After undergoing surgery on his spinal canal, Marquis Daniels faces an uncertain future with his health as well as his NBA career.

“Yeah, I questioned if I would play again, that night when I was laying on the floor,” Daniels said this week from his home in Orlando, Fla., where he is awaiting the next step, a June 28 meeting with doctors, who are expected to clear the mellow, soft-spoken Floridian for full workouts and a return to the NBA.

“They said there was a good chance they could correct it, but I also had to wait,” Daniels said of the prognosis. “That was the tough part. A lot of things went through my mind. But I just had to wait it out.”

Though the surgery he underwent March 31 to open space in his spinal canal was considered a success, he looks upon the June 28 meeting as passage back to his career, a signal that he can resume workouts that aren’t limited to an elliptical machine. Daniels hasn’t experienced any numbness since the surgery.

Following the retirement of Phil Jackson, formerly the only eight-figure earner among coaches in the four major sports, Doc Rivershas become the highest paid coach in the NBA, according  to Forbes Magazine.

After making $5.5 million this past season, Rivers will now make an average of $7 million over the next five seasons after signing a $35 million extension.

He surpassed Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni, who both make $6 million per season.

Lawrence Frank appears close to returning to the NBA head coaching ranks and he has received permission by the Celtics to interview for the vacant Golden State Warriors position, the club confirmed.

Frank has already interviewed twice for the Houston Rockets job and is considered one of the top available candidates on the market. Frank has spent one season as the Celtics assistant coach in a defensive coordinator-type role after a coaching the New Jersey Nets for parts of seven seasons and leading the club to four playoff appearances.

If Frank departs, the Celtics would have to find another defensive coach, which will be a critical hire in what is expected to be the final go-around for the Big Three.

Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers is scheduled to undergo throat surgery today to remove a non-cancerous growth.

Rivers underwent a biospy  in October to determine if lesions found on his throat at the time were cancerous.

According to Rivers at the time, those tests came back negative.

Celtics assistant coach Lawrence Frank was in Houston Monday for a second round of interviews with Rockets officials as the team searches for a new head coach.

Frank was the head coach of the New Jersey Nets from 2003-04 through the first 16 games of the 2009-10 season.

He took the Nets to the playoffs during his first four years with the club.

Frank's overall record with New Jersey is 225-241.

During an interview with The Oklahoman, Kendrick Perkins talked about the atmosphere in Oklahoma City after the Thunder defeated the Grizzlies to advance to the Western Conference Finals.

Very few players have been in both the Eastern Conference and Western Conference finals. Does this one feel any different because you're closer to home (Beaumont, Texas)?

"As soon as we won last night, I got all kinds of phone calls about tickets so it made me feel close to home. One thing I can say, when I was in Boston, it was fun. But last night, it was real fun. Being around a group of guys – KD (Kevin Durant), who's just a great guy – and then just to see all the (fans react), it was just unbelievable. I'm just happy to be a part of it."

Danny Ainge joined The Big Show on WEEI in Boston to discuss among other things Jeff Green’s play and his future role with the Celtics.

Asked about the Kendrick Perkins trade and his assessment of Green’s performance during the playoffs, Ainge said:

“Kendrick wasn’t someone who really helped our offense. He has never been that type of player. He’s been a player that’s helped our defense. Our defense was not the problem. That was the first thing in my opinion.

“I think Jeff Green showed in the time he was called upon especially when he was needed to play more minutes he played very well and was very productive. As a matter of fact he was our most efficient offensive player throughout the playoffs on points per possession.

"Jeff played a limited role. I think a lot of people expected maybe to play a greater role, but when you’re playing behind KG, Ray, and Paul there’s not a lot of opportunities and when you are on the court sometimes…we found he played really well when there were two or three starters on the court with him. He played worse with all of our bench players on the court, which I think is understandable.”

Nenad Krstic, an impending unrestricted free agent, is willing to give the Celtics another try.

“I want to come back here,” he said. “Obviously I want to see what my options are, but I definitely like the organization and I like the team. If you ask me, yes, but I don’t know if they want me.”

Rivers, who agreed to a five-year contract extension Friday, may be a tough read in that respect.

But Danny Ainge, architect of that controversial trade, wants to see this project work, too.

“We’re interested in bringing him back,” the Celtics general manager said. “He played great when he first got here, and then he hit a little slump. He wasn’t playing well for a while, and then he got hurt. He had the bruised knee. We were worried it was something worse. It seemed that anyone playing center for us got hurt."

Celtics general manager Danny Ainge regrets not re-signing Tony Allen.

"I would have fought harder to bring Tony Allen back," Ainge said. "We tried to sign Tony, we tried to come within our rules of staying in our two-year program. I think that Tony would have helped us.

"We offered Tony a two-year deal out of the gate, but then when Memphis showed him some love and he started thinking about the idea of more playing time ... Then, he wanted a change of scenery."

Austin Ainge is finalizing a deal to return to the Boston Celtics' front office as a player personnel executive, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Ainge had spent two seasons as the head coach of the Maine Red Claws of the D-League.

Ainge previously was a scout for the Celtics.