Carmelo Anthony would like the New York Knicks to re-sign J.R. Smith this offseason.

“Without a doubt,” Anthony said Monday when asked about Smith. “J.R. is a special player. To me, and to everybody on this team, he’s made a huge step forward as a basketball player. We look forward to that, for him to come out and be focused, the way he was focused this season, win the Sixth Man of the Year, help us to win another division title, helping us to win 50-plus games. He was a big help to this team and I definitely would love him back here.”

The Knicks could be trumped by a rival team with more cap space since they can only offer the early Bird exception beginning at $4.9 million per season.

A death threat was made against Tony Parker with five minutes left in the San Antonio Spurs' win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday in Game 1.

The Bexar County Sheriff is investigating a 911 call played on Sunday in which threatened Parker.

Security was immediately increased but it was determined there was no immediate threat.

Parker was escorted to his home by deputies.

Stan Van Gundy appeared on The David Baumann Radio Show on Tuesday morning in Orlando and confirmed he will not coach next season.

“As you get down the road more and the longer you are out, the harder it is to get back in and that was certainly a difficult part of the decision process for me because it’s certainly something that I miss and don’t want to close the door on for the rest of my life, but, it is not right now anyway, in the best interest of my family, so it won’t be next year,” said Van Gundy.

Van Gundy has not interviewed with any teams, though he has been contacted.

The Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks are two teams known to have interest in Van Gundy.

“I sort of laugh a little bit on jobs I supposedly interviewed for. I don’t know who those sources are. I certainly have had inquiries from people, but no job offers and I have not interviewed anywhere.”

Van Gundy was also asked about an ESPN report indicating Dwight Howard's frustration with Mike D'Antoni.

“When Dwight has a private meeting with Mitch Kupchak, I don’t know who the source would be… other than Mitch Kupchak," said Van Gundy. "My guess is Mitch is not the source and Dwight is not the source.

“I know through my own history and even some things written about what I was supposedly doing this Spring, that quite honestly, I think a lot of times these writers just sit down, make up a story, claim there’s a source and put it out there. I hate to say that, but there’s no other explanation.”

Damian Lillard is being accused of standing by while his entourage beat up two brothers in Portland's Old Town district on Saturday morning.

Jermaine Ulinwa said that he took a photo of Lillard with his cell phone after he spotted him walking toward a parking lot.

“So I took a picture. And so Damian Lillard was upset that I took his picture, so when he turned around he's like, "Did you just take my picture?" said Ulinwa.

“And his entourage just turned around too and they're like, ‘Did you just take a picture of Damian Lillard?’ ... and I said 'Yeah, I did.' And so I saw that he was clearly upset, they were upset and I was like, 'Can I apologize to him? I'll go up right now and apologize to him,'” the brother said.

Philip Ulinwa says he was punched and kicked repeatedly, enough to break his nose and require stitches in his lip.

"I'm getting hit from behind, I'm trying to fight the guy in front, trying to defend myself and there's guys trying to hold me down," said Ulinwa. 

Lillard was recently named the 2012-13 NBA Rookie of the Year.

“Damian Lillard basically instigated it, because he actually looked like he was going to go up to my brother and start fighting him. And since he did that, the rest of the guys started getting riled up too and like they thought it was okay to just start fighting out of nowhere,” said Phil Ulinwa.

Police confirmed they are investigating the incident.

“What we do know for certain at this point is Damian Lillard is not a suspect in this incident at all," said Portland Police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson. "Police did talk to him there. He remained at the scene. What we don’t know is if these people were actually associated with him or people standing in a group or hangers on. We're not really sure yet." 

The Houston Rockets have emerged as an attractive free agent possibility for Dwight Howard, according to sources.

Howard became familiar with the area after spending part of two summers ago working with Hakeem Olajuwon.

Howard is also intrigued by the possibility of playing with James Harden.

Howard will engage in the free agency process and is expected to hear pitches from the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks and the Rockets.

Dwight Howard expressed to Mitch Kupchak during his exit interview that he was frustrated by how Mike D'Antoni used him during his first season with the Los Angeles Lakers, according to sources.

Howard also felt marginalized by D'Antoni, feeling he looked to Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash for leadership and suggestions.

D'Antoni elected not to retain Chuck Person on his coaching staff, who is a confidant of Howard. Furthermore, Steve Clifford has become a head coaching candidate for several NBA vacancies. Clifford was with Howard for five seasons with the Orlando Magic.

One source described the potential departure of Clifford, coupled with the loss of Person as "removing the buffers," between Howard and D'Antoni, "which is a bad thing."

Howard has been careful not to make public comments after what happened last season with Stan Van Gundy, but the situation with D'Antoni doesn't appear to be irreparable.

"It's not a, 'It's me or Mike,' situation for Dwight," said a source.

Howard is a free agent and can sign a five-year, $118 million contract with the Lakers, or up to a four-year, $87.6 million deal with a rival team that has cap space.

The Toronto Raptors will announce on Tuesday that Bryan Colangelo's tenure as chief decision-maker of basketball operations is over, but sources say he will remain with the franchise in a corporate role.

Colangelo has always been viewed as loyal to the organization and it appears as though new MLSE CEO Tim Leiweke and ownership will honor that.

Colangelo will coincidentally represent the Raptors at the lottery on Tuesday.

MLSE has hired a search firm to narrow a list of candidates, though Ed Stefanski will likely guide the front office until a new GM is hired.

Tarik Black has decided to transfer to Kansas.

Black also was considering Duke and Oregon before choosing the Jayhawks.

Black will be eligible to play immediately after graduating this year.

Kansas lost all three starters from their frontcourt, giving Black the opportunity to have a huge impact.

The Golden State Warriors have never paid the luxury tax, but their strong showing in the 2013 NBA Playoffs further confirms the new ownership's willingness to consider it.

"When you start from a place of winning, you may venture into the tax if it does help you win and it’s worth it," said Bob Myers. "But you have to be smart about it, you have to be prudent about it.

"But we’ve shown last year–I can tell you, it was a decision we made with Carl Landry, with his signing, and re-acquiring Brandon Rush. Do we want to go into the tax? And the dialogue our front office had with our ownership was, 'Are you comfortable going into the tax? And we cannot promise that we’ll be able to get out of the tax.'

"And ownership answered in the affirmative. “Go, if you think Cal Landry and Brandon Rush are going to be important to this team, go get ‘em.”

"I imagine it’ll be the same directive this summer."

The Warriors also have appeared to move beyond the desire to make a major franchise altering move. Golden State pursued a trade for Chris Paul in December of 2011.

"I think a sense desperation has passed," said Myers.

"I think that–whereas when you’re trying to do anything to get over the hump you do sometimes chase things that may be difficult to acquire. Whereas now, doesn’t mean we’re satisfied, it doesn’t mean we think our work is through, but we can be prudent and patient with opportunities as they come along."

The Los Angeles Clippers have no interest in pursuing Dwight Howard this offseason, according to sources.

The Clippers have been reported as a possible destination, albeit a longshot, to end up with Howard.

The Clippers do not have cap space to sign Howard while also re-signing Chris Paul, which would have forced them to complete several complicated deals in order to acquire him.