Truth & Rumors > NBA

07:05 AM ET 05.23 | If Dwight Howard is going to wind up in Dallas, it will take some shuffling of the future. [The Mavericks], with their first lottery draft pick in a dozen years firmly in hand, have their eyes on a bigger prize. Multiple sources have told ESPN.com's Chad Ford the Mavs are likely to shop the pick in hopes of creating the cap space necessary to make a run at [Howard] in free agency. The 13th overall pick has a cap hold of $1,655,300. ... The hope is to sell Howard or Chris Paul -- who would each have to sacrifice a fifth year on the max contract that he could get from the Lakers and Clippers, respectively -- on the possibility of building a championship contender. "We'd love to get one of the main guys," Nowitzki said last week.

ESPN.com

> Comment

07:05 AM ET 05.23 | So much for a strong 1-2 punch. Not only did Carmelo Anthony play with what an MRI exam Wednesday revealed was a partial tear in his left shoulder, but The Post has learned J.R. Smith's nightmarish playoff performance was partly because of a swollen left knee that contained fluid buildup. According to a league source, Smith likely will have his knee drained of the fluid in the next two weeks -- the same procedure Anthony underwent in March. So Smith's struggles weren't only about his sharp elbow in the Celtics series, alleged hangover and viral infection. Meanwhile, Anthony's MRI exam showed he had played in the playoffs with a small, partial tear in his shoulder, but the Knicks don't expect him to need surgery, according to a league source.

New York Post

> Comment

07:04 AM ET 05.23 | With triple digits again in the forecast for Phoenix, a coaching search is heating up, too. [The Suns] will start interviewing outside candidates for the franchise's head-coaching job over the next several days, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. New Suns general manager Ryan McDonough is overseeing the search. Houston Rockets assistant coach J.B. Bickerstaff will meet with Suns officials on Friday in Phoenix, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. The Suns have also received permission to interview Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Steve Clifford, sources said. ... The Suns are also interested in speaking to CSKA Moscow assistant coach Quin Snyder, sources said. As a Lakers assistant last year, he received interest for the Charlotte and Orlando coaching jobs. Utah assistant coach Jeff Hornacek is also on the Suns' short list.

Yahoo! Sports

> Comment

07:03 AM ET 05.23 | Finally, some momentum. Sacramento Kings officials say their sales staff sold more season tickets Tuesday than any day in Sacramento team history, other than day one, nearly 30 years ago. Team spokesman Chris Clark said the team has a policy of not released specific ticket sales counts, but said requests were coming in every few seconds when the team officially opened sales Tuesday morning for new season tickets for the upcoming season. Sales remained "brisk" [Wednesday], he said. The team is planning on hiring 40 new sales staff this week to help out. The surge in interest follows news last Thursday that the team had been sold to a consortium of new owners led by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Vivek Ranadive.

Sacramento Bee

> Comment

07:03 AM ET 05.23 | Thanks to some good luck -- or maybe it was the copper tie -- Bradley Beal helped land Washington the No. 3 pick in the draft, five spots higher than they'd entered the lottery. [Beal] might want to rub his "special-occasion tie" on his right leg, which still hasn't healed enough for him to be cleared to participate in basketball-related activities. Beal's solid rookie campaign came to a premature end seven weeks ago, when a stress reaction in his right leg was diagnosed. The Wizards initially stated that he would be out for at least six weeks, but Beal is anxious to have another update in the next week or two, so that he can get back to doing what he loves most. He had his last X-ray almost a month ago.

The Washington Post

> Comment