The Los Angeles Lakers have parted ways with Darvin Ham as head coach after two seasons with the franchise.

Ham guided the Lakers to the Western Conference in his first season. In Year 2, the Lakers won the In-Season Tournament and lost to the Denver Nuggets in the first round. The Lakers went 90-74 during the regular season with Ham.

Ham had two seasons remaining on his contract at approximately $5 million per year.

The Lakers previously fired Frank Vogel after three seasons with the club.

Paul George is widely expected to decline his $48.8 million player option for next season with the LA Clippers. After LA signed Kawhi Leonard to an extension, it was thought that George and the Clippers would agree to an extension. However, that hasn't happened, and George now appears poised to enter free agency this summer.

Two teams with known interest in George are the Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers. Both teams have the ability to create the necessary cap space to sign the veteran wing to a deal worth up to his projected max salary of just over $49 million dollars for 2024-25.

George has continued to express he'd like to re-sign with LA. The Clippers have reportedly not offered him a max deal, and that's held things up. LA hopes that George, like Leonard did, will take less than the maximum to allow the team to dip below the second apron. That would free up the Clippers to make more roster moves to add talent around their stars.

Russell Westbrook wasn't happy about coming off the bench for the LA Clippers after the team acquired James Harden. In fact, Clippers front office executive Lawrence Frank had to convince Westbrook to take on the sixth-man role for LA.

Westbrook has a $4 million player option for next season. There's a good chance that the veteran point guard may decline that option to find a better opportunity elsewhere. 

The Los Angeles Clippers would like to retain Tyronn Lue on a long-term contract and it is unlikely a scenario would manifest that would allow him to become head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

"I don't believe it is realistic based on this: Ty Lue still has a year left on his contract," said Adrian Wojnarowski. And the Clippers are determined to a long-term deal with Ty Lue, I'm told. They want him to be their head coach for a very long time. That is a conversation that will happen after the playoffs are over, but they love the job he did this season. They love the job he's done there.

"This is an organization by all indications, however this series ends up, wants to re-sign Paul George, James Harden. Try to improve this roster around those two and Kawhi Leonard. And Ty Lue will still be the head coach for them."

The Lakers previously offered Lue their head coaching job in 2019, but were unable to agree to contract terms.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have increased optimism that Chris Finch will be able to sit near the team's bench when their second round series against the Denver Nuggets begins on Saturday.

Finch underwent surgery on Wednesday to repair the ruptured patellar tendon in his right knee.

Finch led Thursday's practice and walked around on crutches.

Assistant coach Micah Nori will take on a more active role with Finch's mobility limited.

Giannis Antetokoumpo was unable to appear in the first round of the Milwaukee Bucks' series against the Indiana Pacers due to a calf injury. 

Antetokoumpo's status heading into Game 6 was slightly more promising, but he was ruled out. 

"I tried my best to come back to help my teammates," Antetokounmpo said Friday. "It's kind of hard to see them being out there and not being able to help them, but I just couldn't.

"I did all the tests I had to do, these like protocols you have to follow and have to check the boxes. I wasn't even close at checking the boxes."

Antetokoumpo suffered the injury at the end of the regular season and last played on April 9th.

Antetokoumpo missed multiple playoff games last season as well with a back injury.

Antetokounmpo was asked if he might change his approach next season.

"I don't know. Maybe I do follow a different pattern," Antetokounmpo said. "Maybe try different things. I don't like the word 'rest.' Like, if I can play, I will play. If I cannot play, I can't play.

"I'm for sure going to sit down and think about it, of how my summer is going to look like and how next year is going to look like."

The Los Angeles Lakers have Mike Budenholzer, Kenny Atkinson, JJ Redick and Tyronn Lue on their list of possible candidates for their head coaching vacancy. Charles Lee is also a possible candidate for the job.

The Milwaukee Bucks parted ways with Budenholzer after the 22-23 season, two years after the team won The Finals. Budenholzer did not coach during the 23-24 season following his dismissal.

Atkinson has most recently been an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors. In 2022, he accepted an offer to become the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets and then backed out of the deal. Atkinson was previously a head coach with the Brooklyn Nets.

Redick has inteviewed for head coaching positions previously with the Toronto Raptors and Charlotte Hornets. Redick is currently one of ESPN's lead game analysts and also has a podcast with LeBron James.

Lue is under contract with the Los Angeles Clippers for the 24-25 season as they open up their new arena. 

Lee has been a head coaching candidate over the past few cycles and is currently an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics. 

Los Angeles Lakers guard D'Angelo Russell was fined $25,000 for verbally abusing a game official. The incident took place after the Los Angeles Lakers loss to the Denver Nuggets in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series.

The Phoenix Suns are still deciding whether they will retain Frank Vogel as head coach and what they can do to add to his coaching staff if he isn't fired.

"Phoenix is still deciding about Frank Vogel's future. Those conversations are ongoing. There's a world where they can make changes on his coaching staff. They lost Kevin Young, their top assistant, to BYU as a head coach.

"They can also make a decision to move on from Frank Vogel. They're not there yet, I'm told."

Vogel spoke confidently earlier this week about the support he is receiving from Mat Ishbia as head coach, but The Athletic reported of issues some key stakeholders had with his coaching style and that the Suns would take a "hard look" at making a change.

Veteran point guard Shane Larkin has signed a new four-year contract with Anadolu Efes in Turkey. Larkin joined Efes for the 2018-19 season. His new contract will carry through the 2027-28 season. That will give Larkin 10 years with Efes, which is a club record for a foreign-born player.

This season, Larkin has averaged 11.5 points, 5.5 assists and 1.2 steals across 44 games. Larkin shot 46.7% from the field, 40.5% on three-pointers and 89.9% on free throws this season.

Larkin was the 18th overall pick in 2013 draft out of Miami. In four NBA seasons, the 5-foot 11 point guard played for the Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics.