NBA

Khloe Kardashian's family is not happy she's getting back with Tristan Thompson -- and that's a major understatement -- but they're not going to lobby her to kick his ass to the curb.

TMZ broke the story ... Khloe was spotted with TT at a Cleveland restaurant Friday having lunch with friends and then showed up at the Cavaliers' game Saturday to support her baby daddy.

Our Kardashian sources say Khloe's family is outraged he humiliated and betrayed her right before she gave birth to their daughter. We're told they WISH she'd remain civil with him for the sake of their daughter, but move on. That said, they have enormous respect for Khloe and think she's capable of making decisions for herself.

We're told the family is somewhat surprised by the turn of events, because not long ago it looked like she was done with Tristan ... and the family was down with that decision. She was staying in Cleveland because Tristan was on the road and the baby wasn't able to fly.

And this is interesting ... we're told the family privately feels they may never forgive Tristan, but they're not going to attempt to torpedo the relationship.

Thanksgiving should be interesting.

LiAngelo Ball doesn't need to hustle up a day job just yet, 'cause even though he wasn't invited to the draft combine, Master P says LiAngelo's NBA dream is alive and well.

'Gelo declared for the draft some time ago ... and most people thought it'd be an uphill journey for him to be drafted being that he didn't play college ball, and the Lithuanian pro experiment was short-lived.

We got P at LAX and asked him if this setback means 'Gelo won't make his hoops dreams come true, and P is telling the kid not to lose hope.

"It isn't over for LiAngelo Ball, there's still summer leagues and I'm sure someone will pick him up."

P knows what he's talking about ... remember he was able to make a couple different NBA summer league teams back in the day, and came THIS close to actually being a regular season player.

Kobe Bryant is showing all dads the key exercise to making a day at Disneyland into a core-strengthening, arm-building session ... THE PRINCESS LIFT.

Here's Mamba demonstrating the exercise at the Happiest Place On Earth this past weekend ... carrying his 1-year-old daughter, Bianka Bella, around ... with great technique.

BTW, it's working ... look at the size of Kobe's arms -- they are legitimately bursting out of his shirt and the veins are aggressive and frightening.

The horse that won the Kentucky Derby can be one of the greatest of ALL TIME ... so says trainer Bob Baffert, who just compared Justify to LeBron James!

Yes, LEBRON JAMES!!!

Justify beat everyone's ass at Churchill Downs this weekend -- racking up another Derby victory for Baffert, who many consider the greatest racehorse trainer EVER!

So, when we saw the silver-haired horse god at LAX, we had to ask about his new superstar.

"Oh, he looks like LeBron," Baffert says ... "Big, powerful, athletic face. Very rare. VERY rare. He's a beast."

We asked if we could start putting Justify in the same conversation as American Pharoah -- who won the Triple Crown -- and Baffert told us it's not a crazy comparison.

"He's up there with him," Baffert said ... "outstanding horse."

Sorry, Drake ... your trash talkin' doesn't stand a chance against Julius Randle, 'cause the L.A. Lakers star says he's way too locked in during games to get distracted by celeb hecklers.

It was a hot topic in sports this week when the NBA issued a warning to the 6 God for "bad language" towards Cavs bruiser Kendrick Perkins ... after he allegedly called Perk a "f*cking p*ssy."

We asked Randle what he thought about the whole situation ... and he laughed it off (probably 'cause he's so used to playing against celebs in L.A. all the time.)

Corey Clement is #30 on the field, but his new body art is all about #23 ... 'cause the Eagles star got a freakishly realistic tat of Michael Jordan on his leg!!

Clement clearly ain't afraid of the needle ... he got tats honoring his Super Bowl win just days after the game -- with an eagle on his forearm and 'SBLII' letters on his neck.

But it's just the beginning for the young RB ... 'cause the dude's following Odell Beckham's lead and getting his whole leg tatted with his favorite legends -- starting with His Airness!!

TMZ Sports spoke with CC's tattoo artist, Dan Czar ... who says he did a private 5-hour tat sesh at Clement's New Jersey home on Thursday.

BTW -- Czar's been blowing up in the sports world ... he's done work on stars like Johnny Manziel, Jihad Ward and Sidney Jones.

Czar says Corey wants to cover his leg with all his inspirations ... and reveals Jimi Hendrix will be the next addition to the sleeve.

Too Short thinks it's hilarious that Drake got an official warning from the NBA over his NSFW trash talk -- and says the Toronto Raptors would be better off if he never opened his mouth in the first place!

As we previously reported, Drake got scolded by the league after reportedly calling Kendrick Perkins a "f*cking p*ssy" during the Raptors vs. Cavs playoff game this week. Good times.

Now, Short says Drake's antics are actually HURTING the team he's trying to support.

"The Raptors are down 0-2 [in the series] ... it might be 1-1 or 2-0 Raptors if he wasn't sitting on the sidelines," Short says!

"He's motivating other teams!"

If you need a reminder that Lakers coach Luke Walton was once one of the best athletes on the planet ... we have video of him KILLING it at beach volleyball.

The video was posted by pro volleyball players the McKibbin Brothers, and shows Walton holding his own on a court with AVP pros Casey Patterson, Sean Rosenthal, Stafford Slick and Chase Budinger.

Walton is blockin', spikin', and settin' like one of the pros ... using his 6'8" frame to dominate out there on the sand, and we're being serious ... THE DUDE CAN REALLY PLAY.

Kevin Hart had a very serious scare while landing in Boston for the 76ers game -- when the tire on his private jet blew out as the plane touched down on the runway.

Miraculously, the pilot was able to safely land the plane despite the tire drama -- and emergency personnel rushed to the jet to help out upon landing.

"My first airplane scare on the runway," Hart said ... "We caught a flat as we touched down."

You can see the tire is almost all the way blown off. It's a miracle no one was hurt.

"Ya boy got angels on his back," Hart said ... "I got real-life angels on my back."

The NBA has warned Drake about using bad language at NBA games after the rapper reportedly called Cleveland Cavs star Kendrick Perkins a "f***ing p*ssy."

Drake had gotten into it with Perkins on the floor of the Cavs vs. Toronto Raptors game at the Air Canada Centre ... with one reporter claiming Drake essentially challenged the guy to a fight.

Now, the NBA has issued an official warning to Drake about "the use of bad language" ... this according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

In fact, Woj says the NBA's exec V.P. of basketball operations, Kiki VanDeWeghe, spoke with Raptors president Masai Ujiri to help get the point across.

Talk about an overreaction -- James Harden reached out and smacked the crap out of a Jazz fan's cell phone Wednesday all over some harmless heckling ... and the cops were involved.

But get this ... despite the fact the fan was on the receiving end of the smack, the cops treated HIM like the bad guy and scolded him for talking trash at a basketball game.

So, what was the heckle that sent Harden over the edge?

"You're still the worst flopper in the NBA."

The fan was behind a barricade at the time of the incident and posed no physical threat to Harden. Still, the Houston Rockets star smacked the guy's phone anyway.

The fan was flabbergasted when cops chastised him -- even though he pointed out that HE was the one who was physically assaulted.

Eventually, the fan went back to his seat and promised not to stand behind the barricade for the rest of the game. No arrests were made.

If Charles Barkley and Draymond Green actually do come to blows ... DRAYMOND WOULD GET ROCKED -- so says UFC fighter Kelvin Gastelum!!

You know the backstory ... Charles said he wants to punch Draymond in the face. Draymond told Charles to bring it on.

So, who wins if these two actually scrap? We asked a guy who fights for a living.

"I got Charles in that," Kelvin said ... "I got experience and age in that one."

KG then dropped some "Rocky" wisdom -- "Every champion has one great fight left in him. And Charles might have it in him. He's a big dude!"

Charles has since apologized ... but c'mon -- these dudes wanna fight!!!

Meantime, Gastelum is prepping for a scrap of his own -- dude takes on Ronaldo Souza at UFC 224 next weekend in Brazil!

Kobe Bryant is talking even MORE trash about his former Lakers teammate, Smush Parker -- saying crappy teammates like Smush forced him to score 81 points back in 2006.

Yeah, it's been more than 12 YEARS since Kobe went insane on the Toronto Raptors ... but he still can't pass up an opportunity to dunk all over Smush -- a guy he hated back in the day.

This time, Kobe was doing a Q&A at USC back on April 2, when he was asked a trivia question -- who was the Lakers 2nd leading scorer in that legendary game?

When he learned it was Smush ... Kobe pulled a face and fired off some shots.

"What did he have, 4?"

Smush actually dropped 13 that day ... but Kobe didn't care and continued the attack.

"Now you know why I had to score 81" ... suggesting his supporting cast was pure trash.

Julius Erving says he's not hurt by Kanye West's comments about slavery being a choice -- he's more hurt by comments that have come out of Donald Trump's White House.

We spotted the NBA Hall of Famer at Ronald Reagan airport in Virginia on Wednesday -- and with such an extensive background in civil rights activism, we had to ask about the Kanye West interview on "TMZ Live."

"He's entitled to his opinion," Erving said.

As for the impact of Kanye's statements on slavery, Erving explained -- "It doesn't hurt me personally because he's only one individual."

"It hurts more to hear things that are coming out of the White House."

Waffle House hero James Shaw Jr. appeared on 'Ellen' and revealed that his favorite player is Dwyane Wade ... so, guess who Ellen brought out onstage?!

BOOM! SHE BROUGHT OUT D-WADE!!!

The moment was incredible ... Wade told Shaw that he doesn't just consider him an "American hero" -- but he's also the perfect role model for his kids.

Shaw was clearly touched by Wade's words -- but it didn't stop there.

Wade asked Shaw what good he hopes can come from the terrible April 22 shooting in Nashville, TN -- and Shaw said he's now on a mission to bring awareness to mental health problems in the U.S.

Wade, again impressed, then brought out a special gift to help Shaw fulfill his mission.

Drake's beef with NBA player Kendrick Perkins went from 0 to 100 real quick ... the two shouted at each other during the Raptors vs. Cavs game -- with Drake reportedly calling him a "f***ing p*ssy."

The two started exchanging words at halftime ... with things getting so heated one of the Cavs players was holding Drake back.

Things continued after the game when Drake shouted to Perkins that he's a "f***ing p*ssy" and challenged him to come out of the tunnel, according to the Toronto Star's Bruce Arthur.

FYI, Perkins is 6'10" and 270 lbs.

After the game, Perkins told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, "What happened was I was talking to my old teammate Serge [Ibaka] walking into halftime telling him 'We about to win this game,' and Drake butted in talking sh*t to me. So I said something back to him."

Drake's a Raptors superfan -- but he's also friends with a ton of NBA stars.