NBA

Charles Barkley is getting some love from the man he helped get elected, Alabama senator Doug Jones.

DJ was out in D.C. on Thursday when he shouted out Barkley with a great big, "Thank You."

Of course, Barkley was one of Jones' biggest and most influential supporters in his race against Roy Moore. Many people credit Barkley with helping get black voters to the polls, giving Jones the boost he needed.

We asked if Barkley has a future in politics -- and it sounds like Sir Chuck already has a supporter!

One more thing ... with Alabama playing the national championship game against Georgia on Monday, we asked if Jones would go to the game ... and what would happen if he saw Donald Trump there.

Want proof the NBA should legalize weed?

Stephen Jackson says he toked up his ENTIRE CAREER and still balled like a boss -- so when it comes to pulling pot off the league's banned substance list, he's all for it.

"I think they should take it off, why not?" Jackson told TMZ Sports. "I smoked my whole career, had a hell of a career."

To be clear, Stack told us he did NOT hit the ganj before games ... only smoking after them to help chill out.

If Kenyon Martin thinks the Based God curse is a load of crap, rapper Lil B says he'll have to prove it on the court ... 'cause he's getting challenged to a 1-on-1 showdown ... and the stakes are high!!

ICYMI ... K-Mart straight-up dissed Lil B's Based God curse earlier this week, calling him "a nobody" and claiming his opinion "don't mean sh*t" when we asked him about being hexed.

TMZ Sports spoke with Lil B ... who says Martin can end the debate once and for all by taking up his offer to go head to head on the court.

"I want to say to Kenyon Martin, I challenge you 1-on-1 to a game and we'll see if the curse is real or not. You beat me, you're right ... the curse is fake."

Khloe Kardashian's facing a big challenge in keeping her revenge body -- pregnancy -- but she's still giving it her best shot.

We got the mom-to-be at LAX Wednesday and asked her some tough questions about staying fit during pregnancy ... but even Khloe doesn't have all the answers.

Even so, she tells us she's exercising when she feels up to it and seems to be in great spirits ... all good news for mama and baby. Still no official reveal on whether she's having a boy or a girl, though.

As we reported ... Khloe and Cavs star Tristan Thompson are expecting sometime around late March, and he agrees with us -- she looks bomb at 6 months.

Season 2 of 'Revenge Body' premieres Sunday.

Craig Sager's oldest children are blasting their father's 2nd wife -- claiming she's a shameless gold digger who drove a wedge between the family and ultimately had them cut out of the legendary NBA reporter's will.

"She's greedy," Kacy Sager wrote ... "She didn't even let us say goodbye to him because she wanted to spend his last day of consciousness alone with him. My brother saved his life & she still tried to poison our father against us."

The rift went public on Tuesday -- when Craig Sager Jr. said he was being pestered by sheriffs and court officials over "a will that myself and my sisters are not only 100% excluded from but do not even have any interest in contesting in the first place."

FYI, Craig Sr. passed away in 2016 after a long battle with cancer. Craig had 3 children from his 1st marriage (Craig Jr., Kacy and Krista) and 2 kids with his 2nd wife Stacy, whom he married in 2001.

But Craig Jr.'s older sister, Kacy, revealed a deeper issue with Stacy.

"[Craig Sager] left his family for a chick in her 20s, & she spent their whole marriage spending everything he made & driving a wedge between us. And is continuing after his death."

"The issue isn't the will. We never cared about the money. It's that she's trying to keep us away from everything, including the Sager Strong Foundation & the kids, and is making lawyers and sheriffs do her dirty work instead of picking up a phone."

"She has the kids in $30k-a-year private school and made him sell everything to build her a 10-bedroom house and two condos in Orlando."

TMZ Sports obtained a copy of Craig's will -- which lists all 5 of his kids, but only bequeaths his estate to Stacy. The estate includes all money, real estate and hotel and airline miles.

As for the sheriffs ... it looks like Craig Jr. was served with the will, so he could have an opportunity to object if he wishes. But it's clear, he does not want to go down that road.

9:40 AM PT -- Craig Jr. tells TMZ Sports ... "I love my dad. I love my family. I am not mad. I am not in a bad place. I am quite fine, loving work and finally taking a breather."

"But I want for myself and my family to move on peacefully and without paranoia over the Sword of Damocles this divorce has dangled over our heads for more than half my life. Enough."

"I shouldn't have Sherrifs knocking on my doors when I'm not in his will or fighting the fact that I'm not. I want to be able to relax without worrying about a Sheriff knocking on my door. That's it."

"The Mailman" delivered in his return to the squared circle Tuesday night ... shakin' his hips and smashin' water bottles Stone Cold Steve Austin-style on "WWE SmackDown."

It all went down after the show's final match -- when Karl Malone slid into the ring to celebrate with WWE superstar Bobby Roode, in video posted by ProWrestlingSheet.

The NBA legend toasted Roode before joining him for his signature "glorious" pose -- and he crushed it.

Malone made some appearances with WCW back in the day -- most famously lockin' up with Hulk Hogan and Dennis Rodman -- so we can't say we're too surprised.

Eat your heart out, Triple H.

No, LaVar Ball did NOT found the NBA -- despite some Google search results -- and now the company admits they "dropped the ball" when creating an online bio for the Big Baller.

Backstory ... if ya searched for "NBA founder" on Google on Tuesday morning, the results kicked back a photo of Lonzo's dad. Kinda funny.

The gaffe was reported across the sports news landscape -- and some people were wondering if it was an intentional "Easter Egg" thing, like Google's been known to do from time to time.

Fun Fact: Type in "Super Mario Bros" in the search bar and when you see the "?" box, click on it -- and you get a coin and 200 points! Keep clicking, you'll eventually get a 1 UP!

But, alas, Google says no Easter Eggs with LaVar ... telling TMZ Sports it was a simple mistake.

"Clearly we dropped the ball. Our team worked to address this issue quickly and within hours of being notified, we were able to fix the issue."

Sushi doesn't seem like a great NYE hangover cure, but a ton of celebs like J Lo and A-Rod had their first 2018 dinners at Nobu.

The famous Malibu celeb hot spot was also top dinner choice for Drake, Kendall Jenner and her bf Blake Griffin.

J Lo and A-Rod have been getting ready for the New Year with some super intense workouts, so an In-N-Out burger probably wasn't in the cards anyway.

Hall of Fame voters, listen up -- Chauncey Billups says 3/5 of his '04 Pistons starting lineup should be enshrined, telling TMZ Sports that he, Rip Hamilton and Ben Wallace all belong in Springfield.

Billups is a 1st-time nominee to the Hall this year ... and when we talked with him the 5-time All-Star and former Finals MVP, he told us he thinks he did enough to get in.

"I think that I am, obviously ... there's so many other worthy guys, but I do. I think my story is really unique, my fight is really unique."

Chauncey isn't the only guy from his NBA championship team up for the honor ... Rip is also a 1st-time nominee, and Ben missed out on his 1st shot last year.

Billups thinks they should ALL get in ... and he's 100% serious.

"I think there's a case to be made for Rip ... I think Ben is the easiest case out of all 3 of us, to be honest with you."

With Hamilton, CB says his college days put him in (Rip won a national championship with UConn) ... and with Wallace, he says if Rodman and Mutombo are in, he should be too.

TMZ Sports has obtained the 911 call Tim Donaghy made while trying to bring his daughter home in Manatee County, Florida ... featuring 2 full minutes of hammer-wielding chaos.

The ex-NBA ref tells the dispatcher he's on a mission to save his daughter ... who he claims is being held against her will at a house with marijuana and is "stoned out of her mind."

Donaghy describes the scene as hostile, saying the parents at the house are screaming and yelling at him. He warns ... "There's about to be a major altercation."

That's when Tim reveals he's got a hammer on him and is ready to throw down ... or as he puts it, "If anyone comes near me, I will crack him right in his f*cking head."

Donaghy tells the 911 operator it's too dark to describe the people involved, but is adamant he needs help quickly ... before things go south.

Ex-NBA star Ben Gordon can breathe a LITTLE easier ... because he will NOT be charged with a felony stemming from his November robbery arrest in Los Angeles.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... 34-year-old Gordon was accused of flashing a knife and roughing up a manager at his old apartment complex in an effort to get his 4-figure security deposit back. (FYI, Gordon reportedly made $84 mil during his NBA career).

Gordon fled from the scene and then returned AFTER cops had arrived -- they arrested him on the spot. He was booked for felony robbery.

Now, we've learned the L.A. County District Attorney has rejected the felony case -- and kicked it over to the L.A. City Attorney to consider filing misdemeanor charges instead.

Byron Scott says it's time for NBA teams to give Becky Hammon a shot at becoming the league's first female head coach ... telling TMZ Sports she's ABSOLUTELY qualified.

40-year-old Hammon -- one of the best WNBA players of all time -- became the NBA's first female assistant coach when she joined the San Antonio Spurs back in 2014. But Scott says she's ready to break another coaching barrier by taking control of her own team.

We also asked Scott if Hammon could do a better job with the Showtime Lakers than Pat Riley did ... but you probably already know his answer to that.

FYI, Hammon was a 6-time WNBA All-Star whose number was retired by the San Antonio Stars. Plus, in 2011, she was named one of the WNBA's top 15 players of all time.

Detroit Pistons player Avery Bradley entered into a confidentiality agreement with a reality star who accused him of sexual assault earlier this year -- and at one point, negotiations got as high as $400k, TMZ Sports has learned.

But Bradley's attorney tells TMZ Sports he adamantly denies all wrongdoing -- and only entered into the agreement to prevent false information from being made public.

Here's what we know ... the allegation stems from an incident on May 23 in Cleveland, Ohio. The woman involved claimed Bradley sexually assaulted her while she was passed out drunk.

Bradley was a member of the Boston Celtics at the time of the incident. The Celtics were in Cleveland to play the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals.

After the incident, the woman contacted Bradley and accused him of assaulting her. The two sides came together to work out a deal to keep her quiet and prevent her from releasing any video, photos or audio.

At one point in the negotiations, the parties considered resolving the matter for $400,000 ... but it's unclear what number Bradley ultimately agreed to pay. We're told the final figure was high.

We spoke with Bradley's attorney Brian Wolf of Lavely & Singer who tells us, "Mr. Bradley absolutely denies having engaged in wrongdoing whatsoever. The confidentiality agreement specifically refutes and denies the validity of all allegations of any wrongful conduct by Mr. Bradley. The sole purpose of the agreement was to protect the reputation and privacy of Mr. Bradley and his family."

He's already producing and acting in the movie -- but now Mark Wahlberg is making a play to DIRECT his upcoming movie about the life of NBA star Caron Butler.

We broke the story ... Wahlberg has been targeting huge names like Spike Lee, Peter Berg and Barry Jenkins to direct the flick about Butler's journey from dealing drugs to becoming an NBA all-star.

Our sources say Wahlberg is very passionate about the project -- and thinks it could be the perfect movie to make his directorial debut.

Wahlberg gave a clue during an interview with Collider, saying he has "one specific project" he'd love to direct ... teasing "it takes place in Wisconsin. It's a true story."

And guess where Caron Butler grew up? WISCONSIN!!!

Boom.

One problem (that's not really a problem) -- Wahlberg says he thinks Peter Berg is REALLLY going to want the project ... jokingly saying, "I made the mistake of sending him the script."

Scottie Pippen has President Obama's back when it comes to basketball -- saying #44 is absolutely RIGHT picking Michael Jordan over LeBron James.

Remember, Obama went with MJ over LBJ during a rapid fire question session with Prince Harry -- saying he "loves" LeBron ... but ultimately he's gotta go with His Airness.

Pippen agrees ... and referred us back to a recent interview where he told us HE'S better than LeBron too!

"LeBron ain't better than me until he gets 6 titles."

Pay attention, NBA dads -- Pistons guard Langston Galloway just set the big baller standard for gender reveals ... and teammate Andre Drummond's got the hilarious play-by-play.

It all went down at Little Caesar's Arena Tuesday night after the Pistons smashed the Pacers ... when Langston rocked the rim to figure out if he and his wife, Sabrina, are having a boy or girl.

Galloway killed it. The ball exploded, confetti went everywhere, and he and Sabrina hugged it out while his teammates cheered him on.

But the real MVP might have been Andre ... the unofficial emcee for Lang's ceremony.