Oklahoma City point guard Russell Westbrook has suffered a slight cartilage tear in his right knee and a surgical procedure in the next 48 hours will determine the possibility of his return before the end of the playoffs.

Westbrook suffered the tear of his lateral meniscus in the second quarter of Game 2 of the Thunder's first-round playoff series with the Houston Rockets after Rockets guard Patrick Beverley lunged at Westbrook to make a steal as the Thunder guard signaled for a timeout.

Russell Westbrook has previously never missed a game in his five-year NBA career. (AP)Westbrook is "irate," with Beverley, a league source told Yahoo! Sports.

The meniscus tear is considered to be minimal – perhaps 2 percent of the meniscus, one source said – and Westbrook's recovery could be weeks instead of months, if the doctor decides to simply "clean up" the meniscus. A full repair of the meniscus would likely mean a three-month recovery for Westbrook.

[Related: Russell Westbrook finished game against Rockets after suffering knee injury]

The Thunder and Westbrook don't want to risk

University of Miami sophomore guard Shane Larkin will enter the NBA draft, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Shane Larkin averaged 14.5 points and 4.6 assists last season. (USA Today Sports)Larkin's family has set up several meetings with prospective agents in New York next week, sources said.

Larkin will hold a news conference on campus Sunday to formalize his intentions.

[Also: Former Notre Dame coach Digger Phelps has bladder cancer]

At 5-foot-11, Larkin, is considered a borderline first-round pick. He is considered the third-best point guard prospect in the draft class behind Michigan's Trey Burke and Syracuse's Michael Carter-Williams. Teams outside the lottery needing a backup point guard are looking closely at selecting Larkin, league executives said. Burke and Carter-Williams both are considered possible lottery picks.

Larkin led the Hurricanes to the ACC regular-season championship and the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. He is the son of Baseball Hall of Famer, Barry Larkin.

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The Brooklyn Nets are finalizing a multiyear contract extension with general manager Billy King, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Billy King has spent the past three seasons as the Nets' GM. (USA Today Sports)A formal announcement is expected in the near future, sources said.

The extension for King almost assuredly will end speculation that Phil Jackson could be joining the organization. Jackson has expressed much more interest in running a front office than returning to coach.

King's contract was set to expire this summer, but talks have been ongoing since the fall on a new deal.

After inheriting a gutted-out lottery roster in July 2010, King has reshaped the Nets into a 49-victory, No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.

[Also: D12 finds low finish in Defensive Player of the Year voting funny]

The Nets and Chicago Bulls are tied 1-1 in an Eastern Conference first-round series. King still has a decision to make on interim coach P.J. Carlesimo's future at season's end.

King made the blockbuster trade for Deron Williams in February 2011 and worked to re-sign him to a

After three months of rehabilitation for hip surgery, Los Angeles Lakers forward Jordan Hill will be available to play in Game 2 against the San Antonio Spurs, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Jordan Hill hasn't played since Jan. 6. (USA Today Sports)The Lakers had ruled Hill out of the first-round Western Conference playoff series, but Hill has progressed in practices and workouts and believes he can be effective in limited minutes, sources said. Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni will use Hill based on game situations, but there's a strong likelihood he'll play for the first time since tearing a muscle in his hip on Jan. 6.

[Also: Is LeBron going back to Cleveland only a fantasy?]

Hill has been determined to return to the Lakers before the season ends and find a way to contribute in the playoffs. The Spurs lead 1-0 in the best-of-seven series.

Hill, 25, was a vital part of the Lakers' front-court rotation and is comfortable playing the power forward and center positions behind Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol. Hill had surgery on Jan. 23 after suffering

Mike Brown is returning to Cleveland, but the odds of LeBron James joining him aren't great. (Getty Images)

From the moment Mike Brown marches back into the Cleveland Cavaliers, ownership needs to empower him to tell everyone the truth: LeBron James is gone and he's never returning to the franchise.

No more tanking for draft picks. No more empty free-agent classes. No more false promises and mirages. No more illusions of chasing James in the summer of 2014, only to compromise themselves over and over in the conceptual pursuit of him.

The Cavaliers have a franchise player, Kyrie Irving, and here's the problem today: No one cares his thoughts on the next coach, nor how the hiring affects him. Every day Brown's ever spent on the job as Cavaliers coach, every choice and action was colored with how LeBron James would react, how he'd respond.

For the good of this franchise, Brown doesn't need to be set up again as the fall guy for James wanting to play elsewhere. Three years later, Brown returns to coach the Cavaliers and somehow they're all still trying to get LeBron James to love them.

"The way

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Mike Brown are finalizing a five-year, $20 million-plus contract for him to return as coach, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Mike Brown spent a little more than one season as the Lakers coach after leaving Cleveland. (AP)Brown was still ironing out details about his control within basketball operations, but a formal announcement will come as soon as Wednesday.

The fifth year of Brown's deal will include a buyout provision, a source said.

After five seasons with the Cavaliers, Brown was fired prior to LeBron James' free agency in the summer of 2010. The Cavaliers are determined to try to lure James back if he opts out of his contract with the Miami Heat in the summer of 2014. James and Brown had an up-and-down relationship, and many within the league don't believe that Brown's return would be especially enticing to James.

Nevertheless, Cleveland wants to shore up what was the worst defense in the league under previous coach Byron Scott, who was let go last week. Cavaliers officials understand Brown can do that for them.

[Also: Bobcats

NEW YORK – Outside the visiting locker room, Tom Thibodeau limped to a stop, leaned against the wall and closed his eyes for a moment. He could see everything unfolding again on Monday night – waves and waves of resistance, brilliant tactical execution and an enormous investment of belief and bravado out of these Chicago Bulls.

Hours after the humiliation of a Game 1 obliteration, Thibodeau gathered these Bulls on Sunday morning for one of his blistering sermons from the pulpit. He challenged the Bulls with the fiercest of ferocity, and the crooked smile washing over his face late Monday night reflected the resounding response of his locker room.

As circumstances go, the Bulls' 90-82 victory over the Nets was one of Thibs' masterpieces, a Mona Lisa born of a crushing Game 1 loss, a beaten and broken-down roster getting buried in an avalanche of criticism and overnight obits. Some were so sure that Thibodeau had pushed these Bulls too hard, too far and they had

NEW YORK – Carmelo Anthony had come a long way without a productive pass on Saturday, and as Kevin Garnett closed hard on Anthony, 'Melo waved his screener Kenyon Martin far away from the ball.

Right away, Anthony's instincts told him these were unwise circumstances to defy the double team. And so, inside of a minute left in Game 1 of this Eastern Conference playoff opener, Martin rolled to the rim and, yes, 'Melo owed that old, familiar face a pass over the top of a compromised defense.

Anthony fired high and wide, but Martin reached toward all those dusty banners in the rafters, snatching that wayward pass and somehow dropping the ball into the basket for the most devastating blow in this 85-78 victory over the Celtics.

"Dez Bryant," the Knicks' Jason Kidd marveled later. "That catch was incredible."

For all the fluidity of those Anthony jumpers on the way to his 36 points – so good early, and so good late in the victory – his first assist with 40 seconds left