The Suns are exploring their trade options with Emeka Okafor‘s expiring contract, but if they use it to bring in Pau Gasol or another player via trade, Jeff Hornacek insists it won’t be someone who’ll disrupt the locker room, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic observes.
“Our guys have great chemistry,” Hornacek said. “If they ever do anything to bring a guy in here, that guy is going to have to figure out what makes us good chemistry-wise, and he’s going to have to fit in. That’s like every team.”
Here’s more from around the league, with two weeks and two days to go until the trade deadline:
- Nets GM Billy King isn’t looking to trade injured Brook Lopez, but he tells Grantland’s Zach Lowe that he’s open to deals that would bring draft picks to Brooklyn.
- The Celtics are high on Chris Johnson, though Boston’s proximity to the tax line may keep the team from re-signing him for the season when his second 10-day deal expires Thursday night, as Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com examines.
- Trevor Ariza is performing well in a contract year, and the Wizards will probably make a strong push to re-sign him, according to J. Michael of CSNWashington.com.
- Chad Ford of ESPN.com heard a couple of weeks ago that the Bucks are unlikely to pull off a major deadline trade, but in his latest Insider-only “Tank Rank” piece, he says they’d like to acquire a young player or a first-round draft pick in exchange for their veterans.
- In the same piece, Ford suggests the Magic are making Jameer Nelson and Glen Davis available.
- Draft prospect Dante Exum would prefer to play for the Lakers, and Jabari Davis of Basketball Insiders wonders if agent Rob Pelinka would try to use the threat of Exum playing next season overseas to dissuade other teams from drafting him.
- The city of San Francisco received a signed petition that proposes a vote on regulations that would erect a hurdle to the Warriors‘ plans for an arena in the city. The San Jose Mercury News has the details.