HoopsHype.com Rumors

Geoff Lepper: Lacob on vindication of the Ellis-Bogut deal: "To me, it was vindicated from day one. The trade was a fantastic trade. ... Twitter @geofflepper

Golden State Warriors, Trade, Monta Ellis, Andrew Bogut 

And Nowitzki has made it abundantly clear to Cuban that another season like this one isn’t something he’s interested in. “My last couple years, I’d love to contend,” he said. “We’ve been a championship team that one year, and once you smell that victory, you want to smell it again. I don’t want to go anywhere else. [Cuban] knows that. Everybody knows that. I want to be a Maverick for life. “But I do want to play for a championship again my last couple years. So this is a big summer for us. We got a draft. We got trades. That’s the good thing with salary-cap room, you don’t always have to sign a free agent, you can take some money back in a sign-and-trade. We’ll see what we can come up with.” Dallas Morning News

Dallas Mavericks, Free Agency, Trade, Dirk Nowitzki 

There is a hard reality to be faced here, and that is that one of the fiercest competitors the NBA has ever known and certainly the best European player to ever play the game is probably never going to see the second round of the playoffs again. Nowitzki is talking about retiring after another year or two, and it’s difficult to see how the Mavericks put a championship-caliber team around him in that short period of time given the current state of the roster. HoopsWorld

Dallas Mavericks, Free Agency, Trade, Dirk Nowitzki 

Gordon’s situation is a little different – he is not happy in New Orleans and hasn’t kept that a big secret. The franchise matched his contract for two reasons – primarily, you don’t get ahead in the NBA letting star level players walk without compensation and secondarily there was a hope Gordon would come around to what the Hornets are building and buy in, especially with all the uncertainties now out of the way. HoopsWorld

New Orleans Hornets, Trade, Eric Gordon 

A majority of fans in New Orleans have not forgotten the comments Gordon made last summer after he became a restricted free agent and agreed to a four-year, $58 million offer sheet with the Suns, which the Hornets matched even though Gordon said his "heart was in Phoenix." The Hornets were unable to pull off a trade involving Gordon before the February trade deadline, but the franchise is still likely to remain open to trading him after this season ends, according to sources Saturday. New Orleans Times-Picayune

New Orleans Hornets, Trade, Eric Gordon 

They are not equipped with a ton of high-figure assets, but they will have the ability to execute a lopsided trade, taking on extra salary than what they sent out. Teams looking to shed salary will surely touch base with the Trail Blazers inquiring about such. “We'll be very proactive this summer,” Olshey said. “What we've seen this season is that this team isn't very far away. We'll have the flexibility to make a move if we choose to do so or not, but it has to be the right move for the organization.” CSNNW.com

Portland Trail Blazers, Trade, Neil Olshey 

While the Bucks, Phoenix and Brooklyn pursued Josh Smith right up until the trading deadline, Smith told me Boston, Washington, Philadelphia and even New Orleans were in the mix. Racine Journal-Times

Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, New Orleans Hornets, Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, Washington Wizards, Trade, Josh Smith 

Are you expecting to make trades? Rod Thorn: "You never know when trades come. They can come at any time. Sometimes when you aren't even thinking about it, somebody may call and say, 'Hey, we're interested in such-and-such,' and you end up making a trade. But we're always looking to do something. And hopefully, it will work out that we can." Delaware County Daily Times

Philadelphia 76ers, Trade, Rod Thorn 

You got mentioned in the Rudy Gay trade talks at one point. I’m always curious: Did you learn that through the media like the rest of us? Or did the team come to you first and say, “Hey, you’re doing to hear this, but don’t worry about it, it’s just a rumor”? Bradley Beal: I just heard it in the media. And then Ernie [Grunfeld, the Wizards’ GM] came to me and said it’s not true — that they were just trying to increase his trade value, that’s all it was. Grantland

Washington Wizards, Trade, Bradley Beal 

Is that weird to have that happen already as a rookie? Beal: It is what it is. It’s a business. But I knew the [team] wasn’t going to trade me. Grantland

Washington Wizards, Trade, Bradley Beal 

Jennings has made no secret of his unhappiness with the Bucks in recent months. As far back as last year, he was looking ahead to free agency and expressing a desire to sign in a big market. He did not sign an extension to his rookie contract with the Bucks before the October deadline, and openly talked about being intrigued by the Dallas Mavericks earlier this season. Jennings has even hinted he might do something unprecedented for player as high-profile as he is, and bypass restricted free agency by signing the qualifying offer this summer, essentially killing the Bucks' leverage to keep or trade him beyond next year. USA Today Sports

Dallas Mavericks, Milwaukee Bucks, Free Agency, Trade 

Back to the Rudy Gay trade: Were you informed every step of the way? Or did you just generally know this was happening? Lionel Hollins: Of course, of course. People made it seem like I didn't know, or that I was upset. I wasn't upset. Somebody asked me a question: "Would you want to do the trade or not?" And I said I would not. But I also voiced that to management before the trade was even made, because they asked me. They asked about the specific package — Davis and Prince? Lionel Hollins: Oh, yeah. On every package. Grantland

Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors, Trade, Rudy Gay, Lionel Hollins 

But even with all that—the uncertainty that it brought and the angst it may have created—when the end finally came, it came as something of a surprise. “It was hard, yes, very hard,” Calderon said Thursday in his first Toronto interview since his trade from the Raptors to the Detroit Pistons via the Memphis Grizzlies in early February. “Even if you knew it was coming because of the expiring contract and all the rumours the last couple of years—I never got the whole, 100 per cent confidence that ‘hey, you are our point guard, you are our guy’—I always put that aside and I was always like, ‘this is my home.’ “I was playing good, we were playing better, I think it happened when I least expected it. It was like, ‘now it’s happening after all those rumours?’ ” Toronto Star

Detroit Pistons, Toronto Raptors, Trade, Jose Manuel Calderon 

He was traded when the team was on the road. He hasn’t had a chance to get back to the Air Canada Centre since, he hasn’t had a chance to say thank you. “It’s so quick sometimes, you don’t realize how many people you leave behind without saying goodbye,” he said after the Pistons practised here. “You don’t have the chance to say thank you. There are so many people who helped me during all those years in Toronto for everything. Not just about basketball, it’s everything. Like life, with my family. Everything.” Toronto Star

Detroit Pistons, Toronto Raptors, Trade, Jose Manuel Calderon 

Amir Johnson broke into a smile the moment Jose Calderon’s name was broached, eliciting a reaction that briefly relieved some of the discomfort in Johnson’s left knee. Calderon had that soothing presence during his time in Raptorland, a tenure filled with playoff appearances, trades that would get nixed, three coaches and what seemed like a perpetual drama at the point position. “A great teammate,’’ beamed Johnson of Calderon. “He definitely gave me some buckets. He was a fun guy to be around. At least for me, I thought he was funny because of his accent. “A great guy, a motivator who was big for this team.” Toronto Sun

Toronto Raptors, Trade, Jose Manuel Calderon, Amir Johnson 

Rival executives know what the Cavs are trying to do with all those future first-round picks and all that cap space they've amassed: Trade for (or sign) a Kevin Love-ish complement to Irving to really make The Next Decision tough. Those efforts, though, are bound to be futile. If Miami can't afford the tax implications of paying three top-line stars, it's obviously going to be harder for a team like Cleveland to stomach them. And even if the Cavs get the roster math and balance just right, they'll not only need Kyrie to free himself from the grip of injury torment (see Box 5) but then convince LeBron to leave the place in which he's finally found peace. ESPN.com

Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, Trade, LeBron James, Kevin Love 

More than three years after Wizards team president Ernie Grunfeld granted his request to join a championship contender and traded him to Cleveland in the aftermath of a horrendous season that included the death of Wizards owner Abe Pollin and the gun fiasco, Jamison admits that he wishes he had handled the situation in Washington differently. “I regret it,” Jamison said. “Ernie came to me and said, ‘You deserve it. I want to do what’s best for you.’ I was frustrated. That was a tough year. But I wish I would’ve stuck it out the duration of my contract, because if it wasn’t for D.C., I don’t think I’d be where I am at professionally. They gave me that opportunity, from Ernie and Eddie Jordan and Mr. Pollin. They gave me that captain [title]. . . . That was my family. Washington Post

Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers, Washington Wizards, Trade, Ernie Grunfeld, Antawn Jamison, Eddie Jordan 

Seven months removed from the trade that sent him to Denver, Andre Iguodala still has nothing but good things to say about his former 76ers teammates. "I try to look forward," said Iguodala, who was sent to Denver in the four-team trade that brought injured center Andrew Bynum to Philadelphia. "I don't live with regrets. I still talk to the guys in Philly. But we talk mostly about things outside of basketball. I talk to Jrue [Holiday] about getting married. . . . And I talk with Evan [Turner] a lot. " Philadelphia Inquirer

Denver Nuggets, Philadelphia 76ers, Andre Iguodala, Trade 

Strange though it may seem that one of the Western Conference's best teams could trade its longtime leading scorer and manage to improve, that has been the case since the Jan. 30 deal that sent Gay to Toronto and brought back veteran small forward Tayshaun Prince and young players Ed Davis and Austin Daye. "I think we're a better team, man," Grizzlies All-Star forward Zach Randolph told USA TODAY Sports. "You're (getting) the whole team playing one way, and guys sticking to what they do and playing together, playing for each other and playing defense and playing inside-out basketball. It's a lot better – a better mindset – playing like that. USA Today Sports

Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors, Trade, Rudy Gay, Zach Randolph 

"(Swapping Gay for Prince) took a little pressure off," Gasol said. "Sometimes when you have so many options offensively, you try to keep everybody happy – 'now it's your turn, now it's my turn,' and it's your-turn-my-turn type of basketball. Teams kind of load up (defensively) on that and do that. It was hard to get in a flow as a team. "(Adding Prince) changed the dynamics. We have a different team, and I think we did a great job of coming together. We could've laid down, but that's not who we are. That's not what we do." USA Today Sports

Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors, Trade, Rudy Gay, Marc Gasol