NBA News Blog – Page 894 – NBA Blog

Maloofs close to selling the Sacramento Kings to group in Seattle

Years after losing the SuperSonics to Oklahoma City, Seattle may be getting an NBA team back.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports via Twitter, “the Maloofs are finalizing an agreement to sell the Sacramento Kings to the Hansen-Ballmer led Seattle group, sources tell Yahoo! Sports. The deal will sell the Kings for approximately $500 million, with the Seattle group seeking relocation to Key Arena for the 2013-’14 season. The Seattle group’s plans, with support of the NBA, is to play two seasons in Key Arena before moving into a new Seattle arena, sources say. The Maloofs are expected to keep an extremely small percentage of team, but will have no real input or say in franchise, sources say.”

More coming shortly.

Cavs center Anderson Varejao will miss 6-8 weeks

Cleveland Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao was injured during the Cavaliers game against the Toronto Raptors on December 18th at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Diagnosis was a right knee contusion, specifically to the vastus medialis which connects to the medial (inner) border of the patella.

As Varejao’s treatment and recovery process continued, an MRI revealed the contused area included a small longitudinal split in the vastus medialis. Despite continued, gradual recovery of the contusion, symptoms also continued in the specific area of the split. Another MRI revealed an increase in the split and symptoms persisted. Dynamic ultrasound imaging also revealed tissue from underneath the split was herniating and pinching with knee flexion.

A second opinion was recently obtained with Dr. J. Richard Steadman of The Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colorado, which confirmed Cavaliers Head Team Physician Dr. Richard Parker of the Cleveland Clinic’s recommendation for surgical intervention. Varejao will undergo surgery this Thursday (January 10th) at the Cleveland Clinic and is expected to be out for six to eight weeks.

Utah Jazz recall Kevin Murphy from D-League

Utah Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey announced today that the team has recalled rookie Kevin Murphy from the Reno Bighorns, Utah’s NBA Development League (D-League) affiliate. Murphy is expected to be in uniform when the Jazz visits the Charlotte Bobcats tomorrow, January 9, at 5 p.m. MT.

In 14 games (12 starts) with the Bighorns, Murphy averaged 13.2 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 28.6 minutes. He began his assignment with Reno on November 26.

Selected by the Jazz in the second round (47th overall selection) of the 2012 NBA Draft, the 6-6, 185-pound Murphy played four seasons at Tennessee Tech, where he averaged 15.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. Murphy averaged 20.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists as a senior and finished his career as the Golden Eagles’ second all-time leading scorer (2,019 points).

Murphy became the sixth player in Jazz history to be assigned to the D-League, and the first since current Jazz teammate Jeremy Evans was in March 2011.

76ers sign guard Maalik Wayns to 10-day contract

The Philadelphia 76ers announced today that they have brought back free agent guard Maalik Wayns and signed him to a 10-day contract.

Wayns (6-1, 195) was not selected in the 2012 NBA Draft following his junior season with Villanova. He originally signed as a free agent with the Sixers on July 31 and was waived on January 6.

In 20 games for the Sixers this season, Wayns is averaging 2.5 points and 1.0 assists in 7.8 minutes per game.

Timberwolves sign forward Lazar Hayward to 10-day contract

The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced the team has signed forward Lazar Hayward to a 10-day contract. Hayward was previously signed by the Wolves on Dec. 31, 2012 and waived on Jan. 6, 2013. The 6-6 forward appeared in two games for Minnesota and totaled 2 points, 2 assists and 1 rebound in 12 minutes.

Hayward, drafted by the Washington Wizards in the first round (30th overall) of the 2010 NBA Draft, was originally acquired by Minnesota in a draft night trade on June 24, 2010. In 2010-11, he appeared in 42 games as a rookie with the Wolves and finished with averages of 3.8 ppg, 1.7 rpg and 10.9 mpg. The 6-6 forward was traded to Oklahoma City on Dec. 13, 2011 for two future second-round draft picks. After spending one season with the Thunder, Hayward was traded to Houston on Oct. 27, 2012 and was released by the Rockets prior to the start of the 2012-13 NBA season. Hayward has appeared in 69 NBA regular-season games with Minnesota (2010-11) and Oklahoma City (2011-12), posting averages of 2.9 points and 1.3 rebounds in 8.2 minutes per game.

Hayward played collegiately at Marquette University where he started 118 of 138 games, and averaged 13.5 points and 6.6 rebounds while shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 35.7 percent from behind the arc. The second all-time leading scorer in Marquette history with 1,859 career points, Hayward played in a school-record 138 games and earned Second Team All-Big East and Honorable Mention AP All-American honors as a senior.

Melo says situation with Kevin Garnett has been handled

Carmelo Anthony said Tuesday he lost his cool after Kevin Garnett said things to him that he feels shouldn’t be said to ”another man.”

Anthony said he sought out Garnett after the Knicks’ loss to Boston on Monday night so they could discuss it. He would not elaborate on what was said.

Anthony went toward the Celtics’ locker room and waited for Garnett outside the team bus. He said they have spoken and sorted out the matter.

”There’s certain things that you just don’t say to men, another man,” Anthony said. ”I felt like we crossed a line, but like I said, we both had an understanding right now, we handled it the way we handled it. Nobody needs to know what was said behind closed doors, so that situation was handled.”

The All-Star forwards exchanged words during the game and Anthony clearly was affected. He shot 6 of 26, seeming at times in the second half to be most concerned with pushing and shoving Garnett, and acknowledged Tuesday that he ”allowed some negativity to come into my circle.”

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Dallas Mavericks sign guard Mike James to 10-day contract

The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have signed free agent guard Mike James to a 10-day contract.

James (6-2, 188) is a 10-year veteran and has played in 539 games (263 starts) with Miami, Boston, Detroit, Milwaukee, Houston, Toronto, Minnesota, New Orleans, Washington and Chicago. He holds career averages of 10.4 points, 3.6 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 24.9 minutes per game.

James spent his most successful season as a professional with the Toronto Raptors where, in 2005-06, he averaged 20.3 points and 5.8 assists while starting 79 games. In 2011-12, James played in 11 games for the Chicago Bulls. He averaged 4.8 points, 2.6 assists and 10.9 minutes while helping to carry the load at point guard for an injured Derrick Rose.

Most recently, James played in two games with the Texas Legends of the NBA D-League. He averaged 18.5 points, 4.0 assists and 2.5 steals in 34.0 minutes per contest.

The Copiague, N.Y., native played collegiately at Duquesne where he was All-Atlantic 10 as a senior before going undrafted in the 1998 NBA Draft.

The Mavericks roster now stands at 15.

Idea of NBA arena in Virginia Beach may not materialize

After years of talks, hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on consulting reports, and most recently an NBA team looking to re-locate, time seems to be running out on plans to build a new arena in Virginia Beach with the Sacramento Kings as the building’s main tenant.

Today, Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms and Peter Lukko, the president of Comcast Spectacor, will release a joint statement regarding their ongoing negotiations to get the arena deal done.

Unfortunately, those negotiations are at a stand-still.

— Reported by Bruce Rader of WAVY TV 10

NYC Mayor Bloomberg says he pushed Stephen Jackson

Just call him the Knicks’ sixth man.

Mayor Bloomberg put a full-court press on Spurs forward Stephen Jackson before the player left a Knicks game Thursday with a sprained ankle.

The Knicks ended up winning easily, 100-83.

Fans reported Jackson tripped on a waitress, who was crouched on the sidelines with her back to the Madison Square Garden court while serving a drink to the mayor.

“He didn’t fall on her,” Bloomberg revealed yesterday during a press conference in The Bronx dealing with schools. “He came close and I just pushed him a little bit.”

The mayor acknowledged it would be “great for New York” if the Knicks and the Nets made it into the playoffs, but he insisted that fouling Jackson was an instinctive, defensive move and not part of a secret strategy.

— Reported by David Seifman of the New York Post

Grizzlies, Suns discussing a Rudy Gay trade

The Memphis Grizzlies and Phoenix Suns are engaged in trade talks centered on forward Rudy Gay, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

The Grizzlies have been shopping Gay to multiple teams, and found an interested trade partner with the Suns, sources said.

There’s no framework of a possible deal in place, but the Grizzlies have expressed a strong desire that any package involving Gay include Suns forward Jared Dudley and future first-round draft picks, sources said.

In an effort to avoid paying luxury tax in the short term, as well as get off the $17.8 million and $19.3 million owed Gay in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons, new Memphis management has aggressively shopped Gay.

— Reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports