Earlier today, we heard that the Sixers are a good bet to stand pat at this year's deadline, and given how their last trade turned out, perhaps that shouldn't be a surprise. One player acquired by the 76ers in the deal, Jason Richardson, underwent successful surgery on his left knee this morning, according to a team release. Meanwhile, the centerpiece, Andrew Bynum, told reporters today that he still intends to play for Philadelphia this season, though it won't happen until at least March.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NBA:

• According to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (via Twitter), while the Raptors would move Andrea Bargnani in the right offer, teams don't sense an urgency on Toronto's part. That falls in line with comments Bryan Colangelo made today.
• I questioned earlier today whether Nets GM Billy King was being honest when he told reporters there's a 10% chance he makes a trade, but Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News says (via Twitter) that's the same line King has been giving privately to rival teams.
• Despite his agent change, Brandon Jennings really doesn't have a ton of leverage, and the Bucks should still be expected to match any offer sheet he receives this summer, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
• Donte Greene, who was set to sign with the Nets last summer before he fractured his ankle, is back to 100% and is drawing interest, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The Nets, Pacers, Hornets, Spurs, Bulls, Knicks, Magic, Rockets, and Cavaliers have inquired on Greene, says Spears.

Rumors have been swirling around Josh Smith the past couple of days, yet HoopsWorld's Lang Greene says that the Hawks aren't actively shopping Smith for now, and are simply listening to offers to gauge the power forward's value. Greene also passes along the comments Smith made about the speculation in a video report by Atlanta journalist Nubyjas Wilborn. Smith is far from the only player who's had to respond to trade chatter as the February 21st deadline approaches, as we hear from another who could be on the move in our roundup from the Eastern Conference:

• Evan Turner's name has also emerged on the trading block, and the former No. 2 overall pick acknowledges the decision is out of his hands, as John Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer notes.
• Mitchell wouldn't be surprised if the Sixers and Jason Richardson wind up pursuing a buyout. Richardson, who could be out as long as 12 months with a cartilage tear on his kneecap, is due $5.8MM this year and $6.2MM next season, with a $6.6MM player option for 2014/15.
• Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com hears the Knicks will assess the health of Rasheed Wallace, who's dealing with a left foot injury, after the All-Star break, and if the results aren't favorable, they'll pursue another big man.  
• Coach Tom Thibodeau and the Bulls agreed to a four-year extension worth up to $20MM in October, but Thibodeau has yet to sign the contract, reports Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News.

FRIDAY, 11:28am: Richardson confirmed to reporters, including Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News (Twitter link), that he'll undergo surgery next week and could be out as long as 9-12 months.

WEDNESDAY, 8:06pm: Spears provides more detail on Richardson's injury, which is a cartilage tear on his kneecap.

7:49pm: Sixers shooting guard Jason Richardson will have left knee surgery and miss the rest of the season, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports, via Twitter. The recovery will take six to nine months, Spears adds, and that could put his return for the start of next season in jeopardy as well (Twitter link). It's unclear exactly what kind of injury Richardson suffered, but he's been out since January 19th with fluid in that knee. 

It's frustrating news for Sixers fans, who've yet to see Andrew Bynum play a game for Philadelphia. Richardson was the only other player acquired in the blockbuster four-team summer deal that brought in Bynum for Andre Iguodala, Nikola Vucevic, Maurice Harkless and a first-round pick. It's also a blow to the team's playoff hopes, as Philly stands three games behind the similarly banged-up Celtics for the last Eastern Conference playoff spot entering tonight. 

It's past the deadline to file for a disabled player exception, but the Sixers some have room to maneuver, since they still have a prorated portion of their $2.575MM room exception available, plus they have an open roster spot. It's unlikely they'd find a player of Richardson's caliber unless they made a trade, but his impact on the team was muted this year as the 32-year-old struggled to career worsts in shooting percentage (40.2%) and points per game (10.5). Richardson is making $5.8MM in the second season of a four-year deal, so the Sixers probably wouldn't have much luck dangling his contract in a trade, especially given his decline in production. 

While Bynum may return around the All-Star break, the Sixers are also without Thaddeus Young for at least three weeks with a hamstring injury. Before the news about Richardson broke, GM Tony DiLeo told reporters, including John Finger of CSNPhilly.com, that the team would emphasize a forward-looking approach with any deadline deals, as opposed to a quick fix. That isn't likely to change with Richardson out.

"We’re talking to every team in the league and if there is something we think that will improve the team, and not just in the short-term, we’ll see what we can do," DiLeo said. "We’re looking to build."

The seismic NBA news in the last 24 hours has come out of the West, but that doesn't mean the East is all quiet with the season two days away. Here's the latest from around the Atlantic Division.

• Jason Kidd turns 40 in March, but said he wants to play until the end of his three-year contract with the Knicks, and also spoke highly of his time with the Mavericks in a wide-ranging Q&A with Steve Serby of the New York Post.
• Chris Smith was waived by the Knicks this week, but he's rehabbing his injured patella at the team's facility, observes Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter link).
• Nate Taylor of The New York Times examines the unlikely training camp success story of 28-year-old rookie Chris Copeland, who made the team's opening-night roster on a non-guaranteed deal.
• Jason Richardson was pleased with the trade to the Sixers, where coach Doug Collins was sold on Richardson after a glowing recommendation from Grant Hill, reports John Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
• Paul Pierce isn't a trade candidate, and Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said that the team had no serious discussions about trading Pierce last season, either, as Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald notes. 
• Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas, the fifth overall pick in the 2011 draft, knows he has a long way to go to live up to expectations as he begins his NBA career, writes Eric Koreen of the National Post. 

• We mentioned Doc Rivers' comments regarding Jason Terry earlier below, and Greg Payne from ESPN Boston has more.  According to Rivers, Terry could start for the Celtics, Payne says.  While they targeted him with a sixth man role in mind, Rivers is keeping all of his options open.  Terry, of course, says he is ready for any role the team needs him in.
• Jared Zwerling of ESPN New York had a Knicks chat today (transcript here).  Among the topics discussed, Zwerling said that he considers Raymond Felton a better fit for the Knicks than the departed Jeremy Lin.  With an aging roster, it's doubtful that we see much that matters from their regulars in preseason. 
• Celtics coach Doc Rivers says that free agent acquisition Jason Terry, "filled a need," according to a CSN New England staff report.  Terry's new teammates all seem to be pretty happy with the addition of their new sixth man, but no one's endorsement was quite as strong as that of Rivers: "When you think about the history of the Celtics and the great sixth man, he's been that in Dallas and he wants to be that with the Celtics. That makes it a little easier to coach."
• Trade acquisition Jason Richardson talked to Bill Ingram of Hoopsworld (via video) about the new-look Sixers.  Richardson calls the Sixers "dark horses" that have slipped under the radar in terms of title contention.  Richardson says along with himself, the additions Dorell Wright and Nick Young are key considering that Andrew Bynum is best utilized if surrounded by shooters.  
• DeMar DeRozan has the look of a complete player so far this preseason, writes Doug Smith of the Toronto Star.  DeRozan has tons of athletic ability and has shown a propensity to score in his first three seasons in the NBA.  According to Smith, DeRozan has bulked up and shown a willingness to defend this fall, which has been a definite weakness in his game.  With the additions of Kyle Lowry, Terrence Ross, Landry Fields and Jonas Valanciunas, if DeRozan can make the leap, there may be some hope for the Raptors despite being in a loaded division.

Jason Richardson has cut ties with agent Dan Fegan, but he says he fully expected the Magic to trade him over the summer when he was still represented by the man who also serves as the agent for Dwight Howard, reports John Denton of Magic.com (Twitter link). The Magic sent Richardson to the Sixers as part of Howard's trade to the Lakers this summer.

"Anybody associated with Dan Fegan was going to get traded," Richardson told reporters, including Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). 

The Magic franchise was seemingly on hold last season as Howard waffled on whether he wanted to remain in Orlando. He wound up waiving the early termination option on his contract for 2012/13 right before the trade deadline this past March, but regretted the move. Chris Broussard of ESPN.com reported on the eve of the deadline that the Magic were "incensed" with Fegan, believing he was trying to convince the star center to leave. Fegan also leaked information from a meeting Magic executives held with Howard in July, a couple weeks before the blockbuster trade that sent Howard and Richardson out of Orlando.

Richardson said he wished he could have done more during his time in Orlando, Schmitz tweets. The Magic acquired him from the Suns in December of 2010, and his numbers took an immediate hit. He averaged 11.6 points and 3.6 rebounds with a 13.3 PER last year, all of which were career lows. His numbers of 13.9 PPG, 4.0 RPG and 13.2 PER in a partial season with Orlando in 2010/11 weren't much better. 

Fegan recently made a move of his own, leaving Lagardère Unlimited to join Happy Walters at the newly created Relativity Sports agency. Walters represents Earl Clark, another of the players involved in the Howard trade. The other player the Magic unloaded in that deal, Chris Duhon, is represented by Kevin Bradbury and Bill Duffy. Al Harrington, whom the Magic got from Denver in the deal, is believed to be the only Fegan client on the Magic roster, according to RealGM.com.

Of today's slate of preseason NBA games, three are scheduled for tonight, with one already in the books -- the Heat defeated the Clippers 94-80 in Beijing in a contest that got underway at 6:30 CST this morning. As we await the rest of today's action, let's round up a few odds and ends from around the league....

• Grantland's Bill Simmons believes the Thunder should be able to absorb the tax hit that will come with extending or re-signing James Harden, and implores Harden not to settle for a hometown discount.
• Derrick Brown's ability to guard the three spot could set him apart in the battle to earn a roster spot among Spurs' bigs, says Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News (Twitter links). As Mike Monroe of the Express-News writes, however, Eddy Curry and Josh Powell also both played well in the team's preseason game with the Hawks.
• Jason Richardson has left agent Dan Fegan and is in the market for new representation, according to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (via Twitter).
• Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post examines the Nuggets' quest to build a winning culture in Denver.
• Juwan Howard is remaining around the Heat in case the team decides to cut six players instead of five and has an open roster spot for him, says Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
• Agent Rich Paul, who recently began to exclusively represent LeBron James and other NBA players, is under investigation by the NCAA for his relationship with University of Texas guard Myck Kabongo, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

• Nets rookie guard Tyshawn Taylor is recovering from a strained right quad, but remains anxiously eager to prove himself to the team's coaches. The former Kansas Jayhawk also said that watching the team practice while being sidelined is helping him become acquainted with how the team is expected to run (Tim Bontempts of the New York Post writes). 
• According to John N. Mitchell of Philly.com, Spencer Hawes is excited about playing power forward next to Andrew Bynum. The former Washington Huskies big man has mostly been playing center since entering the league, but believes he has the skill-set to mesh well with the former Lakers star. 
• John R. Finger of CSN Philly writes about how Maalik Wayns can contribute to the 76ers with his speed and scoring ability. Dei Lynam of CSN Philly says that Dorell Wright has been impressive in camp, especially with his shooting and playmaking ability. Also, Max Rappaport of NBA.com looks at how Dorell, Jason Richardson, and Nick Young form a remarkable combination of viable outside shooters. 
• Knicks point guard Raymond Felton has lost 20 pounds since leaving the Trail Blazers and currently weights 207 pounds, according to Ben Golliver of the Blazers Edge. Felton admitted that his conditioning issues to start the 2011-12 season significantly affected his play early on. 

• Avery Johnson says he understands Shaq's recent comments about ranking Brook Lopez ahead of Dwight Howard, saying that Lopez is "very talented" and that the Nets hope that his skills will all come together this year (Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News). 
• ESPN's Chris Broussard had a one-on-one interview with Joe Johnson about being in Brooklyn and calling the Nets the best team he's ever played with (Insider link). 
• Knicks head coach Mike Woodson weighed in on the importance of earning home court advantage, notes Jared Zwerling of ESPN New York. Zwerling also writes that Carmelo Anthony views the improved competition in the East as a factor that will encourage the team to play harder every game. 
• In another piece for ESPN New York, Zwerling talks about the early impact that Jason Kidd is having on the Knicks thus far and gets a veteran NBA advance scout's take of how the team can manage his role this season.

Jason Richardson is excited to play out the final three years of his contract on a team that's headed up instead of down, writes Philly.com's John Mitchell. The 31-year-old is especially looking forward to playing with another dominant center who's capable of drawing consistent double teams. 

Here's a look around the rest of the league.

• In a chat with his readers, Dallas Morning News columnist Kevin Sherrington writes his belief that the Mavericks are wasting Dirk Nowitzki's prime by going after a big name free agent that may never sign in Dallas. 
• Philly.com's Marcus Hayes thinks that the Sixers would be wise not to sign Andrew Bynum to a max extension until they know the full extent of his health. 
• After making the most of his opportunity with the Nets last season, Gerald Green received a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract offer with the Pacers this summer. Green's feel good story has been well documented, but he's perfectly content coming off the bench and providing a spark next season, writes Pacers.com's Scott Agness.
• One of Raymond Felton's new teammates next season with the Knicks will be Kurt Thomas, who joined Felton in an offseason trade from Portland that landed the pair in New York. Thomas says Felton is "definitely motivated" for his second stint with the club, writes ESPNNewYork.com's Ian Begley. He better be, because the scrutiny will be high due to the fact that he's perceived to be Jeremy Lin's replacement. 
• While down in Houston working with Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon, Amare Stoudemire recently said he believes Lin will be a perfect addition to the Rockets, reports Fox 26 reporter Mark Berman. 

1:34pm: Ken Berger of CBS Sports has tweeted a number of the details on the traded draft picks in the deal. We've updated the list below to reflect the protection on those picks.

12:19pm: The Magic, Lakers, Nuggets, and 76ers have completed their trade call with the league office, making Dwight Howard a Los Angeles Laker, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). The Magic officially announced the transaction in a press release this afternoon.

The details of the massive four-team swap can be found in our post from yesterday that tracked updates as they came in. But here's a quick recap of how the deal looks from each team's perspective based on what's been reported so far, with players' 2012/13 salaries in parentheses. If anything changes when the teams make their official announcements, we'll update this post to reflect that.

Orlando Magic
Acquire: Arron Afflalo ($7,750,000), Al Harrington ($6,687,400), Josh McRoberts ($3,135,000), Maurice Harkless ($1,731,960), Nikola Vucevic ($1,719,480), Christian Eyenga ($1,174,080), protected 2014 first-round pick from Nuggets¹, protected 2015 first-round pick from Sixers², protected 2017 first-round pick from Lakers³, Warriors' 2013 second-round pick from Nuggets, conditional 2015 second-round pick from Lakers⁴
Trade: Dwight Howard ($19,536,360), Jason Richardson ($5,799,625), Chris Duhon ($3,250,000), Earl Clark ($1,240,000)

The Magic also create a trade exception worth about $17.8MM in the deal, as outlined here.

Denver Nuggets
Acquire: Andre Iguodala ($14,968,250)
Trade: Arron Afflalo ($7,750,000), Al Harrington ($6,687,400), protected 2014 first-round pick from Nuggets¹, Warriors' 2013 second-round pick

Philadelphia 76ers
Acquire: Andrew Bynum ($16,889,000), Jason Richardson ($5,799,625)
Trade: Andre Iguodala ($14,968,250), Maurice Harkless ($1,731,960), Nikola Vucevic ($1,719,480), protected 2015 first-round pick²

Los Angeles Lakers
Acquire: Dwight Howard ($19,536,360), Chris Duhon ($3,250,000), Earl Clark ($1,240,000)
Trade: Andrew Bynum ($16,889,000), Josh McRoberts ($3,135,000), Christian Eyenga ($1,174,080), protected 2017 first-round pick³, conditional 2015 second-round pick⁴

¹ The lesser of the Nuggets' and Knicks' first-rounders.
² Top-14 protected in 2015, 2016, top-11 in 2017, top-8 in 2018; if the pick still hasn't been conveyed after four years, the Magic will receive 2018 and 2019 second-rounders instead of a first-rounder. The pick cannot be conveyed until the Sixers meet their draft pick obligations to the Heat, which could delay the Magic from getting a first-round pick until 2017.
³ Top-5 protected in 2017 and 2018, unprotected in 2019. The pick cannot be conveyed until the Lakers meet their draft pick obligations to the Suns, which would prevent the Magic from getting a first-round pick if the Lakers fail to make the playoffs the next three years. If that takes place, the Magic will receive 2017 and 2018 second-rounders instead.
⁴ Top-40 protected; if the pick isn't conveyed in 2015, the Magic will not receive it.