Chris Sheridan of SheridanHoops.com reported on Saturday that the New York Knicks might look to trade second-year guard Iman Shumpert. Sheridan cited "a source from another team" as saying that people close to Shumpert would "refer Iman in another situation."
NBA trade rumors: Iman Shumpert’s agent denies trade report; Bobcats not interested in Andrea Bargnani
Happy Walters, the agent for the Knicks’ Shumpert, took to Twitter to deny a report that his client is unhappy with New York.
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Happy Walters, the agent who represents Shumpert, took to Twitter early Monday morning to dispute that report. “For the record, no one has requested an Iman trade from the Knicks,” Walters wrote. “The report from Chris Sheridan is incorrect.”
The agent then publicly took Sheridan to task, asking why the former ESPN author didn’t check with him before running the story:
@sheridanhoops needs to check facts before reporting.As Iman's agent, you would think I would get a call fact checking a report.Really?
— Happy Walters (@Happywalters) February 18, 2013
Shumpert is in his second season from Georgia Tech. He is averaging 5.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 19.2 minutes for the Knicks in 2012/13. His playing time is down nearly 10 minutes from the 28.9 minutes he averaged as a rookie, but one can fairly attribute that decrease to the fact that the 22-year-old is recovering from offseason surgery to repair a torn meniscus and ACL in his left knee.
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ESPN's Marc Stein reported on Saturday that the Charlotte Bobcats were a potential destination for Toronto Raptors big man Andrea Bargnani, if Toronto were interested in taking back Charlotte two-guard Ben Gordon in return. Bobcats beat writer Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer threw some cold water on that rumor Monday, saying "it's baseless."
Bonnell reported Thursday that the Bobcats have reached a breaking point with Gordon after the UConn product was “disruptive” during a shootaround. Despite Charlotte’s apparent dissatisfaction with Gordon, Bonnell said Monday that dealing him for Bargnani would make “little” sense.
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Bargnani’s future with the Raptors is in doubt, but Toronto may wait until after the trading deadline to part with the former no. 1 overall draft choice, according to Doug Smith of the Toronto Star. “Looks like the summer” is what one source of Smith’s told him about the Raptors’ potentially moving Bargnani.
Toronto general manager Bryan Colangelo may be active as the deadline approaches, however. “I know Bryan pretty well and I would say he’ll do something small this week, it’s like second nature to him, to make a deadline-week deal just to be in the fray,” says Smith.
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