The Atlanta Hawks have parted ways with Mike Budenholzer and a list of candidates has already emerged.

The Hawks are believed to be targeting a number of assistants, including Charlotte's Stephen Silas, Portland's Nate Tibbetts and David Vanterpool, San Antonio's Ime Udoka and James Borrego.

Budenholzer had been in the job with the Hawks since 2013 after replacing Larry Drew.

Sam Amick of the USA Today reports David Fizdale is also expected to be a candidate for the job.

Jusuf Nurkic will be a restricted free agent this offseason, which will be the most critical order of business for the Portland Trail Blazers.

Nurkic has played the best basketball of his career with the Blazers since his trade from the Nuggets during the 16-17 season.

"Everybody knows I want to be here," Nurkic said. "I found my home here. But I can't control those things. It needs to be both sides. I did my part on the court. My agent and (Portland management) need to do the rest."

The market for a center of Nurkic's ability is unclear as fewer teams have cap space than they had in the two first offseasons after the cap spike.

The Portland Trail Blazers finished the regular season with the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference but were swept in the first round by New Orleans Pelicans.

Lillard believes the Pelicans did an excellent job of taking him out of the offense.

"The reality of it is, their game plan was to take me out," said Lillard. "I come across halfcourt and there are two guys guarding me. There's really no excuse on my behalf. You've got to take the good with the bad. I can accept the credit when I do great things and I accept the criticism."

Lillard believes the Blazers currently have potential to hit another level the way the Warriors did after their first round exit to the Clippers in 2014.

"I honestly feel like our team is capable of something like that," Lillard said.

Lillard also disagrees with the suggestion that the Blazers may be better off breaking up his backcourt pairing with CJ McCollum.

"I mean, I don't agree with it. I think it's that simple. That's the easiest thing to say, but I don't agree with it."

What happened in three snapshots in the NBA Playoffs on Tuesday, April 17.

The Portland Trail Blazers are considering having their G League affiliate play their home games at the Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon.

There had also been suggestions of putting the team in Seattle until that market gets an NBA team again.

The Blazers and Pelicans are the final two NBA teams without a dedicated G League affiliate.

The following graphics show the Net Rating, Offensive Rating and Defensive Rating rankings for all 16 teams in the 2018 NBA Playoffs.

Damian Lillard was carted out of the arena to the Blazers' team bus after suffering an ankle sprain.

Lillard landed on the foot of Salah Mejri and appeared to roll his left ankle.

Lillard limped away but returned to finish the game.

“I think I have a pretty high pain tolerance but I’m going to be smart about it," said Lillard. "It’s the end of the season, we’re going into playoffs so I have to be smart that one thing doesn’t turn into another.”

Damian Lillard has been named NBA Western Conference Player of the Week for games played from March 26 to April 1. Victor Oladipo won the award in the Eastern Conference.

Lillard had the highest scoring average in the NBA for the week, averaging 28.3 points (46.9% FG, 25.9% 3-PT, 94.7% FT) to go with 6.3 rebounds and 8.7 assists. He was fourth in the Western Conference in total assists (26) for the week and tied for sixth in free throws made (18).

Oladipo averaged 26.0 points and 6.7 assists as Pacers went 3-0.