TMZ Sports - Page 50

Doc Rivers tells TMZ Sports ... trading his son, Austin Rivers, from the Clippers to the Washington Wizards was "the right thing for all of us."

Austin played for his dad on the Clippers from 2014 to 2018. But, last week, the Clippers shipped the 25-year-old to the Wizards in exchange for Marcin Gortat.

"He'll be well," Doc says of his son ... "He'll be good there."

As for Austin, he says the move will be a "great opportunity."

It's over ... again.

The famous LeBron James banner in downtown Cleveland is officially coming down -- after the NBA superstar decided to leave the city and sign with the Lakers.

The banner -- a 10-story-tall billboard -- has become an icon in Cleveland, showing James doing his famous chalk throw before a game.

The removal ain't gonna be easy -- a Nike spokesperson said it could take a couple of days.

So, what's gonna happen to the banner? Sherwin-Williams -- which owns the building -- says it's evaluating the situation.

As we previously reported, the Cleveland Cavs official online team shop has already scrubbed LeBron from the front page -- and they're slashing prices on all #23 jerseys.

It's the opposite of those online scams -- a Nigerian company claims it was screwed out of a fortune by a wealthy American ... and now he's suing Floyd Mayweather to get his money back.

The company behind the lawsuit is Zinni Media -- which claims it booked Floyd to make 5 appearances in Nigeria and Ghana in June 2017 ... for the low, low sum of $375,000!!!!

The company says it got Floyd to make a video confirming the appearances -- so, they thought they were good to go! They even wired him $210,000 in advance.

But, days before the first event, Floyd bailed -- and the company was left holding the bag.

In the suit, Zinni claims Floyd's reps offered to reschedule for Dec. 2017 -- and added more appearances to the list -- but, he also raised the price to $550,000. Zinni claims they were told they could use the $210k toward the new booking price.

Zinni says they ACCEPTED the new deal -- but, when they asked Floyd to make a new video confirming the new dates, he bailed again ... and never returned the original $210,000.

Now, Zinni is taking legal action in federal court in California -- claiming Floyd damaged their reputation and defrauded them. Zinni wants at least $2 MILLION to make things right.

Mallory Edens -- the daughter of Milwaukee Bucks owner Wes Edens -- is PISSED that DeMarcus Cousins just signed with the Golden State Warriors ... saying, "It's not cool to try to win a chip on your own anymore huh."

Boogie -- a four-time NBA all-star and two-time All-NBA selection -- signed an extremely team-friendly deal with the Dubs that gives the reigning world champs maybe the best starting five in league history.

This, of course, ticked off Mallory ... who wondered if the whole deal was someone playin' a trick on her.

"R u joking this is just nuts at this point," Edens posted on social media.

Liziane Gutierrez has World Cup fever ... not that she needs an excuse to rock a bikini.

The Brazilian model celebrated the Samba Kings' 2-0 win over Mexico with a trip to Barra Da Tijuca ... a beach neighborhood near Rio de Janeiro. We're told Liziane was there with a friend ... doing what girlfriends do when they turn up together -- lather each other's asses with sunscreen and say thanks ... with a kiss.

Jeremy Meeks and Chloe Green called in some reinforcements for their new baby, jetting off to the French Riviera for a group date night to kick off the week.

The new parents were hanging with friends Monday night in Monaco in what appears to be their first time out together solo since their son, Jayden, was born last month. Among the crew ... Lewis Hamilton and Rita Ora, as well as English reality TV star Vas J Morgan.

Chloe and Jeremy live in the U.K., so getting together with their compadres in a neighboring country probably wasn't all that difficult. She is the heiress to the Topshop fortune after all, and Jeremy doesn't seem to mind international travel on a moment's notice either.

Mind you, the "Hot Felon" was just in L.A. picking up his 9-year-old son from his previous marriage to Melissa Meeks after striking a new custody agreement in their divorce. He was spotted with Jeremy Jr. just this past Thursday at a local Target.

Blac Chyna is dating another teenager -- pro boxer Devin Haney -- and has been banging him for a good while now ... which might be a surprise to YBN Almighty Jay.

Sources close to the 19-year-old athlete tell us he first hooked up with Chyna 2 to 3 months ago, hitting her up on IG after learning they had the same lawyer. We're told Chyna was into him ... and started seeing him regularly soon after.

Chyna isn't dating Devin for any type of "clout" -- as many have speculated online after she tagged him in a photo and said "Hi babe" on IG. On the contrary, we're told BC simply likes the dude. He's successful, mature for his age ... and ain't bad looking either.

As for the messy timeline on how long Chyna's been with Devin, it's clear she was seeing him while dating her ex, Jay, while he himself was pursuing different women ... and allegedly knocking up at least one while linked to BC. The pair officially broke up last month.

All's fair in love and DM slidin'.

Jerome Bettis has a message for Le'Veon Bell and the Pittsburgh Steelers -- "Neither one of you are as good by yourself as you are together."

Translation ... stop messing around and get a long-term deal done already.

Bell has been beefing with the Steelers for years -- demanding (and failing to get) a long-term contract. Instead, the team hit him with the franchise tag for the past 2 seasons.

Bell has threatened to hold out and even retire if the two sides don't get a long-term deal done -- and Bettis says it's in the best interest of BOTH sides to make something work.

"Le'Veon, you're not going to be as good going somewhere else because they're not going to have the offensive line, they're not going to have the quarterback, the receivers that they have in Pittsburgh."

"You have a full complement around you that allows you to be as great as you want to be."

As for the Steelers, Bettis says there's little risk in signing Bell to a long-term deal because he'll be able to produce at a high level for at least 5 more years.

By the way ... Bettis is competing in a golf tournament next week that features a Korbel champagne celebrity cork-shooting contest -- and you gotta hear why he thinks Steph Curry shouldn't be the favorite!!

Kelly Slater -- the most decorated pro surfer of all time -- says he's finally ready to retire from the pro surfing championship tour ... but not until he competes one last time!!!

"My basic plan is to get myself really healthy again, get ready for April, and next year be my last year on tour and just be done with it," Slater said during the 2018 Corona J-Bay Open.

In other words, the 46-year-old surf god will compete during the 2019 season -- and give it one last shot to win his 12th World Surf League Championship.

Slater's been nursing a broken foot -- which he calls "pretty minor on the scope of life" -- and says, as soon as he heals up, he'll be ready for his farewell tour.

Don't worry about Kelly's post-competition life ... the guy created his own artificial wave machine which some say will revolutionize the sport -- especially the way competitions are televised.

By the way, no one's even close to catching Slater when it comes to world titles -- the next guy on the list only has 5.

Chargers star rookie Derwin James just bought his mom the dopest "thanks for raising me" gift ever -- a big-ass house in Florida!!

"I don’t think there is anybody more deserving in the world then her," the ex-FSU safety posted on social media.

Unclear what city the house is in or how much it costs ... but the place looks super nice, complete with two stories and a bunch of palm trees in the yard.

Derwin becomes the latest NFL first-round pick to buy his folks a new home ... NY Giants stud Saquon Barkley dropped more than $400,000 on his mom and dad's new pad just last week!

DeAngelo Williams is coming back .... no, not to the NFL (at least not yet) ... to the squared circle!!

The former Steelers running back announced he's returning to Impact Wrestling July 12 after swearing he was retired just days after his debut last year.

"I said I'd never do this again, but I'm back in the ring!" Williams says in a video obtained by TMZ Sports.

Remember ... DeAngelo was an absolute star at Impact Wrestling's Slammiversary XV last July ... busting out backflips and showing off his ridiculous strength.

DW said he was hanging them up for good immediately after the bout ... but now, he's coming back to help former NFL player Moose train for the Impact World Championship at this year's Slammiversary on July 22!!

WWE Raw tag team champion Bray Wyatt suffered multiple injuries in a head-on car crash on Friday ... but tells TMZ Sports, "I'm gonna live through it because I can't die."

Wyatt -- real name Windham Lawrence Rotunda -- was in Tampa, Florida and on his way to the airport to leave for Raw WWE Live Events when he smashed into another vehicle.

Wyatt's car was totaled and he was treated at Tampa General Hospital. He's since been released.

We just spoke with Wyatt, who tells us he's in good spirits -- "I'm moving around."

WWE has also issued a statement saying, "Due to the injuries sustained, Wyatt did not compete at this weekend’s WWE Live Events and will not be present at tonight’s Raw."

Wyatt is from a legendary wrestling family -- his father Mike Rotunda is a former WWE superstar (he's famously known as the buffed out tax guy nicknamed I.R.S.).

Plan the parade ... with LeBron James in L.A., the Lakers are takin' down the Warriors and winning a ring ... so says 4x NBA champ John Salley.

Salley knows how to win -- he won 4 'ships with 3 different organizations -- and says LBJ's Lakers have the fire power to take down Steph Curry and Kevin Durant's Warriors ... and whoever the hell comes outta the East.

"It's destined to happen. It's gonna happen. Period."

How 'bout tix for the soon-to-be champs? J.S. says LBJ makes the Lakers the hottest ticket the town has ever seen ... hotter than when Kobe and Shaq did their thing ... hotter than Magic's Showtime Lakers.

LeBron James just touched down in Italy after sealing the deal on his new $154 MILLION contract ... and even his workout equipment is Laker colors.

Bron and his family were spotted Monday morning boarding a yacht in Positano -- a super fancy city on the Amalfi Coast where Magic Johnson usually spends part of his expensive summer family vacation.

In fact, Magic's wife, Cookie Johnson, just told us the family plans to rent out the same $700,000 per week yacht they vacationed on last summer with Sam Jackson ... and will sail to the same spots.

So ... does this mean Magic and LeBron will vacation together??? We'll see ...

LeBron's been doing a lot of traveling lately -- he was in Anguilla last week with the family (remember, he jumped off that cliff?) ... and then jetted back to Los Angeles to get the deal done with the Lakers.

And now that his contract is squared away ... it's back to vacation mode.

Ever seen a dude bury a basket from the roof of the Houston Astros' ballpark?? Well, now you have ...

Harlem Globetrotters star Thunder Law took to Minute Maid Park with a basketball and a hoop to help promote the Globetrotters' upcoming games in Texas this month ... and what happened next was pretty crazy.

Thunder took the pass from Stros mascot Orbit ... and sank the shot from WAAAAY up in the stadium's center field!!

The craziest part?? Thunder says the Astros woulda been PISSED if he missed the hoop and hit the pristine outfield grass -- so he had to do it in one take!!

Impressive, of course ... but did you know Thunder woulda needed to be on top of about SEVEN Minute Maid Parks to break the record for highest-ever made basket??

Check it out -- some dude hit a 660-footer a couple months ago!!