TMZ Sports - Page 50

Dennis Rodman's going to bat for Luke Walton -- telling TMZ Sports he thinks the Lakers coach is doing a "very, very good job" ... but he's being treated unfairly by the organization.

"I mean, it's a sad situation," Rodman said ... "I think Luke Walton's been doing a very, very good job with the team."

The Lakers are 4-6 and Magic Johnson essentially said Luke's job is safe (for now). So, what's so unfair about the situation? Here's what he said. See if you speak Rodman ...

"I think now, all of a sudden, with a 'higher power' coming to the Lakers, called LeBron, all of a sudden now things are changing. And, his hands are tied right now."

We think Dennis means Luke isn't really free to call the shots as long as LeBron is on the team. He's basically gotta do whatever Bron wants.

There's more ... Rodman also says Luke's gotta deal with some of the young guys on the team who thought they were gonna be stars in Los Angeles until LeBron came along.

"He's taking all that limelight away from these young kids now ... It's like, the kids gotta f**king grow up."

Dennis isn't just trying to dish out advice to the Lakers -- he strongly believes people battling addiction issues can learn a lot from his agent Darren Prince, whose new book details his own struggle.

Jon Stewart REALLY wants the Mets to be good -- and REALLY wants 'em to sign Bryce Harper -- but he's also been around long enough to know they'll bungle it.

"There's no way Bryce Harper is coming to the Mets," Stewart told us in NYC ... "It's not possible!"

Harper is reportedly looking for a MASSIVE new contract (some say $400 MIL) with his eye on several teams. But Stewart says fellow Mets fans shouldn't hold their breath.

"I'm sure they just signed a 14-year-old they're sure is going to be the next Bryce Harper," Stewart says ... "but is gonna turn out to be just another asthmatic with a bat."

Jon is one of New York's most famous die-hards ... but back-to-back seasons of fewer than 80 wins have him feelin' pretty down on the Mets these days.

Still, Jon says he's holding out a scintilla of hope ... because a strong left-handed batter would be DOPE!

Joakim Noah's model girlfriend Lais Ribeiro was so damn hot in her thong bikini in Malibu this weekend -- we barely noticed the beach was littered with a ton of HUGE stars!!

Seriously ... everyone from John McEnroe to Kenny Chesney and Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber were hanging out at Laird Hamilton's pad for a Sunday funday.

But, all eyes were on Joakim and Lais ... for obvious reasons.

Joakim was waived by the Knicks last month -- and while they lost to the Washington Wizards that day, Noah was having a much better time.

Lais is one of the top lingerie models in the world and will be walking in the Victoria's Secret fashion show later this week.

She famously rocked the $2 MILLION fantasy bra at the 2017 show in China -- which Joakim could easily afford, considering he's made more than $121 MILLION playing pro basketball.

Unclear how long Joakim and Lais have been an item -- but they were reportedly spotted out clubbing back in September and have grown closer ever since.

In fact, they spent Halloween together and even had themed costumes -- he was Aquaman and she was Storm.

Keenan Allen's got a little bit of Marshawn Lynch in him -- 'cause after the Chargers WR lit up the Seahawks on Sunday, he busted a crotch grab aimed right at some Seattle fans!

TMZ Sports has the footage showing Allen walking toward the tunnel after L.A.'s 25-17 victory over Seattle ... and grabbing his junk while staring at some loud Hawks fans at CenturyLink Field in Seattle.

After two solid pumps -- Allen playfully stuck out his tongue at the fans and continued into the locker room.

Allen had a helluva game -- hauling in 6 catches for 124 yards and 2 rushes for 28 yards. He was in a good mood.

Guessing Allen will likely get fined for the gesture. Also guessing he knew that already and didn't care because he's in the middle of a 4-year deal worth up to $49 million (with $20 mil guaranteed).

For comparison, Rams star Marcus Peters was fined $13,000 for busting a crotch grab while diving into the end zone earlier this season (in a tribute to his pal, Marshawn Lynch).

Deontay Wilder learned how to floss from the creator of the dance himself in the middle of an airport this weekend ... and TMZ Sports has the amazing video.

The 6'7" Wilder and the Backpack Kid randomly ran into each other at LAX ... and, of course, a floss lesson went down.

Deontay was surprisingly terrible at it ... but tells us he might find a way to work it into one of his next fights with a little more practice.

As for BPK ... he got shown a couple moves from Wilder too -- but says he hopes The Bronze Bomber can perfect the floss and turn it into his new post-knockout routine.

The feud between 50 Cent and Floyd Mayweather is still going -- Fiddy just CLOWNED the boxer's newly announced fight, saying his opponent is more "Uber driver" than contender.

As we previously reported ... Mayweather just signed a deal to fight on New Year's Eve in Japan against an undefeated 20-year-old kickboxer, Tenshin Nasukawa.

Unclear whether the bout will be a boxing match or full-on MMA ... but, either way, 50 says it's a joke.

"Champ fighting a Uber driver before the IRS embarrass him again. Pay preview my ass, we watching this on YouTube."

50 didn't stop there ... sayin' Floyd shoulda taken on Gennady Golovkin -- writing, "What happen to GGG, couldn't find his phone number. get the f**k outta here wit this sh*t."

50 added, "Champ done turned into a circus act ... at least Canelo fighting killers."

Fitty and Floyd have been beefing on social media for months ... with Mayweather recently saying a rift between the rapper and Floyd's manager, Al Haymon, is where the tiff all started.

Talk about staying cool under pressure ... NFL legend Andre Johnson kept his composure and didn't beat a dude's ass in a Houston bar Sunday after the guy called him a "bitch" in front of everyone.

Here's the deal ... multiple witnesses tell us the Texans great walked into the Belle Station club in Houston to watch the games around 5:45 PM when a "fan" approached him and started hounding him for photographs.

We're told Andre had just walked in the club and told the guy he'd do it after he got settled in. Problem is, the "fan" wasn't in the mood to be patient and started talking trash to the WR in front of a crowd of people.

Andre confronted the guy -- and you can see in the video, obtained by TMZ Sports, he wasn't happy. At one point the guy called Andre a bitch and several people we spoke with thought Johnson was just gonna end it right there.

We spoke with Johnson's rep, Kennard McGuire who says security stepped in and Johnson walked away without ever laying a finger on the guy.

Michael Vick's down for touchdown celebrations ... but when it comes to pullin' out cell phones in the endzone like Michael Thomas did Sunday??

"It's way too much," the Falcons legend tells TMZ Sports ... "It's way too much."

The Saints superstar wideout put an exclamation point on New Orleans' win over the Rams by whippin' out a Joe Horn-style phone call after a 72-yard TD in the 4th quarter.

It was flagged ... but Horn (and a buncha others) loved it -- with the ex-Saints star telling NOLA.com, "I teared up."

But, Vick clearly didn't feel the same way ... saying the old, cell-phone-under-the-goal-post routine is bad for the sport!!

"Nah, nah, nah. No cell phones," Vick tells us ... "We don't want to corrupt the game like that."

Anthony Joshua clearly ain't sweating about whether his superfight with Deontay Wilder will ever go down ... 'cause it's kinda hard to perspire waist-deep in the Atlantic!!!!

The unified heavyweight champ hit Miami Beach on Sunday ... showing there's not a care in his rock-hard body right now about a possible AJ-Wilder tilt.

Joshua bro'd down with some buds ... splashed around in the water ... and toweled off on the sand -- all while everyone still wonders if he'll ever scrap with The Bronze Bomber.

Reports say it'll get locked in for next April ... but nobody's agreed to anything -- with Wilder shelving the talks so he can focus on his big fight with Tyson Fury on Dec. 1.

When you're about to get one of the richest contracts in sports history ... what do you get your wife for her birthday?

Bryce Harper got his wife THE BACKSTREET BOYS!!

The MLB superstar took his wife to see the guys at Planet Hollywood in Vegas over the weekend -- and not only got her backstage for a meet and greet ... but, had the guys take her on stage for a 5-on-1 serenade!

Check out the video as Kayla Harper gets a flower and a special rendition of "Shape of My Heart" from AJ, Howie, Nick, Kevin and Brian!

After the show, Kayla wrote, "My 9 year old self lost her mind last night. Bryce has been surprising me with little gifts all week and one of them happened to be a black dress that he said I needed for Sat night."

"He let me know at dinner that he was taking me to see the Backstreet Boys... little did I know, the biggest surprise of them all was meeting them & then having them pull me onstage to be serenaded."

The Red Sox kept their World Series party rollin' Sunday with some dudes that are pretty familiar with winning championships -- Tom Brady and Bill Belichick!!!

Alex Cora, J.D. Martinez and the boys hit Gillette Stadium before the Pats beat down the Packers ... showing off their new 'ship to The Goat, The Hoodie and the 65,878 fans in attendance.

Bill held the trophy ... J.D. got the crowd fired up ... Cora got a selfie in with Tom. Good times were had by all (sorry, Aaron Rodgers).

The Sox won the Series two weekends ago ... and have hardly come up for air since -- dropping hundreds of thousands of dollars at clubs and tearing up the streets of Boston on parade day.

Speaking of that ... remember how the trophy took a beating from a rogue beer can out there? Thing looks all good now!

Farrah Abraham will NOT strap on boxing gloves after all, and another reality TV star will be her replacement in the upcoming celebrity boxing match ... TMZ has learned.

Our sources say the ex-'Teen Mom' star stood her ground with the promoter, saying she'd been screwed out of freebies, and refused to show up to Saturday night's bout. So, we're told the fight organizer, Samantha Goldberg, decided to pull the plug ... and immediately signed "Mob Wives" star Natalie DiDonato to replace Farrah.

So, the new main event is Natalie taking on Nicole "Hoopz" Alexander on Nov. 10 in Atlantic City. Another 'Mob' star, Drita D'Avanzo, will be the referee. Bias??

TMZ broke the story, Farrah felt she had an agreement the promoter, Damon Feldman, would hook her up with free fight tickets, hotel rooms and flights for her friends and family. But, Feldman insisted he'd hooked up Farrah and her daughter -- first-class, no less -- and she was just making outlandish demands at the last minute.

Julian Edelman doesn't play for Pittsburgh ... but he's got the city's back regardless -- wearing a Jewish star hat Sunday, and saying last month's synagogue shootings were "uncalled for."

After the Patriots beat the Packers last night, the WR -- who is of Jewish heritage -- wore a Team Israel hat from the World Baseball Classic.

He told reporters he wanted to show the people affected by the anti-Semitic shootings inside the Tree of Life synagogue that they're in his thoughts.

"Just letting the people out in Pittsburgh know I'm thinking about them," Edelman said ... "I'm sending vibes and they're in our prayers. It was a big hit to the community, and it's uncalled for."

"So, I just let them know, 'Hey, I'm behind you and I'm supporting.'"

The Pittsburgh Steelers -- who played in Baltimore on Sunday -- held a moment of a silence for the victims before their win over the Ravens ... while star QB Ben Roethlisberger wore "Stronger Than Hate" cleats.

Members of the team also attended funeral services last week for two brothers, Cecil and David Rosenthal, killed in the tragedy.

Dave Chappelle says his Sundays are definitely NOT filled with football -- telling TMZ Sports he's off the NFL and it seems it all has to do with Colin Kaepernick.

We shot the comedian out on Sunday and asked if he'd be checking out the games later on -- but he told us the NFL ain't on his schedule ... and then took a knee, just like Colin.

Chappelle has publicly shown support for the QB -- he even wore a Kaepernick shirt to his big stand-up show at Radio City Music Hall in 2017.

In fact, he even touched on the kneeling demonstration during his comedy special on Netflix -- saying, "Took us 400 years to figure out as a people that white people's weakness the whole time was kneeling during their national anthem. That's a brittle spirit."

Unclear if Dave is actively protesting the NFL -- like other stars including Charlamagne Tha God -- but it seems the way league has treated Kaep is definitely a factor.

As for Kaepernick, he's still not in the league -- despite some teams being supremely desperate at the QB position -- and he believes he's being blackballed over the kneeling.

The Lakers got smoked by the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night -- and LeBron James didn't exactly play great -- but he was still in the mood to party afterward.

TMZ Sports spotted James on the way into Diddy's 49th birthday party at Ysabel in West Hollywood ... where he celebrated with the likes of LLCOOLJ, Kourtney Kardashian, Usher, Mary J Blige and Kid Capri.

James pulled up with his wife, Savannah, in his $340k Rolls Royce but made it clear he didn't wanna talk basketball.

Here's why ... Bron and the Lakers lost to the Raptors 121 to 107 ... and LeBron only put up 18 points (he didn't even play the 4th quarter).

In the locker room, Bron told reporters it felt like the team got "hit in the mouth" and they didn't have a response.

Too bad, because there were a TON of big stars who came out to see the Lakers at Staples Center including Denzel Washington, Odell Beckham, Brian Ortega, Canelo Alvarez, Chris Bosh and more.

Lakers don't play again until Wednesday ... so, why not go out and party?

Ray J understands better than anyone why Farrah Abraham's refusing to fight in a celebrity boxing match ... 'cause promoters can't keep their word in the money department.

We're told Ray J was all set to referee Farrah's fight with Nicole "Hoopz" Alexander, slated for November 10 in Atlantic City. Ray's team initially wanted $50k plus travel costs and security but the promoter, Damon Feldman, didn't have the cash, so Ray agreed to do it for $25k.

Problem is ... a few weeks ago Feldman and fight investor Samantha Goldberg came back to Ray and asked if he'd ref for less dough 'cause the event wasn't selling. Ray's manager, David Weintraub, wasn't having it ... saying no dice and pulling out of the event altogether.

Sounds like this was the beginning of the end. As we reported ... Farrah, also repped by Weintraub, pulled the plug on the event because she says the same promoter screwed her on the deal.