NBA

The USA men's basketball team almost saw their gold medal dreams disappear on Thursday ... as the Red, White and Blue narrowly escaped an upset in a nail-biter against Serbia in the Olympics semifinals.

America was playing catchup for the majority of the game ... with Nikola Jokic and Bojan Bogdanović ballin' out for Serbia. The Joker finished with 17 points and Bogdanović led the squad with 20 of his own.

But in the waning moments of the contest, Stephen Curry, LeBron James and the rest of Team USA found enough in the tank to erase the lead and pull out the dramatic victory -- punching their tickets to a finals matchup with Team France and Victor Wembanyama.

Noah Lyles is a true world champion ... crowned the "World's Fastest Man" after winning the 100m dash -- months after he told NBA champs to stop calling themselves world champions.

The Olympian just took gold in the men's 100m in a heart-stopping finish ... narrowly edging out Jamaica's Kishane Thompson by .005 seconds to win Olympic Gold.

In fact, the race was so close commentators initially thought Thompson won ... before the photo finish proved otherwise.

It's time to start buying into the Cooper Flagg hype if ya haven't already ... 'cause NBA star Jaime Jaquez Jr. tells TMZ Sports that after playing with the phenom this summer, he's the real deal.

Flagg -- the No. 1-ranked H.S. player in the nation in the 2024 class -- and Jaquez Jr. teamed up to help prep America's men's national squad for the Olympics in early July ... and Flagg put on a show.

According to those in the Las Vegas gym at the time, he dazzled as he repeatedly got buckets against LeBron James, Steph Curry and the rest of Team USA's roster.

Stephen Curry is used to people approaching him asking for autographs and pictures, but the tables were turned in Paris -- with the Golden State Warriors superstar geeking out over the Team USA women's table tennis squad!!

The cool moment occurred at the men's basketball practice ... when Curry made sure to hang out with the guests of the hour -- and was handed the ball by one of the coaches. Curry then asked the team to add their Hancocks to the tiny surface area.

Curry returned the favor to the team ... as he signed some merch as well -- much to the group's delight.

The locker Kobe Bryant used during his historic NBA career has found a new owner ... and the final price was a whopping $2.88 MILLION!!

The bidding for the extremely rare piece of Kobe memorabilia closed on Friday, August 2 ... the same day the Black Mamba is slated to be honored with a second statue outside the venue he made famous, with this iteration featuring his daughter, Gianna.

The final price for the locker -- which was removed from the Staples Center during renovations in 2008 -- was $2,880,000, far exceeding the estimated amount.

Chris Paul unloaded his California mansion -- a massive estate with awesome amenities including a saltwater pool and home theater -- for over $15 million!

The future Hall of Famer, who last played for the Warriors before signing with the San Antonio Spurs in July, put the Encino property on the market this summer with realtor Ikem Chukumerije ... and now TMZ Sports has learned it sold for $15,150,000 this week.

If it's ever possible for $15 mil to be a bargain, it's here. The 12,830 square foot property comes with eight bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, and a kitchen that'd make Gordon Ramsay jealous.

Bronny James is already ballin' with LeBron in the NBA -- at least, in the Association's virtual world -- check out the new trailer for NBA 2K25 ... the guys are connecting on sick alley-oops!!

The teaser for the insanely popular hoops video game dropped on Thursday ... and all the usual suspects were featured in it -- including Jayson Tatum, Steph Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kyrie Irving.

LeBron, of course, was all over it as well ... but if you take a closer look at who one of his most prominent teammates was in the footage -- it was none other than his 19-year-old son, Bronny.

Kobe Bryant's last NBA game was iconic ... and now the warm-up the Lakers legend rocked before dropping 60 points on the Jazz is on the auction block!

The famed game went down on April 13, 2016 at Staples Center ... when a 37-year-old Bryant led his Lake Show squad to a second-half comeback after trailing Utah by 15 points.

Mamba went 22 for 50 from the field, and 10-12 from the free throw line ... and he was unstoppable late in the contest. It was the last time Bryant was on the hardwood as a player ... capping his nearly unmatched 20 season career.

It sure looks like Marcus Jordan's got a new woman in his life ... Michael's son was seen out with a pretty lady in France this week -- and their subtle PDA suggests they're certainly more than just friends.

Check out some videos Instagram model Ashley Stevenson posted to her social media page Wednesday night ... she and MJ were out at Bâoli Cannes getting awfully close.

The two sat next to each other at a table -- and at one point, she stroked his inner thigh while they grinned ear-to-ear for a camera.

Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards got an early scouting report on Team USA table tennis ... pulling up to watch Lily Zhang win her round-of-32 matchup after he challenged the whole squad to a showdown!!

Edwards made the appearance after the hilarious exchange he had with the star table tennis athletes on the River Seine during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics ... when he expressed his interest in testing his talents against them -- much to Stephen Curry's pleasure.

"They said they can smack you 21 nothing," Curry said.

LeBron James and Coco Gauff didn't let rain ruin their big moment at the 2024 Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony ... the two raised the American flag high and proud on the Team USA boat -- with big smiles on their faces!!

The tennis superstar and future basketball Hall of Famer were selected to be the flag bearers earlier this week ... and when it came time to shine on the Seine River on Friday -- they didn't disappoint.

The pair rocked white Ralph Lauren Olympic fits -- and despite sleeting rain -- they grabbed the Star-Spangled Banner and led the way for all of the Americans who will compete in the upcoming Games.

TNT isn't about to lose its media rights deal with the NBA without a fight ... it just sued the basketball org. -- claiming it has a "contractual right" to continue to broadcast its games going forward.

The media company -- whose parent organization is Warner Bros. Discovery -- filed the lawsuit in New York on Friday ... just days after Adam Silver revealed the NBA is moving on with Amazon Prime Video.

In their suit, TNT officials claim the NBA legally cannot accept Amazon's deal -- as they say they matched the offer to a T.

Charles Barkley is finally speaking out on the NBA's breakup with TNT ... and it's clear as day, he's pissed over the split.

The former Phoenix Suns superstar unloaded on the Association in a statement on Friday morning ... nearly two days after Adam Silver's league decided to move on from Turner Sports in favor of a new media rights deal with Amazon Prime Video.

Barkley -- who's been a part of TNT's wildly popular "Inside the NBA" program for decades -- called the league's decision greedy ... while accusing its officials of never really giving TNT a fair shake in the negotiation process.

Gilbert Arenas is issuing a direct mea culpa to Luol Deng for his xenophobic comments about South Sudan's men's basketball team ... this after the African former NBA star released a powerful statement addressing the whole ordeal.

As we previously reported, Arenas faced a ton of backlash for going on an offensive rant on Saturday ... shortly after LeBron James and Team USA squeaked by South Sudan prior to the Olympics. Celtics legend Paul Pierce also found himself in hot water for making similar remarks during an appearance on "Undisputed."

The ex-Bulls and Lakers forward -- who serves as the president of the South Sudan Basketball Federation -- broke his silence on both Arenas and Pierce's controversial words directed at his native country's team ... saying he wasn't upset or angry by their words, but more "disappointed" it came from two former colleagues he's always respected.

2:45 PM PT -- TNT isn't going down without a fight ... saying it will take appropriate action after the league "grossly misinterpreted our contractual rights" regarding their relationship moving forward.

"We have matched the Amazon offer, as we have a contractual right to do so, and do not believe the NBA can reject it," the company said in a statement.

The NBA just announced it has reached a media rights agreement with Amazon Prime Video for 2025 and beyond ... saying Warner Bros. Discovery's bid simply wasn't up to snuff.

The deal means the upcoming 2024-25 season will be the league's last with TNT ... bringing the beloved "Inside the NBA" program to an end.

"Warner Bros. Discovery's most recent proposal did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video's offer and, therefore, we have entered into a long-term arrangement with Amazon," the league said in a statement.

Team USA's starting Olympics flag bearer lineup is set ... two days after the Americans picked LeBron James to be the male one -- they announced Coco Gauff will be the female one.

The two will hold the Stars and Stripes high and proud at the Games' opening ceremony festivities on Friday in France ... and when the tennis star learned of the honor on Wednesday, she was pumped.

After some initial shock, she told TODAY she had "no words, honestly."