

But, he's claiming the company lied to him on purpose in order to steal his stuff and eventually sell it at auction this past spring.

In fact, Owens claims the first time he had heard the company still had his gear was when we reached out to him for our story back in April.

Owens is now suing the company for fraud and breach of contract -- among other things -- claiming he had over $1 MILLION worth of items in that storage unit.

Owens wants to be compensated for the loss of his stuff ... which he claims is "unique, irreplaceable, and priceless."

The man who bought the unit at auction, James Rice of Jan's Used Furniture in Griffin, GA, told us back in April he was willing to give the stuff back to Owens -- but, clearly, that hasn't happened.

Lil Wayne's gotta pay up for allegedly creating fraudulent companies to book fake concerts ... 'cause he didn't even bother to fight the lawsuit against him.

According to new legal docs ... the rapper's been ordered to fork over $150,000 to Ramin Natan, who sued Weezy for breach of contract and fraud. It's a default judgment ... meaning the judge ruled for Natan because Wayne blew off the lawsuit.

Natan filed suit against Lil Wayne and Migos back in January, claiming they were "Ponzi scheme artists" who created shell companies to get money for shows they never planned to really perform.

In the suit, Natan claimed he loaned $500,000 to a guy named Eric Stenger to promote Weezy shows. Natan claimed Stenger lied about being a concert promoter, and was in cahoots with Wayne from the jump. Natan claimed Wayne received the $500,000 but never performed and never gave back the cash.

"Million Dollar Listing New York" star Ryan Serhant isn't just hawking a behemoth ranch in Colorado ... it's practically a chunk of the United States!!!

Serhant's truly testing his battle cry "expansion ... always, in all ways" by getting his hands on one of the most epic real estate listings you'll ever see. It's the Gateway Canyons Ranch, and it currently belongs to Discovery Channel founder John Hendricks.

It's listed at a whopping $280 million and it oozes luxury. The main house alone is 22,000 square feet. It features 8 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, 4 floors with an elevator, infinity pool, movie theater, planetarium and, get this, its own fossil room!!!

Justin Bieber has a lot of reasons to smile with his wedding ceremony fast approaching, and now he's got one more ... in the form of some new pearly whites purps!!!

Sources tell us the singer got this brand new grill from L.A.-based jeweler Gold Teeth God. It's a purty purple color -- lavender actually, as we're told -- and covered in imported 5-carat diamonds from Israel.

There's also this ... our sources say the bling can fetch up to $25k on the market, although it's unclear if that's what the Biebs actually paid for it.

Still though ... that's a whole lotta fancy in his mouth.

Melvin Gordon is BACK ... well, almost.

The L.A. Chargers superstar running back will end his holdout and return to the team on Thursday ... but will NOT play this weekend against the Dolphins.

Gordon has been holding out since July while he demanded the team either give him a new contract or to trade him to another team.

The holdout is officially coming to end 3 weeks into the season ... with Ian Rapoport reporting Gordon is rejoining his team.

We spoke with Chargers legend Antonio Gates on Tuesday about Gordon's status with the team ... and he said his old teammate deserves to be paid like Ezekiel Elliott, who just agreed to a $90 million extension with the Cowboys.

No word on whether that'll happen -- Gordon's in the final year of his rookie deal, making $5,605,000.

There has been a very secret play by the U.S. Attorney to get more parents to plead guilty in the college admissions scandal, and what's especially interesting is that prosecutors are putting the squeeze on people who haven't even been charged with a crime.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ, parents who hired ringleader Rick Singer received grand jury subpoenas recently for various documents that could lead to an indictment. Lawyers for the parents got in touch with the U.S. Attorney, who threatened to indict the parents in a similar fashion to Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin and dozens of others.

We're told the lawyers and prosecutors are either in the process of negotiating a guilty plea or have already negotiated it, even before any criminal charges are filed. We're told the U.S. Attorney will file criminal complaints and the parents will immediately plead guilty.

Antonio Gates is going to bat for his ex-teammate ... telling TMZ Sports the Chargers need to pay Melvin Gordon ASAP -- and they need to give him Ezekiel Elliott money when they do!!!

MG has been sitting out this season in hopes of getting a fat new deal ... and the Bolts have struggled without him -- going just 1-2 in their first 3 games.

Gates says the solution is just to pay Gordon, telling us when we got him out at Avra in Bev Hills this week, "Melvin Gordon is the answer. They need to get Melvin Gordon back."

As for how much Dean Spanos should pay the star RB ... Gates says the deal belongs in the same stratosphere as the 6-year, $90 MILLION contract that Zeke just got from the Cowboys.

"He means a lot to the Chargers and to our organization," Gates says. "You can sense that as the season gets going, the absence of him is starting to have more effect."

Gates -- the Chargers' all-time receptions leader -- says it's obvious to him the team is really missing Gordon when it gets down in the red zone, saying, "He's big time."

But, don't worry Chargers fans ... Gates says he believes the deal will all get worked out soon, telling us, "I think he's going to get paid."

Terrence Howard says he's taking a stand for men when he battles his ex-wife, and even though he recently took an 'L' -- he still thinks he has a secret weapon on his side.

We ran into Terrence Tuesday at Crustacean in Bev Hills -- right after he got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame -- and asked him about the ruling last month ... when the judge ordered him to pay Michelle Ghent $1.3 million in their years-long spousal support feud.

We asked if Terrence intended to challenge it, and although he says he'll pay ... he clearly isn't conceding Michelle is right. In fact, he accuses her of playing dirty with "deceit and lies." Watch the clip, but know that Michelle's team says Terrence is delusional.

As a rep for his ex put it, "Apparently the courts don’t agree with his version of events and he seems to have a hard time sticking to the facts and the reality of what the rulings have been in this case."

Still, Terrence told us he'll come out on top in the end ... thanks to karma. And, then we got into some strange philosophical territory with him.

When we tried asking about "Empire" coming to an end, Terrence pivoted into something he's way more passionate about -- his belief that one times one is TWO. We know ... come again???

Brian Austin Green sold a classic Porsche to a guy overseas, but the buyer claims the car's engine wasn't what Brian advertised it to be ... and now he wants his money back.

According to a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ ... Gonzalo da Silva Pinto says Brian was trying to sell a 1955 Porsche Speedster back in May 2017, and when Pinto saw the online ad, he did his due diligence to make sure the Porsche was the real deal.

After all, the asking price was $385k -- makes sense he'd wanna kick the tires.

Pinto claims he hired a couple Porsche experts to inspect the car and make sure the engine matched the certificate of authenticity -- by verifying a stamp on the motor. He says everything looked up to snuff, so he bought the car from Brian for $330,000 and shipped it to Germany.

Problem is ... Pinto says when the Porsche got to the motherland, he tried to get his own certificate of authenticity and found out the engine was NOT authentic. Pinto claims the engine stamp was forged.

Now, Pinto wants to cancel the sale and get back his $330k ... plus all the costs and fees he racked up during the purchase, authentication and delivery. Although he's clearly pissed about the alleged forgery ... Pinto is not accusing Brian of fraud in the lawsuit.

We reached out to Brian's camp ... so far, radio silence.

No word if Pinto checked the Carfax.

How's this for a fashion crossover?!?!

Louis Vuitton just dropped the first images of the custom travel trunk they designed for the most coveted trophy in Esports ... the "League of Legends" Summoners Cup!!!

The trophy is awarded to winner of the world championships in Paris in November along with a $1 MILLION cash prize!

Now, LV is getting into the gaming world ... partnering up with Riot Games (the company behind LoL) to create the official case of the Cup.

Here's how LV is describing the case ...

"The bespoke trunk, the first of its kind for an esports championship, will feature both traditional Louis Vuitton savoir-faire along with cutting-edge, high-tech elements inspired by the League of Legends universe."

"In addition to the Trophy Case, Louis Vuitton has designed unique champion skins and a capsule collection designed by Nicolas Ghesquière, Louis Vuitton’s Artistic Director of Women’s collections, along with other League of Legend digital assets."

No word on how much the case is worth on the open market -- but a special Louis Vuitton x Supreme trunk recently sold for $70,000!!! So, yeah ... this is a valuable item for sure!

The 2018 "LoL" world title went to Invictus Gaming, a team from China. The runner-up was Fnatic, a team based out of the UK.

Former 'Bachelor' contestant Amanda Stanton is blowing it as a social media influencer ... so claims the luxury boutique that's suing her for failing to do the simplest task.

According to new legal docs ... Moonstone Vintage LA says it gave Amanda a very pricey gift -- a Chanel purse worth $3,249 -- and in exchange, she would pimp the store out to her 1.2 million Instagram followers. Pretty standard social media quid pro quo.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Moonstone claims Amanda failed on the pimping part. As they say, it ain't easy. The boutique says not only did Amanda fail to tag them in her post from Coachella ... but she kept the purse.

As a result, it's suing Amanda for $4,996 ... the cost of the purse, plus shipping and handling expenses.

Sources close to the situation tell TMZ ... Amanda requested the rare, vintage, black leather quilted mini backpack as a last-minute accessory for her Coachella trip earlier this year.

Our sources say the store personally delivered it from Santa Monica to the desert. And, while Amanda did post with the purse ... she tagged several other companies, but NOT Moonstone.

Adding insult to injury ... Amanda posted a second pic with the mini backpack and again didn't tag the company. Two days after her initial post, Amanda did finally tag Moonstone ... but the boutique's now saying too little, too late.

Former 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' star Peter Thomas is pulling the plug on his North Carolina sports bar ... and it's all because the place is dealing with some tax issues.

According to federal records, Peter's Sports One Bar and Lounge in Charlotte was hit with a tax lien for nearly $237,000 ... and now the establishment is closing its doors after racking up a huge debt.

Sources close to Peter tell TMZ ... the bar didn't have enough money to stay afloat after committing funds to other projects, and the place fell behind on its taxes. We're told Sports One Bar and Lounge will be shuttered for 3 to 6 months while Peter and the bar's legal team clear everything up and pay down the debt.

It's been a rough year for Peter ... as we first reported, he was arrested in Miami back in March on an out of state warrant for allegedly writing a $4,000 check that bounced.

The real-life stripper who inspired Jennifer Lopez's character in "Hustlers" wants the studio to ante up some serious cash ... or else.

Samantha Barbash's legal team just fired off a letter to STX Entertainment -- the studio behind the hit film -- demanding it pay up for its use of Barbash's likeness, personality, biography and identity in connection with the promotion of the film.

According to the letter, obtained by TMZ, Samantha's lawyer Bruno Gioffre reminds the studio Barbash "unequivocally rejected all offers to be included in the film." Barbash wants STX to resolve "the flagrant violation of her rights."

Damon Dash says he's not the cash register he used to be -- not by a long shot -- so he's asking a judge to pull the plug on his child support obligations.

Dash filed legal docs saying enough's enough, and he no longer wants to pay support to 19-year-old Ava. Apparently, he struck a deal with ex-wife Rachel Roy that he would pay $6,000 a month total for both kids, and the obligation didn't stop at 18.

As for why, Dash says things are lean in the financial department, claiming his adjusted gross income in 2018 was a skosh over $56,000. Damon says Rachel makes way more than him ... approximately $500k a year. He also says she lives a lavish lifestyle with trips to Europe, Greece and India.

Damon says he's stepped up plenty ... he pays $3,666 a month for 11-year-old Tallulah's private school.

LeBron James graced the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine in 2002 ... and if your bank account's big enough, you can own the jersey he rocked when he was introduced to the world.

Bron was a junior at St. Vincent-St. Mary HS in Akron, Ohio in '02 -- and the top-ranked player in his class -- when SI sent a writer and photographer to profile the future king.

The magazine -- featuring LBJ on the cover in his #23 gold mesh jersey titled with the words, THE CHOSEN ONE -- was released on February 18, 2002 ... when LeBron was 17 years old.

Now, the jersey James donned on the cover (he also wore the jersey for the majority of his junior season where he averaged 30 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists a game) is on the block at Goldin Auctions.

Ken Goldin tells us he expects the jersey -- which was given by LeBron to a long-time friend who held onto it 'til now -- could sell for mid-six figures (think 300k, 400k, $500k+).

Since the SI story, Bron's become arguably the greatest hooper of all-time -- racking up 3 NBA Titles, 3 Finals MVP's, 4 NBA MVP's and 15 All-Star nods -- and one of the most famous people on Earth.

The jersey King James wore when America first laid eyes on him can be yours ... if you're rich enough.

Bidding goes 'til October 19. Good luck.