According to an ESPN.com report posted late Tuesday night, the Knicks were in preliminary talks for a three-team deal that would send Eddy Curry to Miami, the expiring contracts of Jason Williams and Ricky Davis to the Nets andfading former all-star Vince Carter to the Knicks.
Carter, 31, would add $48.8 million in salary over the next three seasons, which is significantly higher than the $31.4 million owed to Curry over the same period.
Knicks coach Isiah Thomas has had interest in Carter before. The Knicks tried to offer Zach Randolph to the Nets for him earlier this season. Thomas has also been pushing the “small ball” concept — his latest game plan infatuation — and has cut down Curry’s minutes.
*The Suns and the Nuggets will play the first outdoor game in 36 years during the 2008-09 preseason.
The exhibition game Oct. 11 at the 16,000-seat Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California will be televised by TNT. It won’t be the first NBA game to be played outdoors. The Suns defeated the Bucks in a preseason game Sept. 24, 1972, at a baseball stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
* Kevin Durant, the second overall draft choice, missed the SuperSonics’ game Tuesday night against the Grizzlies with what his team called flulike symptoms. His absence angered the 10,000 fans who had just received the Durant bobbleheads on their way into the arena.
* The Wizards reported setbacks for both All-Star forward Caron Butler and center Etan Thomas on Tuesday. Butler missed his sixth consecutive game after another flare-up of his strained left hip flexor during the morning shootaround. Thomas was cleared to have contact in practice Monday for the first time since open-heart surgery in October, but the workout showed that his sternum has yet to fully heal.
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Edited by Bob Foltman from Tribune news services.
