Before Kevin Garnett was dealt to Boston in the offseason, Golden State quietly made a strong push to acquire the 10-time All-Star.

"When you have a chance to get one of the three best players in the league, of course you try," said Warriors' executive vice president of basketball operations Chris Mullin. "The fact is, he was dealt somewhere else. You can't make someone deal it to you. You move forward. When those great players come up, you're automatically interested."

Garnett's agent Andy Miller didn't believe the Wolves were serious about trading their all-time leader in points, rebounds, blocks, and assists until early June. Eager to add the future Hall of Famer, the Celtics, Warriors, Lakers, Bulls, and Mavericks were the main teams showing interest, according to an NBA source.

The source said the Warriors' package for Garnett included forward Al Harrington, center Andris Biedrins, guard Monta Ellis, and the 18th pick in this year's draft. The Lakers dangled forward Lamar Odom and center Andrew Bynum but couldn't acquire a high draft pick to sweeten the offer. Chicago spoke of sending Ben Gordon or Luol Deng, plus Tyrus Thomas, Thabo Sefolosha, and P.J. Brown in a sign-and-trade and their ninth overall pick for Garnett and another player. Dallas offered anybody but 2007 NBA MVP Dirk Nowitzki.

After Monday's practice, Randy Wittman gave an update on the conditions of Theo Ratliff and Randy Foye. Foye will miss at least three more weeks.

"(Foye's knee) is progressing good," said Wittman. "I think they said another three weeks is best for him right now. The thing is healing; it's just not all the way there the way they'd like to see it. What they are doing is an improvement so we'll continue on that course."

"He'll have to work himself back into condition and all that, but nothing for the next three weeks."

As for Ratliff, Wittman said there would be further meetings with doctors to better access his condition.

"I don't think it's anything major, but he has something that is clicking inside (his knee) that they're trying to figure out. Our doctors want to (have another look)."

"Especially the way he started this year, giving us a big lift ... You hope for the best. Somebody else has to step up now until we get him back."

If they continue to share the scoring load like this, the Hornets will be one of the NBA's toughest teams to beat this year.

Their leading scorer on the season had only two points after halftime and their starting point guard was out injured, but the Hornets still handily defeated Minnesota to build on their best start in franchise history.

Peja Stojakovic scored 22 points, Morris Peterson had 18 and the Hornets beat the Timberwolves 100-82 on Saturday night for New Orleans' fifth straight win.

Lamar Odom was back in the lineup, and Kobe Bryant made sure the Timberwolves remained winless, scoring 30 points to go with seven rebounds and seven assists.

Odom started at small forward and had 18 points in 37 minutes after missing the first four games while recovering from off-season shoulder surgery.

Minnesota Timberwolves' guard Rashad McCants left the game against the Orlando Magic in the first quarter Tuesday night after spraining his right ankle.

McCants, the Wolves' leading scorer this year with an average of 18 points, was hurt when he drove the baseline and was tangled up with two Magic players under the basket. He immediately grabbed his ankle and grimaced in pain but tried to walk it off.

After taking a few steps, McCants asked coach Randy Wittman to take him out of the game, and he headed for the locker room.

Sebastian Telfair said he had a chance to sign an extension after being traded from Boston but opted to play out this year.

He is playing for his third team in three years.

At last, something for Isiah Thomas and the Knicks to celebrate.

Jamal Crawford scored 10 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, and New York won its home opener for the first time in six years, beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 97-93 on Sunday night.

Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson taught the young Timberwolves a couple of lessons about life in the NBA in their first game without Kevin Garnett.

Minnesota outplayed Denver for most of Friday night but couldn't come up with the big shots down the stretch as Anthony scored 33 points to rally the Nuggets to a 99-91 victory.

The Wolves did not exercise an option on swingman Gerald Green, who has struggled with shot selection and poor decisions this exhibition season. He will become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced that the team has exercised the third-year option on guard Randy Foye and the fourth-year option on guard Rashad McCants.

"We expect both Randy and Rashad to be a big part of our future," said Timberwolves' Vice President of Basketball Operations Kevin McHale. "Randy is coming off of a season in which he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team and showed he has the talent to be a very good NBA player. Rashad has worked extremely hard over the past year to return from injury and continues to improve every day. We believe that he will return to the form he showed the second half of his rookie season. Both of these guys are key pieces to the young core of players we are building around."