Celtics will send Garnett, Pierce to Nets
The Celtics’ Kevin Garnett has agreed to waive his no-trade clause, sealing the deal on a trade that will send Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry to the Brooklyn Nets, ESPN.com reported Thursday night.
The trade can’t officially be consummated until July 10, when a league-wide moratorium on signings and trades is lifted after free agency begins July 1.
Brooklyn has agreed to send three first-round picks (2014, 2016 and 2018) along with Kris Humphries’ expiring contract, Gerald Wallace, Tornike Shengelia, Reggie Evans and a sign-and-traded Keith Bogans to the Celtics. By agreeing to add Terry to the trade, sources said, Brooklyn alleviated some of Boston’s concerns about absorbing the remaining three years and $30 million on Wallace’s contract. starting salary of about $1.5 million.
ANTHONY DOESN’T EXPECT SURGERY
Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony says he doesn’t believe he’ll need surgery on his partially torn left labrum, according to ESPNNewYork.com.
“I don’t think so,” Anthony said when asked about his shoulder at a ribbon-cutting event for two refurbished courts he provided in Brooklyn. “My shoulder feels much better. For the past four-to-five weeks, I’ve let it rest and heal up. It’s not 100 percent yet, but it’s much better.”
FRANK TO JOIN KIDD’S NETS STAFF
Lawrence Frank will join Jason Kidd’s Brooklyn Nets staff as Kidd’s lead assistant, ESPNNewYork.com reported.
Frank coached Kidd during most of his tenure as the Nets’ head coach.
The Nets have also reportedly added Roy Rogers and Eric Hughes to their staff.
LAKERS TO HOWARD: STAY
The Los Angeles Lakers unveiled a massive banner on the side of Staples Center on Wednesday with a photo of Dwight Howard and the word “Stay.” Team spokesman John Black said the team plans on putting six or seven more billboards at key locations and will take out a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times.
The message included the hashtag #STAYD12, with the team hoping the message will catch on through social media. Black said the effort “company-wide initiative” as part of a plan to get Howard to sign a max contract extension with the team.
BIRD EAGER TO GET STARTED
After watching from afar as the team he rebuilt reached the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in nine years and came within one victory of dethroning NBA champion Miami, Larry Bird thinks he has a pretty good idea what it will take to lead Indiana to its first league title.
“My dreams, my goals are set pretty high,” he said after being reintroduced as the team’s president of basketball operations Thursday. “I know how hard it is to win a championship. It’s tough. But when you have guys who stick together, who play together, who share the basketball and care about one another, it’s a hell of a start.”
While Bird concurred with his successor and predecessor Donnie Walsh and general manager Kevin Pritchard that the team’s top offseason priority is to re-sign free agent David West — the power forward Bird signed two years ago to toughen up the team — the blunt-talking Bird explained he’s ready to improve the team’s bench play, viewing it as “a glaring need.”