2:33pm: Deng reciprocates the Clippers’ interest in a sign-and-trade deal, and he’s expected to speak with Rivers today, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
1:12pm: There have been no such talks outside of the Nets expressing their lack of interest, according to Alex Raskin of The Wall Street Journal (Twitter link).
8:12am: The Clippers and Nets have spoken about a sign-and-trade that would involve Paul Pierce heading to Los Angeles, report Ramona Shelburne and Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com. The Clippers have offered a combination of Jared Dudley, Matt Barnes and Reggie Bullock as they seek to relieve a glut of small forwards, but Brooklyn is so far unreceptive to any such package, according to Shelburne and Youngmisuk.
Pierce and Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers have talked about a deal, the ESPN scribes say, and while the Clippers could use the $5.305MM mid-level exception to sign him outright, a sign-and-trade would allow Pierce to reap a higher salary, since the Nets have his Bird Rights. Brooklyn could use those Bird Rights as leverage to keep Pierce in black-and-white, but because the team is well above the salary cap, it wouldn’t have means to replace the Jeff Schwartz client if he simply decided to sign with the Clippers for their mid-level. Pierce’s interest in the Clippers has been known for a while, and the connection between Pierce and Rivers, who spent several years together with the Celtics, is strong.
The 36-year-old Pierce is nonetheless a fallback for the Clippers in case the team can’t convince either LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony to come west, Shelburne and Youngmisuk write. Rivers and company have also met with Trevor Ariza, according to the report, and they’re also interested in sign-and-trades involving Ariza, Luol Deng and Spencer Hawes, tweets Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com. Pierce has a litany of other options as well, as the Blazers, Grizzlies, Bulls, Mavs and Rockets are other teams that have reportedly reached out to him.
I am saying it now. The nets will trade Pierce and KG to the Clips. Nets would get Crawford, Bullock, Dudley, and Barnes. Barnes and Dudley will be traded to a 3rd team that misses out on Deng and Ariza. Nets will also trade Thornton to the Cavs for Jack and a 2nd. Nets will bring over Bogdonavic and sign someone like Granger. Granger wants to re-establish his value and play for a playoff caliber team. Nets would have a very good roster. Dwill, JJ, Granger, AK47, Lopez. Bench of Crawford, Jack, Bogdonavic, Teletovic, Plumlee, whoever they get for Dudley/Barnes and their 2nd rd picks.
Crawford is younger, way cheaper, and better than Pierce at this point and KG was pretty bad last year. No way the Clippers make that deal. They’d be a worse team.
Teaming back up with Doc Rivers is all KG needs. He never wanted to leave Doc (granted it was Docs call). Also, he never wanted to leave Boston. Is he aging? Of course, but he’s a very good player that can be extremely productive for 25 min a game.
teaming back up with Doc won’t make KG 5 years younger so its not all he needs. the guy just isn’t the same player
Nobody wants what Doc is trying to give away. Doc is trying to trade a turd sandwich for a steak.
nets are still trying to win themselves, they would have to get at least crawford back to even think about a sign and trade. your right doc tryna trade all the dead weight from his roster