ESPN Keeping Track
In his “latest chatter” Marc Stein has a few notes worth identifying.
First off, he contradicts Ken Berger in saying that the Thunder are prepared to blow Paul Millsap out of the water, not David Lee.
“…No one in Oklahoma City is saying so, but rival teams keep insisting that the Thunder are poised to present an offer sheet to Jazz restricted free agent Millsap that Utah can’t afford to match. The Jazz are projected to be some $3 million into luxury-tax territory next season before even accounting for Millsap, after Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur and Kyle Korver all declined their opportunity this week to become unrestricted free agents.
The most frequently cited counter to that idea is that the Jazz will match any reasonable offer to Millsap because they plan to trade Boozer between now and February….”
Stein cites a “rival executive” who claims that the Knicks can’t offer Kidd more than one year,
“…Offering more than one year, however, would slice into the cap space that the Knicks have set aside for the 2010 free-agent bonanza … unless they’re sure that they can shed the contracts of Eddy Curry and/or Jared Jeffries.
“The Knicks can’t give Jason more than one year,” said one rival executive, “unless they think that signing him gets them LeBron.”
The Mavs — who have Kidd pegged as their lead recruiter for 2010 free agency unless they take on a big contract via trade between now and February — nonetheless remain strong favorites to retain the 36-year-old…”
And finally, he gets into the Golden State Amar’e rumors, which, trust us, you’ ve heard before.
“…The other main obstacles haven’t changed, either, with Golden State needing assurances about Stoudemire’s health (knee and eye) and willingness to sign a contract extension (up for debate) before going ahead with such a swap…”
