Left: Chris Hansen. Right: Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. (Getty Images)

When the NBA Board of Governors Relocation Committee unanimously recommended last Monday that the Sacramento Kings not be sold to a Seattle-based ownership group intent on relocating the franchise to Washington, it seemed that the effort spearheaded by hedge fund manager Chris Hansen and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to bring back NBA basketball back to Seattle had reached its conclusion. But after the board's decision, Hansen and his partners told supporters eager for the return of the SuperSonics that they "remain fully committed" to completing the purchase agreement they'd reached with the Maloof family to buy a controlling interest in the Kings ... and on Friday afternoon, Hansen and company raised the stakes by once again raising their bid, this time by a cool $75 million.

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

The initial report of the increased offer by Chris Daniels of KING5 in Seattle was quickly confirmed by Hansen in a public statement on his SonicsArena.com website:

In an effort to further demonstrate the extent of our commitment to bring basketball back to Seattle, we have elected to voluntarily increase our proposed purchase price for the Sacramento Kings NBA Franchise by $75 million — from an enterprise value of $550 million to $625 million. In conjunction with our revised offer, we have also guaranteed to the NBA that the Franchise would be a revenue sharing payer in all years in Seattle. [...]

While we appreciate that this is a very difficult decision for the league and owners, we hope it is understood that we really believe the time is now to bring the NBA back to Seattle, and that it is paramount that we do everything we can to put Seattle’s best foot forward in this process.

'She took my surfboard, Jordan. My surfboard.' (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)Kobe Bryant's legal dispute with his mother and a New Jersey auction house over the planned sell-off of an estimated $1.5 million worth of memorabilia ramped up a couple of notches Thursday.

First, the Los Angeles Lakers star get a temporary restraining order against New Jersey-based Goldin Auctions to prevent the opening of the auction pending a full hearing on the matter. Then, in his response to a federal lawsuit filed by auctioneer Kenneth Goldin last week, Bryant claimed he'd never given his mother Pamela Bryant — who gave her son's stuff to Goldin in exchange for a $450,000 advance she planned to put toward buying a new home in Nevada — permission to sell his items.

Kobe's filings, which reportedly "quote case law about when property can be considered abandoned after a child leaves home," reference conversations between mother and son in which the 15-time All-Star specifically told Pamela Bryant she could not shop his wares, according to Jane M. Von Bergen of the Philadelphia Inquirer:

"I never told my mother that she could have my personal property, let alone consign it for public auction," wrote Bryant, who was drafted into the NBA directly out of Lower Merion High School. [...]

On the day the suit was filed, Kobe Bryant says in his response, he received a call from his mother.

"I confronted her about her false statement that I had given my memorabilia to her," he wrote.

"I said to her, 'Mom, you know I never told you that you could have the memorabilia.'

"Her response was, 'Yes, but you never said you wanted it either.' Of course, this is untrue, since my wife and I requested that she return my memorabilia several years earlier."

Who among us hasn't had to tell a parent, verbatim, "You know I never told you that you could have the memorabilia?" We've all been here, Kobe. It's so frustrating. We know.

Mike Brown and Mark Jackson compare gestures (Getty Images)

Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Brown’s continued existence as a hot commodity remains baffling to us, and yet the Cavs wasted no time in securing Brown as their head coach last month just three years after firing him. Weirdly, rumors abounded that the Cavs made quick work of their coaching search, upon firing Byron Scott, because the team was worried Brown would link arms with another team looking for a head man.

Now a report out of Lakers Nation points to Lakers de facto personnel boss Jim Buss as expressing the same worries as he attempted to replace the future brother-in-law (13-time champion, as player and coach) Phil Jackson that he reportedly reviles. Brown was a candidate to take on the Golden State Warriors top gig in 2011, with West acting as a consultant and leading Mike Brown advocate, before the younger Buss swooped in to grab his guy.

From the longtime Lakers go-to guy, Mark Heisler:

Chicago Bulls forward Taj Gibson received a $25,000 fine for "verbal abuse of a game official," NBA Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Stu Jackson announced Friday. The fine stems from Gibson's ejection at the 10:13 mark of the fourth quarter of Chicago’s historic 115-78 loss to the Miami Heat in Game 2 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals series.

Gibson was frustrated at what he felt was a missed goaltending call against Heat center Chris Andersen on the prior Chicago possession. After a foul on Bulls guard Marquis Teague, Chicago center Joakim Noah began arguing with official Scott Foster from the Bulls' bench, resulting in a technical foul, his second of the game, prompting his automatic ejection. (You might remember what happened next.)

[Also: Knicks' Amar'e Stoudemire expected to play in Game 3 vs. Pacers]

After Noah got the gate, Gibson stepped up his chirping with Foster, who was not in any mood to chat and quickly slapped the USC product with two technicals. Gibson, as you might expect, wasn't so pleased with that. The clip above — provided to us by the NBA and Turner Sports, natch — doesn't really showcase the "abuse" in question. This one, however, does. Many four-letter expletives are involved.

An artist's rendering of what the unnamed draft prospect actually looks like (Getty Images)

The NCAA deadline to declare for the NBA draft is on April 16. Because the NBA has its own deadline (rendering the NCAA’s toothless) of April 28, and because an anonymous Reddit poster didn’t actually play basketball in the NCAA last (or any other) year, one particular potential draftee decided to slide his declaration in just before the NBA’s target date.

While possibly a little drunk. And without being on an NBA team’s radar. Or giving his own name.

Via Eye On Sports and Business Insider, and explained by his Reddit activity, here is the letter one enterprising soul sent to the NBA last month, announcing his eligibility in the NBA’s June 27 draft “after a few drinks.”

(Courtesy Reddit)

Amar'e Stoudemire could make his return on Saturday. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBA/Getty Images)

Amar'e Stoudemire hasn't taken the court for the New York Knicks since March 7, forced to the sidelines by debris in his right knee that required surgical cleanup just two months after returning from having the same debridement procedure on his left knee. STAT's second months-long absence of the season appears to be at an end, though.

After going through his first full-contact workout since surgery on Monday and participating in practices, walkthroughs and 4-on-4 scrimmages throughout the week, the 30-year-old former All-Star stands one Friday all-clear away from returning to the New York lineup on Saturday night when the Knicks visit Bankers Life Fieldhouse to take on the Indiana Pacers in Game 3 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals series.

[Also: Filomena Tobias, fan who flipped off Joakim Noah, has crazy backstory]

From Roger Rubin of the New York Daily News:

Stoudemire has been out of action since March 7, yet insists he will return and “can play at a high level.

“Anytime you get on the court, you have a chance to make on impact on the game,” Stoudemire said. “So if I am able to play Game 3, whatever time Coach [Mike] Woodson puts me in, I am going to contribute.”

Woodson said the 6-11 Stoudemire can help the Knicks on the front line against the taller Pacers and that the plan is for him to play “somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes.”

“We could really use him right now,” center Tyson Chandler said. “We’re playing against a big team, big lineups. It’s a great opportunity for him to be out there. It will give us scoring presence on the block and so we could really use him right now. He’s been looking good so far.”

Andrew Bogut, feelin' fine (Getty Images)

Andrew Bogut has been a revelation during this year’s postseason. Though he looked to be his old, unfortunately gimpy self in Golden State’s playoff-initiating Game 1 loss to the Denver Nuggets nearly three weeks ago, Bogut has sprung back to approximate the sort of all-around terror that we grew to know and love during his time as a Milwaukee Buck. And while that may seem like faint praise, understand that a healthy Buck Bogut meant the world as an angle-eliminating defensive mastermind that could finish around the rim and make the extra pass.

Bogut has come a long way in a year’s time. Last April, the Warriors announced he was undergoing microscopic ankle surgery; a procedure that was later revealed to be a more serious microfracture ordeal, a complication the Warriors (mindful of season ticket sales) declined to disclose. This duplicity led to calls for Bogut to be back by the start of the season, which forced Andrew to return far too early to the team, effectively ruining yet another regular season for the man that hasn’t looked healthy since badly injuring his arm late in the 2009-10 campaign.

[Also: Filomena Tobias, fan who flipped off Joakim Noah, has crazy backstory]

All those wasted months and lost seasons had Bogut wondering if it was all worth it. He disclosed as much to NBA.com’s Scott Howard-Cooper recently:

Bogut said he “was getting close” to having to give it serious consideration, but that he was not at the point of having to make a decision. The plan, he said, was to try and finish this season on an encouraging note, work during the summer to return to peak condition and aim for a healthy 2013-14. If that went bad, all options would have been on the table.

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