The Golden State Warriors are going to back to a familiar lineup for Game 7 against the Sacramento Kings. After coming off the bench for the last three games, Draymond Green will return to the Warriors starting lineup.

Green has come off the bench since he was suspended for Game 3. Green has still played his regular minutes allotment as a reserve, but Steve Kerr is returning to his best defender with his regular starting group.

The winner of Game 7 will move on to face the Los Angeles Lakers in a Western Conference semifinals series starting later this week.

The Memphis Grizzlies were disappointed after their first-round series loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Multiple Grizzlies expressed that they know they need to be better moving forward, including franchise player Ja Morant.

Morant took ownership of Memphis' shortcomings, starting with himself.

“I just got to be better with my decision-making. Off-the-court issues affected us as an organization," Morant said.

When asked a follow-up, Morant reiterated that making better decisions starts with him, as the team's leader.

“Like I said before, my (takeaways) are off the court and on the court. Just, being disciplined. Off the court, it’s about making better decisions. On the court, it’s about being locked in even more," Morant said. “Being the leader of the team, it starts with me. However I attack any situation, I know my guys will follow. I just have to be better in that area.”

In addition to broaching the possibility of trading Jalen Green, the Houston Rockets discussed a number of potential free agents with head coaching candidates before settling on Ime Udoka.

Khris Middleton, who has a $40.4 million player option with the Milwaukee Bucks, was discussed by the Rockets with their candidates. Middleton's future with the Bucks is uncertain as he comes off two straight seasons in which he was limited by injury.

The Bucks have little recourse to replace Middleton if he leaves via free agency, but they are facing the repeater tax and that complicates the number of seasons they can comfortably offer.

Middleton is represented by Mike Lindeman and Jeff Schwartz.

The Houston Rockets discussed the possibility of including Jalen Green in a trade offer for an established star when they interviewed head coaching candidates, sources tell Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports.

Green was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft and averaged 22.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists in his second season.

The Rockets hired Ime Udoka as head coach and have designs on expediting their rebuild. They have been linked with a free agent pursuit of James Harden, while the possibility of pursuing Khris Middleton in free agency was also discussed.

Jaylen Brown, who has been one of Udoka's most public supporters, becomes extension eligible with the Boston Celtics this offseason. Brown can become a free agent in 2024 if he doesn't sign an extension.

The Cleveland Cavaliers reaffirmed they will retain J.B. Bickerstaff as head coach next season.

“End that speculation. Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. There’s no question about that,” Koby Altman told cleveland.com and one other outlet when asked if Bickerstaff would return for the 2023-24 campaign during a private conversation following his 40-minute end-of-season press conference at Cleveland Clinic Courts on Friday morning. “Look at what he has accomplished. I have not heard that stuff. Maybe because I haven’t been reading or been on Twitter. I have not heard that noise. That’s not even a question.”

The Cavaliers won 51 games during the regular season and finished second in the NBA in Net Rating, but they were eliminated in five games in the first round by the New York Knicks.

“J.B. has been through this rebuild from the ground up and he’s done a phenomenal job instilling a culture here of accountability and hard work,” Altman said. “You can’t fluke your way into 51 wins and you can’t fluke your way into the No. 1 defensive rating in the NBA. That’s coaching. I know we have great defensive personnel, but you have to have buy-in from that and that comes from the head coach. We’re extremely happy with J.B. and the job he’s done. I think he’s going to look back and reflect on what we could have done better, just like the players look back at what they could have done better.

“We’re always looking internally of how we can make improvements from a front office standpoint to put the best team we can out there, but when you look at 95 wins over the last two years, the trajectory of this team, the internal growth of the players, multiple All-Stars over the last couple years, it’s hard not to be proud of the job they’ve done.”

Before the play-in, there were rumors that Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks could evaluate their future together with the possibility of a trade.

But the Hawks extended their first round series against the Boston Celtics to six games, which could make their offseason less tumultuous. The Hawks hired Quin Snyder at the All-Star break and all sides got to evaluate the situation on the floor rather than conceptually. 

“I mean, Quin (Snyder) is the future,” Young said. “I believe with him here this city is going to win a championship.”

Young was asked to describe Snyder's late-season arrival.

“It’s kind of tough when you get in the position (during) the year and you want to put in your stuff but everybody’s already played 40, 50 games, or however many we’ve played at that point,” Young said. “I think he’s going to be great for us and I’m excited for the future with him.”

The Milwaukee Bucks were eliminated from the playoffs by the Miami Heat in the first round after just five games. The Bucks blew significant fourth quarter leads in both Games 4 and 5.

"I'm told Mike Budenholzer's status with the Bucks is shaky after the team's five-game loss to the Heat," wrote Shams Charania. "A lack of coaching adjustments, especially defensively, seems to be the main reason for the uncertainty."

Zach Lowe of ESPN previously reported that league insiders were "extremely skeptical" Budenholzer would be brought back next season.

Budenholzer has two seasons and $16 million remaining on his contract.

The Phoenix Suns and Mercury have cut ties with bankrupt broadcaster Bally Sports. Not only are the Suns and Mercury moving away from the cable network, but they are moving their games off cable TV entirely.

Starting with their next seasons, the Phoenix teams will broadcast their games on free over-the-air TV, as well a direct-to-consumer streaming service. Games will be available on local TV in Phoenix, Tucson and Yuma, and the Suns and Mercury are partnering with streaming company Kiswe on a new platform for streamed games.

New Suns owner Mat Ishbia said this move was about taking care of the fans and the Phoenix community.

"We're not focusing on money. We're focusing on winning, success and taking care of fans, taking care of the community," new team owner Ishbia said. "What happens is you always end up making money. It always works out.

"We're going to have more fans than ever before. We're going to have more people who will have eyeballs on Devin Booker and Deandre [Ayton] and Kevin Durant, Chris [Paul] and cheer the team on. And more people buying merchandise because they're bigger fans."

Former Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver refused to allow Disney CEO Bob Iger from entering the process to buy the team earlier last year. Sarver reportedly refused to consider any offers from Iger due to blaming Iger and ESPN for his downfall as Suns owner.

In November of 2021, ESPN published a story that exposed Sarver's racist and inappropriate sexual behavior towards Suns employees. That led to a year-long suspension and $10 million fine for Sarver.

Sarver confirmed that Iger was locked out of the building, but denied it was due to any sort of grudge. Sarver said the sale needed to happen quickly and his partners determined Iger wouldn't have the financial liquidity in a soon enough time to bid.

Mat Ishbia ultimately led a group that bought 57% of the Suns franchise at a valuation of $4 billion dollars.

The Toronto Raptors have begun a wide search for their next head coach to replace Nick Nurse.

The Raptors have gathered permission to interview several top assistant coaches to open up the process, including: Golden State's Kenny Atkinson, Milwaukee's Charles Lee, Phoenix's Kevin Young, San Antonio's Mitch Johnson, Sacramento's Jordi Fernandez, Memphis' Darko Rajakovic and Miami's Chris Quinn.

The Raptors also secured permission to speak to Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon.

Ime Udoka was expected to be a candidate for the Toronto job, but he agreed to terms with the Houston Rockets this week.