NBA Rumors: Deng Expected to Leave Cavs

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It is somewhat surprising that the Cavaliers decided to keep Luol Deng past the trade deadline, since it seems like he’s going to sign elsewhere when he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer.

He has reportedly bashed the Cavs to people close to him and, at this point in his career, he probably prefers to play on a team that’s closer to contending. It’s hard to imagine the Celtics or Magic having interest in Deng, since they’re in the midst of a youth movement, but the Mavericks, Lakers and Bobcats all make some sense.

He could be one of the best free agents available this summer, if many of the big name players opt in or decide to re-sign with their respective teams.

Doc Rivers has been recruiting Davis to the Clippers and Kevin Garnett has been recruiting him to the Nets. Davis knows both men from his days with the Celtics, and it seems like these are the two frontrunners to sign the veteran power forward. The HEAT, Warriors and Spurs are also reportedly interested, but Davis’ camp seems to be leaning toward L.A. or Brooklyn.

When Davis first learned that he would be bought out by Orlando, he told some of his former teammates on the Magic that he would be signing with the Clippers. Since then, the Nets’ pursuit of Davis intensified and he is now considering Brooklyn as well, but it’s interesting that his initial choice was the Clippers.

It seems that joining the Clippers would put him in better position to make a deep playoff run, as L.A. is currently 37-20 and in the fourth seed in the West while Brooklyn is 25-28 and in the East’s eighth seed.

Brown’s 10-day contract with San Antonio recently expired, and it remains to be seen if the Spurs will sign him to a new contract. As Amick and several others reported, San Antonio wants to see which players are bought and if they can land one before making a commitment to Brown.

The Rockets, HEAT, Bulls and Knicks are in a similar position as the Spurs, where they might be interested in Brown but they’re also playing the buyout field to see if they can land someone like Danny Granger, Ben Gordon, Glen Davis, Antawn Jamison, Metta World Peace, Beno Udrih, etc. For these teams, it seems that Brown is more of a backup plan if they strike out on the bought out players.

In 10 games this season, Brown averaged 2.3 points and 1.3 rebounds while playing 10.3 minutes per game.