After a lengthy meeting with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment executives in Colorado on Friday, Denver Nuggets general manager Masai Ujiri – armed with a multiyear, multimillion-dollar contract offer – is engaged in negotiations to take over as the Toronto Raptors' GM, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Masai Ujiri was named the NBA's Executive of the Year. (USA Today Sports)Ujiri will take the next couple days to fully consider the move, but significant momentum has gathered that likely will lead to Ujiri's departure from the franchise that he completely remade into a Western Conference contender, sources told Y! Sports.

Ujiri's Denver contract expires on June 30, and it appears Nuggets ownership has no intention of making an aggressive counter to the Raptors' dogged pursuit of the NBA's Executive of the Year.

Denver ownership "seems to be moving on," one league source familiar with the talks told Y! Sports.

Toronto's bid is believed to be double – perhaps even triple – the best offer Denver has made to Ujiri in his contract talks with the organization.

Read More »from Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri in serious talks to take over Raptors' front office

MIAMI – Before Frank Vogel made the long walk down the corridor and into the interview room, there was LeBron James driving to the basket, breaking the hearts of these Indiana Pacers again and again. The coach of the Pacers leaned over his video coordinator's shoulder, squinted into the laptop and watched the breakdown unfold frame by frame on the final gasp of overtime.

All alone, James pushed past Paul George for the winning basket. All alone, James lay the ball off the backboard and into the net. Twice in the final 10.8 seconds of a 103-102 overtime loss, Vogel yanked center Roy Hibbert out of the game. Twice, James beat the Pacers on drives to the rim for layups. Twice, the NBA's Most Valuable Player found no resistance awaiting him at the rim.

The coach gone to the interview podium, his teammates showered and dressed, Hibbert made a vow to Yahoo! Sports.

Never again does he sit silently with something so important slipping away.

Never again.

Roy Hibbert had 19 points and nine rebounds in the Pacers' Game 1 loss. (USA Today Sports)"I've grown as a player, this is my

Read More »from After LeBron James' last-second layup beats Pacers, Roy Hibbert vows not to sit quietly again

The Phoenix 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.

Rockets assistant J.B. Bickerstaff is a candidate for several coaching jobs. (Getty Images)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.

Bickerstaff (Detroit and Milwaukee) and Clifford (Charlotte and Milwaukee) have each interviewed for two other jobs in recent weeks.

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.

McDonough's first interview was with interim coach Lindsey Hunter last week in Chicago.

Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
• Read More »from Suns to start interviewing outside coaching candidates

The Los Angeles Clippers will not offer Vinny Del Negro a new contract to return as coach, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Vinny Del Negro guided the Clippers to their first Pacific Division title this season. (AP)Despite considerable success and progress in his two seasons as coach, Del Negro was unable to withstand a first-round Western Conference loss to the Memphis Grizzlies and a free agent-to-be superstar, Chris Paul, who wanted a different coach, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. Del Negro did not have a contract beyond this season.

Del Negro was informed of the decision on Tuesday afternoon.

Memphis Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins – who will be a free agent at season's end – is a candidate for the job, league sources said. Another possible target, Stan Van Gundy, has said that he plans to sit out next season. Golden State assistant Mike Malone – who worked with Paul in New Orleans – could be a candidate too, sources said.

There had been some belief that owner Donald Sterling – who has been fond of Del Negro – would decide to keep the coach, but ultimately the

Read More »from Los Angeles Clippers not retaining Vinny Del Negro

INDIANAPOLIS – Before the Indiana Pacers' Lance Stephenson had time to study an endless scroll of congratulatory texts on Saturday night, there promised to be a most meaningful message awaiting him. Out of sight this season, Larry Bird has never been out of touch.

Lance Stephenson reacts in the closing seconds of Game 6. (USA Today) As Pacers president three years ago, Bird drafted a dysfunctional 19 year old and surrounded him with the perfect balance of tough love, structure and tenderness. As everyone else derided Stephenson as a lost cause, Bird privately called him the most gifted player in the franchise.

"I owe Larry Bird so much," Stephenson told Yahoo! Sports late Saturday.

Bird left the franchise for his Florida home at the end of last season, but the kid has stayed strongly in Bird's mind and heart. Stephenson was standing in an emptying locker room at Bankers Life Field House, on the way to the Eastern Conference finals with the game of his life complete: 25 points, 10 rebounds and three assists.

The New York Knicks had gone down in Game 6

Read More »from Larry Bird's faith in Lance Stephenson pays off for Pacers in vital moments against Knicks

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment is pursuing Denver Nuggets general manager Masai Ujiri to take over as the top basketball executive of the Toronto Raptors, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Masai, the 2013 NBA Executive of the Year, has emerged as the top choice of the search firm – Korn/Ferry International – that's been charged with finding a successor to Raptors president Bryan Colangelo, league sources said. Masai Ujiri (Getty Images)

MLSE has until Monday to make a decision on Colangelo's contract option for next year. It is possible that he could stay with the franchise under a new top basketball official.

Ujiri's contract as Denver's general manager expires this summer and he has been in talks with ownership on an extension. Ujiri, 42, has a strong bond with Nuggets CEO Josh Kroenke, but new MLSE top executive, Tim Leiweke, has expressed a desire to make a serious financial and organizational commitment to an elite executive to turn around the franchise.

Ujiri has developed into the most

Read More »from Sources: Raptors targeting Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri to run organization

CHICAGO – Atlanta Hawks general manager Danny Ferry is giving significant consideration to hiring the first European-born head coach in NBA history, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Ettore Messina, the Italian-born coach of CSKA Moscow, is among the top candidates to replace coach Larry Drew. Ferry and Messina have had contact about the possibility, and Messina is intrigued with the chance to be a global trail blazer in the NBA, sources told Y! Sports. Ettore Messina (Getty Images)

Ferry recently scouted CSKA Moscow in London at the Euroleague Final Four.

Atlanta's top target, Stan Van Gundy, is a long shot to accept the job, league sources said.

Messina, 53, is a four-time Euroleague championship coach and two-time Euroleague coach of the year. Across two decades of head coaching jobs in Italy and Russia, Messina has won five Russian League championships and four Italian League titles.

Messina spent the 2011-'12 season as a part of Mike Brown's coaching staff with the Los Angeles Lakers. With uncertainty over

Read More »from Sources: Hawks consider historic hire of European coach Ettore Messina

CHICAGO – Phoenix Suns general manager Ryan McDonough met with interim coach Lindsey Hunter to discuss the franchise's head-coaching job on Wednesday, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Suns general manager Ryan McDonough will lead the team's coaching search. (AP)McDonough and Hunter met in Chicago, where McDonough had arrived with the Suns' front office staff for the NBA draft combine.

Meeting with Hunter was the first formal sitdown with a candidate that McDonough has had since his hiring earlier in May as the Suns' general manager.

McDonough has yet to set up any formal meetings with candidates, but a league source told Yahoo! Sports that he's been calling for background on coaches including Utah Jazz assistant Jeff Hornacek, Moscow CSKA assistant Quin Snyder, Houston Rockets assistants J.B. Bickerstaff and Kelvin Sampson and Los Angeles Lakers assistant Steve Clifford, among others.

McDonough inherits a 25-win franchise that possesses six first-round draft picks in the next three years, including two in next month's draft. McDonough had been the assistant GM

Read More »from Lindsey Hunter discusses Suns' coaching job with new GM