The latest news and notes from around the NBA on Saturday evening:

• Al Iannazzone of Newsday.com writes that Chris Paul is unlikely to ever play for the Knicks, despite proclaimations he reportedly made to the contrary at Carmelo Anthony's wedding in 2010.
• Amin Elhassan of ESPN.com breaks down the Clippers' salary-cap flexibility for upcoming seasons.
• Frank Zicarelli of the Toronto Sun writes that Andrea Bargnani is growing increasingly irrelevant in the Raptors' long-term plan.
• Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer looks back at Billy Hunter's rocky tenure as executive director of the NBPA.
• Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic praises Luis Scola's hard-nosed style, saying the veteran forward is a positive influence on the team's young players.
• Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News looks back at Nets interim head coach P.J. Carlesimo's tenure with the Spurs.
• Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News  writes that, despite getting little playing time with the Mavericks, rookie Jared Cunningham is gaining valuable experience in the D-League.
• Jodie Valade of the Plain Dealer examines the impact of trade rumors on head coaches in the NBA.

FRIDAY, 7:49am: According to John Gambadoro of 620 KTAR in Phoenix (Twitter link), the Suns have "zero" interest in trading for Smith. Gambadoro adds in a second tweet that the Suns have not even had a conversation with the Hawks about Smith.

THURSDAY, 5:02pm: Having missed out on Rudy Gay and Eric Gordon, the Phoenix Suns are making an effort to trade for Josh Smith, Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld reports. Kennedy writes that the Suns are intent on acquiring a max-level star to make into a cornerstone of their franchise, and have had preliminary discussions with the Hawks regarding possible trade packages.

Kennedy reports that a Suns package would likely be based around center Marcin Gortat, as well some combination of the expiring contracts of Jermaine O'Neal, Wesley Johnson, Shannon Brown, and Sebastian Telfair. Luis Scola could be involved as well, although since he was claimed off amnesty waivers, any deal including him would have to be a sign-and-trade made after July 1. The Suns also own multiple first-round picks, including their own, one from Minnesota, and two they received from the Lakers in last summer's Steve Nash trade.

In the past week, speculation is growing around the league that Smith's tenure with the Hawks may be coming to a close. Executives believe that he does not intend to re-sign with Atlanta this summer, when he will be an unrestricted free agent.

Marc Stein of ESPN.com has posted his latest Weekend Dime column, which features updates on a variety of trade-related topics from around the NBA. Here are the highlights:

• GMs around the league view the Celtics as likely to make a move. They have interest in J.J. Redick, and executives speculate that they may finally decide to move Paul Pierce or Rajon Rondo.
• Some GMs believe a three-team trade is possible that would send Pierce to the Grizzlies, Rudy Gay to the Lakers, and Pau Gasol to Boston.
• After their trade with the Cavs this week, the Grizzlies' roster is down to 11 players and they have 14 days to sign at least two players to meet the minimum requirement of 13. Memphis looked at Delonte West but decided against signing the veteran guard, Stein reports.
• Stein notes that Memphis received three separate trade exceptions in the trade. Marreese Speights landed them an exception worth $4.2MM, while Wayne Ellington's was worth $2MM and Josh Selby's was worth $762,195.
• Although the Cavaliers think highly of Speights and have wanted him for years, the forward is already drawing interest from other teams and could be moved before the February 21 trading deadline. Stein identifies Daniel Gibson and Omri Casspi as the other two Cleveland players most likely to be traded.
• The Suns are said to be shopping Jared Dudley, Marcin Gortat, and Luis Scola in light of the team's struggles this season. It should be noted that Scola, having been claimed after being waived with the amnesty clause, cannot be traded until after this season.
• Stein's column also featured a Q&A with 28-year-old former lottery pick Rashad McCants, who is playing with the Texas Legends of the NBA D-League in hopes of eventually making another run at an NBA career.

Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel has a new mailbag column covering a variety of Heat-related topics. Here are the highlights:

• James Jones and Mike Miller would be the most logical trade candidates on the Heat's roster, although Jones has repeatedly said he only wants to play in Miami, and Miller's contract would prevent the Heat from getting anything of value in return.
• Winderman doesn't see Luis Scola as a viable option for the Heat, given the restrictions on trading him due to the amnesty clause, and the fact that he would have to take a buyout with the Suns in order to sign.
• Winderman isn't buying the recent talk that the Heat should trade Chris Bosh, arguing that he makes them better and they wouldn't be able to get equal value on the trade market.

Today is January 15th, which means that a number of players who had been ineligible to be traded until this point are now free to be moved by their respective teams. As Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors outlined last month, Eric Gordon, Brook Lopez, Kris Humphries, Ersan Ilyasova, and Jeff Green are among the players who weren't eligible to be dealt until today.

However, in addition to rules that keeps players from being traded until December 15th or January 15th, the CBA also includes a stipulation that a team must have a player on its roster for three months before being able to trade him. That means guys who have signed contracts since October 15th are still ineligible to be dealt.

Here are the players who can't be traded quite yet, along with the dates they'll become trade-eligible:

Leandro Barbosa (Celtics): January 18th
Daniel Orton (Thunder): January 31st
Shaun Livingston (Cavaliers): February 15th

Because the trade deadline arrives on February 21st, players signed after November 21st won't become trade-eligible until after the season. Here are the guys who fit that description:

Jeff Adrien (Bobcats)
James Anderson (Rockets)
Patrick Beverley (Rockets)
Daequan Cook (Bulls)
Kevin Jones (Cavaliers)
Mickael Pietrus (Raptors)
Garrett Temple (Wizards)

In addition to recent signees, players who were claimed off amnesty waivers last July are also ineligible to be traded until July 2013. Some amnesty victims, like Andray Blatche, cleared waivers without being claimed and signed new contracts, so they're trade-eligible now, but the following players can't be moved this season:

Elton Brand (Mavericks)
Brendan Haywood (Bobcats)
Luis Scola (Suns)

Finally, players on 10-day contracts, such as Dominic McGuire, Maalik Wayns, and Josh Harrellson, also won't be trade-eligible at any point this season, even if they eventually receive rest-of-season contracts.

The latest updates from around the Western Conference on Friday afternoon:

• Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com reports that there is a low chance that Steve Nash will return on Saturday when the Lakers face the Warriors, although he still hopes to play on Christmas Day.
• Luis Scola reflects on his journey to the NBA and the long wait to get bought out from his team in Spain, as reported by Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.
• O.J. Mayo tells Jon MacHota of the Dallas Morning News that he holds no hard feelings towards the Grizzlies after signing with the Mavericks this summer.
• The Nuggets do not plan to change course after a historically bad three-point shooting night against Portland, writes Aaron J. Lopez of Nuggets.com.
• LaMarcus Aldridge does not know when he will return from his recent ankle turn, writes Mike Tokito of The Oregonian.

Most players that signed new contracts over the summer will become eligible to be traded as of this coming Saturday, so Grantland's Zach Lowe took the opportunity to take a look around the league at some potential trade candidates. Here are a few of the highlights from Lowe's piece:

• Even though the Rockets didn't expect to land Jeremy Lin this summer, and didn't expect to acquire another star ballhandler in James Harden, it's still "extremely unlikely" that they'd move Lin.
• There's no indication that the Hornets would consider dealing Ryan Anderson, who Lowe clarifies (via Twitter) becomes trade-eligible this month rather than next month, as we'd previously thought.
• Teams around the league are eyeing the Suns to see if they can extract some value there, but Phoenix almost certainly won't move Goran Dragic and can't trade amnesty pickup Luis Scola. Lowe also notes that "you can count on zero hands" the number of clubs interested in acquiring Michael Beasley.
• It's not out of the question that Courtney Lee could become a trade candidate if the Celtics are seeking a big man.
• Jason Thompson is "coveted around the league" due to his reasonable long-term salary, and is blocking Thomas Robinson in Sacramento, so the Kings could attempt to gauge his value.
• The Mavericks may be a buyer rather than a seller, but they'll be wary of adding any salary that would affect their cap flexibility next summer.
• The Sixers will be in the market for a big man once trade talks pick up.
• Rival executives are wondering if it's too early for GM Neil Olshey and the Trail Blazers to explore the trade market for LaMarcus Aldridge.

The Suns are an interesting team this season, with some observers thinking they'll be one of the worst teams in basketball, and others having faith that they'll fight for a playoff spot. Here's a look at a few recent articles about the team that should give us a clearer view of where they are, and where they're headed. 

• In their first post-Nash season, the Suns will hand the keys over to Goran Dragic with the hope that he can run the same up-tempo style of offense, writes Paul Coro of AZCentral.com.
• According to Coro, incoming forward Luis Scola is happy to be in Phoenix, and believes the team has a good mixture of experience and skill to be competitive. 
• This offseason the Suns made it clear they weren't afraid to make a financial splash, offering Eric Gordon a maximum offer sheet that was eventually matched by New Orleans. Apparently, they were also very interested in the recently traded James Harden, tweets Coro. 

Let's round up the latest notes out of the Pacific Division, where the preseason standings, which feature the Warriors at the top and the Lakers at the bottom, are nearly an inverse of last year's regular-season standings....

• While many players weren't happy on the Rockets last season, Suns forward Luis Scola wasn't one of them, says Bill Ingram of HoopsWorld (via Sulia). According to Ingram, Scola had been hoping to finish his career in Houston.
• Michael Beasley and Wesley Johnson feel as if they've been cast off by their previous teams and are hoping to prove themselves with the Suns, according to Ingram (Sulia link). Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry still believes both players can live up to their draft slots (No. 2 for Beasley, No. 4 for Johnson).
• Lamar Odom, acquired by the Clippers in the offseason, was held out of the team's game last night, and coach Vinny Del Negro attributed it in part to conditioning issues. "He's got to work through some conditioning things and some health things right now, which he's doing," Del Negro said, according to Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. "Yeah, I wish he was in a little bit better conditioning, and he wishes he was. But he's just got to continue to work every day and I'm sure he'll get there eventually."
• On the other hand, Chauncey Billups, who was re-signed by the Clippers this summer, is ahead of schedule in his rehab from an achilles injury, and Del Negro believes he could return in late November, according to Turner.
• After having been traded by the Clippers to the Jazz this offseason, Mo Williams told Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com he holds no ill will toward the Clips.
• Andrew Bogut will have his left ankle, which continues to keep him out of action, examined on Monday in Los Angeles, as Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group writes. Bogut hopes to be ready to play in the Warriors' regular-season opener, but he's "still a ways away," according to coach Mark Jackson.

On this date in 2004 at the Athens Olympics, Argentina won its first-ever Olympic gold medal in men's basketball and became the first country other than the United States to win the gold medal since 1988. Luis Scola had 25 points as Argentina steamrolled Italy to win it all, 84-69. Here's this afternoon's look around the Association...

• J.R. Smith's brother Chris Smith has a good chance of making the Knicks' roster, a source tells Marc Berman of the New York Post (Twitter link). Berman cites Smith's defensive potential and Iman Shumpert's injury as reasons why the younger Smith could be a fit.
• According to a Europa Press report (link in Spanish), Sergio Llull is happy with Real Madrid and has no intention of leaving the club. Llull, who played a major role for Spain at the Olympics in London, expressed a desire to finish his career with Real Madrid despite strong interest from the Rockets, the team that drafted him in 2009.
• As part of the team's offseason makeover, the Suns are putting a greater emphasis on player development, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic writes.
• Sixers coach Doug Collins says that he hopes to use Spencer Hawes in a "Pau Gasol role" alongside the newly-acquired Andrew Bynum, writes Max Rappaport of NBA.com.  Collins notes that Hawes, like Gasol, has the ability to play on the perimeter thanks to his ability to shoot and pass.
• Zach Lowe of SI.com wonders how Kobe Bryant will mesh with the revamped Lakers roster in 2012/13.  Bryant's elite basketball IQ and style of play could make his transition to the Princeton offense a smooth one, but he'll have to work more quickly than he's used to.
• Hawks GM Danny Ferry will bring back former coach Bob Weiss to join Larry Drew’s staff as an adviser, writes Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  Former Knicks assistant Kenny Atkinson has also officially been hired as an assistant coach.  Atkinson has been in talks with the club since early August.