Truth & Rumors > NBA

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

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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

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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

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03:09 PM ET 05.22 | In what was the worst kept secret of all time, the Los Angeles Clippers fired head coach Vinny Del Negro on Tuesday after yet another promising season ended in playoff defeat. The reason for Del Negro's firing is perhaps the most obvious reason of all time as well -- Chris Paul didn't want him in town anymore. Clippers owner Donald Sterling spoke to the Los Angeles Times and while he didn't outright admit the firing was to please Chris Paul, he strayed pretty far away from denying it as well.

Fansided

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03:09 PM ET 05.22 | For the second time in three years the Cleveland Cavaliers have won the NBA Draft Lottery and thusly, the No. 1 pick in the draft, but they may have hit the real jackpot since the No. 1 pick could lure back the No. 1 player in the NBA. While leaving Cleveland made LeBron James the villain for two seasons, people have seemingly gotten over it and are now looking ahead to a stereotypical Hollywood ending to the career of LeBron James, which would see him return home to Cleveland and finally win the city a title. James left Cleveland because he was the only player on the team worth anything but now the Cavs are a very different team and with yet another No. 1 pick in their pocket they may be able to put together a young team that entices LeBron to come home and end his career where it started.

Fansided

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