Toronto Raptors

Kendrick Perkins and JJ Redick don't always see eye to eye when debating sports, but the NBA champ tells TMZ Sports he loves the idea of the former three-point sniper becoming an NBA head coach -- saying, "He knows his s***."

We caught up with Perkins at LAX, where we asked how he felt about the Raptors reportedly interviewing Redick for the open spot after they fired Nick Nurse following a disappointing season, and he gave his ESPN colleague a ringing endorsement.

"I actually love it, to be honest with you," Perkins told us. "One thing about it, he [Redick] knows his s***. Also, on top of that, man, any time you can see a former player that played the game get an opportunity to go sit in that seat, you would love to see it."

Perk said if Toronto hires Redick ahead of other viable candidates with more coaching experience, he would feel bad. Nevertheless, Perk told us he'd be happy if Redick became an NBA head coach, believing he brings value to any team's locker room.

"Obviously, he's jumping ahead of a few guys that I would love to see get an opportunity that's been waiting in line," Perk said. "Sam Cassell. Phil Handy. You hate to see it because those guys served as assistants for about 10, 15, 20 years."

"But you always want to see a guy like JJ do it. He knows his s***," he continued.

Perkins and Redick have gained popularity for their spirited back-and-forth on "First Take" about who should win the NBA MVP Award this season, but Kendrick reassured fans it's all love between him and JJ and gave the impression there's mutual respect on both sides.

If DeMar DeRozan will allow the Bulls' not-so-secret weapon, a.k.a. his daughter, Diar to miss school on Friday, the screeching 9-year-old free throw disruptor has a free ride to Miami ... courtesy of United Airlines.

Diar became an overnight sensation following Wednesday night's game ... where she repeatedly screamed while the Raptors players shot free throws, which appears to have worked!

Toronto missed half of their free throws -- going 18 of 36 from the charity stripe -- in the elimination game that they lost 109-105. The Raptors normally shoot nearly 80 percent ... meaning they left about 10 points (and a win) on the table.

The Raptors are now home.

As for Chicago, in order to advance, the Bulls must beat the Heat tonight in Miami ... and United say they have a seat aboard one of their jets for Diar.

"The flight's on us. What do you say, @DeMar_DeRozan? We’d love to take Diar’s talents to South Beach," the airline tweeted.

It makes sense. The Bulls play at the United Center ... the arena inked a 20-year extension for the naming rights in 2013.

Although Diar has become a fan-favorite in Chicago, DeMar said she won't attend Friday night's win-or-go-home game, explaining she has to get back to school.

The Chicago Bulls' MVP on Wednesday night wasn't Zach LaVine, Nicola Vucevic or DeMar DeRozan ... no, it was DeRozan's 9-year-old daughter, whose screams led to some of the best free throw defense in NBA history!!!

Here's the deal ... the Bulls needed to beat Toronto at Scotiabank Arena in order to keep their playoff hopes alive -- and they got an unexpected super assist from DeRozan's little girl to make it all happen.

During every free throw that the Raptors took in the 9-seed vs. 10-seed play-in game, Diar DeRozan unleashed blood-curdling shrieks from her seat in the stands ... and it absolutely befuddled Toronto players!!

Check out video from the game's broadcast ... you can hear Diar loud and clear -- and you can see Raptors players were visibly bothered by it!

In total, Toronto missed 18 of its 36 strokes from the charity stripe -- the most free throw misses in an NBA elimination game in over 50 years -- and wound up losing the game, 109-105.

After the win, DeMar said it all almost didn't happen -- because he was tempted to leave Diar at home so she wouldn't miss school. But, he told reporters he was sure glad he ultimately allowed her to come.

"I owe her some money," he said. "For sure."

The bad news for the Bulls, though ... DeRozan says Diar won't be able to make it for their do-or-die game on Friday against the Miami Heat -- as she has classes to get back to.

Toronto Raptors star Fred VanVleet blasted NBA referees Wednesday night ... calling some of them "d***s" who are trying to "f*** the game up."

VanVleet received a technical foul -- his eighth of the season -- from NBA ref Ben Taylor with 7:02 remaining in the third quarter against the Clippers ... and the point guard was clearly pissed about the tech when speaking with reporters in his postgame news conference.

"I don't mind, I'll take a fine, I don't really care," VanVleet said. "I thought Ben Taylor was f***ing terrible tonight. I think that on most nights, you know out of the three [officials], there's one or two that just f*** the game up. It's been like that a couple of games in a row."

He continued ... "[Losing to] Denver was tough, obviously. You come out tonight, competing pretty hard, and I get a bulls*** tech that changes the whole dynamic of the game, changed the whole flow of the game."

"Most of the refs are trying hard. I like a lot of the refs, they're trying hard, they're pretty fair, they communicate well. And then you got the other ones who just want to be d***s and just kind of f*** the game up. And nobody's coming to see that s***. They come to see the players."

FVV said the reason the Raptors lost, 108-100, to the Clippers is that they got outplayed ... but he did say dealing with officials who appear to have beef with him makes it an uphill battle for his team.

"I think we're losing a little bit of the fabric of what the NBA is and was," VanVleet said. "It's been disappointing this season. You could look up most of my techs this year have been with Ben Taylor officiating. At a certain point, as a player, you feel it's personal."

"That's never a good place to be."

The Toronto Raptors created a video in honor of Women's History Month this week ... and after it was met with backlash, they quickly deleted it -- and now, they're apologizing for it all.

The clip featured three Raptors players answering why they believe the statement "girls run the world" is a fact.

Two of the players, Malachi Flynn and Precious Achiuwa, gave cringeworthy responses.

"They are the only one that can procreate," Flynn said.

"They birth everybody," Achiuwa said.

Scottie Barnes had a more palatable answer, simply stating, "all women are great because they are queens." But, that wasn't enough to stop critics from blasting the video on social media as soon as it was posted.

Many called it tone deaf and offensive -- and the Raptors took it down a short time later.

On Thursday, the team offered up an apology for it in a statement to the Toronto Sun.

"We're an organization that prides itself on doing the right thing when it comes to inclusion and representation, and we made a mistake [Tuesday]," Toronto officials said. "Our sincerest apologies to our players, our staff and our fans -- we'll work to do better today and every day after."

Drake was toting a camcorder for weeks leading up to his and 21 Savage's No. 1 album "Her Loss," and now that footage's coming out in their "Rich Flex" music vid -- a party romp featuring various celebs and pro athletes.

The visual lives up to his exorbitant billing -- Drake captured A-1 activities ranging from courtside at a Toronto Raptors game with head coach Nick Nurse and DeMar DeRozan to soaking up Jack Harlow's “Come Home The Kids Miss You Tour" ... where the "First Class" rapper stopped the show to give him a special shout out.

Brooklyn Nets hostage Kevin Durant, comedian Druski, 2 Chainz and plenty of strip club singles help round out the star power for the Drake-shot clip.

Drake also got exclusive footage of Lil Wayne's grill during his surprise set at this year's Weezyana Fest, and Lil Yachty is also spotted in the clip ... having brought the Wock back from Poland.

Drake and 21 might have royally pissed off Megan The Stallion, Serena Williams, Nas and Kodak Black with their album rollout, but their antics paid off in Billboard and streaming numbers.

Their "Her Loss" debut was the biggest for an R&B/hip-hop album in 2022 with 404,000 equivalent album units -- making it Drake's 12th No. 1 album and 21's third.

The jokes about Drake's jump shot might no longer be allowable -- the rapper just showed off his 3-point stroke repeatedly in a skills contest against Carmelo Anthony ... and it's seriously improving!!!

The "Honestly Nevermind" rapper visited Nike's headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon this week ... and participated in a 3-point competition. And, according to footage obtained XXL Magazine, he drained (most of) his shots!

In the short clip, Drake nailed his first basket. The camera then panned away for a bunch of his other attempts, but it did ultimately come back around to catch a few more of his makes.

The makes weren't enough to beat Melo, though ... with the All-Star heating up and crushing him as Jayson Tatum and Russell Westbrook watched nearby.

Of course, Drake didn't always use to look like this on the court ... in fact, he famously used to be the owner of a busted jump shot.

You'll recall, while warming up with the Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team back in 2014, he actually air-balled one of his jumpers.

But the diehard Toronto Raptors fan has clearly worked on his game since then ... and the hard work seems to be paying off.

Tichina Arnold is back on the market, legally speaking ... TMZ has learned her long and bitter divorce process is over.

According to legal docs obtained by TMZ ... a judge signed off on Tichina's divorce from longtime basketball coach DaRico Hines on July 15.

It's certainly been a long time coming. As we've reported, the "Martin" star made the announcement she'd be divorcing Rico way back in 2016 ... after she claimed there was a sex tape of him with another woman.

A rep for Hines, who currently works for the Toronto Raptors, declined to comment specifically on the allegations but acknowledged the couple was dealing with a "private and deeply personal matter" during that time.

But, it wasn't until August of last year that she finally went forward with filing the paperwork -- yeah, more than 5 years later. On the docs, she noted the usual irreconcilable differences, but did list the date of separation as January 12, 2016 ... about 3-and-a-half years after they tied the knot.

Joel Embiid walked the walk against Drake's beloved Raptors ... and then he talked the talk to the rapper -- hilariously clowning the guy after hitting the game-winner in Philly's victory over Toronto on Wednesday.

Embiid -- who's the favorite to win the NBA's MVP award this season -- gave Drake the earful following his ridiculous overtime shot at Scotiabank Arena ... playing around with the "Hotline Bling" artist for a few seconds on the hardwood.

"Get your ass out," the 7-foot center said to Drake as he was leaving the floor. "I'm coming for the sweep, too!"

To his credit, Drake took all the trash-talk in stride ... smiling with Embiid and seemingly attempting to dish a little of it back.

Of course, Drake doesn't have too much ammo to send Embiid's way -- his Raptors are now down 3-0 in the series and are facing elimination on Saturday.

Drake, though, seemed to be deserving of Embiid's ribbing ... because Philly forward Tobias Harris revealed following the game that the rapper was trolling Embiid in the first half -- when the star center struggled.

"In the first half, Drake was over there saying, 'He can't play here!' That's what he was saying," Harris said to the media during a post-game interview.

"I said, 'He can play here, for sure.' He was like, 'Nah, he can't play here.'"

Embiid must've heard Drake's heckling ... 'cause he closed out the game with 33 points, 13 rebounds and two assists in the W.

Drake had some divided loyalties Friday night ... he's a die-hard Raptors fan but he's also buds with one LeBron James.

Drake was front and center in Toronto ... cheering on his home team with a trusty bottle of Lobos 1707 Extra Añejo by his side -- FYI ... it's LeBron's tequila company. So, in a way, he supported both his team and his pal.

Hope the booze was good, because his support for the Raptors fell on deaf ears ... they lost to the Lakers 128-123.

Drake was stunned when Russell Westbrook -- who's gotten more than his share of hate lately -- delivered big time ... with only 10 seconds left in regulation and the Lakers down by 3, Westbrook raced down the floor and scored a 3 pointer, forcing the game into OT.

Charles Oakley says Devin Booker was right to get pissed off about the Toronto Raptors mascot's free throw antics ... telling TMZ Sports the dino was crossing the line.

We spoke with Oak about the Phoenix Suns star's ongoing feud with mascots across the league ... and he says the 25-year-old should be left alone -- especially when fans aren't in the stands.

Of course, Oakley is referring to when Booker called on officials to move the Raptor from underneath the basket while at the charity stripe last week ... during a game that was played in Toronto's empty arena due to COVID-19 protocols.

Oak says if fans aren't in the stands, there's no need for the dino to be hanging out around the court ... and it definitely shouldn't be trying to impact the game.

The Knicks legend says if things get worse between Booker and mascots across the league, he thinks the NBA will intervene and tell the furry creatures to cut it out.

We also spoke with Oak about his book, "The Last Enforcer," which drops next month ... and he says he's dishing on what went down with some of the biggest names in his era.

"Tyrone Hill, Dennis Rodman, Charles Barkley Pat Riley. Everybody in the book. Bringing 'em out."

And, what'll happen if those guys get upset over what's in the book?

Devin Booker was so pissed at the Toronto Raptors' mascot during a game on Tuesday -- he made the refs move it so he could shoot free throws in peace.

For real.

The wild scene happened during the Suns' tilt with Toronto in Canada, where no fans were allowed in the building due to a recent surge in COVID cases in the area.

Toronto, though, did allow its mascot to attend ... and as Booker was shooting some crucial free throws with 6.5 seconds left in the game -- the person in the furry suit jumped up and down.

Booker nearly missed his first shot over it -- and then he was so ticked about it, he made the refs put a stop to it.

"Booker's complaining about the Raptor, the lone fan that is there," the TV broadcaster said during the game. "He's been sent away!"

Booker eventually sunk the free throws and the Suns got the W ... and afterward, Devin confirmed he was hot about the situation.

"I was just trying to get him out the way," Kendall Jenner's BF said. "It worked."

"I'd rather be shooting them without him down there. We play shooting games all the time everyday. These two do the same thing and I complain then. That's just me."

Fortunately, Booker said he and the red dinosaur will have no beef going forward ... he told media members, "We hashed it out. We're cool now."

Fred VanVleet is making a path for underprivileged kids who want to go to college and get their dream job ... by starting an academic scholarship with the University of Toronto.

The Toronto Raptors guard made the announcement on Monday ... saying it's key to help the youth in underprivileged communities as they may not have the same advantages and opportunities as others -- especially when it comes to education.

"This scholarship is important because it's going shine light on some of those who may be underserved or underprivileged in certain communities and aspects," VanVleet said via IG.

"We know there's a selection process to a lot of different scholarships and sometimes that counts people out."

The scholarship will assist a black or Indigenous student who's interested in management with four years of tuition at the local university ... as well as a $1,000 stipend for books each year.

"I would love for the scholarship to be the catalyst to start a young person's career," he added.

"That platform that they need to get access to the resources, information and education. Hopefully, they go on to do many bright and important things."

There's also an amazing bonus -- one-on-one mentoring with VanVleet, which he says is an important way to motivate those who look like him.

Drake's got enemies, got a lot of enemies, but Montrezl Harrell is NOT one of them ... so says the hooper, who claims their heated exchange that led to a technical foul was nothing more than friendly banter.

After the Raptors spent 2020-21 playing home games in Tampa, Drizzy was finally back courtside in the 6ix for the season opener on Wednesday ... and it went from 0 to 100 real quick in the 2nd quarter when the rapper appeared to get in a verbal spat with Harrell.

The Wizards forward was T'd up as a result ... and gave refs a piece of his mind as the Raps' Fred VanVleet nailed the tech free-throw.

Despite what it looked like, Harrell says there's no bad blood with Drake ... clearing the air in a postgame interview.

"Me and Drake was laughing," Harrell said. "There was no problem. Me and Drake cool. We even talked after the game."

Harrell claims he was having a chat with Drake when a Raptors coach got involved in the exchange ... and when the 27-year-old clapped back, he was hit with the tech.

Harrell will be fined $2,000 for the alleged worst behavior ... but he wants the penalty thrown out after explaining his side of the story.

"I need me money back," Harrell added.

"That definitely shouldn't of been no tech. If so, you gotta give it to me and the coach."

At the end of the day, Drake's antics didn't work -- the Raptors lost, 98-83.

Good news for Toronto Raptors fans -- and Drake -- the team just announced they'll be playing at home in 2021 after using Tampa as their home court for 19 months!!

Last season, the Raptors had to relocate to Tampa and play their home games in Amalie Arena due to Canada's travel restrictions over COVID-19.

The team hasn't played in their Scotiabank Arena since Feb. 28, 2020 -- but just got the green light to play their preseason opener at home which starts on Oct. 4 against the Sixers.

The capacity limit is still up in the air and there is a COVID vaccination mandate.

"We are optimistic regarding our ability to host full capacity events at Scotiabank Arena," the team said.

"And as a reminder, all people wishing to access the arena — whether to attend an event as a spectator, or as a member of the media — will be required to show proof of vaccination for COVID-19 or proof of a medical exemption."

The Raptors season opener is Oct. 20 against the Wizards and it will be in their city of Toronto.

Cleveland Cavaliers star Kevin Love just poured his heart out about his bizarre inbound play on Monday night ... admitting he knows he "f***ed up" and apologizing for his outburst.

32-year-old Love went viral for swatting away an inbound pass late in the 3rd quarter against the Toronto Raptors ... easily turning the ball over to the Raptors for a wide-open 3-pointer.

It appeared as if Love -- who's posting career-low numbers this season for the 21-40 Cavs -- had become fed up with the losing and just snapped.

But, the 2016 champ says that's simply not the case.

Love started off his media availability Wednesday morning with an emotional, 15-minute speech ... saying, "My intent wasn't to disrespect the game. My intent wasn't even for the damn ball to go inbounds. It was a moment that I got caught up in."

"I didn't even understand what really happened as the possession even played out. I think I was a little bit dumbfounded."

He added ... "I didn't realize how bad it looked, really, until after the game. I truly didn't ... After that, I just completely shut down. I never want that to be who I am. I don't want to have to be here and defend my character."

Love says he has apologized to his teammates for the outburst ... calling it a "moment of sheer frustration."

So, what caused the disastrous turnover?? Love says it stemmed from blown calls throughout the 112 to 96 loss.

"Not to say too much that could get me fined, but it was the officiating," Love told USA Today.

It's gotta be tough for Love -- he's averaging 11.7 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists in 18 games this season -- and the glory days of the LeBron James-era are long gone.

Love says the moment was blown way out of proportion by the media ... and he really only cares about the opinions of his teammates.

"I take this one on the chin, naturally. I'll do that as a man, I'll do that as a teammate and continue to get better. That's really all I can do."

As for his relationship status with Cleveland?? Love makes it clear he's still their guy.