Webster Out For Season

Some unfortunate news for the Blazers

Trail Blazers forward Martell Webster will likely miss the rest of the regular season recovering from a left foot injury, according to the team’s athletic trainer.

“If he has a shot at playing, it will be the playoffs,” said Jay Jensen, the team’s athletic trainer. “We’ll have to see how he does. But considering where we are in the season, and his past history with the foot, I think it would be a fair statement to say it’s unlikely he will play in the regular season.”

Pacers Wings Down

The Pacers two leading scorers and players, Mike Dunleavy and Danny Granger, are injured.

Firstly, the news on Dunleavy

The Indiana Pacers announced Friday that guard Mike Dunleavy will be out indefinitely. Under the direction of the team, he will get other medical opinions regarding his sore right knee.

Once that process is completed, Dunleavy and the Pacers’ medical staff will make a determination on the direction of treatment for the knee.

The Knicks Non-Trade

Yesterday, throughout the afternoon, the Sacramento Kings and New York Knicks held trade discussions. The deal was Kenny Thomas in return for Nate Robinson and Jared Jeffries. On three separate occasions the Kings made their offer, and on three occasions the Knicks rebuffed their advances foolishly.

Let’s have a look at that trade, because it was the biggest decision made by the Knicks yesterday.

The Contracts

This trade is all about contracts and it’s a home run for the Knicks.

• Kenny Thomas — Expires in 2010. He will be paid roughly $8.5mil this season and next.
• Nate Robinson — Expires this summer and is paid a little over $2mil on the season. He is due for a contract extension this summer that could be worth as much as $5-6mil. It’s still not clear whether the Knicks plan to hang onto him or not.
• Jared Jeffries — Jeffries’ deal doesn’t expire until 2011. He is due to paid $6mil, $6.5mil, and finally $6.9mil over the next three years.

The contract of most importance is Jared Jeffries because his $7mil contract eats into the Knicks cap space in 2010, and reduces their ability to acquire top tier talent.

Amare Out For 8 Weeks

Update below

ESPN is reporting

A day after deciding to let the trade deadline pass without making a major money-saving move, the inactivity seemingly has turned incredibly costly for the Phoenix Suns.

The beleaguered Suns announced Friday that Amare Stoudemire was forced to undergo eye surgery to repair a partially detached retina suffered in a Wednesday night rout of the Los Angeles Clippers. It is Stoudemire’s second eye injury since October and the All-Star forward could miss the rest of the regular season.

Stoudemire’s return to physical activity has been estimated at eight weeks by the Suns. He underwent surgery Friday morning, although the club said in a statement that “recovery varies on a case-by-case basis.”

Garnett To Have MRI

[Update: KG out 2-3 weeks with a posterior muscle strain, scroll down for more on the injury]

The Boston Herald reports on the injury — how it happened in the game and KG’s attempts to return.

Kevin Garnett missed the game’s last 25:08 after straining his right knee, and the Celts just couldn’t make the key plays down the stretch. Utah scored five straight points in crunch time to take a 90-85 triumph.

Garnett appeared to injure the knee while jumping to convert Paul Pierce’s alley-oop pass late in the first half. He hobbled off the floor with trainer Ed Lacerte for treatment. Garnett came out for halftime warmups and tried to make some moves with Lacerte watching closely. After a few moments, he left for the night.

“He wanted to run and I just said no,” said C’s coach Doc Rivers. “Listen, we’ve got a long season. I’m not taking the risk of putting him out on the floor. We would have loved to have him, obviously. He probably would have made a difference tonight.”

Buyouts and Potential Buyouts

In order for players who are bought out to be eligible for the playoffs, the players must be waived prior to March 1st.

This post will be kept up to date on the latest happenings regarding buyouts up until that time, and will be used to give information on those various players.

A list of possible buyout candidates

• Stephon Marbury
• Mikki Moore
• Joe Smith
• Chris Mihm
• Adonal Foyle

Thunder Trade For Thabo

Very good trade from Sam Presti here.

This report comes from ESPN’s trade deadline page

Marc Stein: Chicago’s Thabo Sefolosha is headed to Oklahoma City for one of the Thunder’s five stockpiled first-round picks in the next two drafts.

Three Team Trade (Rafer Alston)

Marc Stein is reporting a three team trade between the Rockets, Magic and Grizzlies

NBA front-office sources tell ESPN.com that Orlando is acquiring Rafer Alston from Houston to fill the void created at point guard by Jameer Nelson’s shoulder injury.

The Rockets will receive Memphis guard Kyle Lowry, Orlando forward Brian Cook and perhaps two other minimum-salaried players to make the finances work.

The Grizzlies will receive a first-round pick from Orlando.

Update: ESPN is reporting that the deal is close to a conclusion and basically agreed to, but not yet finalized.

Update: Now finalized. Mike Wilks and Adonal Foyle have been added to the trade and they’re heading to Memphis. Foyle is now a possible buyout candidate.

Knicks Acquire Chris Wilcox

Nice trade here for the Knicks, ESPN has the story

Marc Stein: Hopefully you’ve seen all the clarifications on New York’s moves.

The Knicks have swung two deals.

No. 1: Tim Thomas, Jerome James and Anthony Roberson to Chicago for Larry Hughes

No. 2: Malik Rose and cash to Oklahoma City for Chris Wilcox

Celtics Get Rid Of O’Bryant

[Correction: Boston pulled out of this deal, and sent O'Bryant to Toronto instead, scroll down for that information. I'll leave this Kings deal up for a comparison.]

[Double Correction: The deal is actually a three team deal which has been incorrectly reported on twice. I'll leave up the other two for the story, it was all fun]

The Boston Globe reports

The Celtics have traded backup center Patrick O’Bryant to the Sacramento Kings. The move was made for salary-cap purposes and the club will not receive a player in return, according to an NBA source.

There is the possibility that the club will receive a draft pick in exchange for the 7-footer, who averaged 1.5 points in 26 games for the Celtics after signing as a free agent in the offseason.

O’Bryant was not at the Celtics’ shootaround this afternoon.