Larry Sanders has increased his efforts to return to the NBA by hiring an agent and beginning to meet with teams.

Sanders has hired agent Joel Bell and has started meeting with NBA teams, including, league sources said, a visit with the Boston Celtics last week.

Sanders has three additional visits scheduled.

Sanders, 28, has been determined the past six months to return to basketball shape and now believes he is ready.

Sanders receives $1.86 million per year until 2022 through his buyout with the Bucks via the stretch provision. Any future contract Sanders signs would be unaffected.

The Boston Celtics informed the New York Knicks they have no interest in trading for Carmelo Anthony.

Last season, the Celtics and Knicks held exploratory talks on Anthony.

Boston has since signed Al Horford during the 2016 offseason.

Anthony is one of only three NBA players with a full no-trade clause in his contract. 

In addition to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the New York Knicks reached out to the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Clippers in regards to a Carmelo Anthony trade.

Phil Jackson is determined to find a destination and deal that Anthony would agree to accept before the Feb. 23 NBA trade deadline.

Jackson wants to begin rebuilding around Kristaps Porzingis.

The Clippers are a team that would interest Anthony.

Anthony makes $24.6 million this season and has $54 million remaining over the next two years of his contract. His deal includes a 15 percent trade kicker and a player option for the 2018-19 season.

Marcus Smart had a brief-but-animated flare-up with assistant coaches late in the fourth quarter of the Boston Celtics' 123-108 loss to the Washington Wizards. Smart was sent to the locker room before the end of the game.

Smart had played 17 of the first 20 minutes of the second half but was subbed out with four minutes remaining and the Celtics trailing by 13 points. Approximately one minute later, Smart started to walk toward the scorer's table to check back in but Brad Stevens immediately followed him.

Smart returned to the bench at that point and sat down in the huddle as if he was re-entering the game. Some of Boston's assistant coaches attempted to remove him, but Smart was shown on the television broadcast having a heated exchange with assistants Jerome Allen and Jamie Young, which included waving a towel in their direction as Stevens sat in front of the huddle. 

"So he just wanted to go back in. And he had played 12 [consecutive] minutes or whatever, so he wasn't going to go back in," Stevens told reporters in Washington.

Pressed on why Smart appeared upset, Stevens added, "He wanted to go back in badly."

Smart was asked about the situation as well.

"Just coaches and players, they're real passionate about the game and hate losing and having different opinions about certain things in the game," Smart told reporters in Washington. "Of course, I wanted to go back in. Just like everybody else to play it out and give it everything they had and leave it on the court. We had different opinions on that."

Smart later apologized on Twitter.

The Boston Celtics have agreed to a jersey sponsorship deal with General Electric. GE is headquartered in Boston and has a market cap of $265 billion.

The Celtics will make the announcement on Wednesday.

The Philadelphia 76ers have previously agreed to a deal with StubHub, while the Sacramento kings will be sponsored by Blue Diamond Almonds.

The Washington Wizards will wear all black to Tuesday's home game against the Boston Celtics.

Recent games between the two teams have featured chippy play and plenty of trash talk.

Jae Crowder and Wizards guard John Wall were both fined after the two engaged in an after-the-buzzer dustup during the teams' most recent contest.

"We're wearing all black to the game. You know where we're going with that," Kelly Oubre Jr. told reporters.

Reporters also asked Wall about the dress code, and he responded, "All black everything. A funeral."

Crowder said he is not interested in engaging in extracurricular activity.

"I lost $25,000, so you won't see too much out of me," Crowder said. "For real."

John Wall and Jae Crowder were each fined for their confrontation following the Boston Celtics' win over the Washington Wizards.

Crowder received a fine of $25,000 while Wall was fined $15,000.

The penalties were announced by Kiki VanDeWeghe, Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.

John Wall and Jae Crowder had to be separated on Wednesday after the Boston Celtics' 117-108 win over the Washington Wizards.

Crowder could be seen putting his finger in Wall's face after the two exchanged words, and Wall appeared to land a quick open-hand slap before teammates and staffers rushed in to prevent a further escalation. Wall appeared to take another swipe at Crowder.

Five Boston police officers stood guard between the two locker rooms after the game.

"Just some altercation. We knew there was going to be some trash-talking," Wall said. "We knew it was going to be a physical game. That's all it was: Just a little trash-talking and a physical game."

Crowder didn't care to discuss what flared the incident.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I ain't got no comment about that," he said. "You want to talk about the game? Anyone want to talk about the game?"

Jae Crowder apologized Thursday for his Twitter comments after Boston fans cheered Gordon Hayward during lineup introductions, but Crowder also reaffirmed his dislike for home crowds cheering opposing players.

"I was really angry after the game, obviously," Crowder said before practice Thursday. "I said what I had to say after the game. I probably should have left it right there. I went on Twitter and said what I had to say, and that's one thing that I regret going back and forth with fans on Twitter -- that's how I was feeling at the time.

"Obviously, I don't want to leave Boston. Obviously, I love it here. Obviously, the fans have treated me great. No doubt about that.

"I still stand behind what I said about how I felt disrespected when they're cheering for Gordon Hayward. I live with that. I stand behind that 100 percent as a man, as a basketball player who puts my time away from my family into it."

Crowder said he was advised by Celtics brass to remove his interactions with fans.

Crowder also talked about when Boston fans started a "Come to Boston" chant for Kevin Durant last season.

"I didn't like that, either," Crowder said of the Durant chant. "I just remember when I got here a couple years ago and we were however many games under .500, the fans cheered for us. Not one time did they cheer for another player when they came into town. Things have changed since then, I'm aware of that. That's never happened in an arena that I've been in. I've never been on the road and got cheered for, or even one of my teammates get cheered for by the opposing team.

"It's just something different for me that really set me off. I don't like when they cheer for DeMarcus Cousins, I don't like when they cheer for Kevin Durant. I don't think you should do that. That's all I was saying."

Jae Crowder objected to the way fans of the Boston Celtics cheered for Gordon Hayward before Tuesday's game at TD Garden.

Hayward is expected to be a free agent target for the Celtics this offseason.

Crowder responded with maybe his best game of the season, scoring 21 points on 6 of 8 shooting, while making all but one of the six 3-pointers that he put up over 35 minutes of floor time as part of Boston's 115-104 victory.

"I heard the cheering before the game. I didn't like that at all," said Crowder. "I think that was a sign of disrespect to me from the fans. That sparked a little fire in me."

"I just felt disrespected," Crowder added.

Crowder is in the second year of a five-year, $35 million deal that he signed with the Celtics in July 2015.