Brandon Ingram and Willie Green had a "minor exchange" during Game 2 of the New Orleans Pelicans' playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, according to Zach Harper and Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Ingram reportedly wanted the ball more during the game.

Ingram is heading into the final year of his contract next season.

The Pelicans' forward has been linked as a possible trade candidate for the Sixers.

Opposing NBA teams are monitoring head coach Chauncey Billups' situation with the Portland Trail Blazers, according to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated.

Billups is entering the final year of his guaranteed four-year deal.

The team announced that they would not renew assistants Scott Brooks and Rodney Billups' contracts. 

Rick Carlisle was ejected at the end of the Indiana Pacers' Game 2 loss at the New York Knicks. Carlisle plans on submitting video of missed calls to the league office on Thursday ahead of Game 3 back in Indiana.

"I'm always talking to our guys about not making it about the officials," said Carlisle. "But we deserve a fair shot. And there's not a consistent balance. And that's disappointing."

Carlisle was also disappointed by the officiating in Game 1, but took a more magnanimous approach with his comments to the media. 

The Los Angeles Lakers are holding internal meetings to establish their criteria for the next head coach, sources told Marc Stein of The Stein Line.

After firing Darvin Ham last week, the team has yet to request permission to interview assistant coaches thus far.

Stein reported last week that the team does not anticipate being able to hire Ty Lue.

ESPN is also reportedly "increasingly concerned" about losing JJ Redick from its NBA Finals broadcast team.

OG Anunoby  left the New York Knicks' Game 2 win over the Indiana Pacers with a sore left hamstring.

Anunoby exited the game and did not return in the second half after scoring 28 points in 28 minutes. 

The Knicks are already without Julius Randle, Bojan Bogdanovic and Mitchell Robinson for the rest of the season.

Nikola Jokic has been named the 23-24 NBA Most Valuable Player, winning the award for the third time in his career.

Jokic is the ninth player to win the award three or more times in his career.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished second ahead of Luka Doncic at third. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jalen Brunson rounded out the top-5.

Jokic received 79 first place votes, 18 second place votes and two third place votes.

Gilgeous-Alexander received 15 first place votes, 40 second place votes, 40 third place votes, three fourth place votes and one fifth place votes.

Doncic received four first place votes, 36 second place votes, 50 third place votes and eight fourth place votes. 

Jayson Tatum, Anthony Edwards, Domantas Sabonis and Kevin Durant also received votes.

The NBA is nearing agreement with ESPN and Amazon on media rights deals for the WNBA.

The league has reportedly prioritized including the WNBA media rights as part of its next NBA deals. The NBA is also potentially maximizing the timing for the value of the WNBA as Caitlin Clark enters the league.

Details on the number of games in the regular season and playoffs that will be broadcast by both companies are still being determined. 

The NBA's new media rights deals could surpass $7 billion per season, which would represent an increase of nearly 170 percent from its current $2.6 billion per deals with ESPN and TNT. According to reported figures, the combined rights fees from ESPN, Amazon and NBC (or TNT) are at $6.9 billion per season.

Amazon will pay approximately $1.8 billion per season, according to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. The deal will include the Conference Finals every other year as they will alternate with whoever wins the third rights between NBC and TNT. It also will include the NBA Cup and In-Season Tournament. 

TNT can match NBC's offer of $2.5 billion per season and talks are ongoing.

ESPN's deal with the NBA, which includes the Finals and Conference Finals on an annual basis, will cost $2.6 billion per year.

A report in 2021 indicated that the NBA was seeking anywhere between $7 billion and $8 billion per year on its next deal. After a 2023 report cooled those expectations with a doubling of the current deal a more probable target, the NBA appears to be close to reaching its goal.

The future of Jimmy Butler with the Miami Heat has come into question after he missed their first round series against the Boston Celtics and is eligible in July for a contract extension worth up to $112.9 million over two seasons. Pat Riley was publicly non-committal on the possibility of an extension for Butler when he addressed the media this week.

"He has clearly wanted to be in Miami," said Shams Charania. "He has seen that as a perfect marriage of sorts."

The Heat tried to trade for Damian Lillard last offseason to improve their roster around Butler and Bam Adebayo. There are questions of whether the Heat roster is good enough to continue competing at a championship level as Butler ages. 

"It is interesting the back and forth that we're seeing, but I think Jimmy Butler has always made it clear he wants to be in Miami long-term, it's going to be about will they be able to pay him what he wants," said Charania.

The first round of the NBA playoffs averaged 3.14 million viewers with a 1.7 rating across ABC, ESPN, TNT, truTV and NBA TV.

The number represent a 9% decrease in viewership from last season, though it is up 5% from 2022.

Sunday's Game 7 between the Magic and Cavs averaged 4.32 million viewers on ABC, making it the least-watched Game 7 since 2019.

Game 1 of the Nuggets-Timberwolves series on Saturday averaged 4.93 million viewers.