Steve Ballmer lectures Ryan Seacrest about a phone (Kevork Djansezian/ Getty).

The fight for the Sacramento Kings is reaching a fever pitch. After the NBA's relocation committee unanimously recommended the Kings stay in Sacramento, the group of Seattle owners led by hedge fund manager Chris Hansen and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer (along with current Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof) has made efforts to ensure that they end up with the franchise. The Seattle group reportedly has a backup deal in place with the Maloofs to gain a minority stake and eventually move the franchise, in case their existing deal is denied when the Board of Governors votes on it Wednesday. (Never mind that Hansen and Ballmer have proposed so many different plans that it's now unclear exactly what the BOG is voting on.) It appears that Hansen and Ballmer are willing to pursue every possible lead in buying the Kings, and it's unclear what could inspire them to give up their quest.

It appears that those efforts may now be rubbing up against the league's typical standards of comportment and professional respect. As reported by Aaron Bruski for ProBasketballTalk, several league officials are getting tired of Ballmer's manner and methods as he attempts to lock down his purchase of the Kings:

Andre Drummond shows off "monstrous dunk," currently his best scoring move (Allen Einsten/ Getty).

Detroit Pistons big man Andre Drummond was one of the most impressive rookies in the NBA this season, a dynamic force who managed many impressive stat lines despite playing only 20.7 minutes per game. His per-36-minute averages of 13.8 ppg, 13.2 rpg, and 2.8 bpg suggest a player who could eventually turn into one of the most impactful interior players in the league. There are good reasons to be bullish about his future.

On the other hand, Drummond can look exceedingly raw, like a player who gets by on his athleticism and intuition rather than his refined sense of the game. Drummond must recognize this issue, because he has hired a pretty famous coach to instruct him on the finer points of his position. From Perry A. Farrell for the Detroit Free Press:

Much has changed since the Mavericks last changed their uniforms (Glenn James/ Getty).

The basketball world is lucky enough to be in a fairly acceptable era of NBA jersey style. After the maximalist days of the mid-'90s, the designs of the past decade-plus have tended towards the simple and refined, with franchises opting to represent themselves with a few simple colors, some basic lettering, and maybe an inconspicuous, non-garish logo for a bit of differentiation. There's nary a flaming chess piece to be seen.

Unfortunately, fashion trends can ossify when the culture goes too long without a shift in standards. Most NBA franchises haven't updated their uniforms in some time, and the minimalist look has become a little too prevalent, and therefore overly familiar. The Dallas Mavericks, for instance, haven't updated their look since the 2001-02 campaign, Mark Cuban's second full season as owner. What was once a great improvement could now use a change, lest things eventually get stale.

Always one to get out ahead of trends, Cuban has recognized the need for a change. So, as announced on his personal blog on Monday, he wants fans to provide their ideas for the team's new uniforms set to debut in the 2015-16 season (all typos and grammatical errors are as they appear on Cuban's blog):

San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker has forged what will likely end up as a Hall-of-Fame career out of his ability to finish at the rim. However, his performances in the first two games of his team's Western Conference Semifinals series against the Golden State Warriors left much to be desired. Coming into Friday night's Game 3 in Oakland, Parker had shot just a combined 18-of-43 from the floor (41.9 percent).

It's safe to say that Parker stepped up in the first half of Game 3. Take, for instance, this wild shot from the final seconds of the first quarter. After getting beat off the dribble, Warriors wing Draymond Green fouled Parker and sent him stumbling towards the basket. Parker put up a shot in the fashion you'd expect from a man who had appeared to lose all sense of balance, releasing the ball from his hip in some kind of bizarre cross-body prayer.

Except it went in, because that's just the kind of half Parker had. In 18 minutes, Parker shot 11-of-14 from the field for 25

Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals series between the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat was a testy affair, with both teams reacting poorly to perceived hard fouls and nine technical fouls issued by the referees. The continuation or cessation of that bad blood became one of the biggest stories of the series heading into Friday night's Game 3 in Chicago. And while there might have been some hope that the teams would put those incidents behind them and focus a less combative form of competition, the first half of Game 3 suggests that this series will only get rougher.

[Also: Bulls mock LeBron James, fan conspiracy flames after Game 3 loss]

With 9:29 left in the second quarter, Heat uber-star LeBron James dribbled the ball up the court in transition at a somewhat leisurely pace. For reasons unknown to anyone but himself, Bulls big man Nazr Mohammed ran up from behind and hugged James in an apparent intentional foul, despite the fact that the Bulls had a numerical advantage in the frontcourt. James did not take kindly to these actions and twisted until he threw Mohammed to the ground. Referee Joey Crawford hit LeBron with a technical foul, which wasn't terribly shocking regardless of Crawford's reputation as an official who enjoys exercising his power whenever possible.

In a much less surprising move, LeBron immediately began to complain to Crawford. Ever resourceful, the 6-10, 250-lb Mohammed used this opportunity to spring to his feet and shove James in the chest. He fell to the ground, the teams got in each other's faces, and the referees decided to eject Nasty Nazr after a short review of proceedings. We will have to see if he's suspended for another game, leaving the Bulls without another player alongside their MASH unit of a backcourt.

And this wasn't even the first tussle of the game! After the jump, check out a clip of the play that earned Joakim Noah the night's first technical foul.

Sometimes a player exits the NBA on terms that in no way reflect his talent. As reported by Yahoo!'s own Adrian Wojnarowski on Friday, the Minnesota Timberwolves are formalizing the release of shooting guard Brandon Roy, effectively ending his career. After signing with Minnesota in the summer of 2012, Roy showed little ability to play with his seriously damaged knees and managed just five games for 122 total minutes. It stands to reason that Roy will decide not to pursue another contract, and even if he did it's hard to know if any team would be interested in his services.

This is a sad moment for many reasons. Roy established himself as a star with the Portland Trail Blazers pretty much immediately upon his arrival in 2006, serving as the most dependable member of what many thought would be a championship-winning core of him, Greg Oden, and LaMarcus Aldridge. Oden's injury history is well-trod ground, but it's important to remember that Roy really was the player he was supposed to

Eric Gordon is self-aware (Rocky Widner/ Getty).

At this point, most of the NBA is on Twitter. It's a wild world of training updates, questions as to which movies they should go see, and explanations of their Call of Duty prowess. Every so often, though, you also get a picture into the more interesting aspects of NBA life. This feature is your window into that world.

Damien Wilkins is not who you think he is:

Ppl just came up 2 me,"hey Carlos Booz can we take a pic w/u?" I kno y'all think we all look alike but c'mon son. So after I took the pic...

— Damien Wilkins (@dwilkins3000) May 9, 2013

Eric Gordon is willing to make fun of himself:

I thought this was funny. I know I have round basketball head. twitter.com/TheofficialEG1… — Eric Gordon (@TheofficialEG10) May 9, 2013

Tony Parker tells Stephen Curry about the time he designed the Eiffel Tower (Noah Graham/ Getty).

The typical NBA player is thought of as being very tall, but that's obviously not always the case. The league's point guards are typically men of somewhat average height, enough so that they appear quite diminutive next to the frontcourt players who impede their paths to the basket. The shorter sort must be resourceful, coming up with new ways of scoring over and around bigger foes.

[Also: Luol Deng opens up about physical ailments]

One of the ways they do this is with the teardrop, the high-arcing runner that's reached in a new level of popularity in recent seasons. In a feature on the shot for The New York Times, Scott Cacciola spoke with many of its top practitioners. And while no one is quite sure when the teardrop was first performed, San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker says he invented it: