Woj on the NBA

Former Oklahoma City Thunder coach Scott Brooks plans to pass on interview chances with the Denver Nuggets and New Orleans Pelicans and appears inclined to sit out the 2015-16 season, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

After trying a second time on the eve of Game 1, Houston Rockets guard Patrick Beverley couldn’t find the strength and mobility in his left wrist to believe there exists a chance that he can return in the Western Conference finals, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

New Orleans Pelicans president Mickey Loomis and general manager Dell Demps are meeting with Golden State Warriors assistant coach Alvin Gentry on Monday night in San Francisco, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

SAN ANTONIO – Amid a gulf of salary-cap space in Los Angeles and New York, the promise of glitzy pitches and powerful personas, the summer's most impactful recruiter promises to come with a muffled grunt, a shrug of his shoulders and hands so massive that they could snare the biggest free-agent star of them all.

San Antonio's Kawhi Leonard can sell Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge on something that Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson and Carmelo Anthony are unable: the chance to play with basketball's best burgeoning two-way player, to secure his standing within a Spurs monolith rumbling beyond the genius of Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili and into the second act of this generation's greatest basketball dynasty.

In a perfect scenario, the Spurs have a full understanding of the futures of Duncan, Ginobili and Danny Green when they walk into a 12:01 a.m. ET meeting on July 1 with Leonard and his agent, Brian Elfus, in Los Angeles. The Spurs will offer Leonard a full maximum contract extension, get a commitment and turn themselves toward prying Aldridge back to his Texas roots.

For as much as Kevin Love has publicly resisted the discussion of free agency this season, it has been on his mind. He has never been completely comfortable in Cleveland, with his role, nor his connection to those around him. Throughout the year, league sources say, one destination grew in possibility as his exit strategy: The Boston Celtics.

Boston has been no sure thing to lure Love, but it had a better shot than most had believed. If Love left the Cavaliers, the Celtics had closed the gap on the Los Angeles Lakers, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

The Celtics were waiting for July, and the chance to let coach Brad Stevens lay out Love's expanded role in his system. General manager Danny Ainge wanted a chance to sell Love on a vision for surrounding him with complementary talent, on maximizing his popularity as New England's next star.

SAN ANTONIO – When Doc Rivers walked into the locker room, the scene stopped him. Chris Paul called on the Clippers to congratulate the young guard responsible for saving the season and present him the game ball. Everyone clapped. Everyone let out a long, loud cheer for Austin Rivers.

"For a moment, for a half second maybe, I became a dad in there," Doc Rivers told Yahoo Sports later on Sunday at the AT&T Center. The tears welled in his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away and stiffened in the concrete corridor.

To trade for his son, Rivers had to make a case on the move's merits to a dubious basketball community. He's had to live with the criticism. They've had to live with it together. They had Sunday together, too.

After surgery to repair a facial fracture on guard Mike Conley, the Memphis Grizzlies need to wait 48 hours for the swelling to subside before gaining a clearer understanding of a timeline for a possible playoff return, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

There are scenarios in which Conley could return in a possible Western Conference semifinal series against the Golden State Warriors, league sources said, but that’s uncertain until the healing process begins, the pain lessens and Conley can be fitted for a mask.

Conley underwent surgery Monday in Memphis after sustaining a facial fracture under his left eye in the Grizzlies’ Game 3 victory over Portland on Saturday night.

Memphis leads 3-0 in its best-of-seven Western Conference series against the Blazers. Game 4 is set for Monday night in Portland.

Conley is a major part of the Grizzlies’ success, averaging 15.8 points and 5.4 assists in the regular season.

Without Conley, the Grizzlies will rely on Beno Udrih and Nick Calathes to shoulder a bigger burden.

After years of playing significant roles in the Euroleague and on the Brazilian national team, point guard Marcelo Huertas is planning a move to the NBA next season, Yahoo Sports has learned.

Huertas, 31, a savvy, athletic 6-foot-3 playmaker and a deft shooter, is expected to be aggressively pursued as a backup guard in July free agency.

Huertas has been anchored to the Spanish ACB League the past six years with long-term deals that contained significant NBA buyouts, but finally is free of those hurdles. He hasn’t ruled out returning to FC Barcelona next year if the right NBA offer doesn’t emerge, but Huertas is determined to take a serious look at joining the NBA.

“This is the right time,” Huertas told Yahoo Sports.

Huertas has played six seasons for FC Barcelona of the Spanish ACB, leading Barca to three consecutive Euroleague Final Four appearances. He’s averaging 7.4 points and 4.9 assists for Barcelona this season. Huertas is a career 87 percent free-throw shooter.

Huertas has been Brazil’s point guard in numerous Olympic Games, World Championships and FIBA America tournaments. He averaged 11 points and five assists for Brazil in the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Never count out the Golden State Warriors. Down 20 points at the start of the fourth quarter and 17 with 6:00 remaining in regulation, the Warriors fought back to tie the

New Orleans Pelicans

in the final seconds to send Game 3 of their first-round series to overtime. Golden State continued its strong play in the opening minutes of the extra period and held on during a late New Orleans push to come away with a shocking

123-119 win

at the Smoothie King Center, opening up a 3-0 lead in the series. Given the form of this loss, it's an open question as to how much energy or will the Pelicans can muster when they face elimination in Saturday's Game 4.

[Follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball]

The marquee moment of the game took place on the Warriors' final possession of regulation.Anthony Davis split a pair of free throws with nine seconds remaining to give the Pelicans a 108-105 lead, or small enough to give the Warriors a chance at the tie.

Talks on a deal between the Boston Celtics and free-agent center JaVale McGee fell apart when the sides couldn’t agree on control of the player’s contract option for the 2015-16 season, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

McGee visited the Celtics this week and had been inclined to sign there, only to have his agent, B.J. Armstrong, and Celtics general manager Danny Ainge become unable to move past that deal point on Thursday afternoon.

For McGee, the plan is to sign a deal that provides him with a player option on the 2015-16 season – something teams, including Boston, would prefer to be a team option. That way, if McGee plays well, teams won’t be so vulnerable to lose him this summer.

McGee had courted interest from multiple playoff contenders, including the Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, Toronto Raptors, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Toronto general manager Masai Ujiri signed McGee to a $48 million extension in Denver, and remains interested in offering him an opportunity to join the Raptors for a playoff run, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Chicago Bulls guard Jimmy Butler will likely miss 3-4 weeks because of a left elbow sprain, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Butler underwent an MRI on Monday, which revealed that surgery will not be necessary, league sources said.

Possibly missing Butler for a month is a significant blow to the Bulls, who are without Derrick Rose after he underwent surgery Friday to repair a meniscus injury in his right knee. Rose is expected to return in 4-6 weeks.

Butler, averaging 20.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists in a league-high 38.9 minutes per game, was injured during Sunday’s 96-86 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Boston Celtics, Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans have agreed on a three-team, five-player trade that sends Jeff Green to the Grizzlies, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

The trade will send the Grizzlies' Tayshaun Prince, New Orleans' Austin Rivers and a future Memphis first-round pick – likely coming in 2019 – to the Celtics, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Memphis will send forward Quincy Pondexter and a 2015 second-round pick to the Pelicans and the Pelicans will move guard Russ Smith to the Grizzlies, sources said. The Grizzlies held Prince and Pondexter out of Sunday's game against the Phoenix Suns.

The teams will have a trade call with the league on Monday to make the deal official, sources said.

Rivers is unlikely to play for the Celtics, sources said. Boston has discussed a deal with the Los Angeles Clippers to reunite Rivers and his father, Clippers president and coach Doc Rivers, league sources said.

Doc Rivers told reporters on Saturday he’d be open to coaching his son, and several members of the organization, including general manager Dave Wohl and assistant coaches Lawrence Frank and Mike Woodson, have encouraged Doc Rivers to forget the perception of nepotism and take on Austin Rivers, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

The case they’ve made is this: With Austin Rivers at 22 years old and no contract obligations beyond this season, the Clippers can use the rest of the season to evaluate him and see how salvageable his future can be in the NBA. He has virtually no value on the trade market, but there's interest with taking a look at him as a developmental player to come off a team's bench.

Austin Rivers is shooting 38 percent this season, but the Clippers have a roster spot and need for a young backup point guard and had been scouring the league. Los Angeles doesn’t have many assets to trade, and Rivers could be worth a look. Nevertheless, Doc and Austin Rivers would have to deal with the perception and pressures that comes with beliefs that bringing the son to the franchise is simply a father trying to benefit his son – not the organization.

The Celtics don’t want to take contract salary beyond this year, but the Clippers have been working to find a third team to help deliver Boston an expiring deal to go along with the second-round pick the Celtics want for Austin Rivers, sources said.

Green gives the Grizzlies a versatile veteran who can score and defend both forward positions. He is averaging 17.6 points and 4.2 rebounds this season. Green makes $9.2 million this season and holds a player option of $9.2 million in 2015-16 – the final year of his contract.

The Celtics are unloading assets – they traded forward Brandan Wright to the Phoenix Suns for a future first-round draft pick earlier Friday – and gathering assets for a rebuild. With this trade, Boston will have accumulated 11 first-round picks over the next four drafts.

The Los Angeles Clippers plan to sign free-agent guard Dahntay Jones to a 10-day contract, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

The Clippers had planned to sign Darius Miller to a 10-day deal earlier on Tuesday, but changed course several hours later to bring Jones back to the NBA out of the NBA Development League.

Jones, 34, had been playing for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, averaging 13.8 points on 50 percent shooting. Jones has played 10 years in the NBA, including six different stops. The Utah Jazz released him in training camp.

After scoring 30 points in a victory over Reno on Tuesday night, Jones will travel to Portland to join the Clippers against the Trail Blazers on Wednesday night.

PHOENIX – Before LeBron James disappeared on his two-week vacation to South Beach and JerryWorld, his message to these Cleveland Cavaliers had been unmistakable: Never mind what you see, just listen to what I tell you.

For all the leveraging of the Ohio homecoming into marketing and commercials, few surrounding these Cavaliers sensed James had intimately invested himself into the process of constructing a championship culture. When the Cavaliers needed his old MVP self – hard-playing, smart and relentless – they found him taking off plays and jogging back on defense and undermining his coach in ways big and small. James hadn't offered the leadership he promised to reconstruct the franchise, only his presence.

For everyone suspicious of James' intentions when he pushed David Blatt out of a confrontation with a game official in Tuesday night's loss to the Phoenix Suns, give James a benefit of the doubt he hasn't earned. He was trying to spare Blatt a technical foul.

In this warped Cavaliers culture, it almost felt like progress in the limited star-coach partnership. At least, James acknowledged that Blatt was there, that he was Cavaliers coach. That's been rare.

Jan 12, 2015; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Brooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez (11) controls the ball defended by Houston Rockets

The Brooklyn Nets have intensified trade discussions for center Brook Lopez and want to move him soon, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

The Nets, Oklahoma City Thunder and Charlotte Hornets began to gather traction on a three-way trade late Thursday afternoon, and planned to continue to discussions on Friday morning, league sources told Yahoo Sports. For the Nets, the biggest hurdle remained their willingness to take on combustible Charlotte guard Lance Stephenson, sources said.

Oklahoma City has been the most aggressive in its pursuit of Lopez, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Brooklyn has tried to find teams willing to move the expiring contract of Kendrick Perkins for an established player, sources said.

The Nets have delivered indications to teams they would like to settle on a trade by the weekend, league sources said.

Denver has discussed a package centered on center JaVale McGee, but his consistent problems with injuries have discouraged the Nets' interest, sources said. Miami raised the idea of a package including Chris Andersen, Norris Cole and Josh McRoberts, sources told Yahoo Sports. The Los Angeles Lakers have expressed interest too, sources said.

The Hornets have a strong interest in making a deal for Lopez, but league sources believe the Nets are focused on dealing Lopez to the Western Conference, league sources told Yahoo.

Brooklyn officials have been re-canvassing the league for intel on Hornets guard Lance Stephenson, trying to measure the risk-reward of bringing him back to his hometown, league sources said. Charlotte and Brooklyn talked several weeks ago, but discussions cooled when the Nets were reluctant to acquire Stephenson as part of a broader package, league sources said.

The Nets have three max-contract salaries on the roster – Lopez, Deron Williams and Joe Johnson – and are motivated to shed two of the three before the Feb. 19 trade deadline, league sources said. Brooklyn has lost seven straight games to drop to 16-23, and owner Mikhail Prokhorov is pursuing a sale of the team.

Brooklyn has been unable lately to find any traction in talks to move Williams, league sources said.

The Nets have had discussions with Oklahoma City on Lopez, but the best chance for bringing back value on the former All-Star center could be gambling on the talent of Stephenson. There's support for a Stephenson homecoming to Brooklyn on the ownership level but rival teams believe the front office is more cautious about taking on the volatile player.

Lopez, 26, has a player option of $16.7 million on his contract for the 2015-16 season, which he's almost certain to exercise based on the foot injuries that have plagued him the past few years. Lopez makes $15.7 million this season. He was an Eastern Conference All-Star in 2013, but missed most of the 2014 season with a recurrence of a foot injury.