There's a chance Duke point guard Kyrie Irving's pre-draft tour might consist of one stop.

"Our priority is Cleveland," agent Jeff Wechsler said from his office in Florida on Tuesday.

Irving, 19, might work out only for the Cavaliers. Don't expect him to work out with any other players.

"For my safety, I'm not going to work out with anyone else," he said at the NBA draft combine in Chicago on May 20.

A deadline of sorts has arrived for Ricky Rubio as he decides about playing in the NBA next season.

Under the current collective bargaining agreement, Tuesday was the last day Rubio could sign a contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves and ensure that his deal will be under the existing rookie wage scale.

If the Spanish point guard does not sign a contract with the Wolves by the end of business on Tuesday, he will not be able to sign until the beginning of the new fiscal league year.

Kevin Ware, a former signee with Tennessee and commitment to Central Florida, picked U of L over Georgia and committed after making a visit this weekend.

“He always had an interest in Louisville but I think he just needed to take his visit so he could actually make a decision for himself,” Mack told The Courier-Journal on Monday night. “He got to Louisville, met the coaches and the players and had a real comfort level with them and he already knew Rick Pitino was a great coach. He just felt like Louisville was the best fit for him.”

The 6-foot-4 Ware, who played in the Kentucky Derby Festival Classic last month, is ranked as the No 70 prospect in the Class of 2011 by Rivals.com and checks in at No. 99 in the Scout.com rankings.

Jason Kidd will become the oldest guard to start a game in an NBA finals when the Dallas Mavericks face the Miami Heat on Tuesday night.

While Dirk Nowitzki calls him a "fossil," and Shawn Marion described him as being "almost 50," Kidd is a few months past 38. That's two years older than Ron Harper was when he started for the Lakers in 2000.

The buyout in the contract of Jonas Valanciunas with Lietuvos Rytas will be raised to at least $3 million USD, sources confirmed to RealGM.

Valanciunas has widely been projected to become a top-five pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, but a more financially difficult buyout would surely impact his draft status.

During the 2010-11 Euroleague season, Valanciunas averaged 7.7 points and 5.8 rebounds in just over 15 minutes per game.

Since 1985, in order to cut-down on cross-country travel for the hundreds of staff and media working the championship series, the NBA has used the 2-3-2 format for The Finals, with the team with the better regular-season record hosting Games 1, 2, 6 and 7.

Since then, the team which hosts Games 3, 4 and 5 has won just six of the 26 Finals (23 percent). In comparison, the "lower seed" in the conference finals has won 33 percent (18 of 54), using the 2-2-1-1-1 format, since 1985.

In order to win any series, the lower seed -- in The Finals, that would be the team with the middle three games at home -- needs to win at least one game in its opponent's arena. But in the 2-3-2 format, it likely has to do better than that.

Caron Butler not only hopes that he can play in the NBA Finals, but he’s confident he could pick up where he left off before rupturing his right patellar tendon on New Year’s Day.

“I’d be myself,” Butler said. “I’d be myself out there – a guy that can create, do some things on the low post, obviously just make other guys better.”

Unfortunately, the Mavs’ medical staff doesn’t share Butler’s optimism.

Butler still hasn’t been cleared for contact. Coach Rick Carlisle continues to say that it’s “unlikely” that Butler will play in the Finals, although Carlisle adds that he wouldn’t bet against the small forward.

Kawhi Leonard is one of 30 potential draft prospects -- including Maryland sophomore Jordan Williams – training in Las Vegas with Joe Abunassar at Impact Basketball.

He has been working hard on improving his ballhandling and his jumper by finding the proper balance on his release and landing.

“I want to do a lot of things on the court. I just want to be a complete basketball player. Dribble, pass, shoot, be a leader, play defense, block shots, steals. I’m trying to do it all,” Leonard said. “I think my comparison would be like to one of the throwback type of players. James Worthy, versatile, could do a lot of stuff on the court.”

As Donnie Walsh continues to work on the future of the Knicks , his own future remains uncertain.

Both Walsh and Garden executive chairman James Dolan have pointed to June 30 -- when Walsh's contract officially expires -- as the important date. The deadline now is a month away.

"We're still talking about it," Walsh told Newsday Monday.

He wouldn't elaborate, nor would he comment on a report that said an extension will be completed this week.

Responding to speculation that he wants to jump to a bigger market when he can became a free agent next year, superstar center Dwight Howard indicated Monday that his strong preference is to remain with the Orlando Magic for the long term.

"I'm not trying to run behind nobody like Shaq or be behind somebody else," Howard said, referencing Shaquille O'Neal's decision to leave the Magic following the 1995-96 season and sign with the Los Angeles Lakers.

"I want to start my own path and I want people to follow my path and not just follow somebody else's path. I want to have my own path, and I want to start that here in Orlando. But I can't do it alone. Not only do I need the right teammates, but I need the city behind me. That's the only way it's going to get done. We can change this small city that we have — this small market that we have — and we can make it a big market."