I look at the site ilovethehype [dot] com and see several awesome designs. They include cartoon images of NBA players and never received permission to use them on those t-shirts. The reason I ask is because I was looking to start a similar sort of site. Thanks
How do you know they didn't draw them themselves or didn't receive permission? Are you their legal adviser? Do you have access to their records? They could have easily drew them themselves or purchased/obtained permission to use them. If you do not do those, than no, it is not legal and you will loose.