NBA

Pay attention Lakers fans ... you could be looking at the future of the Purple and Gold -- 'cause Karl-Anthony Towns is in L.A. and just had a meal with Lakers prodigy Julius Randle.

Here's the backstory ... it's still unclear who will fall to the Lakers at pick #2 of the upcoming NBA Draft -- but most believe it's between Towns and fellow college hoops phenom Jahlil Okafor.

Which is why it was interesting to see Towns in Beverly Hills at Il Pastaio having lunch with Randle on Thursday -- who, like Towns, played his college ball at the University of Kentucky.

Both guys insisted the lunch wasn't a recruiting meal ... but Towns told us he'd love to play with a "legend" like Kobe Bryant.

We also asked how he felt about possibly going to Minnesota. Check out what he said.

Jahlil Okafor NEVER said he doesn't want to play for the Minnesota Timberwolves if they select him with the #1 pick in the NBA Draft ... and says the rumors are a bunch of crap ... this according to a rep for J.O.

Reports surfaced recently saying the former Duke superstar has his heart set on being a Laker -- and may ask the Timberwolves not to draft him.

But we spoke with a rep for the 19-year-old who says, "He has never expressed anything about not wanting to play for the Timberwolves and is willing to go wherever he is drafted."

The draft goes down on June 25th -- the Lakers have the #2 pick.

Sorry Dr. Spock, you will get NO LOVE from NBA star Brandon Jennings ... who says he won't be reading "no damn baby books" while his GF is pregnant.

The Detroit Pistons point guard recently announced that his model girlfriend Tae Heckard is with child -- it'll be Brandon's 3rd kid ... but his 1st with Tae.

Jennings says he's SOLID when it comes to parenting -- he changes diapers, he warms the milk, everything -- which is why he doesn't need another crash course in being a dad.

But when it comes to predicting the sex, Jennings says he's 100% certain this one's a boy -- since he's already got 2.

So, will he ever have a girl? "I don't know. We'll see. If my next baby mama's with it."

The key to the NBA Finals could be a 10-year-old girl -- at least, the Golden State Warriors hope so ... 'cause they're trotting out their pint-sized lucky charm to sing the national anthem for Game 1 ... and she's virtually unbeatable.

TMZ Sports has learned ... the Warriors have tapped Nayah Damasen to do the honors this afternoon -- an aspiring singer who's been crooning for the team since she was 5.

So, why does this spell DOOM for the Cavaliers?

Nayah has been ON FIRE this postseason -- every time she's belted out "The Star Spangled Banner" at a playoff game, the Warriors have emerged victorious.

FYI -- The team that wins Game 1 of the NBA Finals has historically gone on to win the series over 70% of the time.

No pressure, Nayah.

James Harden may have just made things A LOT worse for himself ... because rapper Lil B is threatening to UP THE CURSE on the NBA star in the wake of a Harden smack talk session.

Lil B just appeared on "TMZ Hollywood Sports" and said Harden was straight up LYING when the NBA star told us he's never heard of Lil B and didn't steal his cooking dance.

So, what's gonna happen to Harden now? Watch the clip and find out ...

Check out "TMZ Hollywood Sports" weeknights on Reelz.

Major props to Dallas Mavericks star Chandler Parsons ... who seems to be on a PDA level with his apparent new girlfriend Toni Garrn -- a super hot model who once dated Leo DiCaprio.

The couple was spotted out in NYC on Wednesday -- holding hands and kissing as they walked along the street.

No word on how long the two have been dating or how serious they are ... but they look great together.

FYI -- Garrn is a 22-year-old German model who's worked for Victoria's Secret and Calvin Klein. She started dating DiCaprio back in 2013 ... but they broke things off back in December.

A former ball boy for the U.S. Olympic basketball team says he has the ACTUAL SNEAKERS Michael Jordan wore during the '84 Games ... and now, he's putting them on the auction block.

TMZ Sports has learned ... the kid, now a full-blown man, says MJ signed the kicks and gave him the pair as a gift moments after Team USA won the gold medal.

FYI -- the '84 team included future NBA superstars like Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin and Sam Perkins.

What's interesting about the shoes ... they're made by Converse, not Nike -- and the '84 Games was the last time (at least that we could find) that Jordan rocked a pair of non-swoosh kicks on the court.

The former ball boy -- who doesn't want to reveal his name -- says he saw that Jordan's "flu game" shoes sold for $104k in 2013 ... and decided to hit up Grey Flannel Auctions to see if he could get a similar payday.

We're told the shoes have been authenticated -- and will hit the auction block on June 5th.

Starting bid -- $50k.

Good luck.

Diamond studded King Tut is out, diamond studded Anubis is wayyy in -- so says NBA star Trevor Ariza ... who just dropped $12,000 on a brand new jackal-headed gold piece ... TMZ Sports has learned.

The Rockets star hit up Johnny's Custom Jewelry in Houston looking for something cool -- and according to the brother of the owner, Zo, asked for a piece with an ancient Egyptian theme.

But Zo says Ariza was tired of seeing King Tut everywhere ... and wanted something a little more original. So he crafted an 18-karat design of Anubis -- a god who ushered souls into the afterlife.

Bonus Egyptian Joke -- What's a mummy's favorite kind of music? Wrap.

Houston Rockets superstar James Harden says there's no way he STOLE his famous cooking dance celebration from rapper Lil B ... 'cause he has NO IDEA who Lil B is.

Harden was back home in L.A. Tuesday night -- hangin' at 1 OAK nightclub with fellow NBA star Ty Lawson -- when we asked him about the "Based God Curse" that seemed to lead to the Rockets demise.

FYI -- Lil B says HE created the cooking dance and put a curse on Harden because the NBA star didn't give him proper credit.

Monica and NBA star Shannon Brown clearly have money to burn, because they blew $70,000 on a birthday party ... for her 10-year-old son!

Lil Rocko marked a decade on Earth by celebrating at the Georgia Aquarium. The theme was Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ... a show that was off the air 9 years before he was born.

Gotta say the party was awesome ... it looks like they're underwater, staring at the captured sharks.

There was plenty of sugar ... candy apples, cotton candy and a topsy-turvy cake.

Among the guests ...Toronto Raptors guard Lou Williams, Future's kids, and Lil Rocko's classmates. Lil's pop, rapper Rocko, was also there (and footed part of the bill).

Wanna learn how to speak Latvian?? Well, no one else does either ... so says projected 1st round NBA Draft pick -- and proud Latvian -- Kristaps Porzingis.

The 7-footer just touched down in NYC for the upcoming draft ... and told us he's multilingual -- fluent in English, Spanish and Latvian.

So, we had to ask if he plans on sharing some Latvian with his future teammates or anyone else who might wanna learn to speak his native language.

His response is HILARIOUS!!!

"No one wants to learn Latvian. You can speak only Latvian in Latvia and no one wants to go to f**king Latvia!"

Hey, there are PLENTY of people who want to go to Latvia ... where there's an actual museum dedicated to dolls. Just dolls. Lots of creepy, weird lookin' dolls.

Nick Young's days of raging and having fun are over ... 'cause now that he's engaged to be married, Swaggy says he's trading in the fast life -- for bingo.

Moments after he proposed to Iggy Azalea, Young shot a video talking about what his life is going to be like after trying the knot.

"I've retired my jersey man, I'm done. I'm gonna go play bingo and cards ... that's my life now."

Moments later, one of Nick's friends poured out some liquor for Nick -- saying, "To my dead homie."

Soooo ... congrats!?

Game respects game ... at least when it comes to LeBron James ... who was so impressed with the kid who won the 2015 Scripps National Spelling Bee -- that he just sent him a whole bunch of awesome Cavs swag ... TMZ Sports has learned.

The kid who popped up on LeBron's radar -- Gokul Venkatachalam -- is a HUGE Cavaliers fan who rocked a LeBron #23 jersey underneath his button down shirt ... while dominating the spelling bee.

A rep for the Cavs tells us LeBron and the team were so impressed by the performance ... they hooked Gokul up with a pair of Nike Lebron XII's ... inscribed with a personal message from King James ... plus a bunch of team apparel.

We spoke to Gokul, who hasn't yet received the swag ... but says he is "pumped" that LeBron and the team recognized his accomplishment.

Pretty cool, right?

RG3 is firmly planted in the pro-Steph Curry camp -- when it comes to kids at news conferences -- telling TMZ Sports he plans to follow suit with his own little girl ... when she's old enough.

The Redskins QB and his wife Rebecca welcomed their 1st daughter Reese Ann earlier this month -- so, when we saw him out in D.C. this weekend we had to ask ... is Reese Ann gonna get a Riley Curry moment?

Of course, certain media members have been bitching about Steph's decision to bring Riley to the NBA post-game pressers -- claiming she disrupts the regular process with her adorableness.

But Griffin's all about it ... telling us he'll "for sure" bring her to the podium ... "I just don't want to bring her too early."

By the way, RG3 was attending an event called the House Inc.’s National Capital A Cinderella Ball -- which honors children connected to the military with a disability or life-threatening illness.

Iggy Azalea is officially on her way to becoming Mrs. Swaggy P-- her NBA star boyfriend Nick Young popped the question ... and she said, "Yes!"

It all went down at Nick Young's 30th birthday party Monday night -- with the L.A. Lakers star getting down on one knee and busting out a fat 10 carat yellow diamond ring.

The two started dating back in 2013 -- for their first date, Nick took her to a Target to go shoppping.

From there, they hit it off quickly -- with Nick once taking her home from a club and bragging, "What I'm about to do with this shouldn't be legal!"

Soooo ... congrats!!!

Steph Curry isn't the only NBA superstar taking on LeBron this week ... 'cause Paul George tells TMZ Sports that he might wanna slide into "Space Jam 2" even though it's a role that was fit for the King.

George was out in L.A. recently when we asked about his favorite basketball movies ... and whether or not he'd ever want to step onto the silver screen.

Check out the clip -- George says the one film that might get him to flex his acting skills is "Space Jam 2" -- a flick that's been rumored to be in development for a couple of years now, with LeBron supposedly in the lead role.