NBA

Steve Nash's latest injury setback might be the death knell of his NBA career, so says former roundball stud Sidney Wicks, who tells TMZ Sports it's OVER for the Lakers point guard.

Wicks was at LAX when our camera guy asked him what every purple and gold fanatic wants to know ... will the 40-year-old Nash ever lace 'em again after suffering yet another injury to his ailing back?

This vid might be tough to watch if you love you some Nasty Nash -- Sidney who played with the Blazers, Celtics, and Clippers thinks Nash's next team might be the one Sidney is currently on, the old guys squad.

The Chicago Bulls made a HUUUGE mistake when they traded Olden Polynice for Scottie Pippen back in 1987 ... so says O.P. who claims the team would've won THREE MORE RINGS.

The 49-year-old ex-NBA star was out in L.A. this week and talked about the blockbuster trade from the '87 NBA Draft ... when he was selected by the Bulls as the 8th overall pick -- but was then immediately traded to the Seattle SuperSonics for Pippen.

"We were never SUPPOSED to be traded," Olden tells us ... "If I had played for Chicago, we woulda won more titles."

"And I didn't have migraines early on in my career ... I've never had migraines like Scottie ... so there were a couple of years they really could've beaten Detroit ... and they didn't."

BTW -- Scottie was ranked as one of the 50 greatest players in the history of the NBA ... but Olden says that stat doesn't matter -- he would have been the better man for the Bulls.

In fact, O.P. says had the Bulls kept him -- instead of Pippen -- they would've won at least 3 more titles (9 overall) ... and Michael Jordan "woulda been knockin' on Bill Russell's door."

Ex-NBA player Jeremy Tyler -- who was just released by the Lakers -- claims his baby mama went berserk and punched their 10-month-old child last week ... and now he's obtained a restraining order against her.

TMZ Sports has learned ... the 23-year-old -- who's expected to sign a deal to play in China -- filed court docs in L.A. asking for protection from Sukey Rowan ... a British national who Tyler's been with for years.

In the docs, Tyler says Rowan got violent during an altercation at his mother's house on October 18th -- when she showed up to the home before she was expected to be there and demanded to see their child.

"I brought [the child] outside and she swung at me and tried to hit me while I was holding our son," Tyler says ... "At one point she missed me and hit our son."

Tyler continues, "My sister tried to get between us, and she kicked my sister, who is nine months pregnant, in the stomach."

Tyler says he's not only concerned for his safety -- but worries that Rowan will take the child to the U.K. and that "I will never see him again."

Despite the allegations, Tyler says "I still love Sukey, but I cannot let my son and I live in danger because of her mental issues and violent temper."

A judge granted a temporary restraining order against Rowan -- which also bars her from leaving the country with their kid.

File under: "The Perils of Being 7-feet Tall" ... NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo had major trouble getting himself a rental car in D.C. this week ... because he didn't FIT in any of the rides!!!

You gotta watch the clip ... Dikembe was optimistic at first ... but quickly gets shot down at TWO DIFFERENT rental car desks that didn't have any whips big enough for the 7'2", 260-pounder.

Finally, Mutombo gets his hopes up at Avis ... but when he tries to get in the tiny Ford Taurus they tried to give him -- everyone realizes it ain't gonna happen.

A key witness has emerged in Blake Griffin's alleged slap scandal -- his teammate DeAndre Jordan who was WITH the L.A. Clippers star the night of the incident.

We spoke to DeAndre out in L.A. yesterday who told us he had NO IDEA Blake was being investigated by police for allegedly pulling a Zsa Zsa Gabor on a patron at Tao nightclub early Sunday morning.

As we previously reported, Jordan was partying with Blake and several other Clippers teammates that night -- but tells TMZ Sports he has no recollection of Blake whipping out the pimp hand that night.

ESPN done messed up by dissing Kobe Bryant ... and they're gonna regret it ... so says Pat Riley.

TMZ Sports spoke with the NBA legend out in Malibu this week -- and Riley made it clear, the Mamba will have his revenge on the network for ranking him #40 on the list of the best players in the league.

Of course, Kobe took issue with the ranking himself -- calling ESPN a "bunch of idiots."

BONUS -- We also asked Riley about the key to maintaining his legendary hair ... and dude dished out some tips.

Blake Griffin has been accused of bitch-slapping a 39-year-old man inside a nightclub in Vegas this weekend ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Here's what we know ... a man named Daniel says he was partying at Tao nightclub in the Venetian in the early hours of October 19th when he tried to take a cell phone pic of the crowd.

According to a statement Daniel gave to Tao security, the man says Blake (who was partying at the club with his L.A. Clippers teammates) was bothered by the flash of the camera -- and "grabbed my phone with one hand."

Daniel says he didn't let go of the phone because his ID and credit card were attached to it -- so Blake grabbed his neck and began to squeeze while demanding Daniel give up his phone "or else."

According to the statement, the two eventually separated after Blake took the phone -- and when Daniel tried to ask for it back, Blake struck again ... grabbing his neck and squeezing for a second time.

Daniel says when security finally got to the scene -- Blake told them, "Get him the f**k out of this club."

Daniel says Blake then "slapped me in the right side of my face."

After he left the club, Daniel filed a battery report with the Las Vegas Metro Police Department. He says cops came to his hotel the next day and spoke with him for about an hour.

So far, attempts to reach Blake for comment have been unsuccessful.

Story developing ...

NBA Hall of Famer Mitch Richmond has a very clear message for Michael Sam -- don't give up -- telling TMZ Sports that he hopes Sam does everything he can to keep his NFL dream alive.

Richmond was out in Calabasas when our camera guy asked the 6-time All-Star and Cowboys fan about Sam being cut from the 'Boys practice squad to make room for another player.

Check out the clip -- Richmond goes all Jim Valvano on us, delivering just the message that Sam probably needs to hear right now.

And just in case you need some extra motivation today, here's Jimmy V at his finest ...

The war may be over -- but NY Knicks superfan Michael Rapaport couldn't help but take one last shot at Spike Lee ... and it was pretty hilarious.

Lee and Rapaport had been feuding for months over how to fix the problems in New York City -- Rapaport called Lee a "s**t stain" and Lee said Michael was "stupid."

But Michael recently told HuffPost Live they spoke on the phone and squashed the beef for good.

In fact, when we saw Michael out in NYC Monday ... he was PRAISING Spike as the biggest Knicks fan in the world -- even bigger than he is -- but dropped one last zinger at the famous director.

Dear NBA,

Stop trying to shorten the length of your games. It's already short enough.

Love,

Seems the L.A. Clippers are over that whole Donald Sterling thing -- because the team hit up a Vegas nightclub together Saturday night ... and even (playfully) hazed one of their rookies right on the dance floor.

It all went down at Tao in the Venetian -- where Chris Paul was the "celebrity host." But CP3 didn't come alone ... he was joined by teammates Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, J.J. Redick, Big Baby Davis and more.

There were bottles, there were hot ladies ... and there was a moment where the guys forced rookie C.J. Wilcox to get on the dance floor and turn up while the team cheered him on.

Not exactly Miami Dolphins-style hazing.

At one point, Big Baby grabbed the mic and led the crowd in a rendition of his single, "Big Baby Gon Turn It Up" ... and everyone loved it.

It's clear these guys really like each other off the court -- question is ... will their close-knit bond translate to wins ON the court? Stay tuned ...

Here's some quality white-collar smack talk ... courtesy of the Phoenix Suns.

A Suns exec grabbed a mic and addressed the crowd during the end of the Suns game last night -- and apologized to fans for having to watch the crappy Spurs.

It was so bad, the exec -- Managing Partner Robert Sarver -- told fans to send in their tickets and he would send them a special gift.

Sarver was so pissed because 5 big Spurs players -- and the Spurs coach -- didn't make the trip to Phoenix for rest and recovery reasons and he felt San Antonio screwed his fans out of their "hard-earned money."

No Tim Duncan. No Manu Ginobili. No Kawhi Leonard. No Patty Mills. No Tiago Splitter. No Gregg Popovich.

Don't put a fork in Matt Barnes and Gloria Govan's marriage just yet ... 'CAUSE IT AIN'T OVER ... so says Gloria's sister Laura Govan -- who knows what it's like to be in a relationship with an NBA star.

Laura -- who has 4 kids with NBA star Gilbert Arenas -- was out in Calabasas when our photog asked if there was chance her sister would ever reconcile with Matt now that they've separated.

Paul George has a new lady in his life ... his 5-month-old daughter Olivia ... who he met for the first time Thursday -- and now TMZ Sports has learned the NBA star is gunning for joint custody of the child.

As we previously reported, George swore that he would "do the right thing" if a paternity test proved he fathered a child with a woman named "Daniella" who he had a relationship with in 2013.

Now, we've learned George is convinced he IS the daddy ... and his attorney is currently in the process of hammering out a joint custody arrangement with the mom.

Paul's attorney tells TMZ Sports ... "Paul has always wanted to accept responsibility and play a role in his daughter’s life -- and wanted to make sure it was handled properly through the legal system."

Blake Griffin says he's THRILLED the Clips are finally rid of Donald Sterling -- saying the guy was "like a weird uncle" who was clearly "off his rocker."

Griffin just spilled his guts about his former boss on The Players Tribune -- saying his relationship with Sterling was bizarre from day 1 ... when the old man tried to hook him up with two women at a Malibu beach party who were likely paid escorts.

"Two blonde models showed up on either side of me. They had clearly been hired for the event. I knew this because they were wearing size XXXX-L Clippers T-shirts tied at the stomach. I looked at Sterling. He had a big dumb grin on his face. I looked at one of the girls, as if to say, “Uhhh, you don’t have to do this.” She looked back: “Uhhh, yes I do."

In the article, Griffin also talks about how he felt the first time he heard the infamous Sterling audio recording -- saying:

"It was shocking to actually hear what he said, but not really that surprising to me."

There's more about Sterling ... here are some of the highlights:

-- "The guy was off his rocker."
-- "He kind of sounds like a combination of Walter Matthau and Michael Jackson."
-- "[Steve Ballmer] is a good dude. He’s like a cool dad who gives you candy. Donald was like a weird uncle"

Griffin concluded his tell-all with this nugget:

"Someone asked me the other day if I’m mad that he made out with $2 billion for selling the team. Maybe a little bit. But in the end, I’m just happy he’s gone."