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Trail Blazers To Waive Ronnie Price

February 21st, 2013 at 2:52pm CST by Luke Adams

The Trail Blazers had been carrying 15 players heading into the trade deadline, so they'll need to waive a player to clear a roster spot for Eric Maynor. According to Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com, Ronnie Price will be the player released by the Blazers (Twitter link).

Haynes notes (via Twitter) that Price is dealing with a severe right ankle sprain, but he does plan to return to action this season, so he could find another NBA job once he clears waivers hits free agency.

Price, 29, had averaged 2.7 PPG and 1.9 APG in 39 appearances for Portland this season. His minimum-salary contract was guaranteed, so he'll receive that salary and the Blazers will assume the cap hit.

Thunder To Acquire Ronnie Brewer

February 21st, 2013 at 2:37pm CST by Luke Adams

2:37pm: The second-round pick heading to New York in the deal will be the Thunder's own 2014 selection, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today.

2:24pm: The Thunder and Knicks have agreed to a deal that will see Oklahoma City acquire Ronnie Brewer in exchange for a second-round pick, according to Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman (via Twitter). It was Mayberry who first reported that the Thunder were expected to land Brewer (Twitter link).

The Knicks had been shopping Brewer this week in an attempt to clear a roster spot, as Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com noted today. Now just carrying 14 players on their roster, the Knicks could take a flier on a free agent – perhaps Kenyon Martin, or Jermaine O'Neal if he receives a buyout – without having to release a player on a guaranteed contract.

For the Thunder, it was a small price to pay to add a solid defensive guard who had fallen out of the Knicks' rotation in recent weeks. Brewer, 27, had started 34 games for New York, but didn't seem to fit with the team nearly as well as he did with the Bulls' "Bench Mob" over the last couple seasons. So far this year, Brewer has recorded a career-low 10.2 PER.

Thunder To Send Eric Maynor To Blazers

February 21st, 2013 at 2:27pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:27pm: The Blazers are sending the draft rights to Giorgio Printezis to the Thunder as part of the deal, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

2:14pm: Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman reports the Blazers will not send a draft pick to the Thunder (Twitter link). It's unclear exactly what Oklahoma City is getting for Maynor.

1:53pm: The Thunder will send Eric Maynor to the Blazers, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com, via Twitter. The teams had been in serious discussions about such a trade, as Stein tweeted just moments earlier. Portland will absorb Maynor with an exception, and is likely sending a draft pick to Oklahoma City, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link). If the Blazers aren't giving up anyone in return, that means they'll have to waive someone, since they're at the 15-man roster limit. Mike Tokito of The Oregonian tweets speculation that Elliot Williams could be the one to go.

Williams is attempting to make it back from a torn Achilles' tendon. The Blazers have a disabled player exception for Williams, but it's not worth enough to accomodate Maynor. Portland has a $2,247,740 trade exception from the Raymond Felton deal, and since teams are allowed to add $100K to trade exceptions to accomodate someone, that's how Maynor's $2,338,721 salary fits in.

Maynor had fallen out of favor in Oklahoma City, where he'd lost the backup point guard job to Reggie Jackson. The Thunder were holding out hope for a first-round pick in return as they shopped Maynor aggressively toward the deadline. The Raptors and Jazz had been linked to him in recent days.

The Blazers pick up a piece for their under-performing bench in the deal. Maynor will be a restricted free agent at season's end, and Portland will have the ability to match offers from other teams. Though he kept his interest quiet, Blazers GM Neil Olshey has had Maynor on his radar for more than a month, according to The Oregonian's Jason Quick (Twitter link).

Celtics To Acquire Jordan Crawford

February 21st, 2013 at 2:16pm CST by Luke Adams

2:16pm: The Wizards will also acquire Jason Collins from the Celtics in the trade, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter).

12:46pm: The Wizards have agreed to a deal that will send Jordan Crawford to the Celtics, reports TNT's David Aldridge (via Twitter). Boston will send Leandro Barbosa to the Wizards, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The teams are still working on the details of the trade, but Fab Melo will not be headed to Washington, Aldridge hears (Twitter link). Crawford "desperately" wanted the Wizards to trade him, tweets Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio, and that's in line with previous reports indicating the swingman was unpleased with his reduced role of late.

The Mavs reportedly jumped into discussions for Crawford as well, but the Celtics seemed to have the inside track as the deadline approached. An Eastern Conference executive told Michael Lee of the Washington Post last night there was likely "very little" the Wizards could get for Crawford, and indeed that appears to be the case, as Washington is getting a player who's out for the year with a torn ACL in his left knee. In taking back Barbosa's expiring deal for the minimum salary, the Wizards essentially clear Crawford's salary, worth $1.2MM this year and $2.6MM next season, off their books. The Wizards had an open roster spot going into the trade, but they could waive Barbosa at any point this season to free up more room if they wish, though they'll have to keep paying Barbosa's salary either way.

Adding Crawford for Barbosa adds a little salary to Boston's books, but still allows them to stay below their $74.307MM hard cap for the season. Following his injury, the C's sought to use Barbosa to increase their flexibility, as they considered waiving him to create room on the roster, or, as Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe suggested, using him as trade ballast as they're doing with the Wizards. Nonetheless, a one-for-one deal involving Barbosa was unexpected, Washburn tweets.

Crawford is averaging 13.4 points and 3.7 assists this year, similar to the third-year player's career numbers. He's seen his minutes drastically reduced, to 12.4 per game this month from 35.8 in December, with the return of John Wall from injury and the emergence of rookie Bradley Beal. He was used on the ball as the Wizards struggled to find a solution in Wall's absence at point guard this year, so perhaps he could help Boston's current shorthanded situation at the position.

Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors contributed to this post.

Magic, Bobcats To Swap McRoberts, Warrick

February 21st, 2013 at 2:12pm CST by Luke Adams

The Magic and Bobcats have agreed to a trade that will send Josh McRoberts to Charlotte and Hakim Warrick to Orlando, reports Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (via Twitter). The Magic are expected to waive Warrick after the deal becomes official, according to Sam Amick of SI.com (Twitter link). It's the second time Warrick has been dealt this season, as the Hornets traded him for Matt Carroll in November.

The Hornets and Warrick had been working on a buyout before the early-season trade, and it appears that's what the Magic will pursue as well. Warrick making $4MM this season, with a team option for $4MM that's likely to disappear unless another club claims him off waivers. McRoberts is making $3.135MM this season in the final year of an expiring deal, so the deal lines up well for salary-matching purposes.

Warrick was averaging 7.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 17.9 minutes per game with the Bobcats this season, and made 14 starts, but has appeared in only one game this month, as a reserve. McRoberts has put up 3.9 PPG, 3.3 RPG in 16.7 MPG this year for Orlando after coming over in the Dwight Howard blockbuster. The 6'10" power forward has shown versatility this season, guarding multiple positions, but he has seen his minutes cut recently as well, getting 14.8 MPG this month after seeing 21.4 MPG in January.

Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors contributed to this post.

Hawks, Mavs Swap Morrow, Dahntay Jones

February 21st, 2013 at 2:11pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Hawks have sent Anthony Morrow to the Mavericks for Dahntay Jones, tweets Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Jones was reportedly going to be part of a deal for Beno Udrih, but apparently that one didn't materialize for Dallas. Both swingmen are on expiring contracts, though Morrow makes $4MM while Jones is earning $2.9MM this year. The salaries are still close enough for salary-matching purposes, and neither team is close enough to the tax for the difference to have an effect.

Morrow, 27, is seeing a career low 12.5 minutes per game this year with Atlanta after coming over during the summer in the Joe Johnson trade. He led the league in three-point percentage in 2o08/09 for the Warriors, making 46.7% of his long-range attempts as a rookie. He's a career 42.5% three-point shooter.

Jones, 32, saw about the same amount of floor time for Dallas (12.7 MPG), but doesn't provide the outside shooting presence that Morrow does. Instead, he's seen as a defensive presence, and started 71 games in front of J.R. Smith for the 2008/09 Nuggets, who advanced to the Western Conference Finals.

Raptors, Suns To Swap Haddadi, Telfair

February 21st, 2013 at 1:33pm CST by Luke Adams

1:33pm: The second-round pick headed to Phoenix will either be the Raptors' or Kings' 2014 pick, whichever is lower, reports Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic (via Twitter).

1:03pm: The Raptors and Suns have agreed to a deal that will send Sebastian Telfair to Toronto and Hamed Haddadi to Phoenix, reports ESPN.com's Chris Broussard (via Twitter). According to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (via Twitter), the Suns will also acquire a second-round pick in the trade, as ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported earlier today.

Since trading Jose Calderon to the Pistons in the deal that landed them Rudy Gay, the Raptors had been exploring avenues for adding another point guard, having reportedly targeted Eric Maynor and Luke Ridnour along with Telfair. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported this morning that the Raptors had emerged as the frontrunners for Telfair, who had a cheaper salary and trade cost than Toronto's other options.

In addition to landing a protected second-rounder from the Raptors, the Suns will also cut costs a little, as Haddadi is earning just $1.3MM compared to Telfair's $1.57MM. The move also lets the team create playing time for rookie point guard Kendall Marshall, which was Phoenix's initial motivation for exploring a Telfair trade.

Rockets Send Morris To Suns, Get Kings’ Robinson

February 21st, 2013 at 11:55am CST by Chuck Myron

The Rockets have finalized a pair of deals they agreed upon Wednesday night, sending Marcus Morris to the Suns for a second-round pick and trading Patrick Patterson, Cole Aldrich, Toney Douglas and $1MM to the Kings for Thomas Robinson, Francisco Garcia and Tyler Honeycutt. The second-rounder heading to Houston is Phoenix's own 2013 selection. The Suns, who were at the roster limit of 15 players going into the trade, waived Luke Zeller to make room for Morris.

Houston was reportedly deciding between a pair of deals for Morris, whom the Rockets held out of their win against Oklahoma City on Wednesday. With Houston's top two power forwards gone, it looks like a pair of rookies, in Robinson and Terrence Jones, will man the position as the team fights to hold on to the final playoff spot in the West. One of the motivations to trade Morris was to free up time for Jones, according to HoopsWorld's Steve Kyler.

As Grantland's Zach Lowe points out via Twitter, the pair of moves will save Houston approximately $1.6MM for next season if they decline their option on Garcia. Lowe surmised earlier that Houston would look to cut between $1.5MM and $2MM to clear room for a max deal to land Dwight Howard, who'll be a free agent this summer. The Rockets also get the No. 5 overall pick from this past June's draft in Robinson, who's seen just 15.9 minutes per game as a reserve for the Kings this year. Nonetheless, Robinson is grabbing 4.7 rebounds in his limited action, which would extrapolate to 10.6 rebounds per 36 minutes.

Sacramento had appeared unlikely to make a deal as their ownership situation remains in limbo, but they flipped Robinson for two expiring deals and Patterson, who will enter the final season of his rookie contract next year. The move was all about cost-cutting and not something the Kings current management wished to do, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. The Chris Hansen/Howard Ballmer group from Seattle that has a deal in place to buy the Kings was briefed on the trade before it went down, according to fellow Yahoo! Sports scribe Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). It's unclear exactly where the directive to make the trade came from, though SB Nation's Tom Ziller indicated Wednesday night that co-owner Gavin Maloof and Geoff Petrie are the driving forces in the Kings front office at the moment.

The Suns considered trading a first-round pick for Morris when the Rockets drafted him 14th overall in 2011, but wound up nabbing him for a second-rounder, currently projected to be the 35th overall selection. Now the power forward will reunite with his twin brother, Markieff Morris, whom the Suns took 13th overall in 2011. With the next pick that year, the Rockets drafted Marcus.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (All Twitter links) initially broke the news of both trades. Sam Amick of USA Today (All Twitter links) and TNT's David Aldridge (Twitter link) contributed additional details.

Suns Release Luke Zeller

February 21st, 2013 at 9:31am CST by Luke Adams

The Suns have released Luke Zeller to clear a roster spot for Marcus Morris, according to ESPN.com's Chris Broussard (via Twitter). Zeller's minimum-salary deal was guaranteed for the rest of the season, so he'll still be paid the full amount and the Suns will still absorb the cap hit.

Releasing Zeller allows the Suns to regain some leverage in trade talks involving Jermaine O'Neal and Sebastian Telfair. Had Phoenix been forced to move one of those two players to clear a roster spot, the offers likely would have been very underwhelming.

Zeller, 25, appeared in 16 games for the Suns this season, averaging 1.2 PPG in very limited minutes.

Celtics Sign Terrence Williams

February 20th, 2013 at 1:34pm CST by Luke Adams

WEDNESDAY, 1:34pm: The Celtics have officially signed Williams, who received his letter of clearance from China, to a 10-day contract, the team announced today in a press release.

MONDAY, 12:06pm: The Celtics have agreed to sign Terrence Williams to a 10-day deal, according to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (via Twitter). Because Boston has a pair of open roster spots, no corresponding move will be necessary to clear room for Williams.

Williams, the 11th overall pick in 2009, spent most of this season playing in China for the Guangdong Southern Tigers. The 25-year-old averaged 17.9 PPG in 29 games in the Chinese Basketball Association this season, according to Asia-Basket.com. Mark Deeks of ShamSports reported last week that Donald Sloan had replaced Williams on Guangdong after Williams returned stateside due to a death in the family.

Although he has shown promise in stints with the Nets, Rockets, and Kings in three NBA seasons, Williams has recorded just 7.6 PPG and an 11.4 PER in his career. Williams, who was a camp invitee for the Pistons in the fall, will provide at least short-term depth for a Celtics team that has lost Rajon Rondo, Jared Sullinger, and Leandro Barbosa to season-ending injuries in the last month.

Washburn reported earlier today that the Celtics were close to signing Williams.