NBA

Gary Payton is being sued by a woman who claims the NBA legend beat her up over and over again during a quick getaway to Seattle ... though Payton denies the whole thing and says it's nothing more than a shameless cash grab.

TMZ Sports has obtained the lawsuit filed by Trishtan Williams -- who claims Payton invited her as his date to an awards function in Seattle back in January ... but after the ceremony, things got violent.

According to the suit, Gary and Trishtan went to a local bar -- where she claims Payton shoved her over something she said. Williams did not say exactly what set Payton off.

Eventually, Williams claims they got in a car to leave together and he assaulted her again.

Williams says Payton struck her a third time when they got back to their hotel room.

Now, she's lawyered up with Gloria Allred -- and is seeking a ton of money.

We spoke with Payton's agent, Aaron Goodwin, who claims the whole thing is nothing more than a shakedown in an effort to get Gary to cut a fat check.

Goodwin also says Williams has changed her story several times -- and has "no physical evidence to substantiate these claims."

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar underwent emergency heart surgery -- a quadruple coronary bypass at UCLA Medical Center ... and it sounds like he came through with flying colors.

The hospital says the hoops Hall of Famer was admitted earlier this week, and had the lifesaving surgery on Thursday ... to clear major blockage of his heart. Fittingly, for the UCLA legend ... the surgery was performed by the hospital's chief of cardiac surgery, Dr. Richard Shemin.

Lakers star Nick Young says he feels like he woke up out of a nightmare ... now that the squad's historically bad NBA season is finally over ... saying, "It was tough for us."

After the Lakers capped off the worst season in team history, Young hit up Toast Cafe in L.A. -- and essentially told us he's glad it's finally over.

As for the two young players who hit the club after the team's final loss, Young says people should cut 'em some slack -- "They deserve to unwind a little bit."

Question -- How did the Lakers cope with losing their 61st game of the season last night? Completing their WORST SEASON in team history?!

Answer -- THEY HIT THE CLUBS ... well, at least two of 'em did.

Jordan Clarkson and Vander Blue hit up Warwick nightclub in Hollywood -- hours after getting their butts kicked by the Sacramento Kings 122 - 99 in the final game of the season.

In fairness to the guys, Blue just signed with the team a few days ago ... and Clarkson was just a rookie.

The NBA playoffs are no joke -- and NBA wives need to do WHATEVER THEY CAN to keep their men happy ... from private stripping to foot rubs ... so says "Basketball Wives" star Jackie Christie.

Jackie has some experience -- she's married to ex-NBA star Doug Christie, who played 15 seasons in the league.

Christie says when the playoffs come around ... NBA wives need to switch into "support system" mode -- "Let him watch ESPN, be their wife, their secretary, their dancer, their stripper ... whatever you need to be to make him comfortable."

Jackie says she doesn't just talk the talk, she walked the walk when her hubby was still playing -- "I'd rub his feet, I ran his bath, cook his dinner, I kept his house quiet. I ran it like a military base."

Shelly Sterling says she didn't go after V. Stiviano for the money -- SHE WANTED JUSTICE -- and says she plans to give away every single cent she won in her crushing court victory to a charity.

Our sources say ... Shelly was "out for blood" from the start -- and really wanted to put the screws to Stiviano for all the crap she put her family through.

In fact, Shelly told the Associated Press ... her lawsuit was about getting even with Stiviano who had "harmed" her in so many ways.

Of course, Sterling won a $2.6 million judgment against Stiviano -- ordering her to fork over the keys to her $1.8 million condo AND $800,000 in cash.

Sterling says she doesn't even want the money -- 'cause she's a billionaire -- and to prove it, she's giving every cent to a worthy charity.

Donald Sterling had no right to shower V. Stiviano with lavish gifts, no matter how good of an archivist she was, because the loot he used to buy all the goodies wasn't his to give away.

A judge just sided with Shelly Sterling, concluding Shelly was still very much Donald's wife when he pulled his shenanigans -- giving V. a duplex, a Bentley, a Range Rover and a Ferrari totaling $2.6 mil.

But don't roll out the tow truck -- Shelly doesn't want the cars ... she wants the money. According to the ruling, $830k of the $2.6 mil is due in cash -- with $430k earmarked for the value of the vehicles.

V. tried in vain to convince the judge Donald and Shelly were separated at the time she scored the goods, so he had every right to shell out the cash. The judge begged to differ, saying Donald had no right to use the Sterling money to fund V.'s lifestyle.

So the question ... how does V. make it right?

Return, return, return.

Cleveland Cavs star Kyrie Irving wants to get into your pants ... as the latest NBA star to launch his own mens underwear line ... TMZ Sports has learned.

We're told Irving has struck a deal with the PSD underwear brand -- which already has endorsement deals in place with NFL stars like Marshawn Lynch and Stevie Johnson.

According to PSD, Irving will "work directly with PSD’s designers developing his own underwear line, becoming the face of PSD for the foreseeable future."

Irving is hoping to launch his undie line later this year.

Underwear is the hot trend with jocks lately -- with everyone from Cristiano Ronaldo to Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook getting in the game.

He's already got a green jacket ... now Jordan Spieth is looking to make another dream come true -- dude wants to golf with Dirk Nowitzki.

Turns out the 21-year-old is from Dallas and happens to be a big fan of the big fella -- and when we asked if he could golf with any celeb in the world, the first name that came to mind was Dirk.

Good news for Jordan ... the feeling's mutual -- in fact, the Dallas Mavericks star fired off a congratulatory tweet at Spieth right after he won the Masters this weekend. So, it seems pretty likely they'll end up on the links together.

Thabo Sefolosha is publicly blaming the NYPD for the "significant injury" he suffered during an arrest last week ... saying, "I am in great pain ... the injury was caused by the police."

We broke the story ... the NYPD has already launched an internal affairs investigation into the arrest -- in which you can see several officers physically corralling the NBA player.

In fact, you can see one cop pull out a baton and swing it -- though it's unclear from the footage if he connects with Thabo. The NYPD has said Thabo was acting in an aggressive manor which justified the use of force.

Thabo reportedly suffered a broken right fibula and ligament damage in the melee ... and now he's issued a statement blaming the police.

The NYPD has launched an internal affairs investigation into the arrest of NBA player Thabo Sefolosha -- who claims cops used excessive force during a violent incident last week.

As we previously reported, Thabo was taken into custody early Wednesday morning -- after cops say he was obstructing officers from investigating the stabbing of NBA player Chris Copeland.

We posted footage of the arrest on TMZ Sports -- which showed cops putting Thabo in a headlock and pulling him to the ground. At least one cop brandishes his nightstick.

Cops say Thabo was acting in an aggressive manor ... which justified the use of force. Thabo's attorney says BS ... and says the video essentially exonerates his client of any wrongdoing.

Now, an NYPD spokesperson tells us, "The issue has been referred to internal affairs, which is investigating the incident."

Dwight Howard's ex Royce Reed is FURIOUS that the NBA star is off the hook in his child abuse case ... telling close friends their 7-year-old son is still "terrified" of his father.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... Howard was investigated by the Atlanta Police Dept. for allegedly hitting his son with a belt buckle last year. They ultimately decided to drop the case.

Now, we've learned Reed is fuming over the decision -- with one source close to Reed telling us, "She's extremely upset by the way the system neglected to defend her son."

"She never asked for Dwight to be arrested. She asked for him to get help and take parenting classes. Her child is terrified of his father."

We reached out to Dwight's camp for comment -- and his attorney told us, "Several law enforcement agencies have thoroughly investigated the allegations and all decided against filing charges."

Dwight Howard will NOT face criminal charges for allegedly beating his then 6-year-old son Braylon with a belt buckle ... TMZ Sports has learned.

As we previously reported, the NBA star was being investigated by the Atlanta Police Department over an incident that went down in Georgia back in August 2014.

We spoke with Howard's attorney David Oscar Markus who told us, "We are gratified that the Atlanta Police Department, after fully examining the frivolous allegations against Dwight Howard, has closed the case and decided not to proceed with charges."

Here's Rick Fox ... basically saying Phil Jackson tanked the Knicks this season -- while trying to be super politically correct at the same time.

Rick -- who we love by the way (super nice guy) -- was out in L.A. this weekend ... when we asked if the man who coached him on the Lakers intentionally shut down the Knicks to get a better draft pick.

There was some serious tap dancing ... and he doesn't specifically say "yes" -- but he talks about how Phil "made a decision to purge the team of whatever personnel was there."

Atlanta Hawks star Thabo Sefolosha appeared to suffer a severe blow from an NYPD officer's nightstick during his arrest Wednesday night ... based on this new video of the violent take down.

TMZ Sports just obtained this new angle of Sefolosha's arrest, shot by a witness outside 1Oak Nightclub in NYC ... moments after Pacers Chris Copeland was stabbed.

In this video you can clearly see Sefolosha being tugged in different directions by 6 officers. Additionally ... you can see one of the officers take a big swing with his baton, and it sounds like he makes contact with something.

A witness says Thabo told police, "Calm down."

As we've reported ... Sefolosha broke his fibula during the scuffle with cops, and based on this video it's possible it could've been caused by the officer's baton.

In their report, police said Thabo was aggressively charging at one of the officers before they got physical with him. That's not evident from either video we've obtained ... since they start after the scuffle began.

Metta World Peace's son is already a high school phenom ... being recruited by multiple college programs ... but the most impressive part -- he's only been playing organized basketball for 1 year!!!

Metta called in to "TMZ Hollywood Sports" from Italy moments ago ... and told us his 15-year-old son Ron Artest III has always been a freakish athlete ... but never played in a real game until this year.

"He has a chance to be real good," Metta told us.

The issue -- Metta says Ron's real passion is modelling ... and he doesn't want to "force" his son into sports if his heart's not in it.