The Lakers were scheduled to play the Raptors on December 13th at Staples Center, but the NBA has allowed the venue to vacate its commitment to schedule an extra date of the Jay-Z and Kanye West tour.

According to a statement from the NBA: “With the cancellation of the first two weeks of the season, the NBA schedule would have to be reworked and certain dates — including Dec. 13 for a Lakers game at Staples Center — would not be part of any revised schedule.”

The NBA did the same thing to accomodate an extra show for Jay-Z and Kanye at United Center.

Andrea Bargnani took to Twitter to deny reports that he was closing in on signing with Virtus Roma. A dating website was reportedly going to sponsor the acquisition.

"I just want everyone to know, my fans and anyone who has read the reports lately, that I am uninvolved in what has been written or attributed to me for the past month," wrote Bargnani on Twitter.

Ed Stefanski was relieved of his duties as genearl manager of the 76ers on Tuesday, but his talks with the Raptors have 'heated up', according to a source.

Stefanski and Jeff Bower have long been thought of as the finalists for the Toronto GM job, where they would report to Bryan Colangelo.

Ed Stefanski has been relieved of his duties as general manager of the 76ers.

Rod Thorn will remain as team president and will be the “captain of the ship,” according to majority owner Josh Harris.

Speculation had been that Jason Levien, a former NBA player agent and executive with the Sacramento Kings, would be involved in player personnel. Levien is one of the minority owners.

Asked about ownership’s involvement in player personnel, Harris said, “You can be assured that we are interested owners. We will be very focused, with lots of debate about what we do with players. At the end of the day, Rod is the captain of that ship. He will run that part of our organization. We will speak with you through one voice, Rod and Doug [Collins] voice when it comes to players.”

Stefanski has been a frontrunner for a high-ranking job with the Toronto Raptors.

Andrea Bargnani is close to an agreement with Virtus Roma that would extend during the lockout.

Virtus Roma has received a proposal from AshleyMadison.com to finance the signing of Bargnani. The Canadian website specializes in extramarital encounters and would cover the cost of Bargnani's insurance.

Bargnani is already in Rome working out.

Talks between the Raptors and Ed Stefanski stalled after some progress had been made, sources said on Friday.

Two sources with knowledge of the talks used the term “hit a snag” to describe the state of the discussions.

Sources said the development has caused Jeff Bower to re-emerge in Toronto's general manager search.

The Raptors have narrowed their list for a general manager to Ed Stefanski and Jeff Bower, sources said.

Stefanski is in advanced talks with the Raptors on a deal, according to sources.

Stefanski has been mentioned as a target of interest of the Blazers. He turned down the job several years ago as a New Jersey Nets executive, and sources said Stefanski hasn’t been interested in the Blazers job this time around unless he can report directly to owner Paul Allen.