The Thunder landed Dion Waiters earlier tonight, but the Lakers previously made a run at him, Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com tweets. However, the Cavs weren’t just looking for a straight salary dump and Shumpert is more valuable than Robert Sacre, who the Lakers would have included. Here’s more from around the Association..
- The Nets and Thunder recently discussed a deal that would have involved Brook Lopez, Kendrick Perkins (and his expiring contract), Perry Jones, and Lance Thomas, but the Nets decided to stand pat as they liked what they were seeing, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com.
- The Rajon Rondo deal is looking pretty good for the Mavericks so far, writes Dwain Price of the Star-Telegram. Center Tyson Chandler and coach Rick Carlisle are among those over the moon with what Rondo has done in Dallas. The Mavs have won six of their last eight games, including their last five.
- Sometimes, the best move is standing pat. The Warriors held on to budding star Klay Thompson rather than using him to get Kevin Love and that looks like a smart decision right now, as Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press writes. Many were surprised at the Warriors’ decision, but it’s one that had the full support of coach Steve Kerr.”For me as a new coach, what I saw was maybe the best backcourt in the NBA and a chance to keep the group together,” Kerr said. “And that’s pretty powerful, especially when you know you’re already pretty good.”
- Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders won’t rush to judge Bucks center Larry Sanders. While speculation flies about his situation, Koutroupis notes that Sanders has worked hard at his craft and has even independently trained in the offseason to work on some lagging aspects of his game. Earlier tonight, agent Happy Walters denied the report indicating that his client wants to walk away from basketball, so it will be very interesting to hear from Sanders himself.
The Mavs with Rondo are now: