Mike Budenholzer is the leading prominent candidate to replace Frank Vogel as head coach of the Phoenix Suns. The Suns fired Vogel on Thursday.

Budenholzer was fired by the Milwaukee Bucks last season after their first round exit against the Miami Heat.

There is momentum on a Budenholzer deal and he has begun working on building an assistant coaching staff to bring with him.

Budenholzer is a native of Arizona and has been linked with the Suns' job in the past.

The Phoenix Suns have fired Frank Vogel as head coach after one season. Vogel, who went 49-33 in Phoenix, was signed to a five-year, $31 million deal in June 2023. 

The Suns were eliminated by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round.

Mike Budenholzer is expected to be a prominent candidate to replace Vogel.

The Charlotte Hornets have hired Charles Lee as their new head coach. Lee is currently an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics.

Lee reportedly signed a four-year deal to coach the Hornets. Lee will finish the Celtics playoff run before joining the Hornets.

Lee began his NBA coaching career in 2014 with the Atlanta Hawks as part of Mike Budenholzer's staff. Lee then moved to the Milwaukee Bucks with Budenholzer in 2018. This season, Lee joined Joe Mazzulla's staff in Boston.

The 39-year-old has been a well-regarded assistant for several years. He started his coaching career at Bucknell University, where he played college basketball, in 2012 before moving to the NBA. Lee is replacing Steve Clifford, who is moving into a front office advisory role with the Hornets.

OG Anunoby has been ruled out of Game 3 by the New York Knicks with a strained left hamstring. Anunoby is also considered unlikely to play in Game 4 on Sunday.

Anunoby suffered the injury late in the third quarter of the Knicks' Game 2 victory over the Indiana Pacers, when he was planting his leg in an effort to convert a transition layup.

While NBC is reportedly close to moving forward with the NBA on a $2.5 billion per season media rights deal, TNT continues to be in talks with the league.

“We’ve enjoyed a strong partnership with the NBA for almost four decades. We’re in continuing conversations with them now, and we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to reach an agreement that makes sense for both sides,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO Zaslav said on Thursday's earnings call.

“We’ve had a lot of time to prepare for this negotiation, and we have strategies in place for the various potential outcomes. However, now is not the time to discuss any of this. Since we are in active negotiations with the league and under our current deal with the NBA, we have matching rights that allow us to match third-party offers before the NBA enters into an agreement with them.”

The NBA also has a deal on the table with Amazon worth $1.8 billion per season, which TNT could also potentially match. 

ESPN and the NBA have agreed to a $2.6 billion per season deal.

Karl-Anthony Towns has won the 2023-24 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award.

An NBA selection committee chose Towns “due to his dedication to pursue social justice and uphold Abdul-Jabbar and the league’s decades-long values of equality, respect and inclusion,” an NBA source said.

Other finalists included Bam Adebayo, CJ McCollum, Lindy Waters III and Russell Westbrook.

Towns played a key role in the passage of Minnesota’s Restore the Vote bill (H.F.28), a bipartisan legislation that restored the right to vote to more than 55,000 formerly incarcerated people in March 2023.

Towns is expected to receive the award before Friday's Game 3 against the Denver Nuggets.

Comcast’s NBCUniversal is closing in on securing the third NBA package and likely unveil a “Basketball Night in America" telecast with its annual bid of $2.5 billion per year, sources tell Sports Business Journal.

Sources say Warner Bros. Discovery, parent company of TNT, would have to increase its bid to as much as $2.8 billion per season to retain rights unless they attempt to settle the matter with litigation.

WBD exited its exclusive negotiating window with the NBA with the expectation they could match any bid from a rival company on a dollar-for-dollar basis. 

Sources reiterated Wednesday that the NBA believes a dollar-for-dollar match is not enough because NBC is an over-the-air network with multiple broadcast windows and an RSN infrastructure that WBD cannot replicate.

“NBC has made their bid, and they're not budging,’’ a media industry source said. “So it's over, right? And Warner Bros. is saying, ‘We'll match it,’ and (Commissioner Adam Silver) is probably saying: ‘It's not matched.’ ’’

Sources say Adam Silver is trying to figure out a way to sever the relationship with TNT in a "gentle way."

“There's no mystery to this," the source said. “It's pretty blatant what's happening. David Zaslav realizes he has to have this and doesn't want to pay more than $2.5B. And Adam's saying, honestly, it's not matched at $2.5. And [Zaslav] goes, ‘Yes, it is,’ and they're going back and forth.’ And so that's where we are. How do you let [WBD] down? Is there a way? Or does Zaslav come up with more money? Because then it doesn't have to be matching because David's paid more.

“And that's where we are. Adam's trying to be nice to David right now until David backs off his dogs. He’s trying to help David save face.’’

NBC’s package is expected to include Sunday Night games following the NFL season, while perhaps taking over ESPN’s Friday night slate and TNT’s second-round playoff and conference final package. Amazon would likely have one weekday night (Tuesday or Thursday) and Saturday nights, as well as the Play-in tournament, the In-Season Tournament, first-round playoff games and likely some international rights. 

ESPN will continue to be the exclusive home of The Finals.

“ESPN did not want to alternate the finals, which I think Adam wanted to do,’’ a source said. “Adam wanted to make a package for NBC and alternate the finals with ESPN. ESPN fought it, fought, fought it, and finally said fine, ‘We'll pay the $2.6B, but no alternating the finals.’ And WB thought the league would never get that [$2.5] price from NBC. They said, ‘Sure, go shopping.’ They shopped it, they got the price. And now David Zaslav goes, ‘We’re screwed.’’’

Patrick Beverley has been suspended four games without pay for forcefully throwing a basketball multiple times at spectators and an inappropriate interaction with a reporter during media availability.

Beverley’s actions took place during and after the Bucks’ 120-98 loss to the Indiana Pacers in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series on May 2 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Milwaukee Bucks forward Thanasis Antetokounmpo has suffered a torn Achilles. He's set to undergo surgery for the injury. No timeline for that surgery, nor his recovery has been reported.

Antetokounmpo is set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer. He's spent the last five seasons with the Bucks.

Rick Carlisle was upset during the fourth quarter of the Indiana Pacers Game 2 loss at the New York Knicks. So much so, that Carlisle got ejected from the game.

Following the game, Carlisle said small market teams deserve an equal shot in. Beyond those comments, the Pacers are doubling down on their efforts to prove that the officiating favored the Knicks in the first two games of the series.

Indiana has sent the NBA league office tape of 78 plays that they feel were calls or non-calls in favor of New York. The Pacers had considered sending the NBA a tape after Game 1, but chose not to. After Game 2, Carlisle said Indiana reversed that decision. The plays in question include 49 instances from Game 2 and 29 plays from Game 1.

"I can promise you that we're going to submit these tonight," Carlisle said after being ejected in the final minute when he was given two technical fouls. "New York can get ready. They'll see 'em too. I'm always talking to our guys about not making it about the officials, but we deserve a fair shot."