It took longer than expected for Kenyon Martin to find an NBA home this season, but the veteran forward is glad he landed with the New York Knicks.

"I would love to stay a Knick," he said. "I don't want to go nowhere. I am proving to this organization what I can be and who I am as a person on and off the court, and I think they see that. I'm here now and I'm going to make the best of this opportunity."

The Knicks are 13-6 since Martin first played for the team on Feb. 24.

Kyrie Irving returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers against the New Orleans Hornets on Sunday night after missing eight games with a strained left shoulder.

There was speculation Irving would miss the rest of the season after injuring the shoulder March 10 against the Toronto Raptors.

"It wasn't so much what I noticed but it was the way he was moving, the way he said he felt," coach Byron Scott said. "He has to trust me. If I don't think he looks right, if I don't think he's moving well, then I'll take him out."

MILWAUKEE – Jodie Meeks has been a critical role player for the Los Angeles Lakers this season, spacing the floor and providing versatility and durability at the wing position. In Meeks’ mind, he views the Lakers as a long-term fit and believes there’s a solid chance he’ll stay through at least next season’s team option in his contract.

“Yeah, I think so,” Meeks told RealGM when asked if he believes he will be part of the Lakers beyond this season. “You can’t really worry about that right now, just finish out this year. I’ll do that and see whatever happens.”

After playing sparingly under Mike Brown early in the season, Meeks is now averaging 8.1 points on 36.5 percent shooting from three-point range. His best stretch came in Mike D’Antoni’s first full month as head coach, posting 11.1 points per game in December.

“[D’Antoni] gives us a lot of confidence,” Meeks said. “Just playing well, he gives you a lot of freedom, so I’m glad he’s my coach.

“It’s a lot different [than Brown’s system]. Obviously I’ve been playing a lot, but Mike allows me to play well.”

Jeff Teague believes that his brother, Marquis, should have stayed at Kentucky for one more year of seasoning instead of entering last June's draft and joining the Chicago Bulls.

“I said, ‘Go back to school one more year,’ but he felt like he was ready, and I can’t tell him what to do,” said Jeff, “and I was going to be with him whatever decision he made. But I thought he should have went back and had another year to hone his skills. He wanted to come out. He made a grown-man choice.

“But I think he’s enjoying it. He just tries to stay focused and work hard every day. I told him that was the biggest thing — to make sure that they see you love the game.”

Marquis Teague has played sparingly this season despite Derrick Rose missing all season and Kirk Hinrich sitting out long stretches. He is averaging 2.3 points and 1.4 assists in 8.9 minutes per game.

Kobe Bryant has been playing through a bone spur in his left foot for years, all without publicizing the injury and its challenges.

Bryant could have surgery in the offseason to remove the bone spur, but he never did have surgery on the mangled right pinky finger in 2008 or the arthritic right index finger in 2010.

"The thing I'm most proud of is being able to play for so many years and still be playing at a very, very high level," Bryant said. "That's the thing that I'm most proud of."

Bryant tweaked the bone spur in Thursday's Los Angeles Lakers loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Philadelphia 76ers will call up Justin Holiday from the Idaho Stampede of the NBA D-League, according to a source.

Holiday is the brother of 76ers star Jrue Holiday.

Justin Holiday is averaging 17.3 points and 5.3 rebounds for Idaho this season.

Andre Iguodala is likely to exercise the opt-out clause in his contact after this season.

Opting out would enable Iguodala to obtain a multi-year deal elsewhere or possibly lengthen his commitment to the Nuggets.

“You got to weigh options,” Iguodala said. “Security-wise, a player would opt, especially with the type of season we’ve had as a team. Teams know what I can bring to them, and I know (the Nuggets) know what I can bring to a team here.
 
“Players get like $50, $60 or $70 or $80 (million over multiple years), whatever the number was, they gave up a big number (in an option season by opting out). But in the grand scheme of things, pretty much get it back. You got security.’’

Iguodala declined to guarantee he would re-sign with Denver.

“Obviously, it’s a business, so you’re going to look at your options,” Iguodala said. “Here we have some good (prospects). But I’m not making any promises.”

MILWAUKEE – With Derrick Rose working hard to recover from his torn ACL, Ronnie Brewer believes the Chicago Bulls made a mistake by leaking that the 2011 NBA MVP has been medically cleared to return.

“I felt it was unfortunate the [Bulls] released that Derrick was cleared to play,” Brewer told RealGM on Saturday night. “It’s a process and that’s a dramatic injury. If you’re not 110 percent mentally there and you still have thoughts and regrets about the injury, you’re not going to be playing at a high level. Until you can do that, he’s still not cleared in my opinion.”

Rose has made clear he could sit out the entire season after undergoing knee surgery last May, and a major issue he’s dealt with is being fully confident mentally. In Brewer’s mind, the mental facet is just critical as the physical one – no matter if Rose wants to return in a limited part or his old superstar role.

“I think it’s as important mental as it is physical,” Brewer said. “[The injury] happened on a freak play: Him coming down the lane, doing the play he’s done a thousand times. Whenever he’s comfortable doing the things he was used to doing, that’s when he’ll jump out there.”

As far as when Rose will return, Brewer doesn’t think anyone around the Bulls knows, but he was adamant it should come when only his former teammate is ready.

“I don’t think anybody really knows,” Brewer said. “I don’t think the doctors know. I don’t think any of the players know. Whatever it is, I don’t think he should rush back and not be confident to play, because if you’re not playing with confidence then everything goes out the window.”

Tom Izzo thinks Gary Harris will return for a second season at Michigan State.

Harris had perhaps his worst outing of the season against Duke – six points on 2-for-11 shooting – while allowing 29 points to Blue Devils fifth-year senior Seth Curry.

"I don't know if it was the pressure of being home, the pressure of the tournament, but I love the kid,” Izzo said after the Spartans' 71-61 loss to Duke. “He's going to grow and learn from this. That's what you do. That's why this tournament is so brutal."

Harris hinted at a possible return.

"We've got a lot of people coming back," Harris said. "We're only losing one player, so we're going to have a talented team next year, so we're just going to get ready to put in all the work in the offseason and preseason."

Izzo indicated Harris might need surgery to repair a lingering shoulder injury.

"You have not seen the Gary Harris I recruited yet," Izzo said. "Now he performed better in some ways than I thought he would as a freshman, but as far as the aggressive, take-it-to-the-hole, go-get-a-rebound, we haven't seen him yet."

Ben McLemore deferred talk of his NBA future after the Kansas Jayhawks’ 87-85 overtime loss to Michigan.

“No, not at all, I haven’t thought about what I’m going to do,” McLemore said. “Not right now, not yet. I’ve spent this year focused on playing college ball and getting better each and every day.”

McLemore led the Jayhawks with 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting, further solidifying his projection as a top-5 pick.

Bill Self plans to sit down with McLemore and his family, after gathering pertinent information from league insiders, and go over the pros and cons.

“I’ll support whatever direction (McLemore) and his family wants to go,” Self said. “And he needs to explore. He needs to look into doing what would be potentially great for his family, and if it’s the right time, he needs to go.

“But if it’s not, he should stay. But we’ll discuss it.”