With the Los Angeles Lakers' attempts to construct a multi-team deal or a direct trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves collapsing, ESPN's Jim Gray reports that talk of a potential three-team trade that would involve Minnesota, Boston and Phoenix has been rekindled, in which the primary cost to the Suns would be All-Star forward Shawn Marion moving to the Celtics.
Yet an even bigger trade concept, ESPN.com has learned, was hatched Tuesday by the Wolves, in which Phoenix would likely be asked to trade away the player it has been trying not to trade, All-NBA center Amare Stoudemire, who would go to the Atlanta Hawks.
Minnesota, sources say, has been adamant that any trade with Boston would include Al Jefferson. The Celtics, in turn, are willing to part with Jefferson only if they're the team that gets Garnett. It remains to be seen if either side softens its stance in the final hours before the draft.
In the newer trade scenario, sources say, Minnesota is looking to acquire Atlanta's No. 3 and No. 11 picks in the draft along with several cap-friendly contracts from the Hawks and Suns. To participate, Atlanta wants Stoudemire from Phoenix.
Such a trade would hold significantly greater appeal to Minnesota than any Celtics' offer that didn't include Al Jefferson. The Hawks, meanwhile, would be able to reunite Stoudemire with ex-Suns teammate Joe Johnson and immediately field a promising big-and-small core to build around and make Atlanta competitive, given the current state of the Eastern Conference.
The Suns, though, are understandably reluctant to part with Stoudemire after he made the All-NBA first team in what appears to be the most successful comeback from microfracture knee surgery that the NBA has ever witnessed.