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TMZ has learned … Kris Humphries just filed for an annulment against Kim Kardashian, on grounds Kim defrauded him into marrying her.
Sources close to Kris tell TMZ … Kris was not in on the alleged fraud, meaning he did not stage the marriage for Kim’s reality show. We’re told Kris wanted this to be a genuine marriage, but Kim was never really on board.
Kim has already filed for divorce — but according to the docs, obtained by TMZ — Kris wants Kim to pay his attorney’s fees.
— Reported by TMZ
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Nets general manager Billy King vehemently denied rumors Wednesday that he was in trade discussions with the Orlando Magic regarding All-Star center Dwight Howard.
“I’ll go on the record that I haven’t talked to Orlando about a trade since February, right before the trade deadline,” King said at a press conference at the team’s practice facility. “I have not had any conversations at all with my good friend Otis (Smith, the Magic general manager).
“So, I don’t know where that is coming from.”
There were published reports which stated the Nets were in talks with the Magic about trading two first-round draft picks and center Brook Lopez in return for Howard, who is in the final year of his contract and will be a free agent next June.
King also promised that if a trade does happen involving any Nets, it won’t be a long, drawn-out process like the three-month pursuit of Carmelo Anthony was last season. Several Nets were subjected to daily rumors throughout the early part of last season and Anthony eventually ended up landing with the Knicks.
— Reported by the Associated Press
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The Las Vegas oddsmakers are banking on LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat to get back to the NBA Finals in 2011-12, and once again the folks in Sin City view the Heat as the favorites to win it all.
Miami’s Big Three, runners-up a year ago, are listed at 2-to-1 to take home the title in the truncated NBA season.
“There was very heavy betting on the Heat at the start of last season because you have LeBron and Chris Bosh and they’re saying that they’ll win seven championships,” Benjamin Lee Eckstein of AmericasLine.com said. “Once again this year they’re the immediate favorites.”
— Reported by Bernie Augustine of the New York Daily News
InsideHoops.com editor says: We have a ton of NBA free agents who still need to find homes and plenty of trades that may materialize, but just based on the core players each team has under contract right now, this certainly seems reasonable.
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More than most NBA executives, Suns President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby knows the importance of the impression that this morning’s calls to agents gave.
Babby was an agent. He was Grant Hill’s agent. But Wednesday, his Suns were the ones sending out a message to Hill’s current agent about how badly Phoenix wants to re-sign him.
At 7 a.m. Phoenix time, the Suns began talking to agents of players. That meant checking in on some of their own guys but the first calls needed to go to the agents of free-agent players to show the Suns’ interest. The Suns will be feeling out the market for a scoring wing player and a backup point guard but there will be no spending that disrupts the salary-cap space they have set up for the summer of 2012. The free agent priority is getting an agreement with Hill, who is still represented by Babby’s former firm with Jim Tanner acting as Hill’s agent.
“Grant is an absolute first order of business and top priority,” Babby said of Hill.
— Reported by Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic
While it has been widely held that the NBA would like to push the age limit to 20, sources familiar with the dialogue between the two sides now say it is expected to remain at 19 for at least the first two years of the new deal and possibly beyond that.
Several alternatives have been discussed, sources said. One option would be to allow players to enter the draft directly out of high school but have the option to withdraw and go to college, similar to the draft rule used by Major League Baseball. Under this concept, a player would next be required to attend at least two years of college before entering the draft again.
Another option would be to revise the rookie salary scale by adding incentives to stay in college longer, a source familiar with the labor talks said. Potential incentives would include increasing the salary range for each year a player stays in school or allow him to qualify for free agency sooner.
— Reported by Ric Bucher of ESPN the Magazine
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The Chicago Bulls’ “top priority” during Wednesday morning’s initial contact period between teams and agents will be to set up the framework of Derrick Rose’s contract extension, according to a league source…
No matter when he officially signs, Rose is due for a mammoth raise from his rookie contract, based upon a new wrinkle to the collective bargaining agreement, which is expected to be ratified at some point in the next few days.
“The Derrick Rose Rule,” as it’s being called around the league, rewards players of Rose’s caliber by enabling a player finishing his rookie contract to make 30 percent of a team’s salary cap — up from 25 percent — if he’s been voted an All-Star starter twice, made two All-NBA teams or won an MVP award.
— Reported by Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago
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All of the chatter about Boston’s interest in Chris Paul is a moot point because the All-Star point guard will not sign a long-term contract extension with the Celtics, according to a person close to the situation.
Paul, who will become a free agent after the coming season, essentially has veto power over any trade because no team will give up valuable assets for him without assurance that it can sign him for the next several years.
Boston would love to acquire Paul for a package built around point guard Rajon Rondo, and has been seeking a third trading partner to sweeten an offer to New Orleans. But Paul’s reluctance to commit to Boston long-term should quickly put an end to the scenario.
— Reported by Chris Broussard of ESPN the Magazine
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ESPN’s Chris Broussard dug up yet another interesting Celtics tidbit for us this evening, one that casts last season’s Kendrick Perkins-for-Jeff Green trade in an entirely new light.
After last season’s playoffs, the Celtics offered Rajon Rondo and Green to Oklahoma City for Russell Westbrook and Perkins, sources told Broussard. The Celtics, looking for another scorer who can create his own offense, thought Westbrook might be available after his erratic postseason play. But Oklahoma was not interested in the deal.
— Reported by ESPN Boston
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NBA arenas are about to be unlocked.
For the first time since the lockout began on July 1, NBA players are going to be welcomed back to their team facilities, league spokesman Tim Frank said. The league sent a memo to clubs yesterday announcing the move, plus giving teams permission to begin speaking with agents at 9 a.m. today – though deals cannot yet be offered, and no contracts can be signed before Dec. 9.
Teams may host “voluntary player workouts” and physicals. Training camps will not open until Dec. 9, and the regular season is expected to begin Christmas Day with marquee matchups, including a Miami-Dallas rematch of last season’s NBA Finals.
— Reported by the Associated Press
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Despite swirling speculation he may soon leave, Chris Paul insisted on Tuesday that his heart is in New Orleans.
Paul can opt out of his contract with the team and become a free agent at the end of the season.
He was asked at a charity event in Brooklyn about speculation that he could soon join the New York Knicks.
“I try not to pay attention to all that different type of stuff,” Paul said. “My heart is in New Orleans.”
Paul, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony were in New York on Tuesday to help deliver 800 meals to families in conjunction with Anthony’s foundation, Feed the Children and The Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
Sources have told ESPN The Magazine’s Chris Broussard that Paul would eventually like to end up in New York permanently.
Sources told Broussard that Paul’s first choice is to team up with Anthony and Amare Stoudemire in New York to form a “Big Three” similar to the Miami Heat’s trio of James, Wade and forward Chris Bosh.
— Reported by Ian Begley of ESPN New York