NBA chatter: Warriors are “very active” in pursuit of Stoudemire
Out here at Oracle after my two-day blog-free furlough and yes, there’s a game going on…
But all I’m hearing is loud and solid buzz that the Warriors are intent on diving into the red-hot trade market for Amare Stoudemire and that they want people around the league–and, I’m assuming, in the media–to know about it.
The Warriors want to punch some life into this season, with season-ticket renewals set to go out soon.
The fastest way to do that is to add a young big player who fills their huge need for scoring in the middle.
“They’ve gotten very active with the Stoudemire stuff,” said one NBA source, referring to the chase for the Suns’ young big man.
Apparently, the talk revved up today and the Warriors were either in direct contact with the Suns or the Warriors’ executives were telling other teams that they were.
Either way, the Warriors want in on the Stoudemire discussion, and if they don’t get him by the Feb. 19 trade deadline, most NBA sources presume that they will try to get involved with any other available young power forward/center, if they aren’t already.
That, the source cautioned, does not mean that the Suns are intrigued and it definitely doesn’t mean that the Warriors are a top candidate for Stoudemire, who can opt-out of his contract in the summer of 2010.
We just don’t know what the Suns will do or what they want.
It’s not clear what the Warriors will offer Phoenix in a package, but two sources said that it’s likely going to start with either Andris Biedrins or Monta Ellis, but not include both, and probably could add Anthony Randolph as another piece.
For value and salary-cap purposes, it’s very difficult to see the Warriors using both Biedrins and Ellis in the same trade.
Can the Warriors get this deal done? First, we have to know what the Suns want for Stoudemire.
Clearly, the Warriors can offer a lot of talent, but they can offer almost zero immediate cap relief and I’d have to believe the Suns want a package that includes young talent plus massive cap relief.
Biedrins is signed for this year plus five more years at $9M per. He’s a base-year player, which makes a trade tricky, but once you start talking about a player with Stoudemire’s $15M salary for this season, those math problems become a lot easier.
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