It wasn’t exactly 2012’s James Harden blockbuster, but the Wizards‘ acquisition of Marcin Gortat last night, just days before the season gets underway, was a bold and surprising move by Washington. Our latest round of Southeast items has some more info on that deal, as well as other notes from around the division….
- The Suns and Wizards had been talking about making a deal for a few weeks, and the major holdup involved wrangling over the amount of protection on the first-rounder going from Washington to Phoenix, according to Michael Lee of the Washington Post. J. Michael of CSNWashington.com adds that the swap was fast-tracked over the past few days when it became increasingly clear to the Wizards that Emeka Okafor would miss a significant portion of the season.
- Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld left the door open for his team to open a max player next summer, tweets Lee.
- Amin Elhassan breaks down the Wizards/Suns trade in an Insider-only piece for ESPN.com.
- After being cut by the Heat, Eric Griffin is considering playing in China, according to Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald (Twitter link).
- Eric Dawson, who was released by the Hawks today, will sign with the Austin Toros of the D-League, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.com.
- Mike Miller‘s attorney told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald that his client is planning to sue the Heat after the club allegedly introduced him to a con man who pocketed his investment money. Meanwhile, Miller told Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press that he did not authorize his lawyer to give out that information and wrote, via text, that he is grateful for the way he and his family were treated by the club.