NBA

Bucks rookie Sterling Brown was tasered by cops in a Walgreens parking lot early Friday morning in Milwaukee ... and arrested on a misdemeanor charge of resisting or obstructing an officer.

Brown, 22, was double-parked in two handicap spaces around 2 AM ... and reportedly became combative with police when he saw them writing a ticket, according to News/Talk 1130 in Wisconsin.

In a statement, Milwaukee Police Sgt. Timothy Gauerke confirmed the use of a taser -- "During the incident an electronic control device was deployed and the man was arrested."

Gauerke added -- "The circumstances of the incident and the use of force are currently being reviewed by the Department."

Lonzo Ball wants to put the "lit" in Lithuania ... announcing he's coming to the Eastern European country to perform his very first rap concert!

Lonzo's dad, LaVar Ball, was reportedly presenting the Hip-Hop Act of the Year trophy at the M.A.M.A. Awards (like the Lithuanian Grammys) ... when he introduced Lonzo via a prerecorded video.

Lonzo says the plan is to fly in over the summer and perform a show for the locals -- obviously capitalizing on the publicity splash his brothers are making as pro baller on Vytautus.

Lonzo raps under the name Zo -- and has already dropped a couple of singles, including "BBB" and "Super Saiyan."

Most rappers don't go to Europe to catapult their careers ... but Lonzo ain't most rappers.

76er and Lakers fans REJOICE ... the broke ass jump shots of Markelle Fultz & Lonzo Ball can be fixed ... according to a pro shooting coach who says he knows the antidote to their bricks.

Fultz is befuddling the basketball world with his sudden inability to find the hoop, with videos of 76ers practice showing the #1 pick can't even draw iron anymore.

We spoke to Chris "Lethal Shooter" Matthews, an ex-pro hooper, who's worked with huge NBA stars on their form, and drawn millions of views on social media for his shooting exhibitions.

He says he can help Fultz, and Lonzo, another young player who can't seem to hit the broad side of a barn.

"I really truly believe I can help take those guys to the next level when it comes to the art of shooting."

Matthews goes on to tell us -- with all due respect -- exactly what he thinks the 76ers are doing wrong with Fultz ... and how he'd change things up.

Watch Chris in action below, the teams might wanna take the help.

If any NBA team's looking for a point guard, Brandon Jennings says SIGN ME UP -- 'cause dude's back from China and ready to ball out!

We got Brandon out at South Beverly Grill ... and he told us he's ready for another shot with the big boys after taking his talents to the CBA.

FYI, Jennings has bounced around the last few seasons with the Wizards, Knicks and Magic ... but he's still just 28 and says he's still got A LOT of years left in him.

Byron Scott is ecstatic his old teammate Kobe Bryant was nominated for an Oscar -- and tells TMZ Sports he hopes people celebrate Mamba because people deserve 2nd chances in life.

Questions have been raised about how Kobe will be received at the Academy Awards on March 4 by a Hollywood crowd that's been cracking down on stars accused of sexual misconduct.

Obviously, Kobe has sexual misconduct allegations of his own in his past -- but Scott says he hopes people are able to forgive Kobe and let him move forward with his life.

Charles Barkley says it's impossible to pick between Michael Jordan and Tom Brady when it comes to the Greatest Of All Time ... but says there's a THIRD name that belongs in the conversation.

Sir Chuck was at LAX ... where he also heaped some praise on LeBron James for hitting 30k career points and Kobe Bryant for getting an Oscar nod.

By the way, neither of those guys are the 3rd G.O.A.T. Barkley referenced earlier.

Big Ballers come in all shapes and sizes ... so IG superstar The Fat Jew says LaVar Ball should hire him to be an official brand ambassador for BBB!!

"If they want like a heavyset guy with, like, a Shrek kinda body ... I would be down to rep for BBB," Fat Jew told TMZ Sports. "Yo, LaVar, let me know!"

Sounds like a joke, but we're pretty sure he's 100% serious. Fat Jew says he bought a pair of ZO2 slides in spite of their ridiculous price tag ... and ain't even mad they took almost a month to arrive.

Jason Kidd just got the boot in Milwaukee -- but he's already got a rebound offer from one of the most powerful head coaches in the NBA!

Well, sorta ... we got Doc Rivers and Tom Thibodeau -- Doc's former Celtics assistant -- leaving Craig's after Thibodeau's T-Wolves edged Rivers' Clippers in L.A.

Naturally, we had to bring up the shocking J-Kidd firing ... and Doc immediately went to bat for the NBA legend, saying he would "absolutely" add him to his coaching staff.

One problem -- there ain't any vacancies on his bench at the moment ... and he's already got big-name assistants like Sam Cassell and Mike Woodson.

Kobe Bryant was just nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for his movie, "Dear Basketball" ... but it begs the question, Time's Up?

In a time where huge Hollywood stars are crushing people like Aziz Ansari, James Franco and others ... ya gotta remember, Kobe was formally charged with raping a woman back in 2003.

Remember, Bryant admitted having sex with a 19-year-old hotel staffer in Eagle, Colorado -- but insisted it was consensual.

By his account, things went south when Kobe asked the woman if he could ejaculate in her face during the sexual encounter. Kobe claims the woman denied his request and he stopped cold. The woman clearly saw things differently.

When approached by police, Kobe asked the cops if he could pay her off to make the situation go away.

Kobe was charged with sexual assault -- but the case was dropped when the accuser stopped cooperating with prosecutors. At the time, she claimed she was receiving hate mail and death threats.

She filed a civil suit against Kobe, which he later settled. There are reports he paid around $5 million, though Kobe claimed he never paid her a dime.

Kobe later released an apology saying, "I want to apologize directly to the young woman involved in this incident. I want to apologize to her for my behavior that night and for the consequences she has suffered in the past year."

Kobe added this part ... which sounds a lot like Aziz's explanation:

"Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did. After months of reviewing discovery, listening to her attorney, and even her testimony in person, I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter."

So, the big question ... how will Hollywood react if Kobe wins?

With LeBron James and Steph Curry picking the teams for the NBA All-Star game, we asked Kyrie Irving if he'd be upset if his old teammate didn't pick him first.

Ya gotta see what Kyrie says when we spotted him at Delilah in West Hollywood.

For the record, Irving is having a killer season with the Boston Celtics -- averaging 24.5 points per game and carrying the team on his back. He's definitely an MVP candidate.

So, Bron's GOTTA pick him first, right?! We'll see ...

Here's Lakers star Jordan Clarkson doing his best LaVar Ball impression -- saying Lonzo Ball should be LeBron's 1st pick in the All-Star draft ... even though he ain't an All-Star.

Right.

We got Clarkson at Delilah over the weekend ... and asked him straight-up who Bron's #1 selection should be when him and Steph Curry choose their squad members later this week.

Apparently, Jordan didn't get the memo that you gotta be an actual All-Star to qualify.

Or, more likely, he just wanted to plug Lonzo and his venerable fashion brand ... with the help of the BBB entourage (which we're guessing JC inherits whenever Zo's out).

Why was Nick Young kissing a puppet and grooving like Michael Jackson over the weekend?

Don't worry -- it's 'cause he was hypnotized ... and there's video!!

It all went down at the 30th birthday bash for Warriors teammate JaVale McGee ... where Swaggy P got on stage and put under. Like, really under -- dude was OUT.

What happened next was Swaggy like you've never seen him before -- putting the moves on a puppet during a slow dance ... and crotch-grabbin' and moon-walkin' like MJ.

He plays for Minnesota, but NBA star Karl-Anthony Towns was ALL ABOUT PHILLY on Sunday -- decked out in Eagles gear ... and celebrating after the victory!

The Timberwolves star (who's in town to play the Clippers) hit up Craig's -- in a very good mood -- reveling in his team's NFC Championship victory over the Minnesota Vikings.

FYI, KAT grew up in Edison, NJ -- about 60 miles from Philly.

So, how does he feel about the Eagles' chances against Tom Brady?

With all the fights in the NBA lately, we had to ask WNBA legend Chamique Holdsclaw if there was ever a female baller she just didn't mess with in the women's league.

And she definitely produced a name.

First off, Chamique was no cupcake ... 6'2", 172 lbs and was a 2-time rebounding champion during her legendary career. Bottom line -- she was a beast.

But Holdsclaw tells TMZ Sports ... the baddest chick she ever played against was Yolanda Griffith -- 7-time All-Star, WNBA champ and the '05 Finals MVP.

And according to Chamique, she'd rough you up hard if you got in her way.

#Respect

Move over, Ball bros -- Shareef O'Neal says the Lakers are his #1 choice when he goes pro ... and if we were Magic Johnson, we'd start working OT to make it happen.

We got Shaq's son touching down in LAX ... and asked who he'd want to draft him since his NBA career is creeping up.

Shareef told TMZ Sports his favorite team and player were the Cavs and LeBron James, respectively ... but there's 1 thing that puts the Purple and Gold above playing with the King.

Jermaine O'Neal's got a fool-proof plan to getting Nate Robinson back into the NBA ... and it all starts with ballin' out in Ice Cube's BIG3 league!!

TMZ Sports spoke with the ex-NBA All-Star about the newest addition to his Tri-State squad ... and J.O. reveals he personally recruited Robinson because he knows the 33-year-old still belongs in the pros.

O'Neal says the NBA scouts should have their eyes on Nate throughout the season ... 'cause his team is gonna feed him the ball the whole time!!