The Los Angeles Clippers are interested in signing David West this offseason.

The Clippers will have to entice West with the $5.15 million midlevel exception available to teams that are non-taxpayers.

West played with Chris Paul as members of the New Orleans Hornets.

The Indiana Pacers will be able to pay West more money to re-sign.

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.

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 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.

After a breakout season in Europe, Gani Lawal has intrigued NBA teams and could receive consideration for a contract, league sources told RealGM.

Lawal has already scheduled workouts – private and as part of mini-camps – with the Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic, sources said. Four to five other teams have discussed bringing him in to work out, too.

Lawal, the 6-foot-9 athletic, scrappy forward, had his best professional season with Italy’s Virtus Roma, averaging 13.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks. Virtus Roma has gone 20-10 this season and ranks third in the league standings.

Since leaving the Phoenix Suns organization that drafted him in the second round in 2010, Lawal, 24, has lost weight and added strength. Lawal played one game with the Suns two seasons ago and was in the San Antonio Spurs’ training camp in 2011, but he was derailed by injuries and didn’t figure into a long-term plan. He was drafted after three years at Georgia Tech.

The New York Knicks could lose Chris Copeland this summer in restricted free agency.

Copeland will measure his market value after posting several strong performances in the Eastern Conference semifinals, including a 13 point, 4-rebound showing in the Knicks’ 85-75 win over the Pacers Thursday night.

The Knicks will extend a qualifying offer to Copeland, making him a restricted free agent, but they may be prohibited from matching any offer more than $3 million.

Richard Hamilton scored 15 points in 35 minutes of the Chicago Bulls' Game 5 loss to the Miami Heat, and he knows he likely does not have a future with the organization.

The Bulls will buy out Hamilton for $1 million this offseason.

Hamilton has said he hopes to play two more seasons.

"Even though the last two weeks have been hard, my teammates have been great," Hamilton said. "They were so supportive of me and dumbfounded by the situation. They kept me going."

The Dallas Mavericks have had two relatively difficult seasons since winning The Finals in 2011.

The Mavericks were eliminated in the first round of the 2012 NBA Playoffs and didn't qualify in 2013.

The Mavericks were unable to sign Deron Williams last offseason and are hoping to have better success this offseason in signing either Dwight Howard or Chris Paul.

"We'd love to get one of those two," said Dirk Nowitzki. "We'd love to get a player in here who can create his own shot and be a superstar-type player. It's still a long way to go until July. Those guys need to clear their minds a little bit and get away and then start thinking what they want to do with their futures. Hopefully, that's where we come in and put a great pitch out there and see what happens."

Nowitzki said he would like to be involved in the free agency pitch.

"I'll definitely be a little involved. But I'll be in the draft 'war room' for the first time ... order some pizza and talk some basketball. I got one year left on this deal and then I'm coming off the books. So if that helps for us to be better I'm going to take a paycut. That's part of the pitch. (Mark) Cuban and Donnie (Nelson) have got to be part of the pitch. I think Dallas and the fans here, the sellout streak, the city to live in is gorgeous and has gotta be in the top five in the league. Hopefully, some of those guys will decide to come, and if not, we've gotta  have a plan B. If none of those top free agents come, we gotta make some moves with sign and trades or something. We want to get back to the playoffs and be a factor. We owe it to these fans who come out every single night to support us."

The Houston Rockets will not pick up the team option on Francisco Garcia's contract for next season, according to sources.

Garcia will be an unrestricted free agent in July.

Garcia's deal for next season was worth $6.4 million.

After coming to the Rockets in a trade from the Sacramento Kings, Garcia became a critical reserve and was one of Houston's primary defenders on Kevin Durant in the first round of the playoffs.