The race for the final playoff spot(s) in the Western Conference will continue tonight, when the Lakers play the Bucks in Milwaukee and the Mavericks host the Pacers in Dallas. As we look forward to those games, let's round up a few Thursday items out of the conference....

• Tony Allen is headed for unrestricted free agency this summer, and at least one Eastern Conference general manager thinks Allen will receive a modest raise. "Three years at $4MM per year sounds right," the GM tells Chris Mannix of SI.com. "He adds instant toughness and a defensive mentality to your team. He's a leader on the floor and he isn't going to back down from anyone. I think everyone in the league would love to have him." The Grizzlies have no interest in approaching luxury-tax territory, so it's unclear if they'll be able to bring back Allen.
• Chris Sheridan of SheridanHoops.com believes that both Los Angeles head coaches, Mike D'Antoni and Vinny Del Negro, could be on the outs with the Lakers and Clippers respectively if they don't finish the season strong.
• With Metta World Peace expected to miss six weeks after undergoing surgery on his left knee, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News wonders if the veteran forward has played his last game with the Lakers.
• Terrel Harris' new deal with the Hornets includes an second year that will become guaranteed if Harris makes the team's 2013/14 roster, reports Sam Amick of USA Today.
• Nuggets coach George Karl tells Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post that he thinks Gregg Popovich would be interested in the Team USA head coaching position, and that Popovich would be a great choice for the job.

THURSDAY, 12:21pm: The Hornets have officially signed Harris for the remainder of the season, the team announced today in a press release.

WEDNESDAY, 8:00pm: The Hornets are expected to re-sign guard Terrel Harris for the rest of the season when his second 10-day contract with the team expires tonight, reports John Reid of The Times Picayune. Harris will take up the final roster spot for New Orleans when the move becomes official, meaning the team would have to waive someone on a guaranteed contract to sign anyone else this season.

Harris saw significantly more action on his second 10-day deal with the team than he did on his first, including more than 28 minutes of run on March 18th against the Warriors, when he had four points and five rebounds. Still, those are the only points he's scored in 79 total minutes over six games with the club. Harris began the season with the Heat, who kept him on their roster all of last season on their march to the NBA championship. The 6'5" Oklahoma State product has averaged 2.7 points and 2.1 rebounds in 12.2 minutes per game in his two NBA seasons.

Harris will become the 11th player this year to sign two 10-day contracts followed by a rest-of-the-season deal with a team, as our 10-day tracker shows. That's more such deals than in any season since 2007/08.

The Hornets have signed Terrel Harris to a second 10-day contract, the team announced via press release. The guard's first 10-day deal with New Orleans expired last night. Harris has appeared in only two games for a total of 12 minutes with the Hornets so far, but today's move allows the team some more time to evaluate him before deciding whether to sign him for the rest of the season.

Harris was a part of the Heat's championship team as a rookie last season, and opened this year with Miami before the team waived him just before his minimum-salary contract would have become guaranteed for the season. The 6'5" 25-year-old has averaged 2.9 points and 2.0 rebounds in 11.6 minutes per game over 31 NBA contests the past two seasons.

The Hornets are at the 15-man roster limit with Harris back on board, so if they keep him, they'd have to waive someone on a guaranteed contract to sign anybody else this season. While Harris is on a 10-day deal, the Hornets have to option to terminate his contract before the 10 days are up if they'd prefer to bring in someone else, as they did when they waived Henry Sims to clear room for Louis Amundson.

10:23am: The Hornets have officially signed Harris to a 10-day contract, the team announced today in a press release.

12:24am: With Austin Rivers potentially out for the rest of the season with a broken hand, the Hornets will add another backcourt player to the roster. According to ESPN.com's Marc Stein (via Twitter), that player will be Terrel Harris, who is expected to receive a 10-day contract from New Orleans on Friday.

Harris, 25, was waived earlier this season by the Heat, just before his contract became guaranteed. The Oklahoma State product, who appeared in 29 games in parts of two seasons with Miami, had been playing in the D-League since being let go by the Heat, averaging 12.5 PPG and 7.2 RPG in 12 contests with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

The Hornets currently have 14 players under contract, so no corresponding roster move will be required to clear a spot for Harris. When the agreement is finalized, Harris will become the second player to receive a 10-day contract from New Orleans this week as the team adds injury replacements. The Hornets signed Henry Sims to a 10-day deal on Sunday, just two days after announcing that Jason Smith would miss the rest of the season with a torn labrum.

So far, votes are virtually evenly split on whether or not the Lakers will earn a playoff spot this season in the competitive Western Conference. You can weigh in with your vote and/or comments on our afternoon poll right here. As the Lakers prepare to face the Rockets tonight in Houston, let's check in on a few Western Conference notes relating to the Rockets and a handful of other clubs....

• Royce White appeared on Slate's Hang Up and Listen podcast, and went into detail in discussing his relationship with the Rockets and the mental health protocol he's hoping to establish. You can listen to the conversation at about the 24:15 mark of the podcast or view the complete transcript over at Slate.com.
• Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson says he expects Dirk Nowitzki to remain with the Mavericks for the rest of his career, according to Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (via Twitter). Nowitzki recently questioned some of the Mavs' roster-building strategies, but insisted he wants to remain in Dallas and not be traded.
• Even though Kevin Love will be out for an extended period, the Timberwolves, like every other team in the NBA, aren't currently interested in Kenyon Martin, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities.
• Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey isn't looking to make superficial changes to his team's roster, but is ready to make a move if the right kind of deal arises, as Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld writes.
• Terrel Harris, who was cut this weekend by the Heat, will join the Rockets' D-League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, tweets Fran Blinebury of NBA.com. Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle clarifies (via Twitter) that Harris won't be part of Houston's 15-man roster, but the Vipers are operated by the Rockets, who want to take a look at the guard.

The Heat announced that they have waived guard Terrel Harris.  Harris' deal would have become guaranteed on Monday's deadline and the move could signal that the Heat are gearing up to sign a big man.

Harris appeared in seven games with the Heat this year, averaging 1.4 points and 1.3 rebounds in 4.1 minutes per contest.  He was a bigger part of Miami's rotation in 2011/12 as he appeared in 22 games and averaged 3.6 points and 2.3 rebounds in 14.5 minutes per game.

The move leaves the Heat with 14 men on their roster.  Josh Harrellson is the team's only remaining non-guaranteed player.

The Heat have cut a pair of camp invitees, waiving Rodney Carney and Jarvis Varnado, according to Chris Tomasson of FOX Sports Florida (via Twitter). The move reduces Miami's roster to 16 players, meaning at least one more player will have to be released before Monday.

As Tomasson adds in a second tweet, the news bodes well for Josh Harrellson, who appears to have made the roster. Guards Terrel Harris and Garrett Temple will likely be battling for the final roster spot, with the odd man out being the last player cut. Nothing is set in stone yet, however, as Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel tweets, noting not to rule out Juwan Howard.

Carney looked strong at times during the preseason with the Heat, finishing with 6.8 PPG in five games. Varnado didn't appear in any of the team's preseason contests due to a hamstring issue. Both players will become unrestricted free agents when they clear waivers.

• Jodie Valade of The Plain Dealer takes a closer look at the decision the Cavaliers have to make on Sloan and Pargo and lists the pros and cons of keeping both. She also notes that Byron Scott believes one of them currently has an edge over the other, but the coach would not elaborate beyond that. 
• Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald took to Twitter to speculate on what he calls the Heat's "no-doubt-about-it cut list," listing Rodney Carney, Jarvis Varnado, Mickell Gladness, and Robert Dozier. He mentions that the last two spots could come down to a competition among Josh Harrellson, Garrett Temple, and Terrel Harris, adding that he would keep the latter two (Twitter link). 
• Interestingly enough, although Juwan Howard is not part of Miami's training camp roster, Goodman points out that the former Heat player still has a locker. 
• Ben Golliver of the Blazers Edge shared a transcript of Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey's in-game interview with CSNNW on Friday. Some notable comments include Olshey's thoughts on Will Barton's potential, Nicolas Batum and the team moving forward after his contract extension, and landing J.J. Hickson.
• In response to a report that Stephen Curry will sit out the rest of pre-season, Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News tweets that Curry's long-term extension talks with the Warriors are on hold. 

We looked at news from the Western Conference already, so here's a trip around Eastern Conference camps, with the start of the regular season just a dozen nights away.

• Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald thought a few days ago that Terrel Harris was a shoo-in for a spot on the Heat roster, but now believes Garrett Temple has a legitimate chance to beat him out (Twitter link). Both guards are on non-guaranteed deals.
• Kyrie Irving did plenty to justify his position as the top pick in the 2011 draft last season, when he won Rookie of the Year honors, but Cavs coach Byron Scott still believes he has a long way to go to realize his potential, as Steve Aschburner of NBA.com writes.
• Marc Berman of the New York Post has details on Rasheed Wallace's contract with the Knicks, and confirms that it's without even a partial guarantee.
• Joe Dumars is the league's third-longest tenured executive in charge of player personnel decisions, as Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors pointed out yesterday, and the Pistons president of basketball operations told Keith Langlois of Pistons.com he's never been as impressed with his players' offseason work as he is this year (Twitter link).
• Nets coach Avery Johnson said he expects free agent signee Jerry Stackhouse, a few weeks shy of his 38th birthday, to make his primary contribution as a locker room presence, a la Juwan Howard with the Heat the past two seasons, as Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News tweets.

Either the Celtics or a team with LeBron James or Dwyane Wade on the roster has won the Eastern Conference title every year since 2006, with the exception of 2009, when Dwight Howard and the Magic broke through. With D12 in L.A., it seems the path is clear for the Celtics and Heat to once again battle for Eastern supremacy, though there's a lot that could happen between now and June. Until then, here's the latest from around the East.

• Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald figures guard Terrel Harris' endorsement deal with Peak, a shoe company with promotional ties to the Heat, means he's a safe bet to make the opening-night roster. Harris has no guarantee on his minimum-salary deal.
• Steve Novak, a Wisconsin native who went to Marquette, explained his choice of the Knicks over the Bucks in free agency to the New York Post's Marc Berman. "We talked several times when I’ve been a free agent. I never know for sure at what level," Novak said of the Bucks. "But no, I wanted to be back. If I could choose Milwaukee or New York, hands down, New York. It’s the truth."
• Doug Smith of the Toronto Star disagrees with a scout who thought Raptors rookie Jonas Valanciunas looked "soft" and "scared" in a preseason game this week.
• Nets guard Joe Johnson says he's eager to share the ball with Deron Williams and get away from the "iso-Joe" style of play that placed the offensive load on his shoulders when he was with the Hawks, writes Howard Beck of The New York Times.
• John Denton of Magic.com delves into Nikola Vucevic's rich basketball bloodlines, a pedigree that Magic coach Jacque Vaughn believes will serve him well as he attempts the Herculean task of replacing Howard at center.