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Heisley ends talks with Larry Ellison over sale of Grizzlies

Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley reiterated today his doubt that the franchise will be sold anytime soon.

How can Heisley be so sure?

He’s instructed his attorney, Stan Meadows, to stop negotiating with Oracle founder Larry Ellison because of Ellison’s repeated overtures about relocating the team.

“We’re not even considering Ellison,” Heisley said. “This team cannot be moved.”

Ellison recently signed a confidentiality agreement with Heisley and began an exploratory process to buy the Grizzlies. It was at least the third time Ellison inquired about the team over the past several years.

— Reported by Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal

Injured Shelden Williams does not make West Coast trip with Nets

Shelden Williams

Nets center Shelden Williams, who suffered an injury to his right eye in Wednesday’s Nets victory over the Indiana Pacers at Prudential Center, did not make the trip with the team to the West Coast today and on its official injury report, the team said it will update his condition April 5, after the trip.

Williams was injured in the second quarter of the game, when he was apparently poked in the eye by Indiana’s Tyler Hansbrough. He left the game immediately and was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center for further evaluation. The team did not say whether he spent the night in the hospital, nor did it give any details about the type or severity of injury Williams suffered.

Williams is the only Net to have played in each of the team’s first 52 games. He has started 30 of those, and has averaged 4.9 points and 6.3 rebounds in 22.3 minutes per game.

— Reported by Colin Stephenson of the Newark Star-Ledger

Kevin Love drops 40 and 19 on Bobcats

Kevin Love
kevin love
Beast Mode

Kevin Love had 40 points and 19 rebounds Wednesday night to lift the Minnesota Timberwolves to an 88-83 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats.

It was Love’s third-highest point total in March, and pushed his scoring average in 15 games in the month to 31.2.

Love has scored at least 20 points in 14 of his last 15 games and has 44 double-doubles on the season, including nine straight games.

Before the game, Bobcats coach Paul Silas said Love without question should be considered an MVP candidate and his opinion didn’t change after he dominated his young big men Bismack Biyombo and Byron Mullens.

“If he continues to do what he’s doing for a good portion of his career he’s going to be one of the best ever,” Silas said. “He’s just tenacious. That ball goes up and he’s there. And he’s strong… The young boys we have are not ready for that. So that makes it difficult.”

As for all of the MVP talk, Love said, “In some ways it’s warranted, but we need to win a lot more games in order to be anywhere close to that.”

— Reported by Steve Reed of the Associated Press

Anderson Varejao plans to play for Brazil in Olympics

Anderson Varejao

Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao plans to play for Brazil in this summer’s Olympics as long as he’s fully recovered from a wrist injury.

Varejao broke his right wrist on Feb. 11 in a game against Milwaukee. It’s taken him longer to get back than expected, but the 6-foot-11 Varejao says he wants to play for Cleveland again in the final month of the season because “this is what I love to do.” And as long as he’s healthy, Varejao intends to play for Brazil’s national team in the London Games.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Hornets guard Eric Gordon may play soon

Eric Gordon

Barring any unforeseen setbacks or missteps, Hornets shooting guard Eric Gordon — the team’s leading scorer despite playing two games this season — could be back on the court in a matter of days.

Gordon was expected to go through the team’s practice session Tuesday evening, the final step in the rehabilitation process after arthroscopic knee surgery Feb. 14 that removed some cartilage and other debris from his right knee, an injury that arguably wrecked the Hornets’ season and cast Gordon’s future with the team in doubt.

In recent weeks, Gordon has ramped up the intensity of his workouts, he said, building to the point where he’s ready for the final post-operative exam: a full-contact practice to determine if the knee is strong enough to play in the final month of the regular season.

— Reported by Jimmy Smith of the New Orleans Times-Picayune

Stephen Curry out at least two more weeks

Stephen Curry

Stephen Curry is still holding out hope to return this season.

The Golden State Warriors announced Wednesday that Curry will be sidelined at least another two weeks with a sprain in his surgically repaired, troublesome right ankle. He will be reevaluated after that time, and it’s still unlikely he’ll play again this season.

Tuesday night’s 104-101 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers was the 10th straight game – and 21st this season – Curry has missed.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Wizards sign Cartier Martin to 10-day contract

Cartier Martin

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has signed guard/forward Cartier Martin to a 10-day contract.

Martin (6-6, 220), has averaged 18.3 points and 4.7 rebounds while shooting .489 from the floor and .556 from three-point range in seven games with the Iowa Energy of the NBA D-League this season.  He has appeared with the Wizards in the previous two seasons, averaging 4.3 points over 60 games with the team.

Martin was originally signed to a 10-day contract by the Wizards on March 30, 2010.  After finishing the season with the team and averaging 6.4 points over eight games, he returned for the 2010-11 season.  Martin averaged 4.0 points over 52 games with the Wizards in 2010-11 before being waived on April 6.

A product of Kansas State, Martin has previously spent time with the Charlotte Bobcats (averaging 2.6 points over 33 games in 2008-09) and Golden State Warriors (averaging 9.0 points over 10 games in 2009-10) in addition to experience overseas in Turkey, Italy and China.  He has also played in 59 NBA D-League games since the 2008-09 season (all with Iowa), where he has compiled averages of 18.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.

NBA considers selling ad space on jerseys

In an attempt to generate more revenue, the NBA is pondering the idea of placing ads on the jerseys of every player from the 30 teams.

This transition could create approximately $31.18 million in revenue in TV exposure alone.

The NBA Board of Governors will meet next month to discuss the possibility of adding advertising on jerseys.

The idea has been met with much support from players and coaches.

Meanwhile, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban also said it’s an idea whose time has come.

“I’ve been trying to tell [the NBA],” Cuban said. “If someone wants to give us $10 million, I’ll make it happen.”

Cuban believes NBA commissioner David Stern can be convinced that putting ads on jerseys is a viable concept for the league.

— Reported by Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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Kevin Durant to appear on Jimmy Kimmel show

Kevin Durant
kevin durant
May score 80 during the show taping

Two-time scoring champ Kevin Durant will make an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday night. The show tapes at 6:30 p.m. and airs at 11 p.m. on KOCO-5 (ABC).

This will be Durant’s first stop on the major talk-show circuit.

“It’s new for me,” Durant said. “It should be fun. I’m excited.”

Asked if he was nervous about his talk-show debut, Durant smiled and said, “Nah, we’re just talkin’.”

— Reported by John Rohde of the Oklahoman