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| NBA Player News | ||
| Date | Player | News |
| 7/2/2009 | Shaquille O'Neal, C (Cle) | Acquired in a trade last week with the Phoenix Suns, O'Neal was introduced Thursday as a Cavalier before cheering young fans at the team's suburban practice facility. Analysis: The Cavaliers are hoping that the 15-time All-Star can help league MVP LeBron James and Cleveland win its first NBA championship. How long will O'Neal will stay with the Cavaliers is still a question. The 37-year-old center has one season remaining on his contract, but says he plans to play three more years and has a lot left. |
| 7/2/2009 | Trevor Ariza, SF (LAL) | A person close to the situation tells The Associated Press that the Houston Rockets are meeting with Ariza. Analysis: The person, who did not want to be identified because the negotiations were ongoing, said Rockets general manager Daryl Morey was meeting with the free agent in Las Vegas. The meeting was first reported by KRIV-TV in Houston, which also said Coach Rick Adelman was meeting with Ariza. The AP source could not confirm that. The 6-foot-8 Ariza averaged 8.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists for the Lakers last season, which ended with the NBA championship. |
| 7/2/2009 | Ben Gordon, SG (Chi) | A day after jumping to the Pistons, Gordon says the Bulls never made a contract offer even though general manager Gar Forman said re-signing him was the No. 1 priority. Analysis: Gordon told EPSN Radio 1000 in Chicago on Thursday that the Bulls made no effort to bring him back. Gordon agreed to a five-year deal worth at least $50 million with the Pistons after leading the Bulls in scoring the past four seasons. Forman declined comment on Thursday. |
| 7/1/2009 | Marcin Gortat, F-C (Orl) | Rockets general manager Daryl Morey showed up at Gortat's home in Orlando just after midnight (Eastern time) Wednesday, virtually the minute teams were officially allowed to begin negotiating with free agents. Analysis: The 6-foot-11 Gortat averaged 3.8 points and 4.5 rebounds backing up Dwight Howard last season as the Magic reached the NBA finals. He's a restricted free agent, meaning the Magic can match any offer from another team to keep the player. The Rockets are urgently looking for a center as they await definitive information on Yao Ming's future. A team doctor said Monday that the hairline fracture in Yao's left foot could potentially threaten his career. |
| 7/1/2009 | Ron Artest, G-F (Hou) | Re-signing Artest is an offseason priority for the Rockets, who paid the unrestricted free agent more than $7 million for his productive 2008-09 season with the team. Analysis: Artest's agent, David Bauman, would not say Wednesday whether the Rockets had contacted him about a contract. Artest said after last season that he wanted to return to the Rockets. But that was when he believed they were a contender in the West and before the team announced that Yao Ming's broken foot had not healed and he was out indefinitely. Bauman would not say how much Yao's injury might impact Artest's decision. |
| 7/1/2009 | Ben Gordon, SG (Chi) | Gordon agreed in principle on a five-year, $50 million contract with the Pistons, a person with the knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Wednesday night. Analysis: The 26-year-old Gordon averaged 20.7 points for the Chicago Bulls, leading them in scoring for the fourth straight year. He improved his market value by scoring 42 points in a playoff game against the defending champion Boston Celtics and averaging a team-high 24.3 points in seven postseason games. |
| 7/1/2009 | Kobe Bryant, SG (LAL) | Bryant has chosen not to terminate the final two years of his contract and will remain with the Los Angeles Lakers. Team spokesman John Black on Wednesday confirmed Bryant's decision. Analysis: The MVP of the NBA finals had until Tuesday to become an unrestricted free agent. Now the Lakers and Bryant's agent will negotiate a contract extension. He has spent his entire 13-year career with the team, winning four NBA championships. On June 19, Bryant said, "I'm not going anywhere. I know I ain't going nowhere, so it's just a waste of our breaths just talking about it." |
| 7/1/2009 | Jason Kidd, PG (Dal) | The Knicks have met with Kidd on the first day of NBA free agency. Analysis: The Dallas point guard and his agent met Wednesday with Knicks president Donnie Walsh and coach Mike D'Antoni at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks are interested in Kidd, but plan to be cautious in free agency because they want to save salary cap space for the summer of 2010. Walsh told reporters that no contract offer was made to Kidd, who is exploring his options. The Mavericks also are interested in keeping him. |
| 7/1/2009 | Eric Maynor, G (Uta) | Maynor has officially signed with the Jazz. Analysis: Maynor signed the two year deal on Wednesday as the Jazz summer league team began a minicamp in Florida. The Jazz will play in Orlando starting July 6. As the 20th overall pick in the draft, Maynor gets $1.3 million his rookie season. The Jazz plan to use Maynor to back up starting point guard Deron Williams. Maynor was the two-time Colonial Athletic Association player of the year at Virginia Commonwealth and led the league in assists per game his last three seasons. |
| 7/1/2009 | Charlie Villanueva, F (Mil) | Villanueva agreed in principle to a five-year contract worth at least $35 million with the Pistons, a person with the knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Wednesday night. Analysis: Villanueva, who turns 25 next month, averaged 16.2 points and 6.7 rebounds last season for the Milwaukee Bucks. He went from being a restricted free agent to an unrestricted one when Milwaukee chose to not make him a qualifying offer. |
| 7/1/2009 | Shaquille O'Neal, C (Cle) | O'Neal toured the Cavaliers' suburban practice facility and took his physical on Wednesday, one day before he is formally introduced as superstar LeBron James' newest teammate. Analysis: O'Neal and a small group of associates met briefly with Cavs coach Mike Brown and others at the Cleveland Clinic Courts in Independence, Ohio. The Cavaliers are hoping O'Neal, who has won four NBA titles, can be the missing piece to help James win his first and championship and end the city's title drought dating to 1964. The Cavaliers have scheduled a 1 p.m. news conference on Thursday to welcome O'Neal. He was acquired in a trade with the Phoenix Suns last week. |
| 7/1/2009 | Ron Artest, G-F (Hou) | Artest met with Cavaliers star LeBron James on Tuesday, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Artest, an unrestricted free agent, will consider a team's chances of winning an NBA championship when deciding where he'll bring his skills next season, his agent says. Analysis: David Bauman said Wednesday that his client would like to return to Houston, but Artest would also think about signing with a contending team - and that might rule out the Rockets if Yao Ming's broken left foot keeps him out for the season. Bauman wouldn't say which teams have contacted him about Artest. Houston general manager Daryl Morey said he has contacted Bauman, but Artest's agent would not comment on the progress so far. |
| 7/1/2009 | Hedo Turkoglu, G-F (Orl) | Turkoglu will visit with the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday. In an e-mail to The Associated Press, agent Lon Babby says Turkoglu will be in Portland on Thursday. He did not elaborate. Analysis: Turkoglu, who helped Orlando to the NBA finals this past season, informed the Magic he planned to opt out of his contract last week when the team acquired Vince Carter from the New Jersey Nets, Babby said earlier. Turkoglu was due $7.3 million next season in the final year of his $36 million, six-year deal with the Magic. Turkoglu averaged 16.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists last season. |
| 6/30/2009 | Jason Kidd, PG (Dal) | Mark Cuban wants to be first in line to talk to Kidd. The Mavericks owner posted Tuesday on Twitter, "Getting ready to fly up to NYC for Free Agent meeting at 12:01," and that free agent is Kidd, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because NBA rules prevent commenting on such things. Analysis: Cuban has made it clear he wants to keep Kidd alongside Dirk Nowitzki on the Dallas Mavericks, but it might not be that easy. The New York Knicks are believed to be interested, too. So could LeBron James' Cavaliers or perhaps Kobe Bryant's Lakers. Kidd has never won an NBA championship, but has won two Olympic gold medals, including one with James and Bryant just last year. |
| 6/30/2009 | Mehmet Okur, F-C (Uta) | Okur has decided to stay with the Utah Jazz for the final year of his contract. Analysis: Okur joins teammates Carlos Boozer and Kyle Korver, who also had the option of skipping the final year of their contracts and becoming free agents. Okur is due $9 million next season. He has averaged 16 points and eight rebounds since joining the Jazz five years ago and is the team's top 3-point shooter. |
| 6/30/2009 | Damien Wilkins, G-F (OKC) | Wilkins will be back with the Oklahoma City Thunder for another season. His agent, Mark Bartelstein, said in an e-mail Tuesday that the guard would not terminate the player option on his contract. Wilkins indicated after the season that he had planned to return. Analysis: Wilkins averaged a career-low 5.3 points last season as he fell out of the rotation and played in only half of Oklahoma City's 82 games. Before then, he had been a regular in the lineup during the franchise's days in Seattle. He played in every game for the SuperSonics over a two-year span and averaged 9.2 points in 76 games in the team's final season in Seattle. |
| 6/30/2009 | Louis Amundson, F (Pho) | The Phoenix Suns Tuesday exercised the second-year team option on the contract of Amundson. Analysis: Amundson saw action in a career-high 76 games, including the final 61 consecutive contests and all 31 contests under head coach Alvin Gentry. The 6-9, 238-pound Amundson averaged 4.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 13.7 minutes in 2008-2009 and posted six double-digit scoring efforts after entering the season with a career-best of eight points. |
| 6/30/2009 | Carlos Boozer, F-C (Uta) | Boozer is staying with the Jazz next season after deciding not to opt out of the final year of his contract. He is scheduled to make $12.7 million next season. Analysis: Boozer has averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds since Utah signed him away from the Cleveland Cavaliers as a restricted free agent five years ago, but has only played in 276 of a possible 410 games with the Jazz. He was limited to 37 games last season, due largely to an injury that required surgery on his left knee in January. |
| 6/29/2009 | Marquis Daniels, G-F (Ind) | Daniels' agent, Glenn Schwartzman, told The Associated Press in an e-mail on Monday that the Pacers have indicated that they will not pay the final year of the deal. Daniels would have made $7.3 million next season, but now he's an unrestricted free agent. Analysis: Daniels averaged a career-high 13.6 points per game last season, but Brandon Rush emerged late and is the favorite to start at shooting guard next season. Daniels has been successful during his three years as a Pacer, but he missed 73 games the past three seasons with an assortment of injuries. A Pacers spokesman says the team cannot comment on the situation until free agency officially begins Wednesday. |
| 6/29/2009 | Jarvis Hayes, SF (NJ) | The Nets are picking up the $2.06 million contract option on Hayes for next season. Analysis: "Jarvis was a key member of our rotation last season, providing instant scoring and the ability to stretch the defense," Nets president Rod Thorn said Monday in a statement. "We are pleased to have him continue as a member of our roster, and look forward to a similar contribution this season." Hayes, signed as a free agent last July, averaged 8.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 24.8 minutes in 74 games. He shot a career-high .445 (257-577) from the field. |
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