HOOPSWORLD | Basketball News & NBA Rumors

In This Edition of the NBA PM: Was O.J. Mayo almost traded or not?…Sacramento makes it to the salary minimum…Boston looking at free agency…Buy-out candidates…NBA Chats.

Alex Raskin is traveling and will return next week.

Mayo Was Not Traded: The Indiana Pacers and Memphis Grizzlies agreed upon a trade today to send guard O.J. Mayo to Indy in exchange for forward Josh McRoberts and a first-round pick. Unfortunately, the decision to pull the trigger came too late and the deal did not get a place in line with the NBA before the 3pm Eastern Time cutoff.

First off, that would have been a steal for the Pacers. Memphis had dramatically dropped their asking price and figured Indy’s pick would be good enough to justify the move for the former third pick in the NBA Draft. Sure, his stock had fallen because Mayo didn’t seem to fit Memphis’ rotation any longer – despite previously starting – and because of his 10-game suspension for testing positive for a performance enhancing drug, but he still is a very, very talented player.

Secondly, despite the fact it would have been a steal, it would seem Indiana might have been the ones who didn’t make their decision quickly enough. Well, depending on who is asked the question.

Memphis owner Michael Heisley claims Indy dragged their feet on the base deal, but reports out of Indiana say the deal was never close enough to be done. They wanted to get a big man out of the deal as well, but Memphis balked.

"Indiana was not able to get it all together," Heisley told David Aldridge in a telephone interview. "People are going to say I have reservations (about the proposed trade). I think from our point of view, we were interested in the trade going forward. It was a very, very difficult conversation for us. It took us a long time to decide. We were getting a lot of players at the two and three position and we were getting a little skinny at the four. We had three candidates we were looking at and when we decided on one, O.J. had to be part of that trade. It wasn’t that we were anxious to get rid of him."

Perhaps this deal wasn’t nearly as close to finishing as we thought, because it seems on both sides of it there are unresolved questions.

Sacramento Makes the Minimum: Earlier today, in the epic HOOPSWORLD Trade Deadline Diary, I included this note after doing some calculations following Sacramento’s trade of Carl Landry to New Orleans:

After trading Carl Landry to the New Orleans Hornets for Marcus Thornton – and cutting $2.2 million from their cap in the process – the Sacramento Kings have a cap figure of just under $43 million. Why is this notable?

The NBA has minimum salary as well as a salary cap and a luxury tax level, but it’s something rarely discussed because most teams are at the cap or higher. It’s 75% of the cap figure, and this year 75% of $58.044 million is $43.533 million.

The Kings? They sit about $700k below that.

What that means is they will get charged the difference between their final cap figure and $43.533 million at the end of the year – a team spends 75% of the cap figure no matter what.

No other team is remotely close to this situation.

Sacramento was well aware of the situation. At the very last minute they agree to take Marquis Daniels from the Boston Celtics in exchange for cash. Daniels is on the books for $2.5 million this season, which was enough to push the Kings above the salary cap minimum.

Daniels also will likely not play again this season. He suffered a bruised spinal cord on February 6th against Orlando and may need season-ending surgery. For Sacramento this was purely about reaching that 75% of the salary cap mark.

Speaking of Boston: At the deadline, in the flurry of activity, the Celtics pulled off three deals. Those are detailed more here, but they sent out five players (Kendrick Perkins, Nate Robinson, Daniels, Semih Erden, and Luke Harangody) and returned only two (Nenad Krstic and Jeff Green). Interesting. Why would a team with the best record in the Eastern Conference do such a thing? Aren’t those decisions teams trying to cut cap would do?

{AUTHOR_BOX}Perhaps, but the Celtics are also a team who strongly believes in adding veterans to the team at the last possible minute for a playoff run, and they have been linked to likely buy-out candidates like power forward Troy Murphy and point guard T.J. Ford. There has even been some unsubstantiated talk Rasheed Wallace might make another appearance, but Sheed says no.

What is clear is the Celtics have to have a plan here, because if they don’t they just made their team much weaker – especially in the middle – at the time of the season when teams usually look to get tougher.

And if the plan is to go after Murphy and give him Perkins’ minutes, that may not go as well as hoped. Perkins is none for defense and toughness. Murphy is known for shooting and some rebounding. One does not replace the other.

Buy-Outs: Quite a few players are rumored to be seeking buy-outs – or their team is seeking to give them one – following the deadline.

In Indiana point guard T.J. Ford is expected to begin serious talks with the team. He is open to a buy-out as long he can make up the difference with a deal with a new team. If he has no guarantee such an agreement exists, he won’t agree to one. Portland and Miami reportedly are the top teams interested.

In Houston, forward Jared Jeffries will have the same discussion. If he does become a free agent, the New York Knicks might be interested in bringing him back to strengthen their frontcourt depth.

In Golden State forward Troy Murphy is expected to get a buy-out and will be in high demand. Orlando and Boston are at the top of the list, but there could be others as well.

In New Jersey there has been talk of them buying out the newly acquired Dan Gadzuric. It’s not clear at this time if there is a market for him in free agency.

In Minnesota center Eddy Curry will be waived, buy-out agreement or not. Miami has reportedly shown some interest, but perhaps he’s not at the top of the list.

In Charlotte center Joel Przybilla, acquired today in the Gerald Wallace deal, may seek a buy-out and could be thinking about retirement.

We will keep you updated on these situations as details emerge.

NBA Chats: Steve Kyler and Bill Ingram will take your questions today at 7pm Eastern in an epic post-trade deadline wrap. Lang Greene, based in Atlanta, will follow up at 8pm Eastern.  All the upcoming chats can be seen here and all the chat wraps are here.