The Houston Rockets have privately insisted Omer Asik is not available in trade as long as the big man continues to play well alongside Dwight Howard.

Despite Asik's reported desire of a trade over the offseason, the Rockets have kept him and started him with Howard in the frontcourt.

Howard and Asik combined for 40 rebounds in the Rockets' season opening win against the Charlotte Bobcats, who as a team grabbed 37 rebounds.

The Denver Nuggets are leaning toward starting J.J. Hickson at power forward in Wednesday's opener.

Kenneth Faried is returning from a hamstring strain and is coming off a season in which he started all 80 regular season games in which he played.

Sources told ESPN's Zach Lowe last week that the Nuggets are gauging the trade value of Faried.

Two days after the Los Angeles Clippers, Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks agreed to a three-team trade involving Eric Bledsoe, Jared Dudley, J.J. Redick and others, Donald Sterling instructed his team president, Andy Roeser, to rescind the deal.

The deal had already been agreed upon and leaked to the media, but could not become official until July 11 when the moratorium was lifted.

It was up to Doc Rivers to change Sterling's mind, but Redick and his representatives couldn't wait much longer on whether his four-year, $27 million deal would be upheld.

Redick's other suitors were beginning to reach deals with other similar players.

Rivers had sold Redick that the culture of the Clippers was changing, but the turn of events showed that Sterling remains unpredictable.

Rivers was embarrassed and humiliated after agreeing to come to the Clippers with ultimate authority and he feared that his credibility in future talks would be paralyzed if this deal was rescinded.

There are some that believe Rivers would have been forced to step down if Sterling didn't relent.

"It never got to that," one source told Yahoo Sports, "but it might have had Sterling not come around."

The Washington Wizards acquired Kendall Marshall, Shannon Brown and Malcolm Lee on Friday in a deal for Marcin Gortat.

The Wizards will waive those three players as they have a roster crunch.

The Washington Wizards have acquired Marcin Gortat in a deal with the Phoenix Suns for Emeka Okafor.

The deal also includes Shannon Brown, Kendall Marshall and Malcolm Lee to the Wizards, while the Suns also acquire and a top-12 protected 2014 first round pick along with Okafor.

The Wizards will waive Brown, Marshall and Lee.

Okafor is currently out indefinitely with a neck injury.

Jimmer Fredette has had a slow start to his NBA career, but he did average 18 points per 36 minutes while hitting 41 percent of his three-point shots.

Fredette's minutes were inconsistent last season and the guard position is still crowded for the Sacramento Kings.

Multiple NBA executives told the Salt Lake Tribune that joining the Utah Jazz would make sense for both Fredette and the franchise.

Fredette remains hugely popular in Utah due to his time at BYU, while he would also give the Jazz a needed floor spacer.

The Denver Nuggets have put out targeted trade feelers on Kenneth Faried to gauge his value, according to multiple sources around the NBA.

The Nuggets have demanded a very good return for Faried.

Faried averaged 11 points and 9.2 rebounds last season, winning the MVP award of the Rookie-Sophomore Game at All-Star Weekend.

The Nuggets, for their part, deny they have put Faried's name out there at all.

The Utah Jazz have shown trade interest in Marquis Teague and could revisit discussions with the Chicago Bulls depending on the timetable of Trey Burke.

Burke suffered a fracture in his right index finger on Saturday.

The Bulls currently have Derrick Rose and Kirk Hinrich at point guard, as well as training camp invite Mike James.

Teague averaged 2.1 points in 48 games last season.

Rajon Rondo is recovering from a torn ACL amid the Boston Celtics' makeover of their roster. Rondo last took the floor with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, who were traded to the Brooklyn Nets on draft night.

Rondo has been mentioned in trade rumors as Danny Ainge starts from scratch. But Rondo disagreed with the notion that he could be the next player traded.

“I love it here," Rondo said. "The fans are great here. And Danny [Ainge] has been straightforward with me. This is my team. Why would I want to leave? Why would I want out? I never really backed away from a challenge. This would be a challenge. I’m looking forward to working with coach [Brad] Stevens. It’s a brand new start for us as a team. A lot of new players and a lot of young guys willing to listen, so I’m very excited.”

The Houston Rockets added Dwight Howard to a talented young team that made the playoffs last season, but their roster remains a work in progress.

"We're not all the way there, we're not a finished team," Daryl Morey said. "We're going to be experimenting. We want to be a great team by mid-April."

Omer Asik is the player on the Rockets' roster most likely to be dealt due to his overlap with Howard and perceived value around the NBA.

Kevin McHale plans on experimenting with playing Howard and Asik together though.

"If it works really well, it'll be a lot. If it looks like crap, it won't be much," McHale said of how much he'll play his two true centers. "We're going to find out and we're going to give it every opportunity to work."