NBA

Here's Kevin Durant & Kyrie Irving showing that, while they play for different NBA teams, they're on the same squad when it comes to one thing ... HOT CHICKS.

Durant & Irving hit up Wet Republic in Vegas this past weekend, where Irving's girlfriend, Chantel Jeffries, was DJ'ing her first set at the legendary pool party.

KD was making the most of the occasion ... taking shots, and spending a lot of time talking and seeming to have fun with model Jocelyn Chew.

If you remember, Chew popped out of a cake at Joel Embiid's 24th bday back in March ... making some people think maybe the two were an item ... although it was never confirmed.

The next generation of the Big Baller Brand empire has arrived -- Lonzo Ball's girlfriend has given birth to a baby girl, TMZ Sports has learned.

We broke the story back in February ... the 20-year-old Zo and his high school sweetheart, Denise Garcia, were expecting a baby baller of their own.

A family rep confirms Zoey Christina Ball was born on Sunday. We're told the baby girl is as happy and healthy as can be.

Lonzo and Denise started dating back when they were kids in Chino Hills.

The Chargers need tight end help now that Hunter Henry is done for the year ... and Geno Smith's got the perfect guy for the job -- ANTONIO GATES!!

The new Los Angeles quarterback told us he's hopin' the Bolts bring back the future Hall of Famer -- and his reasoning is pretty simple.

"Gates is a legend!"

Fair enough.

We also asked Geno if he thinks LeBron James is the top talent in Los Angeles now ... and Geno doesn't disagree!

Damian Lillard, Kevin Durant, Victor Oladipo, Iman Shumpert and Andre Drummond -- a pretty good starting five on the hardwood, right?!

Well, Drummond says it's also a fivesome he's rollin' to the music studio with -- 'cause they all spit fire on the mic!!

Andre -- better known as Dre Drumm in the rap community -- has serious game when it comes to rhyme and flow ... so, we had to ask -- who's the best musician in the NBA??

Drummond wouldn't reveal an MVP -- but he did give us an all-star team.

"Between myself, Iman Shumpert, Dame Lillard, you know Kevin Durant raps ... Victor Oladipo is another artist that does music in the NBA too!"

Sylvester Stallone's birthday celebration rolled into Bev Hills Friday, and we got him to weigh in on who's the real NBA G.O.A.T. ... when it comes to securing a reso around town.

Sly was leaving Nazareth's Fine Cigars smoke lounge when we asked him who he thought restaurants would rather seat at their last available table -- Kobe Bryant or LeBron James? Tough one, right? One's the established L.A. legend, and the other's the new kid on the block ... but also an NBA legend.

Rocky didn't duck the question, and sorry, Kobe -- he went with LBJ! Although, he offered a diplomatic explanation for his pick.

Sly turned 72 earlier this month, but we kept the party going with a belated gift.

Kenyon Martin Jr. is like a Magic Johnson Jr. when it comes to LeBron James Jr. -- putting on the full-court press to get him to commit to his insanely high-profile California high school.

Of course, Kenyon -- one of the top high school players in the country -- is going into his senior year at Sierra Canyon ... playing alongside Scottie Pippen's son and other NBA spawn.

The school's basketball program is crazy famous -- drawing super high-profile fans like Drake and Kanye West. Also, Marvin Bagley -- the #2 pick in the draft -- just graduated from SC.

As we previously reported, LeBron's son, Bronny -- widely considered the #1 rated 13-year-old hooper -- is seriously considering going to Sierra Cnayon ... but nothing's in stone yet.

But, Kenyon Jr. is hoping he can help steer Bronny in the right direction -- it's a pretty good sales pitch.

Obviously, they won't end up playing together -- Kenyon graduates in 2019 ... and he's already getting offers from top colleges including Georgetown, Memphis, Oklahoma, Oregon State and UCSB.

Russell Wilson and Ciara are pocketing their babysitter dough tonight -- no need for one when you have to attend a Hollywood event that's actually for the kids.

Ronda Rousey and Travis Browne, Michael Phelps and Nicole Phelps also showed up -- families in tow -- for the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Sports Awards Thursday night in Santa Monica. Kinda the perfect award show follow-up to the ESPYs.

Master P says the Raptors' GM is about to be fired ... 'cause he thinks there's no way in hell the DeMar DeRozan trade works out -- telling TMZ Sports, DeMar "was bigger than Vince Carter" in Toronto!!

We got P out at L.A. Live ... and he didn't mince words when it came to his disdain for the swap that sent DeMar to the Spurs for Kawhi Leonard.

"Kawhi Leonard's a hell of a player, but he showed the team he was on that he didn't want to be there, so what you think they going to get?"

P tells us DeMar was so good for the Raptors ... they need to build a statue of him in Canada, and they need to do it before one of V.C. is raised.

"He still deserves a statue," P says. "He put that city on the map -- the country on the map as far as basketball."

OH NO ... BACKPACK KID GOT SERVED!!!!!

Shiggy -- the dude behind the "In My Feelings" challenge -- had a real-life dance battle with Backpack Kid at an ESPYs after-party on Wednesday ... and went BADLY for the BPK dude.

First off, we love Backpack Kid -- he's always been super cool to us -- but, man, SHIGGY JUST CAUGHT A BODY!!!

At one point, Shiggy DANCE-ATE Backpack Kid's heart.

The athletes were lovin' it ... everyone from Lakers star Josh Hart to Rams RB Todd Gurley to new Magic center Mo Bamba to Panthers wideout Devin Funchess had their cameras out, egging the whole thing on.

R.I.P. Backpack Kid.

The 26th annual ESPYs brought the feels early with an intense recap of the year's most exciting and touching sports moments ... then Danica Patrick lightened the mood.

Danica -- the show's first ever female host -- came out hard with jokes ... about Cleveland sports, J.R. Smith's Finals blunder, LeBron's hair, Ben Simmons joining the Kardashians -- and even the National Anthem controversy.

As you can see, some went over better than others.

Then it was on to the awards, with Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell kicking things off with an ESPY win for Best Breakthrough Athlete. Other winners included the U.S. Women's Hockey Team for Best Game, Baker Mayfield for Best College Athlete, and Nick Foles for Best Championship Performance.

Chloe Kim took home the ESPY for Best Female Athlete, Alex Ovechkin nabbed Best Male ... and the Houston Astros won Best Team.

The evening also included powerful tributes to Bills QB legend Jim Kelly, who received the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance, Best Coach going to the 3 coaches killed in the Parkland shooting ... and the sister survivors of sexual abuse by Larry Nassar being honored with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

What rivalry?

LeBron James and Kevin Durant left a Hollywood bar together on Wednesday night with Draymond Green ... and TMZ Sports has the footage.

The NBA superstars -- along with a ton of other athletes -- were leaving The Highlight Room rooftop lounge ... and when LeBron got to the street, a ton of fans were there to greet him.

Check out the top of the video -- the guy in the white hoodie who's talking with Bron looks a lot like Draymond.

The Lakers star thanked some of the people who welcomed him to L.A. -- and then walked to his waiting car ... followed by Kevin Durant.

We tried to talk with KD -- and a guy asked for the Golden State Warrior star's autograph -- but Durant made it clear he wasn't in the mood to talk with normies.

Turns out, the guys were all hanging out at a post-ESPY's party thrown by LeBron's Uninterrupted media platform -- with huge stars like Floyd Mayweather, Jamie Foxx, Drake, Future and Kevin Hart in attendance.

DeMar DeRozan is getting a touching goodbye message from his good friend, Drake ... with the Toronto Raptors ambassador pouring his heart out for the freshly traded NBA star.

The 6 God weighed in on the face of the franchise getting shipped to San Antonio in exchange for Kawhi Leonard on Thursday ... saying, "To my brother @demar_derozan I want to say 10 million thank you’s on behalf of YOUR city. You are a fixture in Toronto forever and you gave everything you had."

"Through your leadership we had the most exciting years in franchise history. I am grateful to have witnessed your combination of skill, persistence, and loyalty from the same seats every night. Thank you for being an incredible captain and an even better friend."

It's a nice gesture from Drake ... but, DeRozan is reportedly super pissed about the deal ... and feels the team lied to him about their plans for the future.

Kenny Smith is siding with DeMar DeRozan -- telling TMZ Sports the Toronto Raptors screwed over their star player by not telling him he was going to be traded to the San Antonio Spurs.

Little backstory ... DeRozan sounded off on Instagram hours before the trade was announced -- saying, "Be told one thing & the outcome another. Can't trust em. Ain't no loyalty in this game. Sell you out quick for a little bit of nothing..."

Smith says if that's really the way it went down -- that's bad business on the part of the Raptors ... especially since DeRozan is "the reason people even watch Toronto basketball."

"No one watched Toronto basketball," he added ... "Between him and Vince Carter, they put Toronto on the map."

Blake Griffin was living the life in Miami over the weekend ... where his smokeshow girlfriend, Francesca Aiello, turned every single head on the beach ... for obvious reasons.

Blake and Francesca -- who owns Frankies Bikinis -- have been super tight over the last few months ... ever since the NBA star broke things off with Kendall Jenner.

The two took things to a private cabana in Miami Beach on Sunday with a group of friends -- where they packed on the PDA ... including a few moments where she laid right on top of him.

Good times.

Movie stars ain't the only ones fallin' all over themselves to work with LeBron now that he's in Hollywood ...

YG tells TMZ Sports he's absolutely open to a music collab with LBJ if the King wants to do one.

"I f*ck with LeBron," YG says. "Hell yeah, that n**** can get a YG feature!"

One problem ... YG says it probably ain't gonna happen -- 'cause Bron's too old for rap dreams.

What YG may be forgetting is that LeBron has dabbled in rap before -- in fact, TMZ Sports has Bron's tracks from a 2014 session with his pal, Sian Cotton ... when the two hit a recording studio in Ohio.

In the song, titled "Kingdom" -- Bron raps about docking his yacht off the coast of France, having dope cars and TWO RINGS!!

Amber Rose and her new boyfriend, Monte Morris, are serious ... so serious they've decided they're gonna be in an exclusive, committed relationship.

Sources close to the couple tell us they recently started telling friends they're no longer dating other people. The first pics of them together in public surfaced this week.

We're told they met through mutual friends over a year ago, but only started hooking up last month ... long after she and 21 Savage broke up. Monte only told Amber how he felt AFTER he found out she was single.