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Cavs forward Christian Eyenga to play in Spain during lockout

Christian Eyenga has become the second Cavalier to sign with an overseas club during the NBA lockout. A third Cav could be right behind him.

Eyenga agreed to a deal with the Spanish side Joventut Badalona, according to a tweet from his agent Andy Miller. The swingman can return to the Cavaliers once the NBA work stoppage ends. He was playing in Spain before the Cavs signed him last season.

The Congolese international played in 44 games last season with the Cavs, averaging 6.9 points and 2.8 rebounds.

— Reported by Tom Reed of the Cleveland Plain Dealer

Kevin Garnett still plans to play in World All-Star Classic

The World All-Star Classic has lost some of its shine recently, with some of the NBA’s top players opting to not participate.

But there’s one perennial all-star – Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett – who, according to his agent, is very much still in the mix…

Others tentatively scheduled to participate include Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, Steve Nash, Carlos Boozer, Amar’e Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer, Tyson Chandler and Chris Kaman.

— Reported by A. Sherrod Blakely of the CSNNE Blog

LeBron, Melo, CP3 will not play in NBA world lockout tour

The proposed world tour of NBA elite amid the league’s lockout won’t include at least one of the Miami Heat’s Big Three.

LeBron James, whose name had been thrown into the mix for the two-week tour that opens Sunday in Puerto Rico and is scheduled to then include stops in London, Macau and Australia, will not be among the participants.

A source close to the Heat forward Wednesday told the Sun Sentinel that James had never committed to the tour and added that James is not participating, “due to previous commitments.”

…

In the wake of the Sun Sentinel being informed of James not joining the tour, ESPN reported that New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony and New Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul also would not be participating. With Wade close to those two, his interest could also be waning.

— Reported by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Chinese team hopes to sign Rodney Stuckey

The Guangdong Southern Tigers in China are making a hard push to sign Detroit Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey, according to sources with knowledge of the negotiations.

The biggest hurdle for Guangdong to clear, though, is the same hurdle all Chinese teams face when trying to land NBA players: Stuckey would be unable to come back to the NBA until Guangdong’s season ends in the spring if he goes through with the deal.

If Stuckey elects to sign with the Tigers, he’d be obligated to stay with the Chinese team through the completion of the season in March even if the ongoing NBA lockout ends before that, thanks to rules instituted this season by the Chinese Basketball Association that prevent its teams from offering an in-season out to players signed away from the NBA.

— Reported by Marc Stein of ESPN.com

Dirk Nowitzki to train in Germany if NBA lockout drags

Dirk Nowitzki plans to return to Germany to train with his personal coach after watching his hometown Texas Rangers play in the World Series—unless there’s progress toward starting the NBA season.

Nowitzki has said he would wait until early 2012 before considering playing for a European team. With only training camp and the first two weeks of the season canceled so far because of the NBA lockout, he is keeping to that timetable.

“It’s time to really get back in the routine,” he said after throwing out the first pitch for Game 3 of the World Series between the Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night. “Got to keep the options open, maybe see what’s going on overseas.” …

Nowitzki is still wearing a splint on the middle finger of his left hand— an injury he sustained during Game 2 of the NBA finals the Miami Heat. He aggravated it while playing for Germany in the European championships last month.

— Reported by Jaime Aron of the Associated Press

Deron Williams catches heat in Turkey for wearing wrong backpack colors

Deron Williams, from Turkey: “Rivalries are big over here. If you know anything about European soccer, you know that fans take their rivalries very seriously. It’s the same in basketball. I had no clue, and my backpack almost got me in trouble. I have this backpack that I made on Nike ID a while back and it’s black, red and yellow. Black and red are my favorite colors, and yellow is in there for the black and gold to represent the Steelers. But apparently black, red and yellow are the colors of one of our biggest rivals, Galatasaray. I’ve been hearing about it since the day I got over here; as soon as I got to the airport. Right then, like five people told me I had on the wrong color.”

More D-Will: “I still wear the backpack because it’s my backpack. I like it and I haven’t had a chance to get a new one. Every day they tell me to take it off; that I have to get a new one. Our other big rival in the Turkish League is Fenerbahce and we play them coming up in a few weeks here. They’re the two-time defending Turkish Cup champions and last year they beat Besiktas in the finals, so that’s a big game. I’m told the fans always get amped up for those games. We don’t play Galatasaray until December. If I’m still here, I might have to bring a new backpack that day.”

— Reported by Jared Zwerling of ESPN New York

Hamed Haddadi signs in Iran

Memphis Grizzlies center Hamed Haddadi joined Melli Haffari basketball team on Tuesday.

The Ahvaz-based basketball team signed Haddadi on a short-term contract for an undisclosed fee.

Following the North America’s National Basketball Association (NBA)’s ongoing lockout, the Memphis Grizzlies center joined Melli Haffari to play for the Iranian Basketball League and will return to Memphis in December to take part in the training sessions.

— Reported by the Tehran Times

Bologna still working on deal for Kobe Bryant

The Italian club Virtus Bologna says “unexpected engagements” have made it impossible to sign Kobe Bryant(notes) this month, but both sides will keep working toward a deal in November.

Bologna President Claudio Sabatini told The Associated Press this month he had reached a tentative deal with Bryant’s agent or a 10-game contract worth more than $3 million.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Stephon Marbury about to begin new season playing basketball in China

China’s most beloved New Yorker, Stephon Marbury, arrived for his third season in the Chinese Basketball Association at Beijing Capital Airport on October 6th with a bunch of bags, a lot of smiles and two big band-aids on his head. (And as always, a lot of people with cameras taking his photos.) After playing one and a half seasons Taiyuan, Shanxi province, and Foshan, Guangdong, two Chinese cities not exactly known as foreign hotspots, Marbury has finally made it to his Chinese professional basketball mecca, Beijing.

This season, Steph will play for the Beijing Shougang Ducks. Last season, led by former New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks center, Randolph Morris, the Ducks finished in eighth place, which gave them the right to be swept out of the first round of the playoffs by eventual league runners-up, Xinjiang Guanghui. Aiming to build off that success, the Ducks brought back Morris for another year and signed Marbury, who interestingly enough was close to signing with the team last year before team management ultimately decided to go with Steve Francis instead. (We don’t need to remind you how that ended up.) Although the team will be weakened with the departure of Jordanian national teammer, Zaid Abbas, who moved on to Fujian SBS this season to act as their Asian import, teaming up with Morris and Taiwanese national team point guard/CBA heartthrob, Lee Hsueh-lin, will give Marbury by far his best chance to make it to the post-season for the first time in his Chinese career.

— Reported by NIUBBall.com

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LeBron James takes his talents to Liverpool

LeBron James took his talents to Liverpool on Friday—and finally got his hands on a championship trophy.

The Miami Heat star toured the Premier League club’s facilities for the first time since becoming a shareholder of the 18-time English champions. James held up the Champions League trophy won by Liverpool in 2005 and posted a picture on Twitter of a red No. 6 jersey with his name on it.

The two-time MVP will sit in the directors’ box at Anfield Stadium for Saturday’s Premier League match against Liverpool rival Manchester United.

“Jersey ready for the big match 2morrow,” James tweeted.

— Reported by the Associated Press