Hedo Turkoglu
Free agent forward Hedo Turkoglu has broken off negotiations with the Portland Trail Blazers, a source told ESPN’s Ric Bucher on Friday night.
Yahoo! Sports reported that Turkoglu backed out of his earlier commitment and has his sights set on Toronto. Yahoo! Sports reported that Toronto can offer Turkoglu about $6 million more than Portland, but would have to trim its roster to do it.
Friday night, a report from the National Post newspaper in Canada said Turkoglu was close to signing with the Raptors, who could have to consider renouncing the rights to free agents Shawn Marion, Anthony Parker and Carlos Delfino.
ESPN
Photo by Cheuk-man Kong
Celtics free agent guard Stephon Marbury said to The Globe early Friday morning that he does not expect to be returning to Boston after receiving a disappointing one-year contract paying $1.3 million using the veteran’s minimum.
Marbury said his representative, National Basketball Players Association deputy counsel Hal Biagas, called to tell him about the Celtics offer on Thursday night.
The 32-year-old said three other teams, which he would not disclose, are currently interested.
HoopsWorld
Photo by Keith Allison
NBA front-office sources have confirmed that Trevor Ariza made a verbal commitment Tuesday night to sign a five-year deal with the Rockets on Wednesday.
ESPN.com’s Chris Sheridan reports that Ariza, according to sources, will receive the Rockets’ full mid-level exception, which is being projected to come in at $5.8 million for next season.
If the exception for the 2009-10 season is indeed set at $5.8 million Wednesday when the league announces next season’s salary cap and luxury tax, Ariza’s deal would be worth $33.5 million.
ESPN
Photo by Christopher Creamer
The newly crowned NBA champions made what amounts to a daring trade Thursday night, shaking up the league’s second day of free agency by essentially swapping out on-the-rise swingman Trevor Ariza for the versatile, physical and famously unpredictable Ron Artest.
The Los Angeles Lakers and Artest have struck an agreement in principal on a multiyear contract.
According to sources close to the process, the deal will total roughly $18.7 million over three years or $33.5 million over five years, depending on which contract structure Artest ultimately prefers.
ESPN
Dahntay Jones
With all of the free agency buzz surrounding wings Ron Artest and Trevor Ariza, it is easy to forget about Dahntay Jones.
Jones is an unrestricted free agent and has been receiving a lot of interest from teams looking to add a top perimeter defender to their roster.
“Dahntay is coming off of a great year and was a key part of Denver’s success last season,” said agent Aaron Mintz to RealGM’s Alex Kennedy. “The special thing about him is that he can guard everyone, from point guards to big men. Five or six teams have contacted us and there’s a lot of interest.”
Real GM
Photo by Kevin Ward
A league source confirmed this morning that the Celtics were trying to set up a meeting with Rasheed Wallace for later today.
The meeting was said to be part of a series of meetings being set up with all of the teams interested in signing the free agent big man. The San Antonio Spurs and the Cleveland Cavaliers were also supposed to meet with Wallace.
According to the source, the Celtics are willing to offer Wallace the full $5.8 million mid-level exception, but were only planning on offering the 35-year-old a two-year contract.
Boston Herald
According to
Real GM, the New York Knicks will try to use their $5.7 million mid-level exception on Grant Hill, who accepted an invitation to New York Monday for a recruiting visit, according to a source.
Photo by Keith Allison
The Lakers remained far apart on negotiations Wednesday with their two main free-agent pieces, forwards Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza.
In particular, Ariza and his agent were not thrilled by the Lakers’ annual offer of $5.6 million over an unspecified number of years. Ariza, 24, was hoping for $7 million to $8 million a year.
Ariza is drawing interest from Portland, Houston, Cleveland, Toronto and the Clippers. Of those teams, only Portland and Toronto have enough salary-cap room to offer more than the Lakers’ current offer.
FanNation
Toronto Raptors
The Raptors are widening their NBA free-agent search that now includes one of the more intriguing players on the market.
Capping a whirlwind 24 hours to open the negotiating period, league sources say Toronto is trying to obtain David Lee, an energetic rebounder who is a New York Knicks restricted free agent.
The sources could not say whether the move on Lee would be a straight offer or whether it would be a sign-and-trade transaction with any of Toronto’s current free agents.
The Star
Zach Randolph
The Grizzlies have agreed to trade Quentin Richardson to the Clippers for Zach Randolph.
Richardson, whose contract expires after this season, was traded by the Knicks to the Grizzlies for Darko Milicic on draft night.
The Clippers no longer had a need for Randolph, whom they acquired from the Knicks last November, with number one pick Blake Griffin inheriting the team’s power forward duties.
The deal will not become official until next week.
Real GM
