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No more communicating with teammates through a translation app on his iPhone. Wilson Chandler, the first of the three Denver Nuggets to sign with a Chinese team during the lockout and the last to return to the NBA, is back in Denver.

When labor negotiations were at their bleakest he signed with the Zhejiang Guangsha of the Chinese Basketball Association, even though the Chinese league did not allow escape clauses should the lockout be resolved. And when agreement was reached in time to re-start the NBA on Christmas day, all Chandler could do was follow from the other side of the world.

“At first it was tough,” Chandler said. “I was sitting there like, ‘Man.’ When Kenyon [Martin] left and got to play, that’s what made it really hard.”

Martin left China in December, but wasn’t cleared to rejoin the NBA until February. He signed with the Los Angeles Clippers on Feb. 3. On Feb. 17, J.R. Smith signed with the New York Knicks. Chandler was cleared on Feb. 26, but his return was further complicated by the fact he was a restricted free agent (unlike the other two, who were unrestricted). That meant that any team besides the Nuggets had to sign him to at least a two-year offer, while Denver had the right to retain his services by matching.

It also represented his first contract negotiations under the new collective bargaining agreement, which his agent Chris Luchey described as “Very different. Much more difficult.” There were flirtations with the Toronto Raptors and talk of signing in Italy, before Chandler and Luchey headed to Denver for face-to-face negotiations that resulted in a five-year, $37 million contract hammered out over nine days.

“Wilson always had interest in Denver,” Luchey said. “He just wanted to get a long-term deal.”

In exchange, Denver well get an improved version of Chandler.

“I think I learned to be a better teammate,” Chandler said. “More vocal. When I was here before, I never was vocal before.”

Chandler, who never averaged more than 15.3 points per game in four NBA seasons, averaged 26.6 points in China. Perhaps that experience of being The Man in China can help out a Nuggets team that has searched for an assertive player in crunch time ever since they sent Carmelo Anthony to New York in the trade that first brought Chandler to Denver.

Chandler enjoyed the camaraderie in China, where teams seemingly have every meal together. But there’s nothing like the NBA.

“Just being around the players I grew up playing against and watching them play,” were what he missed about the league. “The competition level.”

He only has 20 games to get back to NBA speed as the Nuggets, who currently occupy the seventh spot in the Western Conference standings, push for the playoffs. It’s a younger, more athletic team than the one he left thanks to the trade deadline deal that sent Nene to Washington and brought in JaVale McGee.

And it’s worth noting that Chandler is the only one of the three Nuggets who went to China who is back in Denver.

“It says they want me,” Chandler said. “Masai [Ujiri, Denver’s general manager] was pretty aggressive before I went to China. I’m glad to be here. They wanted me to be here. I’m glad it worked out.”

Ever since Chauncey Billups was lost for the season on Feb. 6 to a torn left Achilles tendon, the Clippers are a mediocre 9-10, dropping games to Cleveland, Phoenix, New Jersey and Golden State (at home).

It’s always dangerous to link cause and effect, but despite his occasionally free-wheeling shot selection, Billups posted a Player Efficiency Rating of 16.3 in his 20 games as a starter. And despite reports of his demise as a defender, the Clippers were 4.4 points better defensively when Billups was on the floor.

The Clippers pursued J.R. Smith and had been active in trade discussions for several shooting guards in recent weeks. Price tags for such players have been steep, and in snagging Nick Young from a moribund Wizards squad, the Clippers gave up virtually nothing for a proficient shooter on an inexpensive expiring contract -- DNP case Brian Cook and a future second-round draft pick.

Young can shoot the 3-ball, particularly from the corners, where Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro tends to situate his wings in his pick-and-roll, isolation-heavy offense. Young is a 54.5 percent shooter on corner 3s, and his 30 makes from that zone rank him seventh in the NBA.

What Young can’t do much about is addressing the Clippers’ most pressing problem -- their 22nd-ranked defense. His 6-foot-7 frame will make life a little more difficult for opposing wings, who have had a significant height advantage over the Clippers’ defenders, but Young can never be characterized as a stopper. He’s also one of the most gratuitous chuckers of the dreaded long 2-point shot. And his miniscule 6.1 assist rate ranks him 78th of 79 qualified shooting guards -- deep black hole territory.

But on balance, this was an easy call for the Clippers. They have no long-term commitment to Young, who is on a one-year contract. If he can fill Billups’ shoes as a proficient spot-up specialist, good for the Clippers. If not, the Clippers still have Mo Williams as their designated microwave and can punt on Young at the end of the season.

One more wrinkle to consider assuming Dwight Howard doesn't have one final change of heart today: When he signs the waiver of the early termination option in his contract, he'll become a free agent on July 1, 2013 -- the same time the contract of Chris Paul expires with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Paul agreed to waive the early termination option in his own contract prior to the deal that sent him from New Orleans to Los Angeles. Uninterested in a one-year rental, the Clippers wanted a guarantee of two seasons from Paul in exchange for the trove of assets they sent to the Hornets.

Right now, it's too early to gauge whether Paul is a satisfied customer with the Clippers. He has stated a strong desire to be in Los Angeles, and the Clippers will always be able to offer him that. Blake Griffin seems like a natural running mate for Paul, but the health of that relationship will ultimately be determined by whether the two of them are playing meaningful basketball late into spring -- if not this year, then certainly in 2013.

The Clippers will still be able to offer Paul more money and more years than any other suitor come July 2013, but if things get bumpy with the Clippers, Paul now has another Top 5 talent whose timetable will coincide with his own -- and that represents a whole lot of leverage for both Paul and Howard.

If they so desired, Paul and Howard could join forces in any number of destinations, including Los Angeles -- a city Howard reportedly likes a whole lot -- or Orlando. For the Magic, it would be relatively simple. They'll have a glut of cap space because Jameer Nelson's contract comes off the books, and the final year of Hedo Turkoglu's deal is unguaranteed.

The Clippers have major commitments to DeAndre Jordan and Caron Butler in 2013-14, and will have to pay Griffin. But if Howard decides he wants to live in a zip code starting with (90), the Clippers could offer the Magic a sign-and-trade package that includes Jordan, Eric Bledsoe and other goodies.

If the Lakers can move Pau Gasol and the $19.3 million owed to him in 2013-14, you can imagine them as major players for a Paul-Howard duo. Ditto the Nets and even the Knicks, if they can wiggle out of their current spreadsheet nightmare.

It's too early to consider all the machinations, but once Howard signs that waiver, the Summer of 2013 just got a little nuttier.

How many times have you heard that the Suns will definitely not deal Steve Nash before the March 15 trade deadline?

Better question: Why have they taken that stance?

Answer: Because Suns owner Robert Sarver, according to sources close to the situation, continues to hold out hope that he can convince Nash to re-sign this summer for at least two seasons.

It remains to be seen how willing Nash is to stay after two seasons of steady decline on Sarver's watch since the Suns' Cinderella trip to the 2010 Western Conference finals. The New York Knicks' interest in pursuing Nash as a free agent in the summer is well-documented ... and sources with knowledge of the Dallas Mavericks' thinking say that the defending champs will definitely try to reunite Nash and Dirk Nowitzki in free agency in July if top targets Dwight Howard and Deron Williams elude them. The Toronto Raptors' interest in bringing Captain Canada back home is also well-established.

Sarver, though, is apparently determined to try to convince Nash to retire in the desert. The thinking there, sources say, is that the Suns believe they'd have a better core going forward with a re-upped Nash, center Marcin Gortat, cap space and a top pick in the well-regarded 2012 draft than with the sort of assets they could bring back now in a deadline deal for a 38-year-old point guard who, even as he continues to play at an All-Star level, is just a few months away from free agency.

The risk there, of course, is that keeping Nash beyond the trade deadline exposes the Suns to the same risks Orlando faces if it hangs onto Howard, creating the very real possibility that Nash could leave Phoenix without compensation. In that scenario, though, it's believed that Sarver would prefer to announce to the world afterward that the Suns tried everything they could to keep Nash but ultimately couldn't stop him from signing elsewhere -- and then start to try to rebuild with the resultant cap space -- as opposed to settling for a so-so trade in the next two weeks.

There are a couple voices out there on the NBA grapevine cautioning that the Suns are listening to Nash pitches more than they're letting on, but the overwhelming majority of insiders surveyed by ESPN.com in recent days continue to insist that Nash is going nowhere.

That's despite the fact that the Blazers, sources say, are still trying hard to pry Nash away from the Suns. RealGM.com, meanwhile, reported Sunday that the Magic likewise want to try to acquire Nash before the deadline as a means of appeasing Howard.

"Portland," says one source close to the situation, "has been interested in Nash for a while."

Said another: "Because of his age and because he can leave in the summer, offers for Nash haven't been as star-laden as you'd think."

Yet even if the Blazers were willing to include the widely coveted Nicolas Batum in a package for Nash -- which is a matter of debate depending on who's doing the gossiping -- sources say Phoenix continues to put out the message that it won't deal Nash unless Nash asks to be traded. Which is something Nash has consistently said he won't do.

Which is why most teams, when polled these days, leave you with the impression that they expect neither Howard nor Nash to be moved before the deadline.

While we may not see many trades occur before the week of the March 15 deadline, discussions are taking place in front offices throughout the league.

Here's some of the scuttlebutt I've heard:

The Lakers' front office knows Kobe Bryant is looking for it to improve the roster, and GM Mitch Kupchak has been working the phones. He's spoken to Minnesota about Michael Beasley, and sources say the Lakers are intrigued by the Timberwolves' small forward. The Lakers were actually in discussions with Minnesota about a potential trade for Beasley before the season started. If they would have been able to pull off the deal for Chris Paul, there is a good chance that a trade for Beasley would have followed.

It's not clear what the Lakers would give Minnesota for Beasley (if indeed the talks get that far), but the Lakers could absorb Beasley into their $8.9 million trade exception while giving up a draft pick or cash. I'm told the teams have not spoken about Pau Gasol since the preseason. Minnesota is looking to move Beasley, who they feel has matured very little (if at all) since he's been there, according to sources. The Lakers believe they can handle a player like Beasley because of their winning culture and the leadership of Bryant.

Of course, the Lakers need a point guard even more than a small forward. While they worked out Gilbert Arenas last week, they have not come to a decision on him. They want to see if they can get another point guard, such as Cleveland's Ramon Sessions, before making a play for Arenas. There's a good chance they can get Sessions for a first-round draft pick before the deadline, sources say. If they don't get Sessions or someone else, they may bring Arenas aboard.

There are a few other PGs who could be available. While the Lakers would love to get Houston's Kyle Lowry, the Rockets plan to build around their vastly-improved point guard. But either of their two backups, Goran Dragic or Jonny Flynn, would be an improvement over what they currently have.

Lots of teams are calling Toronto about Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani. The Raptors aren't likely to part with Bargnani, and if they move Calderon, they'll need to get a point guard in return. That would seem to make a trade for Calderon unlikely.

Sources say Dallas is about ready to move on from the Roddy Beaubois experiment. The Mavericks have thought for years that the talented young Frenchman could be another Tony Parker, but he has not been able to master the move from shooting guard to point guard. Nor has he been able to fill the void left by J.J. Barea. If they don't move him before this year's deadline, he could be gone over the summer.

The feeling among some in Atlanta is that the Hawks' rotation was thrown out of whack by the return of Kirk Hinrich. The Hawks started the season 13-5 but have gone just 6-8 since Hinrich returned from shoulder surgery. Though he's struggled this season, one would think Hinrich could help a club if made available.

Frustration abounds in Atlanta right now, and sources say Marvin Williams wants out because he wants to play somewhere where he'll have an increased role offensively. Williams is averaging just 9.6 points per game, his lowest since his rookie season.

They're frustrated in Portland too, and Raymond Felton said as much in a report last week. But Felton, who's averaging a career-low 10 points on 36 percent shooting, knows he's at least partly to blame as well. He recently had talks with the Blazers' coaching staff and the idea of bringing him off the bench to stir things up was broached. Felton would be amenable to that, but only as a short-term solution.

Amid all the NBA noise, there is conspicuous silence emanating from the Arizona desert. That sound you don’t hear is Steve Nash, not asking for a trade.

Maybe it’s a cultural thing for the guy who referred to himself as “the Canadian Jeremy Lin” on Friday. Canadians aren’t big on rocking the boat, or putting individual agendas ahead of the group goals. Then again, Nash comes from hockey country, and it’s commonplace in the NHL to see aging stars moved to a team that gives them a shot at the Stanley Cup. (The most famous was Ray Bourque who latched onto the Colorado Avalanche’s Cup run at age 40 after a standout career in Boston). This is Nash’s window to do the same thing.

Nash is 38, and entering the….nah, the solar metaphor is too easy. Let’s go lunar and say he’s in the waning crescent stage. If he asked out after giving eight great years to a Phoenix Suns franchise that has repeatedly made fiscal obligations a priority over championship aspirations, could anyone blame him?

“I’m not oblivious to [the chance of] playing on a contender,” Nash said. “But at the same time, especially in the position I’m in right now, I feel a sense of loyalty to my team. To go and ask for a trade, it’s not like I’m going to say, ‘Trade me to...’

He made a circling motion with his finger, as if he were about to land it on a destination. That seems to be the vogue in the NBA for players with an opt-out looming in their contract. Carmelo Anthony forced his way to New York, Chris Paul wound up in Los Angeles (one way or another), Dwight Howard has made his list for whenever Orlando realizes it’s time for him to go.

“I think they are in slightly different scenarios,” Nash said. “Mine’s a different scenario at this stage in my career. I don’t want to jeopardize or turn my back on my teammates for that limited…let’s say, unknown.”
He can improve his chances to win a ring…but they’re still just chances. No guarantees in the NBA. And besides…what would be in it for the Suns?

Placing Nash on a contender and getting back the most amount of talent in return for him are inherently contrasting goals. If the Suns cleaned up the way the Nuggets did with Carmelo, what would be left for Nash to contend with?
Also, the Suns don’t have a single, monstrous contract that will keep them over the salary cap for years to come. In fact, one reason to keep Nash aboard for the duration of the season is that his contract is expiring. That’s $11.7 million that comes off the books this summer.

The Suns aren’t trying to move Nash. They respect his professionalism in not speaking out and making an already trying season any more difficult.

He surely wouldn’t mind going someplace better. He just isn’t the one to demand it.

So he remains tied to a team that fell to 12-19 after a loss to the Lakers Friday, locked in a situation that Nash described as, “a team in transition. Everyone wants to be on a contender. It’s cyclical. Right now we’re not contending. We’re just trying to fight for an eighth spot.

“I just feel like I owe it to my teammates [to stay],” Nash said. “I like these guys a lot. I want to fight for them and see how good we can be. If we take our lumps, we take our lumps.

“I don’t knock anyone else. They’re in the prime of their careers. They’re trying to sign a max [contract]. Everyone’s situation is different. I’m not condemning anyone else.

“I’ve had some really good years here. I feel like I owe it to my friends and my teammates. I don’t feel it’s in my place to call for a trade.”

Maybe he won’t get his ring. He’ll always have those two Most Valuable Player trophies (the two Kobe Bryant tries to avenge every time they meet, and did so to the tune of 36 points in 35 minutes Friday night). And he’s left a stylish imprint on the game that’s evident every time you watch Lin or Chris Paul keep dribbling, circling, probing, even stopping in the middle of the lane when necessary.

“I wouldn’t want to take any credit for the way any other guys play,” Nash said. “Chris is fantastic and the best point guard out there. Any similarity is a compliment to me.”

It’s there. You don’t even have to watch that closely to see it. And you don’t need to have a vested interest in Nash to be curious to see what it would be like for him to chase a ring.

As strongly as the Miami Heat are coming on, they could still use a veteran point guard. Nash could help the Philadelphia 76ers with their halfcourt offense. And we all know the Lakers could use more from their point guards although he wouldn’t help with their defensive issues at the position.

It looks like any movement will have to wait until this summer when he becomes a free agent. He said he wants to play “two or three years, for sure” and maybe he can make a trip to the NBA Finals by then.

Just don’t expect it to happen this year.

Precisely when the Orlando Magic might be willing to trade Dwight Howard is not yet clear.

All we know right now is that it’s obviously not going to be soon enough for New Jersey Nets fans, who serenaded their team with chants of "We Want Howard" during a humbling home defeat to the Atlanta Hawks at the Prudential Center on Tuesday night.

Which only happened to be the Nets' home opener.

However ...

There is at least a fairly clear sense out there about what the Magic would eventually want in exchange for Howard if they decide, as widely expected between now and the March 15 deadline, to make sure they get something for their face of the franchise as opposed to risking the sight of their Team USA center bolting Orlando in July with nothing coming back in return, just like a certain TNT analyst did in the Olympic summer of 1996.

A picture of what the Magic will ultimately expect in a swap for their defensive anchor has indeed begun to emerge, with sources briefed on Orlando's thinking telling ESPN.com this week that the Magic does not plan to hold out for youth and draft picks as the league-owned New Orleans Hornets were ordered to do in the Chris Paul sweepstakes. The Magic, sources say, would instead prefer to bring back multiple established veterans who can keep the team competitive.

Reason being: Orlando moved into a new arena last season and has a 85-year-old owner in Rich De Vos. Sources say De Vos has little interest in starting over/rebuilding, as evidenced by the recent decisions to trade for Glen "Big Baby" Davis and re-sign Jason Richardson even though Howard's future is so murky.

The trade proposal for Howard that advanced the farthest to date -- before Magic GM Otis Smith publicly announced that he's not ready to part with his 26-year-old star -- would have delivered Nets center Brook Lopez, Portland Trail Blazers swingman Gerald Wallace and at least one first-round pick to Orlando while also seeing the Nets absorb the long-term contracts of Hedo Turkoglu and Chris Duhon for the right to take Dwight with them to Brooklyn.

Sources told ESPN.com that the aforementioned Hawks, meanwhile, engaged Orlando in trade talks for Howard earlier this month with an offer believed to be headlined by $124 million guard Joe Johnson and swingman Josh Smith. You have to figure that the Magic, though, would insist on Al Horford if such discussions ever got serious.

The Hawks are not on Howard's short list of preferred trade destinations alongside the Nets, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks, even though Atlanta is his hometown. That's presumably because Howard wants no part of Atlanta's perpetually unsettled ownership situation. The Hawks nonetheless took the risk of pursuing Howard anyway without any assurances about how long he’d be willing to stay and, according to sources, felt like they were making some semblance of progress before the Magic shut down talks.

Yet it appears that the Magic, as the Orlando Sentinel reported earlier this month, are inclined to wait until closer to the trading deadline before making a move to keep open the possibility that Howard has a change of heart and consents to a contract extension that prevents him from reaching free agency.

It remains to be seen if Orlando will win enough in the short term to stay patient and maintain some level of calm surrounding Howard. But patience is a posture that the Magic believe they can afford to take because, as Smith told the Sentinel's Josh Robbins: “I don’t think there’s anything on the table that won’t be on the table three months from now."

Howard's agent, Dan Fegan, has formal permission from the Magic to discuss trade possibilities with the three teams (Nets, Lakers and Mavs) atop Howard's wish list. The strongest signals in circulation indicate that Howard has the Nets in the top spot on that list, since that would allow him to to hook up with fellow All-Star Deron Williams, move with the Nets to Brooklyn starting next season and -- perhaps as important as anything, one source maintains -- hush the criticism about following Shaquille O'Neal's career script too closely by choosing to spurn the Lakers instead of joining them.

Yet multiple teams observing the Dwight Sweepstakes have suggested this month that the best offer Orlando is likely to see figures to be a three-way deal reminiscent of the trade construction that the Lakers and Houston Rockets hatched in their near-trade for CP3 that was ultimately vetoed by NBA commissioner David Stern in his role as the Hornets' stand-in owner.

If the Lakers reach the point that they're willing to give up both Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol in a three-way Dwight deal with the Rockets, Orlando could conceivably come away with Bynum, Luis Scola and Kevin Martin, with Gasol landing in Houston as he would have in the original Paul trade. That would undoubtedly be a strong trio to start over with, in addition to shedding Turkoglu and perhaps Duhon, who are both signed through the 2013-14 season at a combined cost of roughly $45 million.

But here's the thing: L.A. might not ever get to that point. If the Lakers are unwilling to give up both Bynum and Gasol, as some insiders continue to suggest, that trade concept will never progress to an active discussion.

Complicating things further, of course, is the recent foot injury suffered by the Nets' Lopez, whose best attribute -- if you're comparing him to Bynum -- had been his durability until this setback. It's anyone's guess now as to whether Lopez will be healthy enough to include in a trade package if/when the Magic are finally ready to deal … or if New Jersey will have to try to rope in an additional team or two to replace Lopez in the deal and still assemble an offer good enough to trump the Lakers and any other team (like Atlanta) willing to gamble on Howard without a clear-cut promise that DH12 will stay.

J.R. Smith would like nothing more than to follow Kenyon Martin out of China and back to the United States. But a source close to the situation said we shouldn't expect other NBA players -- Smith, Wilson Chandler or Aaron Brooks -- to follow Martin's example and make an early exit from the Chinese Basketball Association.

All the NBA players who signed to play in China during the lockout, including Martin, did so with the understanding and contractual obligation to stay throughout the entire CBA season. Of course, anyone can leave a team, but the Chinese teams will not clear such players to play elsewhere (NBA, Europe, etc.) until his particular Chinese team finishes its season, whether before, during or after the CBA playoffs.

There has been talk that NBA players can buy out of their contracts for $500,000, but even that sum isn't going to move CBA officials to clear guys to play in the NBA.

"China will let these guys go home, but they’ll stop your money or even ask you for some of the money back, and you can’t play for another team around the world until your team in China’s season is over,'' the source said.

So even though Martin flew back to the United States on Wednesday, he will not be able to sign with an NBA team until his Chinese team, Xinjiang, finishes its season. The CBA's regular season ends on February 15. The playoffs could run as late as March 28.

So expect Smith, Chandler and Brooks to finish their seasons in the CBA. Smith, who tried to leave his Chinese club after suffering a controversial knee injury in his first game, recently sought a break with his club, Zhejiang, but according to a source, Smith was told that if he leaves, he would have to repay all the money he's already made plus the $500,000 buyout. And of course, he wouldn't be able to sign with an NBA team until Zhejiang ends its season.

So Smith is staying put.

Chandler and Brooks, both of whom are in favorable situations in China, are not looking to leave the CBA early, according to the source.

Martin, Smith, Chandler and Brooks have until late April to sign with NBA teams and still be eligible to play in the playoffs.

The unknown factors in the Chris Paul trade saga remain a mystery. Smart people are still asking the right questions, but we still don't know what governed the decision to veto a three-way trade between the Hornets, Lakers and Rockets, then sign off on a package from the Clippers.

We don't know to what extent that first deal was agreed upon by front office principals in New Orleans, Houston and Los Angeles. We don't know whether the subsequent rejection of that trade for "basketball reasons" was just that -- a statement about the contents of the package, or whether the league had ulterior motives like throwing a bone to a segment of owners or listening to the wishes of a potential buyer.

What few have asked is why the Hornets felt the dire need to trade Chris Paul in the first place, a question Mavericks owner Mark Cuban addressed over the weekend in an interview with TMZ:

[W]e went through a long lockout, and one of the things we were trying to gain was that small-market teams could have confidence they could keep their star players ... There would be enough financial incentives for them to stay with the incumbent team. And within two weeks of the new collective bargaining agreement, the smallest-market team, which is owned by the NBA, threw up their hands and said, ‘We can’t keep our star player.’ So it’s not about Chris Paul. It’s more about the fact that the NBA kind of gave up on the CBA before giving it a chance. And to me, that made them kind of hypocritical -- or very hypocritical -- which didn’t sit too well with me...

... We had a lockout. What was the purpose of the lockout? One of the goals of the lockout was to have more parity. With free agency, players are always allowed to choose wherever they want to go, but they have to make a decision. Do they want to stay with their existing teams and make the most money, or leave on their own terms to wherever they want to go with cap room and take less money? My personal belief is 90 percent of the time players are going to take the greater money, which meant that Chris Paul could've, would've -- or any star player could've, would've -- wanted to stay in the smaller market. And you’ve got other teams that are making that conscious decision to stick it out like Orlando is doing. But of all the teams not sticking it out, you would think the team owned by the NBA and run by the commissioner would be the first to stick it out, and they weren’t. And to me, it’s hypocritical, and threw a lot of us under the bus.

Cuban argues that a team owned by the NBA should've been faithful to the spirit of a collective bargaining agreement that makes superstars choose between destination and treasure. Had Chris Paul opted out of the final year of his contract with New Orleans and chosen the Lakers, then so be it. Paul would've had to settle for only $75.8 million over four seasons rather than the $100.2 million over five seasons he could've earned only with the Hornets.

Critics of Cuban's argument would say that an unwillingness to trade Paul could mean the Hornets would be stuck with nothing in return.

But is nothing really so bad?

Wasn't the initial proposal -- which would've netted the Hornets Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Lamar Odom and Goran Dragic -- rejected because it would've made the Hornets too competitive? The Hornets would've been consigned to the NBA's middle class, not competitive enough to win anything meaningful, but not bad enough to secure a future superstar with a high draft pick. While treading water, the Hornets would be on the hook for tens of millions of dollars, even if those contracts are of relatively fair value, which they are.

In contrast, the Clippers delivered a likely Top 10 pick, along with an expiring deal for an All-Star center, a prolific young scorer and a forward prospect. Nevermind that the center won't be around next season, the scorer might not want to stick around and the prospect may or may not amount to anything. In fact, for teams in rebuilding mode, success presents serious problems. As Ethan Sherwood Strauss wrote last week at HoopSpeak, why pay to be competitive if you can tank for less?

Much of the appeal in this Clippers-Hornets trade is derived from how it makes the Hornets immediately, well, bad ... Obviously, Eric Gordon is a key get, but few observers believe he’ll take New Orleans to next year’s playoffs. And that’s the point. The Hornets will receive a high lottery selection to pair with Minnesota’s 2011 draft pick. A gutted team plus lotto hope makes for a more enticing situation than the playoff contention troika of Luis Scola, Lamar Odom, and Kevin Martin.

By shepherding this particular trade through, the commissioner is tacitly–maybe even overtly–singing a grand, bellowing ode to the glories of tanking. And he is quite correct, because ping pong balls determine so much.

This is why Orlando shouldn't worry too much about getting nothing in return for Howard -- and why New Orleans should flip Eric Gordon as soon as possible, lest he help them win 28 games and finish with the No. 9 or 10 pick.

Nuggets general manager Masai Ujiri deserves praise for engineering a strong deal when Carmelo Anthony declared he wanted out of Denver, but pull back for a second and consider what the future looks like for the Nuggets. Those nice assets accumulated in Anthony trade should, along with Nene, sentence the Nuggets to respectability. The team will be fun, likeable and utterly irrelevant on May 25, if not sooner. While the dregs of the league scout all the coveted incoming big men at the top of the draft board, Denver will troll the middle ranks of the first round.

It will be years before we can fairly judge whether the Nuggets would've been better off letting Anthony leave "for nothing," but if your goal is June basketball in Denver at the earliest possible moment, Top 5 picks and swaths of cap space for the foreseeable future might be preferable to Danilo Gallinari and a highly-compensated Nene, who is approaching 30. Nuggets fans won't have to cover their eyes, but they can probably forget about seeing tickets with holograms on them anytime soon.

When we learned last week of a Howard trade proposal that had Brook Lopez, Gerald Wallace, Jordan Farmar and a pick to Orlando, the early takeaway was that Orlando was getting the shaft. But the problem for Orlando wasn't that the deal was bad -- it's that it wasn't bad enough! The NBA is governed by a system that reserves its greatest rewards for abject failure, but tells teams striving to put a competitive product on the floor that it's wasting its time.

Think about the Houston Rockets for a second. While they had $40 million of annual salary tied up in two injured superstars, they continued to make wily deals, like offloading Rafer Alston for the Grizzlies' backup point guard, and stealing an Argentinian power forward from the Spurs for Vassilis Spanoulis. Kyle Lowry and Luis Scola have allowed the Rockets to remain competitive on a nightly basis -- and forever relegated to the middle of the first round of the NBA draft, where superstars are a once in a generation occurrence.

What do you do if you're the Rockets or the Hawks and have the talent in place to hang around the 45-win mark for the foreseeable future? Are you deluding yourself in a system with screwy disincentives and maddening inefficiencies? Are you better off conducting a fire sale and putting a sign at the arena gate apologizing for the mess while you remodel?

Mark Cuban is half right-half wrong. If the Hornets and/or the NBA made a mistake by dealing away Chris Paul, it isn't because they betrayed any tacit promise they owed to small-market owners (You want a promise? Get it in the form of a hard cap). It's because they acquired a player who has the potential to win basketball games and cost them lots of money next summer, two things that will work in opposition to getting atop the NBA draft board.

Orlando now finds itself in a similar situation with Howard. The two most desirable outcomes for the Magic are (1) figuring out how to retain Howard for the long term (2) putting themselves in the same position they were when they drafted Howard in 2004 -- 40 games under .500.

Offering him the most years at the most money is the only way to achieve No. 1. "Getting nothing in return for Howard" is the easiest way to get to No. 2.

But trading Howard for productive players is the sure-fire way to thwart both plans.

Free-agent center Nene and the Denver Nuggets have agreed to terms on a five-year deal worth in excess $67 million, according to sources close to the talks.

Widely regarded as the No. 1 free agent on the 2011 market, Nene was chased hard by teams such as New Jersey, Houston and Indiana.


But all of his suitors knew that his preference was to stay with the Nuggets, with whom he's played his whole career.


The deal, sources say, will pay Nene an average of $13.5 million over the next five season, which is one season longer than any other team could offer.



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By Marc Stein, ESPN.com and Chris Broussard, ESPN The Magazine

League officials representing the New Orleans Hornets and the Los Angeles Clippers continued discussions into Tuesday night on a trade that would put Chris Paul on the same team with Blake Griffin, according to sources briefed on the talks.

But the sides have yet to find a framework that satisfies both, sources said, with the NBA not relenting on its desire to acquire the Clippers' top five available trade assets in return for Paul, who would invoke the 2012-13 option in his contract as part of any trade between the teams to ensure the Clippers would have him for at least two seasons.

"They're still asking for everyone," said one source with knowledge of the Clippers' thinking.

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The Associated Press:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Free agent center Kwame Brown has agreed to terms on a one-year, $7 million contract with the Golden State Warriors.

The offer was "too good to pass up," said Mark Bartelstein, Brown's agent.

The loss of Brown leaves the Bobcats with a hole at center. DeSagana Diop, who is coming off a torn Achilles tendon, is the only center on the Bobcats roster.

Brown is "extremely grateful" for the opportunity the Bobcats gave him, Bartelstein said, adding that "it was a huge step to come back and play for Michael (Jordan)."

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By Ramona Shelburne, ESPNLosAngeles.com:


PLAYA VISTA, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Clippers expect point guard Chauncey Billups to arrive in Los Angeles on Wednesday, despite threats from Billups' agent that he might retire if he was claimed off waivers by a team he did not want to join.

"He'll be here tomorrow, we're making plane reservations right now," Clippers general manager Neil Olshey said. "I think with Chauncey, he really wanted to control the process. So it's been hard for him. He's a Hall of Fame level player. He's won championships.

"But he understands that we had to do what was in the best interest of the organization, and now, not unlike Sam Cassell or Marcus Camby a few years back, it's our job to kind to kind of recruit him and indoctrinate him into our culture and get him excited about this team."


A source close to the situation told ESPNLosAngeles.com that Billups was "upset" after being claimed by the team, but "he'll be OK. It's just going to take some time."


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Jamal Crawford has narrowed his choices to Portland, New York and Sacramento, according to a source close to the situation.

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After wrapping up a call with Chauncey Billups on Monday night, Clippers general manager Neil Olshey got a chance to slip out of the team’s training facility and head home for the first time in a couple of days. At his Monday afternoon media availability, Olshey was sporting stubble and the white Clippers polo shirt he'd been wearing during the all-nighter he pulled on Sunday night in the Chris Paul talks.

While all eyes were on the state of negotiations on Monday, the Clippers filled out the league's automated amnesty form and filled in $2,000,032 in the amount field for the rights to Billups. (Why 32? That's Blake Griffin's jersey number.) While the Clippers haggled with the NBA over a deal for Paul, they cleverly exploited one of the league's newest instruments -- the amnesty bidding process -- to give themselves a little more leverage in negotiations.

The addition of Billups gives the Clippers insurance at the point guard position, where they currently employ Mo Williams (young backup Bledsoe is recovering from surgery). And if somehow a deal for Paul came together, then they could slide Billups over to the off-guard slot where he'd spot up for kickouts -- or just use him off the bench as a microwave.

Leverage has been a funny thing in the Paul negotiations. For a while, we thought Paul had all the leverage. He's the guy who can opt out of his contract in 29 weeks. When he named the Lakers as his preferred destination, that seemed to give Mitch Kupchak the upper hand. Once the league rejected the proposal submitted by the Lakers, Rockets and Hornets, the Clippers stepped in to fill the vacuum. The Hornets wanted youth, valuable picks and expiring deals, and the Clippers had all the above -- along with a promise from Paul that he'd opt in for 2012-13. Now the Clippers had leverage. Where else could the Hornets and/or the NBA possibly find that kind of package? The league wouldn't consider allowing Paul to walk for nothing, would it?

Even with a dwindling field of trading partners, the Hornets demanded all five of the Clippers' prime trading chips -- Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman (whose deal expires at the end of the season), Al-Farouq Aminu, Eric Bledsoe and Minnesota's unprotected 2012 first-round draft pick. The Clippers rebuffed that offer, knowing they won't be outbid for Paul.

In the meantime, nobody was crying at the Clippers' facility at Tuesday's media day. Gordon has never been uber-gregarious, but he pleasantly brushed off questions about having his name batted around in trade talk. Bledsoe and Aminu followed suit. With Billups on the way and a team they feel is playoff ready, the Clippers will continue to listen but, with a little more leverage, are well aware that if the offer was there yesterday, then it will be there tomorrow.

But leverage is designed to get the opposing party to come back with a more lenient offer, and there's little evidence the Hornets have any intention of settling for anything less than the moon, even if Paul opts out of his contract on June 30, 2012. The Clippers are unlikely to lose Paul before the trading deadline to another NBA team, but they could place second to None of the Above.

So if you're the Clippers, why not roll the dice, even if it means parting with all five trade assets?

Kaman isn't coming back anyway. Aminu has some redeeming qualities as a player, but doesn't project to be an elite forward. Bledsoe is a lightning-quick point guard with potential, but he's no Chris Paul.

You can even make an argument for trading both of the Clippers' most prized possessions. The Minnesota pick should be high, but the draft produces few guarantees. If the Timberwolves pick becomes a very decent, but unexceptional, player, do you want to be the team that passed on Paul to preserve the rights to a Jeff Green, Tyrus Thomas or Mike Conley Jr.?

As for Gordon, he might be unaffordable after a Paul acquisition. The Clippers will owe $38.5 million to Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Caron Butler, Mo Williams and Ryan Gomes in 2012-13. Paul will require a max contract. Considering the swaths of cap space around the league, it's a fair bet Gordon will too if he has another standout season. And that's before you extend Blake Griffin -- which is really the whole point of all this if you're the Clippers.

Two seasons worth of Chris Paul could be the salve that cures a generation of affliction for the Clippers. Pairing Paul with Griffin for a preseason slate might be enough to talk the pair into setting up shop for the long term -- but the risks are enormous. Getting Chris Paul and keeping Chris Paul are two entirely different tasks.

No matter how loudly Paul shouts he wants to be a Clipper for life -- and he hasn't made any promise of the kind -- what if the knee acts up? Or what if the Clippers sniff a couple of Western Conference semifinals but, with seriously depleted depth, never play past Memorial Day? What if either (or both) Griffin or Paul decides he'd prefer to play elsewhere in 2013-14? Olshey would have to play the role of Dell Demps, trying to extract as much for his superstars as possible with a gun pointed to his head and an irascible owner. When the circus was over, the Clippers would be without Paul, Griffin, Gordon, Bledsoe and Aminu. You can almost hear the barbs, "Leave it to the Clippers to burn through a decade of assets, two superstars and somehow be left with nothing!"

The most important calculus through which the Clippers are factoring their decisions is the probability that Griffin will sign an extension with the team. The NBA's competitive landscape is governed by superstars. The Clippers have one in hand, and keeping him is essential. The $43 million they've committed to Jordan -- Griffin's best friend on the team -- might well be worth every penny if it's a decisive factor in keeping Griffin in a Clippers uniform. The Butler acquisition wasn't a good value play, but spending big money for an upgrade at the team's weakest position sent a signal Griffin's way.

Backing up the truck for Chris Paul might be the Clippers' ultimate statement that they're serious about retaining Griffin for a lifetime. If Griffin wanted Paul above everything else -- so much so that No. 32 would sign a long-term extension tomorrow if Paul arrived on the first flight -- one suspects the Clippers might do it.

But right now, the Clippers have made it clear that nobody is forcing their hand. They won't be rushed by the Hornets' hefty demands or peculiar process. The Clippers have waited a lifetime and they're prepared to wait a little longer.