The New York Knicks nearly sent out the contracts of Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel at the deadline to clear cap space to pursue Jalen Brunson in free agency.

League executives believe the Knicks would have to trade either the No. 11 pick or Immanuel Quickley in order to incentivize a team to take on log-term salary.

Brunson can sign a five-year deal with the Dallas Mavericks or a four-year deal with a rival team. The Knicks could offer Brunson a role as the starting point guard and lead ball-handler, which won't happen with the Mavericks.

Brunson also has a connection to Leon Rose as his father, Rick Brunson, was a longtime client.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have agreed to hire Luke Walton as an assistant coach under JB Bickerstaff.

Walton spent the past five seasons as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings. The Kings parted ways with Walton during the 21-22 season.

Walton spent the final two seasons of his playing career with the Cavaliers. 

The Portland Trail Blazers will likely guarantee the $12.9 million salary owed to Josh Hart for next season, which would eliminate them from a major potential free agency signing.

The Blazers have a deadline of June 25th to guarantee Hart's contract, which is several days before the start of free agency.

The Blazers have a $20.9 million trade exception from their trade of CJ McCollum to the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Charlotte Hornets are currently the only NBA team without a head coach. Charlotte seems to have narrowed down their choices to Mike D'Antoni or Kenny Atkinson.

Neither D'Antoni nor Atkinson have met with Hornets owner Michael Jordan as of yet. Those meetings are expected to take place soon, when Jordan returns from a postseason vacation.

D'Antoni has been considered the frontrunner for the job. His offensive system is seen as being a great fit for Hornets star LaMelo Ball.

Atkinson is seen as someone who has had great success developing young talent into winners. There are some who think Atkinson may be too similar to former Charlotte coach James Borrego. That would work against Atkinson, as the Hornets are known to want to go in a different direction with their next coach.

When the Boston Celtics had a slow start to the 21-22 season, there were calls by some to break up their core of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. If the Celtics were to make a trade of one of their two wings, it would have most likely been Brown.

“That trade talk was loud, and most of it came from Boston fans,” Brown told Yahoo Sports. “It’s a city that doesn’t tolerate excuses. But in reality, early in the season we had a new coach, we had a new front office, I missed about 15 games early in the season and that caused us to not be clicking on all cylinders like we wanted to be. People were impatient, so I understand. But fast forward, we got healthy, we got everybody back and now the sky’s the limit.”

Brown wasn't an All-Star in 2022 as he was in 2021, but he finished the season with similar production. During the playoffs, Brown is averaging 22.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists.

Brown can become a free agent in 2024.

With the Boston Celtics reaching the NBA Finals, Al Horford has his 22-23 salary guarantee jump from $14.5 million to $19.5 million.

Horford will get the full $26.5 million in his contract guaranteed if the Celtics win the NBA Finals.

But sources tell the Boston Herald that the Celtics are expected to bring back Horford and fully guarantee his $26.5 million deal regardless. 

Horford signed a four-year deal during the 2019 offseason with the Philadelphia 76ers that was partially guaranteed in Year 4 ($14.5 million of $26.5 million).

Ime Udoka was a head coaching candidate several times before he was eventually hired by the Boston Celtics during the 2021 offseason.

“The one thing I would say is the disappointment of coming in second a few years really hurt,” Udoka told Yahoo Sports after the Celtics defeated the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals on Sunday. “But if you told me I’d have to wait for Boston and get [bypassed] by some of the ones that I got beat out on, it's a no-brainer for me. I’m happy to be in Boston.”

Udoka was the runner-up during multiple hires.

“You really want me to tell you? Detroit, Indiana, Cleveland,” Udoka told Yahoo Sports. “I can go down the list. That was tough because I believe I was ready. But I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of an organization that’s pushing for winning and championships. You can be in a lot of different situations. There are only 30 teams and I get that, but to not be in a rebuild and being in an expectation pressure-filled situation, I wouldn’t trade that in any day.”

Udoka spent seven seasons as an assistant in San Antonio under Gregg Popovich before taking the same role with Philadelphia under Brett Brown before also working as an assistant coach with the Nets under Steve Nash.

“I was always confident once my name started getting out there,” Udoka told Yahoo Sports. “We had some success. Obviously, being in San Antonio helped that. The interview process started and there was a lot of interest, so it was just a matter of time. I was a finalist in a few destinations. So, I always had total faith in that it was a matter of the right fit.”

The Portland Trail Blazers have hired Sergi Olivia as assistant general manager.

Olivia has worked as an assistant coach with the Utah Jazz over the past two seasons. Previously, Olivia worked as VP of Strategy with the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Blazers have hired three assistant general managers over the past four months as Olivia joins Andre Patterson and Mike Schmitz. 

Zion Williamson has been fully cleared to play without any restrictions after missing the entire 21-22 season. Williamson will be eligible for a contract extension with the New Orleans Pelicans and their ownership appears to be unwilling to give him a fully guaranteed max contract.

"The big drama this summer is about Zion's contract," said Brian Windhorst on Get Up. "At the end of the season when he spoke to the media, he said he would happily sign an extension when it's put in front of him. But it's not that simple. Any player in his situation would sign a five-year guaranteed max contract.

"But from what I've been told, the Pelicans at this point are not willing to offer a full five-year guaranteed deal. And a lot of it is flowing down from ownership. Gayle Benson, the owner, is also the owner of the New Orleans Saints and I've been told they are going to take a football-style, Saints-style mentality with this contract negotiation. They will offer him a huge contract, but will not guarantee all of it.

"If Zion accepts those terms and still protects himself and maybe gets $100 million plus guaranteed, he signs it and everything is fine. If he doesn't sign it and wants the full [contract] guaranteed, we can have some drama into the fall."

Darvin Ham has been promised autonomy to select his coaching staff and also has received assurances that Kurt Rambis won't be a regular presence in coaching meetings, according to Marc Stein of Substack.

During the tenure of Frank Vogel, the Lakers made several decisions regarding his coaching staff and also had Rambis participate in coaches meetings.

Given the way the Lakers have previously updated, the concessions received by Ham are significant. Ham is a first-time NBA head coach after a well-regarded tenure as an assistant coach.