NBA

Joel Embiid is adding to his medal collection -- just days after winning gold at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, the NBA star was awarded the "Order of Valor" in his home country of Cameroon.

The special moment happened on Wednesday in the Central African country ... with the Sixers center surrounded by fans as he made his way to meet Cameroon President Paul Biya.

Once Embiid entered the building, he was approached by President Biya, who greeted him with the Medal of Commander of the Order of Valor -- an honor given to Cameroon natives who have made "exceptional contributions in the fields of arts, science, agriculture, commerce, or industry."

It's 2024, and men aren't the only ones proposing nowadays!

Just ask Gilbert Arenas' fiancée ... who returned the favor, asking the former NBA star to marry her just weeks after he got down on one knee asking her the same question.

Confusing, we know. Here's a breakdown.

A piece of Kobe Bryant's legacy is no longer on the market ... the warm-up jacket he wore before his last-ever NBA game has just sold at auction -- and it netted the seller a small fortune!

TMZ Sports has learned ... the threads the Black Mamba donned just prior to dropping 60 points on the Utah Jazz back in April 2016 at the Staples Center racked up 35 bids -- and officially sold for $336,000.

The jacket -- which was photo-matched for authenticity -- had been up on the SCP Auctions block since mid-July.

Steph Curry wasn't the only American basketball star gettin' buckets this weekend ... DeMar DeRozan WENT OFF in the Drew League Championship, bringing home the title, and an MVP award!

The 2024 title game went down Sunday in front of hundreds of fans at the King/Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles.

DeRozan and his team, the Mecca Cheaters, faced the Nationwide Souljas ... and won 114 to 113 in a nail-biting championship game.

What's crazy ... the MCs were down by 16 with only five minutes left ... but thanks to DeRozan's epic performance they made a furious comeback. DD finished with 54 points, 11 rebounds and three assists.

The Team USA men's basketball team is hours away from competing for Olympic gold ... so in honor of the big showdown with France, TMZ Sports presents the lovely wives and girlfriends of the Red, White and Blue!!

"Captain America" LeBron James' high school sweetheart-turned-wife, Savannah, leads the charge ... with the Queen -- as well as the whole James gang -- showing up in Paris to check out all the action so far in the competition.

Joel Embiid -- who's reppin' 'Merica for the first time at the Olympics since becoming a U.S. citizen -- is hoping to finish at the top of the podium ... and even though she's Brazilian, we're sure his Sports Illustrated swimsuit model wife, Anne de Paula, will be his biggest cheerleader when he goes toe-to-toe with Victor Wembanyama.

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.