TMZ Sports - Page 50

Move over Steph Curry -- robots have officially taken over basketball -- 'cause there's literally a 3-point shootin' machine coming for your job ... and it's cool and terrifying as hell at the same time.

Toyota has been working on this "CUE3" robot hooper for "fun" ... but really, all it's doing is making us question what's gonna happen when these things take over the sports world.

The robo baller -- who even has its own jersey -- made an appearance at the Japanese B.League's Alvark Tokyo game on Thursday ... taking a spot near half court, pulling up and draining a deep 3-pointer with ease.

Mr. Wonderful ain't exactly shy when it comes to his opinion ... and the "Shark Tank" star just let Magic Johnson know why the NBA legend done MESSED UP by quitting the Lakers.

Kevin O'Leary wasn't disrespectful -- in fact, he likes Magic a lot -- but he thinks the guy made a huge mistake Tuesday night by suddenly stepping down as Pres. of Basketball Operations.

"He made a decision which I think was the wrong one," Kev told us on his way out of ABC Studios in NYC.

"The Lakers are in chaos. The opportunity is to stay onboard during chaos and fix it ... and I think he should have done that."

O'Leary -- who's also close with Mavs owner Mark Cuban -- believes LeBron James played a role in Magic's decision to leave.

"I'm speculating like everybody else is ... but [Magic] probably had a disagreement between a very influential player and other management."

Ultimately, Kevin thinks the breakup is as nasty as they come -- comparing the split to a marriage falling apart.

We're one day into the NHL playoffs and we already have our first toothless interview ... courtesy of San Jose Sharks star Joe Pavelski ... who scored a goal OFF HIS FACE!!!!

Here's what went down ... the 3-time All-Star came in clutch in the 1st period of the game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday -- taking his teammate's shot right to his face and deflecting it into the net.

Does that sound like it hurts?? Hell yeah ... it LOOKED painful, too ... but somehow, Pavelski went into concussion protocol, got stitched up, and was cleared to come back on the ice by the 2nd period.

Pavelski -- minus a couple chompers -- talked about the incredible play after the game with a mouth full of blood, saying it was all worth it when he heard the fans cheering.

UFC star Israel Adesanya says a fight with Jon Jones "does tickle my loins" -- and he's warning the light heavyweight champ, "I already killed one G.O.A.T. and I'm hunting the next."

Of course, before Israel can fight Jones, he's gotta get through Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236 on Saturday (on ESPN+ PPV) in a huge middleweight interim title bout.

But, if he beats Kelvin, there's a path to Jon Jones -- who's already told TMZ Sports he's very "excited" about a matchup with "The Last Stylebender."

When we spoke with Jon back in March, Israel was already on his radar -- and he told us, "I've got a feeling me and him will eventually fight each other."

Israel says he doesn't want to think TOO much about Jones because he's gotta stay focused on Gastelum ... who's chalked up some pretty impressive victories over guys like Michael Bisping, Johnny Hendricks and Tim Kennedy.

Israel's resume ain't too shabby either -- back in February, he defeated UFC legend Anderson Silva, the "G.O.A.T." he was referring to earlier.

By the way, the fight's going down in Atlanta -- home to one of the most famous strip clubs on the planet ... and if Israel beats Kelvin, he's already got a plan to celebrate!!

The UFC 236 card is insane -- it also features Max Holloway vs. Dustin Poirier ... but you can only watch it on ESPN+ PPV, which you can order by clicking this link.

Dwyane Wade's NYC retirement party turned into a good Bye-Bye-Bye Bash Wednesday night ... when Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel stopped by to celebrate D-Wade's career!

The party was crazy -- a '70s-themed rager at Catch NYC with costumes and great music and basketball stars ... including Wade's good friend, Carmelo Anthony!

TMZ Sports obtained video from inside the party where you can see D-Wade, Gabby and Justin all gettin' down on the dance floor!!

Earlier in the evening, Wade posted a triple-double as the Miami Heat lost to the Brooklyn Nets 113-94.

A ton of Wade's friends were in the Brooklyn crowd -- including LeBron James, Carmelo and Chris Paul ... the entire Banana Boat crew.

Wade also gave his jersey to Carmelo after the game.

So, this is it ... Wade has finally closed the book on his 16-year NBA career that features 3 NBA championships, an NBA Finals MVP, 13 All-Star appearances, he won an Olympic gold medal for Team USA and he was also the NBA scoring champ in 2009.

He was also named to 8 All-NBA teams during his run.

So, what's next for Dwyane? Dude's got options in everything from fashion to TV announcing to acting ... and also helping his superstar sons as they get ready to play at the college level.

Israel Folau -- a star rugby player -- has been fired from Australia's national team after he said gays will burn in hell in a social media post on Wednesday ... Rugby Australia announced.

30-year-old Folau took to Instagram this week to post a picture that read, "drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists, idolaters," will all, "end up in hell unless [they] repent."

The post immediately went viral ... and caused such a backlash -- Rugby Australia acted swiftly, terminating his $4 million contract just hours after the post went up.

"As a code we have made it clear to Israel formally and repeatedly that any social media posts or commentary that is in any way disrespectful to people because of their sexuality will result in disciplinary action," RA chief executive Raelene Castle said.

“In the absence of compelling mitigating factors, it is our intention to terminate his contract.”

Folau has repeatedly bashed gays in homophobic rants throughout his career ... reportedly writing in a separate social media post last year, "God’s plan for gay people was hell."

For his part, Folau has reportedly insisted he's not homophobic ... saying he's a devout Christian who believes the Bible condemns gays.

On that topic, Castle said, "Whilst Israel is entitled to his religious beliefs, the way in which he has expressed these beliefs is inconsistent with the values of the sport. We want to make it clear that he does not speak for the game with his recent social media posts."

Sorry Jon Gruden ... Antonio Brown is going to cause MASSIVE headaches in Oakland -- so says Jack Del Rio, who says AB "has clearly shown that he's going to be a pain in the ass."

Of course, Brown's Steelers career was FILLED with drama ... and it got so bad in Pittsburgh, it's the reason he's actually in the silver and black today.

But, the trade from Pitt to the Bay Area hasn't quieted the NFL superstar -- in fact, he's kept up most of his beefs, even going after JuJu Smith-Schuster on social media this month.

Because of that ... Del Rio thinks it won't be smooth sailing with the Raiders, telling NFL.com, "If he continues doing the things he's been doing, just like he upset the Steelers, he's going to upset the next team he's on."

"I mean, this is America and he's free to do what he wants -- but those aren't the things that are indicative of a good teammate."

Del Rio says Brown IS a hard worker and a super talent, so it won't be all bad times in Oakland ... but the ex-head coach says he sees the writing clearly on the wall for the future Hall of Famer.

Magic Johnson has ZERO regrets after leaving the Lakers -- in fact, he's super happy about his decision ... so says his wife Cookie Johnson.

Just 24 hours after Magic shockingly stepped down as the team's President of Basketball Operations, Cookie and E.J. Johnson hit up Mr. Chow on Wednesday -- where they looked pretty relieved.

"Just know that [Magic Johnson] is happy and we're happy for him," Cookie told us on the way out of the restaurant ... "No regrets."

So, what's Magic gonna do with all of the free time he's gonna have? Put more work in with the Dodgers?

Brett Favre says he was surprised Mike McCarthy wasn't more successful as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers ... because his QB, Aaron Rodgers, is "the best player in the game."

"I just feel they should have won more," Favre told us ... "They were that good."

Now, in the wake of a Bleacher Report article that featured quotes from ex-Packers who were critical of Aaron's leadership skills, Brett says he thinks Aaron now understands why Favre was "guarded" back when they first started playing together in 2005.

"He's really at the stage now where I was when he came into Green Bay ... and now he sorta sees why I did the things that I did and was more reclusive than younger players."

"I think as you get older you're a little bit more guarded, maybe a lot more guarded for reasons like this."

Favre says when he left Green Bay back in 2007, "there was a lot of daggers being thrown both ways" -- but now that he's had time to reflect, he knows dagger-throwing isn't the best way to handle tough situations.

And, get this, now that McCarthy is out and Matt LaFleur is the new head coach -- Favre has some advice for the new guy on how to get the BEST out of Aaron.

"Any coach that will attempt to coach him has to tread lightly because you don't want to take away what he does so well -- which is a lot of good things -- and handcuff him."

If Conor McGregor wants another boxing superfight, Vasyl Lomachenko says he'll be his huckleberry ... telling TMZ Sports, "I can beat him easy."

Lomachenko is widely considered one of the best boxers on the planet -- he's the unified lightweight champion of the world ... and hasn't lost a fight since 2014.

Loma has a fight this Friday against Anthony Crolla on ESPN+ -- but he's an OVERWHELMING favorite and expected to beat the ever-loving dog snot out of the 32-year-old Englishman.

So, once he rolls through Crolla, ya gotta think Vasyl is looking for a payday fight -- and Conor McGregor would definitely get him the millions of dollars he wants.

And, the good news for Vasyl ... he thinks it'll be the easiest work of his career -- essentially saying Conor's boxing skills are "amateur" at best.

"I enjoy this fight," Loma said about possible McGregor matchup ... "I will go through this guy. No problem."

The big question ... what does Conor want? He "retired" from MMA but nobody believes he's done fighting for good. And, he seems to want another shot at a pro boxing match after losing to Floyd Mayweather.

Cops say they've found the guy who trained a laser pointer on Tom Brady's face during the AFC Championship game ... and shocker, the guy's a hardcore Chiefs fan.

Bonus shocker ... sources connected to the suspect tell us the guy had been boozing before he broke out the laser.

Remember, TB12 was hit with a green light during the wild 4th quarter of the Jan. 20 game at Arrowhead Stadium -- which the Chiefs eventually lost in overtime.

Cops investigated the situation and eventually cited 64-year-old Dwyan Morgan -- who we're told is a MASSIVE Chiefs fan.

Unclear how authorities were able to track Morgan down -- but we know there were a TON of cameras at the game both for the TV coverage AND for security purposes ... so that probably helped.

Morgan has now been hit with a disturbing the peace citation and faces up to ONE YEAR in jail plus a $1,000 fine if the judge decides to throw the book at him.

Sources connected to Morgan tell us ... his intention was never to hurt anyone, he was just trying to have fun and didn't expect things to blow up the way they did.

We're also told Morgan was drinking before the laser incident -- and we all know beer and lasers don't mix.

So, how does Morgan feel about the situation now? One source close to the Chiefs fan says he feels bad for embarrassing Chiefs Nation, but has no plans to apologize to the Patriots.

In fact, we're told he still hates the Pats and Tom Brady ... passionately and will continue to root against them -- just not from Arrowhead, because he's been banned.

We reached out to Morgan for comment -- but he ain't talkin'.

Here's the most insane golf shot you'll EVER see ... Jordan Spieth skipped a ball SEVEN times over the water in a pond -- and landed it within 10 feet from the hole!

It all went down Wednesday at The Par 3 Contest -- the prelude to this weekend's Masters tournament -- where pros are known to take it easy before they tee it up for real on Thursday at Augusta.

Jordan decided to put on a little show for fans ... heading down to the water for one of his tee shots -- and hitting a shot that required the ball to skip across the pond's water.

The golf ball took seven big hops along the surface of the water ... landed on the green ... and miraculously rolled about 10 feet from the pin!!

What's even crazier ... HIS SHOT ENDED UP CLOSER THAN THE OTHER TWO NON-TRICK SHOT TEE SHOTS!!!!!!

Spieth is one of the sport's biggest superstars -- he's a 16/1 favorite to win the green jacket this weekend -- so, not too surprising he's able to do something like this with a golf ball.

Rick Fox says Magic Johnson's decision to leave the Lakers was a complete shock -- but if the NBA legend was truly unhappy, stepping down was the right move.

"I just feel for Magic," Fox tells TMZ Sports ... "I saw the emotion and I saw the love he has for this organization and the difficulty that decision was for him."

"We all care about him and we all care about the organization."

Fox says Lakers fans should keep their heads up -- saying, "Things always get worse before they get better."

Magic surprised EVERYONE when he announced Tuesday evening he'd be leaving his role as President of Basketball Operations ... but Rick tells us it would have been a "disservice" for Johnson to stay on if he lost his passion for the job.

TMZ Sports has obtained new footage showing Conor McGregor swatting and smashing a cell phone in front of the Fontainebleau hotel in Miami ... right after doing his famous "Billionaire Strut."

The footage is being used in the criminal case against the UFC star stemming from a March 11 incident.

The footage begins at 5:21 AM showing Conor leaving the hotel with an entourage while Ahmed Abdirzak follows him out while recording McGregor on his cell phone.

At one point, McGregor reaches out to Ahmed as if he was going to shake his hand -- but then pulls back and violently smacks the phone out of the guy's hand.

Conor then stomps on the phone a couple of times before picking it up and walking away.

McGregor was arrested later that day and has since been charged with felony robbery and misdemeanor criminal mischief. If convicted on all counts, Conor faces up to 6 years in prison.

Conor has pled not guilty on all charges. A trial is scheduled to begin in May.

Ahmed Abdirzak filed a lawsuit against Conor over the incident -- but later struck a settlement with the UFC fighter and dropped his suit.

Anthony Davis is insisting he didn't use his wardrobe to send parting shots at the Pelicans ... saying his "That's All, Folks" shirt was a coincidence, because he doesn't even dress himself!!!

AD -- who publicly requested a trade earlier this season -- caught some heat for the Looney Tunes shirt ... with some people saying it was a thinly-veiled way of saying "goodbye" as he walked into the last game of the season.

But, the NBA superstar is adamant his shirt was NOT a diss -- insisting he's just a big Bugs Bunny fan.

"I'm a big cartoon guy, Loony Tunes is actually my favorite," Davis told reporters on Wednesday.

"I actually didn't choose it, it was hanging for me already when I went to put my clothes on."

So ... if dude is telling the truth, does this mean Anthony Davis is REALLY dropping a major hint that he's gonna be in "Space Jam 2?"

Seems Vince McMahon's XFL could be having a change of heart when it comes to Johnny Manziel -- because the XFL's commissioner says he hasn't ruled out a roster spot for the QB.

Of course, when Vince announced he was resurrecting the XFL back in January 2018, he was adamant players with any history of "criminality" would NOT be eligible to play in the league.

When he was asked specifically about Johnny Manziel in 2018, McMahon said -- "You want someone who does not have any criminality whatsoever associated with them."

The problem for Manziel ... he DOES have criminality associated with him.

Manziel was indicted for misdemeanor assault stemming from a 2016 domestic violence incident with his then-girlfriend.

The case went in front of a judge -- and Manziel ultimately cut a deal where he agreed to take an anger management course and keep his nose clean and in exchange, the charge would be dropped.

Manziel successfully completed his end of the bargain -- and it seems the XFL is satisfied too.

Because, when XFL commish Oliver Luck appeared on the "PFT PM" podcast this week, he didn't slam the door on hiring Manziel.

"If he is able to meet our standards and if our coaches think he’s one of the top quarterbacks out there that can help us,” Luck said ... “Certainly we have no reason not to believe he couldn’t be in the mix."

"But, again it’s really up to our coaches in terms of the quarterbacks they wanna take a look at."

You gotta think XFL officials have discussed Manziel -- he's probably the biggest name out there that the league could realistically get.

The XFL could be a great option for Manziel who's had a rough football life after washing out of the NFL. He's been subsequently banned from the CFL and recently lost his job in the AAF when the league folded.