LOS ANGELES — There is as much caution as confidence but multiple league sources contend the Nets’ long national (Basketball Association) nightmare could be coming to an end as soon as this holiday weekend with an agreement on the three-team trade to land superstar Carmelo Anthony.
That would mean Nets Russian billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov would get his man.
One source labeled the odds the Nets land Anthony, the player who would be the centerpiece of the team’s move to Brooklyn, as “very, very good.” Another simply maintained agreement between the Nets, Nuggets and Pistons could be reached “soon,” before next weekend. So sometime in this upcoming week, the lengthy, often-tumultuous journey to bag the star could end.
But sources, including one who maintained completion of the trade could come Tuesday when the NBA offices re-open following the Martin King Day weekend — and one day before Prokhorov visits Newark on “Russian Culture Night” — warned that just as the deal blew up last Sunday night, nothing is a certainty until it is done because of the complexity of moving parts and variables.
Nets brass shut down access and comments after the national public nature of the proceedings ticked off Denver executives.
The deal also could explode if Anthony refuses to sign an extension. But from the outset in September, the Nets always were confident they could, first, reach agreement with Denver because they hold the best trade assets, and second, convince Anthony to sign the extension to play for them. Anthony has balked at Denver’s three-year, $65-million offer on the table since June. The Nets never would trade for an unsigned Anthony, but they never would have come this far without a firm conviction they could keep him.
There likely will be tweaks and twists but the deal figures to resemble what has been reported the past week. Figure it involves upwards of 12 players.
The key components for the Nets remain the superstar Anthony, Chauncey Billups from Denver plus Detroit’s Rip Hamilton. Hamilton was held out of Detroit’s game Wednesday, ostensibly because the Pistons were trying new looks — not to avoid injury risk. Yeah, right.
The Nets play the Lakers in Los Angeles tonight, the Blazers in Portland tomorrow and the Warriors in Oakland in a holiday matinee Monday. The Nets would export eight players, leaving them woefully shorthanded if the deal were finalized before they get home. Depending on when an agreement in principle is realized, a lot of players would scramble to new addresses. When a similar problem loomed Sunday as the deal seemed poised for a favorable conclusion, a source said Prokhorov would have charter flights ready to transport players. Assume that holds.
The Nuggets play Sunday in San Antonio, are off Monday and Tuesday. The Pistons play Monday afternoon, are off Tuesday. All three teams play Wednesday. And the Pistons are at the Nets Friday.
The original deal had the Nets sending Derrick Favors, Devin Harris, Anthony Morrow, Ben Uzoh, Quinton Ross and Stephen Graham plus two first round picks to Denver while Troy Murphy and Johan Petro go to Detroit. Murphy is not with the team, having stayed home to recover from a viral infection (wink, wink).
In Denver yesterday, coach George Karl, while acknowledging the chance of his team staying intact was “a hell of a possibility,” said he watched Favors, one of the centerpieces of the deal, closely on TV for the first time.
“I’ll be honest, [Wednesday] was the first night I even looked at Favors,” Karl said. “I had some time [Wednesday] and I watched Favors play against Phoenix. This has been going on for five months and I haven’t even watched Favors. We played them here [Nov. 20]. I watched him then.”
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Tonight is a homecoming for local product Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic, who both played as reserves for the champion Lakers.
Farmar, who will celebrate mom Mindy’s birthday, also gets his ring.
“I’m all set to get booed,” Farmar said jokingly. “I’ll have 10 family members there, they’re going to be cheering for me. But you never know how it’s going to be.
Said Vujacic, who claimed he grew tired of coach Phil Jackson’s “mind games” in L.A., “as long as I don’t get booed in Jersey, I’m happy. If we don’t get booed in Jersey.”
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Brook Lopez said he was fine after he was yanked Wednesday for end of fourth quarter and start of overtime in Phoenix, where the Nets went small.
“I thought I was fairly good, aside from sulking,” he said.