Larkin wants to play with Howard - in Dallas (Yahoo! Sports)

DALLAS (AP) -- Shane Larkin wants to lead the public relations campaign to bring free agent center Dwight Howard to the Dallas Mavericks.

AP source: Knicks, Raptors agree to Bargnani deal (Yahoo! Sports)

NEW YORK (AP) -- A person with knowledge of the details says the New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors have agreed on their deal involving former No. 1 overall pick Andrea Bargnani.

Here’s what the New Orleans Pelicans’ home court is going to look like

Um, yay? I guess?

It certainly does feature the New Orleans Pelicans' primary logo at half-court and two of its secondary logos, with the fearsome and very cool "Bird de Lis" and the also cool (if less so) "Crescent City Basketball" alternate. The gold paint in the key might look neat, too, although a closer look through the interactive 3-D court view available on the team's website makes it look a bit mustard-y.

The look's not bad or anything; it's just a bit blah for my taste, I guess, in terms of a redesign connected to a total brand overhaul. (Perhaps I've been spoiled by recent bonkers entries from the likes of the University of Central Florida, Cal and Florida International University.) Here's hoping for something a bit more exciting when the time comes for the Pellies to unveil the brand-new home and road uniforms that Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Eric Gordon and company will rock during the 2013-14 season. No ETA on those yet, I'm afraid.

Then again, maybe I'm being a bit of a stick in the mud or harboring unreasonable expectations — what do you think of the new-look surface at the New Orleans Arena? Let us know in the comments below, on Facebook or on Twitter.

Hat-tip to Reddit's NBA page.

Forman downplays friction with Thibodeau (Yahoo! Sports)

DEERFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Chicago Bulls general manager Gar Forman says it was his call to lay off the top assistant of coach Tom Thibodeau.

Shabazz Muhammad thinks nobody in the NBA wears No. 0, is sorely mistaken

When the Minnesota Timberwolves officially introduced first-round draft pick Shabazz Muhammad on Friday, the UCLA product spoke about entering the NBA with "a chip on his shoulder" after a pre-draft process that didn't go exactly has he'd planned, from the March revelation that he's a year older than everyone thought to his father's late May indictment on federal fraud charges, from his exclusion of the pool of prospects invited to the green room at the 2013 NBA draft to his drop to the Utah Jazz with the final pick in the lottery, who flipped him to the Wolves with ex-Louisville big man Gorgui Deng in exchange for former Michigan point guard Trey Burke.

Questions about both Muhammad's off-court issues and an on-court game that seems heavy on scoring instinct but light on a lot of other things will persist, but to his credit, Muhammad appears eager to go about the business of answering them ("I love changing people's opinions") and making a fresh start at the professional level, beginning a new chapter with a new team and a new jersey number ... although he didn't necessarily want that, according to Nate Sandell of 1500ESPN.com in the Twin Cities:

Muhammad originally requested jersey No. 15 with the Wolves, but when he found out Mickael Gelabale already owned the number, he opted for a more obscure option.

"Nobody wears zero in the league, so I might as well wear zero," he explained.

Sure, OK. It's like that old Belle and Sebastian lyric: "Nobody writes 'em like they used to, so it may as well be me." I can get on board with that, Shabazz.

There's just one problem, though: When it comes to wearing No. 0, they do write 'em like they used to. Fifteen NBA players wore the single cipher last season. To wit:

1. All-NBA Second Team guard Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

2. Reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers.

3. Restricted free agent guard Jeff Teague, who averaged just under 14.6 points and 7.2 assists per game for the Atlanta Hawks last season.

4. Andray Blatche, who mounted a massive comeback as a reserve big for the Brooklyn Nets last season.

5. Four-time All-Star and 2011 NBA champion Shawn Marion of the Dallas Mavericks.

6 and 7. Michael Beasley of the Phoenix Suns and Al-Farouq Aminu of the New Orleans Pelicans (née Hornets).

8 and 9. Avery Bradley of the Boston Celtics and C.J. Miles of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

10 and 11. Big men Enes Kanter of the Utah Jazz and Bismack Biyombo of the Charlotte Bobcats.

12 and 13. Forwards Drew Gooden of the Milwaukee Bucks and Thomas Robinson of the Sacramento Kings, before he was flipped to the Houston Rockets, before he was flipped to the Portland Trail Blazers (where he won't get 0 because Lillard's got it).

14 and 15. Guards Aaron Brooks and Andrew Goudelock, who made late-season cameos for the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers.

You'd forgive young Mr. Muhammad for not remembering the 191 total regular- and postseason minutes that Brooks and Goudelock played for the Rockets and Lakers last season, and maybe some of the other relatively unheralded sorts dotting this list. If you're a guard entering the Western Conference, though, you probably want to be aware of which numbers Westbrook and Lillard wear — if for no other reason than to be able to identify which dude just went past you.

A suggestion, Shabazz: The next time someone asks you why you picked zero, send them a link to that awesome old Gilbert Arenas commercial, and then say, "Except I am nothing like all the rest of the Gilbert stuff — seriously, I really do not have all of the 'character issues,' I promise."

Hat-tip to Sean Highkin at For the Win.

Chris Paul, Los Angeles Clippers agree to 5-year, $107 million max contract

Chris Paul officially removed any mystery about his plans in free agency at 11:27 a.m. ET on Monday morning:

I'M IN!!! #CLIPPERNATION

— Chris Paul (@CP3) July 1, 2013

Yes, as just about everybody projected, the 28-year-old All-NBA point guard let the Internet writ large know that he intends to follow through on the verbal agreement he reportedly reached early Monday to re-up with the Los Angeles Clippers.

As soon as he is able to do so on July 10, following the league's moratorium on the completion of trades and free-agent signings, Paul will slap his John Hancock on a deal that will pay him as much as the league's collective bargaining agreement will allow over the next five years, which works out to $107 million. Plus, according to CBSSports.com's Ken Berger, Paul can opt out of the contract after its fourth year, which would enable him — assuming continued health and productivity — to pursue another lucrative, if not necessarily max-level, deal at age 32. Nice work if you can get it.

The agreement and subsequent tweet confirm what's been suspected since the Clippers completed a trade with the Boston Celtics that brought Doc Rivers to Los Angeles as the team's new head coach and senior vice president of basketball operations. Paul reportedly pushed for Rivers to replace Vinny Del Negro after three years at the Clippers' helm, and Rivers reportedly made the move west with the understanding that he'd be coaching Paul despite the guard having the option of testing the free-agent waters come 12:01 a.m. ET Monday; while rumors briefly circulated that Paul had interest in teaming up with fellow top-tier free agent Dwight Howard, perhaps in a tandem trip back to the East Coast with the Atlanta Hawks, such a pairing was always unlikely, especially since Paul never seemed to show serious interest in leaving the Clippers, especially once procuring Rivers' services became a serious possibility.

The onus now falls on the high-priced head coach and his nine-figure point guard to team with All-Star power forward Blake Griffin, hopefully-on-board-despite-being-heavily-shopped center DeAndre Jordan and an evolving cast of role players to help the Clippers build on the best season in franchise history, a campaign that saw them win a franchise-record 56 games and top the Pacific Division for the first time in team history, but also seem somewhat stuck in their evolution after a first-round postseason ouster at the hands of the Memphis Grizzlies.

While continued development from Griffin and especially Jordan will be integral if the Clippers hope to advance past the conference semifinals for the first time in franchise history, Paul is the straw that stirs the drink. For my money (which, it is worth noting, is somewhat less than $107 million), he is the best point guard in the world, an unparalleled half-court orchestrator and facilitator who knows when to seek his own offense, ranks among the league's best fourth-quarter tacticians and plays some of the most opportunistic perimeter defense in the game.

You'd understand if some Clippers fans felt a bit dicey about paying an annual average of more than $20 million per season to someone who's had knee surgery, who has missed time with knee, hip and hand injuries over the past two seasons and who will be on the wrong side of 30 by the time this contract ends, but injury history aside, this is about as open-and-shut a max-contract case as there is in the league — Chris Paul is worth every penny you can pay him, so you pay him every penny you can.

With Paul's contract situation quickly settled, the Clippers will now move on to addressing the remainder of their roster. Yahoo! Sports NBA columnist Marc J. Spears reported early Monday morning that the Clippers are interested in shooting guard O.J. Mayo, late of the Dallas Mavericks, who declined a $4.2 million player option for next season to become an unrestricted free agent. Yahoo! Sports NBA columnist Adrian Wojnarowski reported Sunday that Rivers would love to bring in ace perimeter stopper Tony Allen, but the All-Defensive First-Team shooting guard may have more lucrative offers elsewhere, including from his most recent employer, the Memphis Grizzlies.

Chris Paul staying with Los Angeles Clippers (Yahoo! Sports)

Chris Paul is staying with the Los Angeles Clippers.