Hello and welcome to the Evening News.
As the Finals continue, we’ll keep you updated every evening. What’s happening today?
Here’s the latest from around the league:
Clippers and Celtics making progress
Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the Los Angeles Clippers and Boston Celtics are making progress toward a possible mega deal involving Kevin Garnett and Doc Rivers. 
While talks heated up on Friday, discussions reached an impasse on Saturday after the Clippers refused Boston’s demand for Eric Bledsoe to be included in the trade.
Today, however, talks between the teams resumed as Boston backed off of its plea for Bledsoe and is now looking to unload either Jason Terry or Courtney Lee’s multiyear contract as a part of the trade instead.
One league source insists that even if a trade doesn’t happen, Doc Rivers’ chances of returning to Boston are growing slimmer by the day:
“There’s no putting the genie back in the bottle. You can’t pretend this didn’t happen and just go back to work,” said the source.
The belief among Clippers’ executives is that acquiring Garnett and hiring Rivers would be enough to convince Chris Paul to re-sign.
Brad Turner of the LA Times tweeted earlier:
Now word is deal between Clippers and Celtics is “close to being done very, very soon.”
— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) June 17, 2013
Both teams are trying to finalize the trade by the end of the day. With Brian Shaw and Lionel Hollins waiting to hear back from the Clippers about the team’s coaching vacancy, there is a sense of urgency with the negotiations.
Monta Ellis opts out of contract
According to Charles Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Monta Ellis has informed the Bucks that he will opt out of his $11 million player option for next season.
Bucks officials confirm this morning that guard Monta Ellis will opt out of the final year of his contract. Received official notification.
— cfgardner (@cf_gardner) June 17, 2013
The Sacramento Kings have been linked to Ellis for about a month and can presumably offer him the most money in free agency. Hiring Mike Malone, Ellis’ former assistant coach, reportedly enhanced their chances of luring the scorer to Sacramento.
Ellis, meanwhile, has stated a preference to sign with the Memphis Grizzlies. He owns a house in Memphis and understandably wants to play for a championship contender before he passes his prime. Unfortunately for Ellis, Memphis’ analytics savvy front office will likely pass on offering him a large contract.
We will have to wait and see whether Ellis signs for more than the $36 million that he recently turned down from Milwaukee.
Nuggets hire Tim Connelly as general manager
Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski also reports that the Denver Nuggets have hired Tim Connelly to replace Masai Ujiri as the general manager. 
The move by Denver comes after the team saw reigning executive of the year, Ujiri, leave for Toronto and subsequently watched his in-house replacement, Pete D’Alessandro, sign on as the general manager with the Kings.
Connelly, 36, is considered to be a rising star in the analytics movement and will be tasked with finding the team a new coach after owner Josh Kroenke unexpectedly fired George Karl.
Nuggets’ hiring of Tim Connelly as GM won’t alter scheduled coach interviews for Brian Shaw Tues and Lionel Hollins on Wed, source tells Y!
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) June 17, 2013
While Yahoo!’s Spears reports that Shaw and Hollins will be interviewed within the next two days, one could assume that Connelly’s hiring hurts Hollins’ chances. Hollins notoriously clashed with analytics-happy executives in Memphis following the Rudy Gay trade in January.
