NBA

Ray Allen says Donald Trump's decision to ban transgender people from serving in the military is not only "insane" -- but suggests it ain't how Jesus Christ would handle things.

The NBA legend was furious with Trump's Twitter statement Wednesday -- in which he announced the United States will "no longer accept transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military."

The message didn't sit well with Allen ...

"I'm sorry but this is insane!!!! Why does it matter how people identify themselves???"

He continued, "Anyone who wants to serve this country should have the right to serve this country. What happened to the most powerful person in this country bringing everyone together?? What a shame!!"

"We must resist these idiotic ideas being spread about from this White House."

Cavaliers superstar Kyrie Irving arrived at his reported decision to ask out of Cleveland the same way Justin Bieber chose to end his tour -- through long chats with pastor Carl Lentz of Hillsong Church ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Church sources tell us Kyrie, who's been an active member for a long time, met with Lentz earlier this month about his desires to step out of LeBron James' shadow. We're told Lentz didn't tell Kyrie to "leave Cleveland" -- instead he listened to Kyrie's concerns, and encouraged him to make the decision he felt was best.

There's a reason it sounds so similar to Justin's Purpose tour shocker -- Bieber, Lentz and Irving all hung out together in L.A. just over a week ago. You could say they were on Kyrie's turf ... playing pop-a-shot at Dave & Buster's.

We're told Kyrie and Carl have been close for years, but Justin and the NBA star are more like acquaintances.

NBA fans have been baffled as to why Kyrie would want to leave a team that's been to the NBA Finals 3 years straight. Now we know -- it's God-approved.

Close your eyes, Clippers fans ... here's the first footage of James Harden & Chris Paul hooping together since CP3 joined the Rockets, and the guys look pretty freakin' good together.

The game went down in L.A., and Paul and Harden weren't the only NBA guys playing -- they were joined by Rockets teammate Trevor Ariza and NBA champion JaVale McGee.

It's a pretty sick video uploaded by YouBall Training honchos Thomas Scott and Anthony Davis (not that one).

Ready to call 'em a superteam yet?

Andre Drummond is keeping it pretty real when it comes to his future -- telling TMZ Sports when it comes to blockbuster trade rumors, "Anything is possible in this league."

The rumors are heating up that the Detroit Pistons star could be shipped out before the season starts -- and even engaged with a Twitter fan this week who suggested Drummond could be part of a mega trade to Cleveland for Kyrie Irving.

But when we asked about it, he didn't exactly rule it out -- "I play for Detroit now, so we'll keep it at that."

That said, Drummond still has big hopes for the Motor City -- telling us the Pistons picked up a lot of great talents in the off-season including Avery Bradley.

"We got a lot of great pieces to be a great team."

The man who claims he was punched in the face by Draymond Green last summer says he got violent threats after the incident and still wakes up crying ... and now he's suing the NBA star.

The man behind the suit is ex-Michigan State football player Jermaine Edmondson -- who says Draymond's posse attacked him and his GF at an East Lansing bar on July 10, 2016.

Edmonson says he confronted Green the next night -- and Draymond punched him in the face. A cop who witnessed the attack arrested the Warriors star for assault.

But Edmondson says his life has been hell since the incident -- and things got so bad at MSU (where Draymond went to school) that he quit the team and left the university for a while.

Edmondson says he's still haunted by the attacks -- and feels his name has been turned into a joke thanks to Green.

"I think about what happened with Draymond every day. I still feel his hand on my jaw."

Now, he and his GF have lawyered up with Lisa Bloom -- who's repped stars like Blac Chyna and Kathy Griffin -- and have sued Green for assault and battery.

As for Green, he cut a sweet deal in the criminal case -- he agreed to stay out of trouble for a year and the charge was reduced from a misdemeanor to a civil infraction. The year ended on July 22 so he's basically in the clear with prosecutors.

11:22 AM PT -- Draymond's camp issued a statement saying, "This lawsuit relates to an incident that occurred in East Lansing, Michigan over a year ago, for which Draymond paid a noise violation fine."

LeBron James is channeling his inner Donald Trump -- calling "fake news" on reports he wants to throw down with his teammate, Kyrie Irving.

It's been all over that LeBron is super pissed at Kyrie -- with some reports saying he's so unhappy that Irving wants a trade that, "LeBron James would be tempted to beat his ass."

Well, James has now broken his silence ... saying, "#NotFacts people! Boooo!!"

He added, "Get another source."

So, what's really going down with LeBron and Kyrie? Guess it depends on who ya wanna believe.

Charles Barkley says any Laker fan thinking the team will make a playoff run behind new star, Lonzo Ball, is smoking purple and gold CRACK ... telling TMZ Sports the Lake Show has ZERO CHANCE.

The hype is officially here, Lonzo balled out so hard in the Summer league (winning the MVP), that a lot of fans are thinking postseason, so when we got Barkley out at LAX we asked him if it was possible.

"Hell no."

Pretty simple. In fact, Sir Charles says in his opinion the 76ers with their young core of guys like Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Markelle Fultz are waaaay better than the Lakers are right now.

You'd think it was a diss ... if you didn't know any better.

But when Jimmy Butler took a shot at his friend Kyrie Irving in Malibu this week, we're guessing it's all in good fun.

With all the Kyrie rumors going around, we asked Jimmy Buckets if he wanted Irving to join him in Minnesota.

Jimmy's response: "I don't even know who that is."

Turns out, they're pretty tight -- they played on the '16 Team USA Olympic squad and Butler once hailed him as his favorite player in the NBA.

So, will Kyrie end up in Minnesota? Butler hopes so ... even if he doesn't wanna say it.

Charles Barkley is rooting for O.J. Simpson -- telling TMZ Sports he really hopes the guy can "keep his act together" after prison ... and he's offering up some advice to stay out of trouble.

Unclear if Barkley and Simpson were friends before he went to prison, but it seems Sir Chuck feels bad for the disgraced NFL running back, judging by the clip.

Charles also makes it clear he wasn't impressed with the way O.J. handled himself during his parole hearing last week -- saying, "He's done everything possible to screw this thing up."

It's summertime ... so, here's DeAndre Jordan teaming up with his best party pal, Kevin Durant, to celebrate his birthday in Vegas ... with a guest appearance by one of the hottest DJs in the world.

DeAndre and his brothers hit up the Encore Beach Club at the Wynn in Vegas to celebrate the Clippers star's 29th birthday.

The NBA superstars kicked it with Diplo at the DJ booth -- they also had 3 cabanas for their party crew.

Sources at the party tell us the guys sipped on everything from Don Julio 1942 to Ciroc and even some Moet Nectar Champagne.

From what we're told, everyone had a blast -- despite the blistering 108 DEGREE temperature day!

By the way, KD and DJ are pretty tight off the court -- last summer, they traveled to Greece together after the Olympic gold medal victory to celebrate with a bunch of hot chicks in bikinis.

Joel Embiid just offered an olive branch to LaVar Ball ... but peace comes with three commas.

With the war raging between Embiid and Lonzo Ball's dad, we asked the Philadelphia 76ers star if there was ANY way he'd ever rock a pair of ZO2s on the hardwood this season.

There is one way -- but LaVar would have to cut a BILLION DOLLAR check!

Embiid has been firing shots at LaVar for a while -- dissing him on Twitter when Lonzo got drafted and following up by dropping an F-bomb on the Big Baller.

LaVar shot back by saying he was an injury-prone loser who spends too much time on social media.

CAN'T WAIT for the 76ers to play the Lakers this season!

University of Kentucky coaching legend John Calipari says he'd love to see his Wildcats link up in the NBA and make a run at a title ... but tells TMZ Sports, he'd NEVER coach the group.

UK greats Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins are already hooping together in New Orleans, and there's been some talk that they could try to lure other blue bloods to play there with them in the future.

Can you imagine a squad with Cousins, Davis, John Wall, and the rest of the boys taking on the NBA?

Well Calipari said he could when we got him out in D.C., telling our guys it would be fun to watch and that the boys would give the NBA some serious heartache.

He also got all fuzzy about his relationship with UK superfan Drake, waxing poetic about how much he loves the guy ... and telling us why.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver is showin' mad love for Lonzo Ball ... saying it's Zo's game -- not his dad, LaVar's big mouth -- that has the whole league buzzin'.

We talked to Silver -- one of the coolest guys in all of sports -- about all the talk surrounding the Ball family ... and he says he likes what he sees from the Summer League MVP so far.

There's more ... Silver also says he's a big fan of Ice Cube's BIG3 league and suggests there might be a way for the two leagues to work together in the future. Cool, right?

He also weighs in on the Houston Rockets sale and reveals which pro league commissioner foots the bill when all the honchos get together for lunch.

Lonzo Ball will have plenty of time to crush all the celebrity ass he wants -- AFTER he starts to kill it in the NBA ... so, don't go chasing the Kardashians just yet.

This is the wise message from ex-Laker Shannon Brown ... who knows all about dating famous women.

Of course, Brown famously married R&B star Monica back in 2010 -- after Brown had already won 2 NBA titles with the Lake Show.

Brown isn't saying to stay away from Kylie, Kendall or any other K-family member who might be interested (Kris?) ... he's just sayin' wait a minute.

BTW, Lonzo already has a hot girlfriend ... so, in theory, it shouldn't be a problem.

Rap star Kid Ink better hope the L.A. Clippers can win without Chris Paul next year, 'cause if they don't ... he's gonna become a walking TMZ billboard!!

The "Supersoaka" spitter is a HUGE Clips fan! Our camera guy, a big Miami Heat supporter. So when we ran into K.I. out in NYC, we tested his confidence in the team with a wager:

If the Clippers finish with a better record than the Heat next season, our photog will have to get a tattoo of Kid Ink's Batgang crew logo permanently etched on him. But if the Clips end up below Miami in the win column, the rapper's gotta get the TMZ logo tatted on him!!

FYI -- the MIA won 41 games last season. The LAC, 51 ... but that was with CP3.

For being such high stakes, the dude doesn't seem worried one bit. On the other hand, he already has like, a million tattoos. So what's one more?

Here's something you might not be used to seeing ... Terrell Owens taking the high road ... telling TMZ Sports he still loves Ice Cube and the BIG3 league, even though Cube killed T.O.'s hoop dreams.

Owens recently told us he wanted a spot in the league and made a personal plea to Ice Cube to make it happen, saying he had tried to get in and was getting the runaround.

We saw Cube and LAX and shot T.O.'s shot for him, and Cube straight Mutombo'd it ... saying the league is strictly for former NBA players, which Owens is NOT.

As luck would have it, we got T.O. mere moments after we saw Cube and broke him the news, and Terrell couldn't have been cooler with the disappointment, saying he's still 100% behind the league.

We tried T.O., but that Ice Cube can be downright cold (get it?).