Brook Lopez

Magic Not In Hurry To Trade Dwight Howard

3:44pm: The Magic hope to have a deal by early August, reports Sam Amick of SI.com (Sulia link).

3:04pm: Magic officials continue to hold out for the best Dwight Howard deal, and are unlikely to trade him in the next few days, Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld writes. The Rockets, a major player in trade talks, will be tied up while waiting for the Bulls to decide whether to match their offer sheet to Omer Asik, and it won't be clear what kind of cap space and assets Houston will have available until that situation is resolved, Kennedy says. 

The Rockets and Lakers have been forced to bid against each other for Howard, and the Magic will weigh their final offers once the Bulls make their decision on Asik, according to Kennedy. Asik has signed the offer sheet but the Bulls have yet to see it, meaning the three-day period Chicago has to match is not yet under way. Last night, Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio also noted the Magic's patient approach, but heard from an opposing team's GM who said there's no way the Magic can bring Howard to training camp in late September. I'm not sure if that deadline holds much weight, however, since Howard and the Magic already co-existed last season amid plenty of trade speculation, and there's no guarantee Howard's back will be healthy enough to allow him to make the start of camp anyway, though the big man insists he'll be ready for the season.

If Howard is still with the Magic come January 15th, when the Nets can trade Brook Lopez, Newsday's Rod Boone believes Orlando and Brooklyn would reinitiate talks, but obviously much can happen between now and then (Twitter link).

The Magic remain focused on their coaching search in the meantime, which is down to assistants Jacque Vaughn of the Spurs, Michael Curry of the Sixers and Lindsey Hunter of the Suns, Kennedy says. With the second round of interviews complete, Vaughn still appears to be the frontrunner, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, with Hunter the next choice. The next step involves meeting with the DeVos family, the owners of the team (Twitter links). 

Brook Lopez Wants To Finish Career With Nets

Brook Lopez's new $60MM+ contract with the Nets will keep him under contract in Brooklyn until the summer of 2016, but if it were up to him, he'd remain with the team longer than that.

"The Nets are the only place I want to be," Lopez told reporters, including Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com. "I want to be a Net for my entire career."

It appeared at times that Lopez wouldn't even remain with the Nets until the end of the month, as rumors swirled that he'd be the centerpiece of a package to acquire Dwight Howard from the Magic. Lopez said today that he wasn't sure whether he would've accepted a sign-and-trade to go to Orlando in such a deal, but now he won't have to worry about being moved until at least January 15th. That's the day Lopez can be included in trades again, though Nets coach Avery Johnson downplayed the possibility.

"Whenever a free agent signs a contract, I don't think the possibility of you being traded in January ever comes up," Johnson said. "We're glad where it worked out where he's here. He's obviously drawn some attention from other teams in the free agency process, but he's home, he's with the Brooklyn Nets, and he'll be in the starting lineup at Barclays Center on opening night."

Nets Sign Brook Lopez To Four-Year Extension

8:33pm: Howard Beck of the New York Times has the details on Lopez's contract, which includes a player option in the fourth year. Lopez will get $13.668MM for the coming season, $14.694MM in 2013/14, $15.719MM in 2014/15 and, the option is for $16.774MM in 2015/16. (Twitter links)

7:47pm: The Nets have announced the contract is official, via Twitter.

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Nets Nearing Max Contract With Brook Lopez

4:34pm: Lopez is still considering signing Charlotte's four-year offer sheet, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Wojnarowski says the Nets will match any offer sheet Lopez signs, but matching an offer sheet would prevent Brooklyn from trading Lopez for a full year (Twitter links). It looks to me as if Lopez is seeking a little leverage with the Nets, perhaps hoping to increase his fifth-year guarantee.

2:59pm: With trade talks for Dwight Howard dead, the Nets are now expected to finalize a contract with Lopez, tweets SI.com's Sam Amick.

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Dwight Howard Rumors: Wednesday

In yesterday's round of Dwight Howard rumors, we learned that the Cavaliers had pulled out of the complicated four-team talks that included the Nets and Magic. The Nets are still in the mix for Howard, but are focusing more on one-on-one talks with Orlando now. Meanwhile, the Magic continue to talk with other teams, including the Rockets, Lakers, and Hawks, about a variety of trade scenarios involving the star center. What will today bring? We'll track the latest right here….

  • According to SI.com's Sam Amick, the Magic could simply let the Nets fall out of the race for Howard and seek another trade partner. Amick adds that the Rockets have been calling around looking for a taker for Luis Scola, in an effort to allow the Magic to clear more cap space in a Howard deal.
  • Among the Nets' reasons for accelerating the Howard talks: They're concerned that the Trail Blazers will step in and sign Brook Lopez to an offer sheet after missing out on Roy Hibbert, tweets ESPN.com's Marc Stein. The Rockets represent another threat to the Nets if their offer sheet for Omer Asik is matched, adds ESPN.com's Chad Ford (via Twitter).

Earlier updates:

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The NBA’s New Maximum Salary

While the NBA's salary cap and luxury tax figures remained the same for the coming season, the maximum salary that a player can earn was bumped up slightly for 2012/13. According to Larry Coon's CBA FAQ, the changes are as follows:

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Dwight Howard Rumors: Tuesday

The Dwight Howard rumor mill was in full swing on Monday, as we needed multiple posts to round up all of the day's rumblings. I recapped the Monday highlights right here, including the framework of a possible four-team deal, but things continue to evolve quickly. So let's follow along with Tuesday's updates, which we'll add to the top of this page throughout the day….

  • As Marc Stein suggested (below), the Rockets have remained "strongly engaged" with the Magic on direct talks for Howard and haven't spent much time on three-team scenarios, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

Earlier updates:

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Dwight Howard Rumors: Monday Night

The Magic and Nets are reportedly working to put together a multi-team deal that will send Dwight Howard to Brooklyn.  The Cavaliers and Clippers could be a part of the mega-trade but nothing has been cemented yet and other clubs could be roped in to make the swap a reality.  Here's the latest on D12 and the Magic..

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Dwight Howard Rumors: Monday

It may not be many more days until our long national Dwightmare is over. Yesterday's reports on Howard suggested talks involving the Magic, Nets, and Cavaliers were getting serious, and that Orlando plans to make "one last sweep" around the league before deciding whether to accept the Nets' offer. While we wait to see if anything is agreed upon today, here are the latest rumblings on the Howard front:

  • Chad Ford's ESPN.com report includes some more slight tweaks to the framework described below. Ford adds Chris Duhon to the list of players headed to the Nets, suggests the Magic would receive one fewer first-rounder (a total of three instead of four), and says the Cavs would receive $3MM in cash.
  • Ford's report, along with tweets from the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, suggest that the Cavs and Clippers still aren't entirely on board. The Plain Dealer tweets that talk of a deal getting close is premature, while Berger says the Clips haven't agreed to anything yet and are one of several potential fourth-team facilitators in the mix (Twitter links).

Earlier updates:

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Free Agent Rumors: Lucas, Camby, Lewis

Jeff Green reached an agreement to remain with the Celtics on Saturday, while Aaron Brooks became an unrestricted free agent after the Suns withdrew their qualifying offer to the guard. What will Sunday bring? Here are the latest rumors on a number of free agents still on the market:

Earlier updates:

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