The Nets weren’t as close to trading Brook Lopez to the Thunder as they seemed, a league source tells Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher, adding that Brooklyn simply didn’t want Lance Stephenson, who would have come from Charlotte in a three-way proposal, or Kendrick Perkins. Still, a Lopez trade remains a possibility, Bucher writes, and the Nuggets are expected to make another run at him, according to Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post, just as they did when they reportedly spoke about a package with JaVale McGee as the centerpiece. There’s more on the Nets amid the latest from the Atlantic Division:
- “High ranking sources” in the Nets organization dispute to Mitch Abramson of the New York Daily News that Mikhail Prokhorov wants to sell his majority interest in the club, but those same sources tell Abramson that it’s not out of the question that Prokhorov will give up the team.
- The management for Jason Kidd‘s ownership stake in the Nets has asked the NBA for more time to find a buyer, reports Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg.com. Kidd owns one-sixth of 1% of the Nets, Soshnick notes, but he’s required to divest himself of that share, worth $2.5MM based on the Forbes valuation of the franchise, since he’s now coaching the Bucks instead.
- Nate Robinson gave up $689K of this season’s salary of nearly $2.107MM in his buyout agreement with the Celtics, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
- The Knicks and Sixers both have dreadful records this season, but only in Philadelphia’s case is that according to any sort of plan, as Mike Sielski of the Philadelphia Inquirer examines.