The Los Angeles Lakers have parted ways with Darvin Ham as head coach after two seasons with the franchise.

Ham guided the Lakers to the Western Conference in his first season. In Year 2, the Lakers won the In-Season Tournament and lost to the Denver Nuggets in the first round. The Lakers went 90-74 during the regular season with Ham.

Ham had two seasons remaining on his contract at approximately $5 million per year.

The Lakers previously fired Frank Vogel after three seasons with the club.

The Los Angeles Clippers would like to retain Tyronn Lue on a long-term contract and it is unlikely a scenario would manifest that would allow him to become head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

"I don't believe it is realistic based on this: Ty Lue still has a year left on his contract," said Adrian Wojnarowski. And the Clippers are determined to a long-term deal with Ty Lue, I'm told. They want him to be their head coach for a very long time. That is a conversation that will happen after the playoffs are over, but they love the job he did this season. They love the job he's done there.

"This is an organization by all indications, however this series ends up, wants to re-sign Paul George, James Harden. Try to improve this roster around those two and Kawhi Leonard. And Ty Lue will still be the head coach for them."

The Lakers previously offered Lue their head coaching job in 2019, but were unable to agree to contract terms.

The Los Angeles Lakers have Mike Budenholzer, Kenny Atkinson, JJ Redick and Tyronn Lue on their list of possible candidates for their head coaching vacancy. Charles Lee is also a possible candidate for the job.

The Milwaukee Bucks parted ways with Budenholzer after the 22-23 season, two years after the team won The Finals. Budenholzer did not coach during the 23-24 season following his dismissal.

Atkinson has most recently been an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors. In 2022, he accepted an offer to become the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets and then backed out of the deal. Atkinson was previously a head coach with the Brooklyn Nets.

Redick has inteviewed for head coaching positions previously with the Toronto Raptors and Charlotte Hornets. Redick is currently one of ESPN's lead game analysts and also has a podcast with LeBron James.

Lue is under contract with the Los Angeles Clippers for the 24-25 season as they open up their new arena. 

Lee has been a head coaching candidate over the past few cycles and is currently an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics. 

The Phoenix Suns are still deciding whether they will retain Frank Vogel as head coach and what they can do to add to his coaching staff if he isn't fired.

"Phoenix is still deciding about Frank Vogel's future. Those conversations are ongoing. There's a world where they can make changes on his coaching staff. They lost Kevin Young, their top assistant, to BYU as a head coach.

"They can also make a decision to move on from Frank Vogel. They're not there yet, I'm told."

Vogel spoke confidently earlier this week about the support he is receiving from Mat Ishbia as head coach, but The Athletic reported of issues some key stakeholders had with his coaching style and that the Suns would take a "hard look" at making a change.

After the Philadelphia 76ers were eliminated by the New York Knicks in Game 6 of the first round of the NBA playoffs, Joel Embiid conducted his postgame interview with Tyrese Maxey by his side. Embiid typically addresses the media at the podium by himself.

Embiid spoke optimistically about the partnership he has formed with Maxey and the Sixers' ability to improve the roster this offseason via cap space and future draft capital.

"It kind of looks exciting," Embiid said. "I don't know what they're going to do. But they do have a lot of cap space and picks, so they have the opportunity to do something good. [But] that's a great position to be in.

"You got a young superstar, face of the franchise for his whole career, really, in Philly. That's exciting ... [we're] trying to build something great here."

Maxey will also be a free agent and he is expected to sign a max contract.

The Philadelphia 76ers have long been connected to a pursuit of Paul George this offseason.

"The player at the top of theeir list is Paul George," said Brian Windhorst on Get Up on Friday morning. "His contract extension discussions with the Clippers have not led to an agreement. The Clippers are fighting for their playoff lives tonight in Dallas. They have not wanted to offer the max contract. They got Kawhi to accept an extension at less than a max, that has been the standard.

"I think Philly is going to come out with a max offer to Paul George. The Clippers are going to have to decide max or not. Paul George is going to have to decide 'Do I want to stay here or not?'

"But you don't just to have use cap space on free agents. You can use it in trade. This is where I think Daryl Morey is going to go to work. There's going to be a number of names who are going to come up, but I'm going to give you two off the bat here. Both involve who can get extensions with their teams, but for various reasons will not.

"The first name to watch is Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat. He has two years left on his contract. There is interest in him extending... If Jimmy Butler wants to extend and the Heat are not willing to do it facing heavy luxury tax penalties, is there a way to revisit that?

"Also, another player to watch is Brandon Ingram. He had a very poor playoff session for the Pelicans. He is due a contact extension. The Pelicans have never paid the tax in the history of their franchise. They are set to sign Trey Murphy as a big dollar player alongside Zion Williamson. This is a player who might be on the market and again, I don't think even their No. 1 choice behind Paul George, but this type of player is who Philly can potentially look at to add firepower and offense to this team.

Milwaukee Bucks guard Patrick Beverley had a confrontation with Indiana Pacers fans seated behind the Bucks bench. Beverley appeared to throw a basketball at the fans twice as Milwaukee was wrapping up a season-ending loss in Indiana.

Beverley took to Twitter/X after the game to post "Not Fair at all. Exchanged between a fan and our ball club all night. We warned and asked for help all night. Not fair."

The NBA has regularly fined players for throwing items, including balls, into the stands.

Amazon's NBA deal is expected to include "exclusive access" to a full night of NBA games, reported John Ourand of Puck (h/t Sports Media Watch).

The games are expected to be available only through Prime Video, though local RSNs would produce the broadcasts.

The deal between the two will also include a traditional slate of regular season and playoff games.

The NBA reportedly has a framework of a deal with Amazon and ESPN for broadcast rights starting in 2025.

Giannis Antetokoumpo was unable to appear in the first round of the Milwaukee Bucks' series against the Indiana Pacers due to a calf injury. 

Antetokoumpo's status heading into Game 6 was slightly more promising, but he was ruled out. 

"I tried my best to come back to help my teammates," Antetokounmpo said Friday. "It's kind of hard to see them being out there and not being able to help them, but I just couldn't.

"I did all the tests I had to do, these like protocols you have to follow and have to check the boxes. I wasn't even close at checking the boxes."

Antetokoumpo suffered the injury at the end of the regular season and last played on April 9th.

Antetokoumpo missed multiple playoff games last season as well with a back injury.

Antetokounmpo was asked if he might change his approach next season.

"I don't know. Maybe I do follow a different pattern," Antetokounmpo said. "Maybe try different things. I don't like the word 'rest.' Like, if I can play, I will play. If I cannot play, I can't play.

"I'm for sure going to sit down and think about it, of how my summer is going to look like and how next year is going to look like."

LeBron James is widely expected to return to the Los Angeles Lakers next season though he has decisions to make on how much longer he wants to continue playing and whether he prefers to finish his career with the franchise.

James has a $51 million player option for 24-25 with the Lakers. James is expected to become a free agent and re-sign some type of multi-year deal and possibly seek a no-trade clause. James can only get a no-trade clause by becoming a free agent and can't do so as part of an extension.

"I think the expectation is that in one shape or another, LeBron James will be back with this Lakers' team," said Adrian Wojnarowski. "It probably includes declining that player option and doing a new deal. Whether that's a one-year deal or a two-year deal, however they want to structure it. I think there's a working expectation that he's back, but things can change. He can make a different decision later."

Both the Golden State Warriors and Philadelphia 76ers had interest in LeBron James ahead of this year's trade deadline.