In his latest NBA AM piece for HoopsWorld, Steve Kyler focuses on the playoff point guards that may be heading for free agency once their respective seasons end. Kyler has tidbits on those players, as well as notes on Eric Bledsoe and Phil Jackson, so let's check out the highlights:

• Chris Paul is essentially a lock to re-sign with the Clippers and he'll have a "tremendous amount of input" in the team's roster moves and overall direction.
• The Hawks will extend a qualifying offer to Jeff Teague, and while the club plans to keep its options open, it's unlikely that Teague will end up leaving Atlanta.
• Jerryd Bayless is expected to decline his player option in search of a longer-term contract.
• There's mutual interest in a new deal between Jarrett Jack and the Warriors, and the team will have Jack's Bird Rights, but the Warriors figure to be well into the tax unless they can make a cost-cutting move or two, which could complicate negotiations.
• If Chauncey Billups doesn't return to the Clippers, retirement is more likely for him than signing with another club.
• The Bucks will definitely match almost any offer sheet signed by Brandon Jennings, though if he receives the max from a rival suitor, Milwaukee will "have to seriously look at that."
• While Bledsoe is expected to be an offseason trade candidate, Clippers sources are adamant that they don't need to make a decision on Bledsoe until the summer of 2014, or at least next year's trade deadline.
• With a handful of head coaching jobs already opened up, Jackson's name will pop up frequently in the next several weeks, but Kyler hears that the odds of the 11-time champion accepting a coaching job aren't great.

Although the Lakers are receiving all the headlines and attention for their slow start this season, another team expected to be a contender in the West has had its own struggles so far, without the injuries or coaching turnover that the Lakers have. The Nuggets pulled their record to .500 last night, however, with a solid win in Detroit, while the Lakers continued to slide, losing to Kyrie Irving and the Cavs in Cleveland. As the Nuggets prepare to play in Minnesota tonight and the Lakers head to New York for a Thursday night TNT showdown with the Knicks, let's round up a few other updates out of the Western Conference:

• "Your odds of winning the Powerball lottery are better" than the odds of O.J. Mayo exercising his $4.2MM player option with the Mavericks next season, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. However, that doesn't mean Mayo won't be a core piece in Dallas going forward.
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle looks at how offseason acquisitions James Harden and Jeremy Lin are fitting together with the Rockets.
• Although the Nuggets are off to a slow start this season, the front office continues to express complete confidence in the current roster, Danilo Gallinari tells Lang Greene of HoopsWorld. Gallinari singled out the Nuggets' extension for Ty Lawson as a confidence-booster for the entire team: "Especially with a player like Ty who is going to play with the Nuggets for a long time. For all of his career. It was very important for us because he’s a great guy and I thought our front office did a very good move in giving him a long contract."
• Within Greene's piece, the HoopsWorld scribe also details how Jerryd Bayless has been making a strong impression with the Grizzlies after signing a two-year deal this summer. Bayless will have the opportunity to opt out and become an unrestricted free agent again at season's end.
• While Virginia Beach City Council voted to continue pursuing a new arena, council members seem to recognize that the current proposal includes too much public money, writes Dale Kasler of the Sacramento Bee.

The Wizards finally broke through tonight, winning their first game in 13 tries with a victory over the Blazers. With a tough stretch ahead, however, it doesn't seem like they'll be catching anyone in the Eastern Conference standings soon. Here's the latest from around the East.

• Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com hears Amare Stoudemire would accept a bench role when he returns from injury, and that the Knicks are indeed considering making Stoudemire, on a nearly $100MM contract, their sixth man.
• Offseason sign-and-trade acquisition Reggie Evans could earn Sixth Man of the Year consideration if he keeps up his mastery of the boards for the Nets, opines A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com.
• The Raptors were high on the idea of re-signing Jerryd Bayless, according to coach Dwane Casey, but the point guard decided to go to the Grizzlies instead, tweets Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun. 
• The pressure has been on Magic GM Rob Hennigan as soon as he took the job, and after trading Dwight Howard, he must be right about his next big move, argues Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel.
• Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News rates Kyle Singler among the top five rookies, identifying him as a steal for the Pistons on his three-year, $3.135MM deal (Twitter link).
• The Pistons had no idea Brandon Knight would fall to them at pick No. 8 in the 2011 draft, and had been targeting Tristan Thompson and Markieff Morris instead, as Keith Langlois of Pistons.com reveals via Twitter.
• Nets newcomer Mirza Teletovic said he isn't concerned by his lack of playing time as he spoke about his adjustment to the NBA with Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (Sulia link).
• Omri Casspi, in the last year of his rookie deal with the Cavs, is among the league leaders in three-point shooting after working on his shot in the offseason, notes Bob Finnan of The News-Herald.

FRIDAY, 12:15pm: The Grizzlies have officially signed Bayless, the team announced today (Twitter link via Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal).

WEDNESDAY, 8:05am: Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal confirms (via Twitter) that Bayless' contract will start at $3MM, meaning he'll receive the Grizzlies' mini mid-level exception. The deal is for two years, with a player option for the second year, and is expected to be the last of the team's summer transactions, tweets Tillery.

This morning, we heard Memphis was free-agent shopping with its mid-level exception. However, that exception figured to max out at $3.09MM rather than $5MM, with the team approaching the luxury tax apron. I would guess Bayless will be signing for that full taxpayer mid-level exception.

The Raptors withdrew their $4MM+ qualifying offer to Bayless last week, making him an unrestricted free agent. If the 23-year-old has agreed to sign for the Grizzlies' mini mid-level, it looks like a great deal for Memphis. Bayless was an extremely efficient reserve in 31 games for the Raptors in 2011/12, averaging 11.4 PPG, 3.8 APG, and 17.7 PER in 22.7 MPG while playing both guard positions. For the Grizz, he has the potential to back up Mike Conley at point guard and also replace some of O.J. Mayo's scoring off the bench.

If Memphis does sign Bayless for the full $3.09MM taxpayer MLE, it will mean the team will be limited to filling out its roster with minimum-salary players, unless it can work out a trade.

At the start of this year's free agent period, the Grizzlies were pursuing relatively big-name free agents such as Ray Allen, willing to offer the full mid-level exception. At the time, I expressed some skepticism that Memphis could offer the full $5MM mid-level if the team hoped to re-sign Darrell Arthur and Marreese Speights.

Sure enough, since agreeing to terms with both Arthur and Speights, the Grizzlies have turned their focus to the $3MM taxpayer MLE, says Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. According to Tillery, Memphis is eyeing players like Jodie Meeks, Willie Green, and Jordan Farmar.

For his part, GM Chris Wallace remains confident that the Grizzlies will add a shooter and a backup point guard, despite not landing their initial targets.

"All the people we're talking to [now] have a track record," Wallace said. "Have they made All-Star teams? No. But how many free agents out there have? We were involved with Ray [Allen]. We offered him more money [than the Heat]. We were right there with Jason Terry. We've talked to a ton of people since this started."

• Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio tweeted that the Lakers are scheduled to meet with unrestricted free agent Jodie Meeks early next week. In another tweet, Amico says that the Celtics have reportedly stepped up their interest in O.J. Mayo, but thinks Boston would likely have to add him via a sign-and-trade. 
• Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune tweeted that although the Timberwolves express interest in Anthony Tolliver, the team has not made any promises. Zgoda also added via Tolliver's agent that there are five other teams that have shown interest. 
• Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer answered some questions from Cleveland fans about the Cavaliers' offseason. While the team appears committed to keeping Anderson Varejao, Boyer thinks that his name will be brought up by other teams during trade discussions. With regards to free agency, she believes that Anthony Tolliver, Sonny Weems, Jonny Flynn, and Royal Ivey could be targets. 
• Ben Golliver of the BlazersEdge wonders if there are more front office changes coming after the resignation of Larry Miller, considering that the Trail Blazers still have executives held over from two prior regimes (Twitter link). 
• Carmelo Anthony publicly endorsed the Knicks' efforts to recruit Marcus Camby, writes Al Iannazzone of Newsday.  
• Bulls forward Taj Gibson told Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago that he'd like the team to keep Omer Asik and would be ecstatic if the team somehow found a way to bring unrestricted free agent Kirk Hinrich back to Chicago. The two had been teammates during Gibson's rookie season. 
• Keith Langlois of Pistons.com writes about Austin Daye and Charlie Villanueva as two players who will look to stake their claim as the stretch-four in Lawrence Frank's rotation. Both are in Orlando participating in summer league practices, but only Daye will compete on the Pistons' summer league team.
• Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel talked about Jameer Nelson's return to the Magic and what it means for his leadership role moving forward.

The Raptors have withdrawn their qualifying offer for free agent guard Jerryd Bayless, making him unrestricted, tweets ESPN.com's Marc Stein. Bayless is now free to agree to sign with any team, without the Raptors having the opportunity to match.

In 31 games for the Raptors in 2011/12, Bayless averaged 11.4 points and 3.8 assists in 22.7 minutes per game.

With the NBA's 2012 free agent period just two days away, teams continue to extend qualifying offers to free agents in order to make them restricted. If a qualifying offer is not tendered to a player eligible for restricted free agency, he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Players who are tendered qualifying offers have the option to accept the one-year contract and hit unrestricted free agency a year from now, but the primary purpose of the offers are to ensure that the player's team can match any offers for him this summer. We'll track today's qualifying offer updates right here, with the latest added to the top of the page....

• The Cavs have made a qualifying offer to Luke Harangody, according to the joint Twitter account of Plain Dealer writers Mary Schmitt Boyer and Jodie Valade. The tender is expected to be around $1.05MM.

Earlier updates:

• The Jazz have tendered Jeremy Evans a qualifying offer, tweets Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune. The offer should be about $1.05MM.
• The Bobcats have extended qualifying offers to D.J. Augustin and Derrick Brown, the team announced. Augustin's should be for $4,385,416, with Brown's valued at $1,085,120.
• The Cavs extended a qualifying offer to Alonzo Gee, writes Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. The tender is thought to be $3,342,175.
• The Celtics have extended a qualifying offer to Greg Stiemsma, tweets Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com (Twitter link). It should be worth $1,054,389.
• The Lakers have extended qualifying offers to both Devin Ebanks and Darius Morris, according to Mike Trudell of Lakers.com (via Twitter). 
• Sonny Weems, who spent the season overseas, has received a qualifying offer from the Raptors, tweets Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun. It should be worth about $1.09MM.
• The Grizzlies have extended qualifying offers to Darrell Arthur ($3MM) and Marreese Speights ($4.39MM), tweets Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. O.J. Mayo and Lester Hudson did not receive qualifying offers from Memphis.
• The Raptors have tendered Jerryd Bayless a qualifying offer, says SI.com's Zach Lowe. Bayless failed to meet the starter criteria, so he should receive a QO of about $4MM.
• The Pacers have extended qualifying offers to Roy Hibbert, George Hill, and A.J. Price, according to RealGM's transactions log. Hibbert's offer will be for about $4.39MM, Hill's for $2.27MM, and Price's for $1.09MM.
• The Bulls have officially extended Omer Asik a qualifying offer, according to RealGM. It's worth about $2.32MM.
• Courtney Lee has received a qualifying offer from the Rockets, according to RealGM. Since he met the CBA's starter criteria, it should be worth about $4.39MM.
• The Sixers have tendered a qualifying offer to Lavoy Allen, according to RealGM. The 23-year-old should receive an offer worth about $962K.

News and notes on the Raptors courtesy of Mike Ganter and Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun..

• Despite some speculation that the Raptors might use their amnesty clause to rid themselves of Jose Calderon's contract, GM Bryan Colangelo club intends to hold on to the point guard.  The 30-year-old is owed $10.56MM next season but Colangelo is impressed by the progress that he has made and his leadership skills.  The article adds that the GM even seems reluctant to use the amnesty clause at all.
• Guard Jerryd Bayless said earlier this week that he wants to re-sign with Toronto.  Colangelo said that Bayless is a young prospect whom he would be interested in retaining but admitted that he could possibly be moved in a sign-and-trade.   Bayless will have a $7.2MM cap hold until he signs a qualifying offer or new contract, which could hinder the club's off-season flexibility. 
• Head coach Dwane Casey strongly believes that the club can attract elite free agents north of the border.  “All the stuff people say about free agency with Toronto being another country and you’ll have tax problems , all that is crap,” the coach said. “I’m telling you right now. This city is one of the finest cities. It’s a top five city in North America. It’s not even close and I’ve been in all of them. For any free agent who doesn’t think this is a special situation, they are sadly mistaken.”  Casey, who just wrapped up his first year with the club, had his third-year option exercised yesterday.

The latest on the Toronto Raptors on Thursday night:

• Jerryd Bayless tells Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun that he wants to re-sign with the Raptors. The fourth-year guard will be a restricted free agent this summer.
• Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun has a recap of Andrea Bargnani's season. Despite a disappointing, injury-plagued campaign, Simmons still feels the Italian forward can be a cornerstone for the Raptors going forward.
• Wolstat also examines Ed Davis' development, calling the big man a "work in progress." Davis will become a restricted free agent after the 2013/14 season.