David Stern further expounded on his controversial decision to veto a trade in 2011 for "basketball reasons" that would have seen the New Orleans Pelicans trade Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Pelicans and Lakers agreed upon a three-way trade with the Houston Rockets involving Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom.

"(My decision) was only based on what was good for New Orleans, or what was not good for New Orleans," said David Stern. "It had nothing to do with the Lakers at all. And in fact, in the course of the weekend, we thought we could re-do the deal. We really thought that Houston would be ready to part with Kyle Lowry; and we had a trade lined up for Odom that would have gotten us a good first round draft pick. Not we, but my basketball folks. But Mitch Kupchak at the time panicked, and moved Odom to Dallas. So the piece wasn’t even there for us to play with at the time. So that was it — just about what was good for the then New Orleans Hornets."

New Orleans soon thereafter traded Paul to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Russell Westbrook, James Harden, John Wall and Stephen Curry will be eligible for the Designated Player Veteran Extension in July.

All four players were named to the All-NBA Teams for the 16-17 season.

Curry can sign the supermax contract as a free agent. Curry was already eligible for the contract due to winning MVP in two of the past three seasons.

Paul George and Gordon Hayward are not eligible for the rule.

Kawhi Leonard is now eligible to sign the Designated Player Veteran Extension in 2018.

Mike D'Antoni admitted he may rethink how much rest James Harden receives during the regular season.

Harden missed only one game during the regular season and logged 2,947 minutes, which was third in the NBA. Harden appeared to be worn out at the end of the Western Conference Semifinals.

"All great players think they can do everything," D'Antoni said. "Maybe he does need to take a game off here and there. 'Hey, you're nicked up a little bit, don't play, maybe.' Something to talk about, but that's also his greatness, too. So it's hard. It's very delicate.

"And again, I feel so sorry for him because he's had an unbelievable [season]. I mean, he's had a historic year, and you can't just say, 'OK, one game ...' and all of the sudden, social media goes crazy. ... But he will get better. We will talk about it. I can help him. The offense will get better. I can get him off the ball some. I can save his legs a little bit and have more confidence [in other ball handlers]. Pat Beverley can run the team a little bit. We can do different things."

James Harden took the blame for the Houston Rockets' blowout loss in Game 6 as they were eliminated from the Western Conference Semifinals by the San Antonio Spurs.

Harden scored 10 points on 2-for-11 shooting to go with seven assists and six turnovers. The Spurs were playing without Kawhi Leonard as well as Tony Parker.

"You've got to take it for what it is," Harden said. "Everything falls on my shoulders. I take responsibility for it, both ends of the floor. You know, it's tough, especially the way we lost at home for Game 6. But it happened. Now we move forward."

Harden is likely to finish second in MVP voting but his season will be remembered by many now for his playoff performance.

"I really just didn't have a rhythm at the beginning of the game," said Harden, who averaged 28.5 points and 8.5 assists during the playoffs. "I feel like I was making some passes, and we just didn't knock down shots or whatever the case may be. As a team, as a unit, we didn't have a rhythm and they capitalized on that."

Mike D'Antoni admitted he stepped down as head coach of the New York Knicks towards the end of the 11-12 season due to Carmelo Anthony.

The New York Post reported at the time that Anthony didn't want to remain with the Knicks at the deadline if he knew D'Antoni would return next season.

D'Antoni didn't want to continue to work under that type of ultimatum. 

“I just went in and quit,” D’Antoni said.

Anthony was bothered by D'Antoni's offense and his perceived preference for Jeremy Lin.

Nene has been ruled out for the remainder of the playoffs with a torn left adductor.

Nene suffered the injury in the first quarter of Game 4.

Mike D'Antoni used Ryan Anderson as the backup to center Clint Capela with Nene sidelined.

Mike D’Antoni and Erik Spoelstra have been named the co-recipients of the inaugural Michael H. Goldberg NBCA Coach of the Year Award, the National Basketball Coaches Association announced.

The Michael H. Goldberg NBCA Coach of the Year Award recognizes the dedication and hard work of NBA Head Coaches and is presented annually to a Head Coach who helps guide his players to a higher level of performance on the court and shows outstanding service and dedication to the community off the court. It honors the spirit of Michael H. Goldberg who set the standard for loyalty, integrity, love of the game, passionate representation, and tireless promotion of NBA Coaching.  It is unique in that it is the only award voted upon by the winners’ peers, the Head Coaches of all 30 NBA teams.

In addition to D’Antoni and Spoelstra, the following coaches also received votes: Scott Brooks, Dave Fizdale, Steve Kerr, Jason Kidd, Gregg Popovich, Doc Rivers and Quin Snyder.

“Congratulations to Mike and Erik on their outstanding work this year. And somewhere up above our good friend Michael Goldberg is very proud,” said Dallas Mavericks Head Coach and National Basketball Coaches Association President Rick Carlisle. 

Nene suffered a left groin injury in the opening minutes of Game 4.

Nene went directly to a hospital to have an MRI.

"We'll have a better handle on it (after the MRI), but he pulled his groin pretty good," Mike D'Antoni said after the game, the result of which knotted the series at 2-2. "We'll see. I don't have any more than that."

Nene had been averaging 10.8 points and 5.3 rebounds in the playoffs. 

Nene has been fined $15,000 for escalating an altercation by pushing Dewayne Dedmon above the shoulders.

The incident, for which Nene was assessed one technical foul and ejected, occurred at the conclusion of the third quarter of the Rockets’ 126-99 win over the Spurs on May 1.