The NBA Trade Deadline: Where The Rockets Win An Active Day

First, Larry Brown and the Bobcats took steps towards reuniting the 2001 76ers today, as the Bobcats traded a conditional draft pick to the Spurs for Theo Ratliff. The move is a pure salary dump; as Adrian Wojnarowski tweets, the Spurs will likely never see the pick.

And finally, the Wizards have officially gotten under the luxury tax by sending Dominic McGuire and cash to the Kings for a conditional second-round pick, according to Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee. Michael Lee of the Washington Post tweets that the pick is a 2010 second-round pick.

The Jazz found another way to cut their payroll this season. While Utah had been linked with Miami over a possible Carlos Boozer trade that would have meant substantial luxury tax savings for the Jazz, they managed to make a smaller deal before the deadline that will nonetheless save them a fair amount of money for the remainder of the season.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the Jazz shipped out Ronnie Brewer to the Grizzlies for a protected-2011 first-round draft pick. The deal will save the Jazz the rest of the prorated $2.7 million Brewer is owed for this season, as well as luxury tax costs, while giving the Grizzlies another athletic wing to bring off the bench.

Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting the Bobcats and Pacers are advancing talks on a deal that would send T.J. Ford to Charlotte for a package including D.J. Augustin.

If so, this is madness. Larry Brown and the Bobcats must be stopped. T.J. Ford has a terrible contract and has a reputation for being a selfish player. D.J. Augustin has struggled, but is still young and is better than Ford already. To complete the trade, Charlotte would likely have to either throw in DeSagana Diop (unlikely because of his contract), or Nazr Mohammad (their starting center). Um, yikes.

The trade? Philly trades Royal Ivey, Primoz Brezec and a 2010 second-round pick to Milwaukee for Jodie Meeks and Francisco Elson. Is it a major trade? No. Will you thank us for bringing you even the smallest morsels of information during the trade deadline? I hope so.

The proposed three-way deal between Houston, New York, and Sacramento appears to be coming to fruition. According to ESPN’s Mark Stein, the teams have agreed in principle to a blockbuster deal that sends McGrady to New York along with Sacramento PG Sergio Rodriguez, sends Sacramento shooting guard Kevin Martin to the Rockets, and brings Houston’s Carl Landry--along with Joey Dorsey and Larry Hughes’ expiring contract (about $14 million)--to Sacramento.

Because we’re talking about the Houston Rockets and the best GM in the league, Daryl Morey, Houston also gets New York’s 2009 lottery pick, Jordan Hill, the right to swap first round picks with the Knicks in 2011, as well as taking the Knicks’ first round pick outright in 2012. Per usual, building through the draft is not one of New York’s top priorities, while Morey seems content to stockpile assets.

With Amare Stoudemire off the market, the Miami Heat are making an 11th-hour push for Carlos Boozer, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein and Chad Ford.

It’s not yet clear what pieces could be involved.

The Kings, Knicks and Rockets continue to discuss a three-team deal that would send Tracy McGrady to the Knicks, but apparently the Kings drive a hard bargain.

How hard? They’re reportedly asking for David Lee, who is only the Knicks’ best player, as a price to taking back Jared Jeffries’ contract, according to the Sacramento Bee’s Sam Amick.

ESPN’s Chris Sheridan is reporting the Knicks and Celtics have reached an agreement on the pieces involved in the Nate Robinson trade.

The Celtics will acquire Robinson and an unknown second player for Eddie House, Bill Walker and J.R. Giddens, according to Sheridan.

Charlotte’s only expiring contracts are Acie Law for $2.3 million and Flip Murray for $1.9 million, so I imagine both have to be involved. Thomas makes $4.7 million this year.

UPDATE: Adrian Wojnarowski reports the trade is indeed Acie Law, Flip Murray and a future first-round pick for Tyrus Thomas.

Fanhouse first reported yesterday that Stoudemire was likely to stay in Phoenix, quoting Stoudemire himself, coach Alvin Gentry and a couple sources. ESPN’s Marc Stein confirmed Fanhouse’s report just now with a quote from owner Robert Sarver indicating he met with Stoudemire last night to tell him he’s likely staying put.

This isn’t exactly a good thing for either party. Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski tweets that Stoudemire’s agent and Suns GM Steve Kerr had “several tense conversations” last night about this. ESPN’s Chad Ford quotes a source saying Stoudemire is going to be upset about this. Fanhouse, who wrote earlier that Stoudemire was considering not opting out of his contract this summer, asked Stoudemire again last night, and Stoudemire said nothing had changed on that front. In other words, it appears we’re headed toward an unsavory divorce.

The Associated Press is reporting that the Chicago Bulls will trade John Salmons to the Milwaukee Bucks for Joe Alexander and Hakim Warrick.

Initially, it appeared the Bucks would send back Kurt Thomas and Francisco Elson, but it looks like the Bulls preferred younger players instead. All four Bucks players are expiring contracts.

Now, if the San Jose Mercury News’ Tim Kawakami is to be believed, they apparently turned down a trade offer from the Grizzlies that would have sent O.J. Mayo and other contracts for Monta Ellis.

I’m not the world’s biggest O.J. Mayo fan, but I’ve been very impressed with how he’s become a great complimentary player for the Grizzlies this year. Zach Randolph and Rudy Gay may put up the numbers, but Mayo, along with Marc Gasol, is the soul of that team. If Mayo were to come to Golden State, he would blend in very nicely alongside Stephen Curry. Both are combo guards that are equally capable of making plays with the ball in their hands and off someone else’s creation. Mayo’s also a significantly better defender than Ellis and is cheaper. What’s not to like?

My first thought about the Kevin Martin trade is that I didn’t understand why so many Kings fans hated it. I wish, as they do, that Martin and Tyreke Evans got more time to co-exist, but they were getting cap relief and a very good player in Carl Landry.

However, Tom Ziller at SB Nation’s Sactown Royalty puts it all in perspective for us. As Ziller writes, Martin was theirs. He was underappreciated for so many years, and the mainstream writers only began to take notice recently. Now, after putting so much time into rooting for a guy like Martin, it’s tough for Kings fans to let go.

One of the reasons the trade deadline is so interesting is that trades can come out of nowhere. Last night, as most of the East coast was sleeping, we saw one of those out-of-nowhere trades come together in a hurry.

According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, the Sacramento Kings have decided to trade Kevin Martin, previously seen as a keeper, to the Houston Rockets in a package for Tracy McGrady and his $23 million expiring contract.

After frantically searching for a trade partner over the past few days, the Chicago Bulls have finally agreed to a deal with the Milwaukee Bucks involving shooting guard John Salmons.

From K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune:

If trading for Amare Stoudmire was the top priority for the Cleveland Cavaliers, landing Antawn Jamison from Washington is hardly a disappointing Plan B. With help from the Los Angeles Clippers, the Cavs appear to have swung a deal.

Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski has the story.

According to ESPN.com’s Chad Ford, Minnesota has agreed in principle to send Brian Cardinal to the New York Knicks in exchange for Milicic.

Apparently, nothing excites Kahn more than a European that wants nothing more than to play basketball in Europe.

A sampling of rumors floating around today

The Cavaliers, using a committee that included management, coaches, veteran players, ownership and LeBron James, have created a wishlist of sorts, according to Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. At the top is Amare Stoudemire, but in case that falls through because the Suns elect to trade with Miami, they have fallback options.

In case you needed more evidence that Amar’e Stoudemire is going to have a new address in the next couple days, Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting the Suns have stopped all talks with Stoudemire regarding a possible contract extension.

Wojnarowski is also reporting that Stoudemire has told friends that Wednesday’s game against Dallas will be his last as a Phoenix Sun.

Houston looks like it’s on the verge of moving Tracy McGrady. To where specifically remains a question.

ESPN’s Marc Stein is reporting the Rockets are mulling over offers from the New York Knicks and the Chicago Bulls and will likely choose which one later Wednesday.

For a while, it looked like Boston’s move at the trade deadline would be bigger than this. They have Ray Allen’s expiring contract on the market, with the goal to get a marquee player that can help them this year and in the future.

However, Boston’s first move might be a bit smaller than that. Literally. They’re closing in on a deal to acquire three-time Slam Dunk Champion (!) Nate Robinson from the Knicks, according to A Sherrod Blakely of Comcast SportsNet New England.

According to Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the San Antonio Spurs are trying to offload Antonio McDyess in a last-ditch attempt to a) Rid them of his $4.9 million salary next season, and b) Nab Chicago Bulls malcontent Tyrus Thomas. From Yahoo:

In addition to MyDyess and as previous reported here, the Spurs are also looking to move Roger Mason, a guard with a modest salary and surprising value. McDyess is a different story, though. Who wants an aging big man with a lengthy injury history and a big salary?

Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that the Marcus Camby to Portland trade is a done deal.

The Clippers will receive Steve Blake, Travis Outlaw and $3 million in cash for Camby. The latter part is being held up as the reason for the Clippers making the deal, which has drawn the “cheap Clippers” meme out again. It certainly looks bad from their end, because Blake and Outlaw are both expiring contracts like Camby.

A sampling of some rumors floating around today...

The answer: yes, maybe, looking good, maybe not. If that’s confusing, it’s because this saga is.

The talk of Amar’e Stoudamire’s potential move to the Cleveland Cavaliers has generated plenty of interest, and rightly so. How does he fit into a team that also includes LeBron James? Will the Amar’e-Shaq pairing work out better the second time around? What needs to happen for this trade to go down?

Our Suns blog, Bright Side of the Sun, has broken things down nicely. BSotS has provided a handy flowchart that covers all possible scenarios, and it’s definitely worth a look.