Magic close to sending Carter to Suns

[MapleLeaf]

From espn.com

The Orlando Magic, already in serious trade talks with the Washington Wizards about acquiring Gilbert Arenas, are close to pulling off a separate trade with the Phoenix Suns, according to league sources.

The proposed trade, which one source gave a "90 percent" chance of happening, would return former Magic star Hedo Turkoglu, along with Jason Richardson, to Orlando in exchange for Vince Carter and Marcin Gortat.

The deal is likely to be completed within the next 24 hours, according to the sources.

"It's safe to say that it's imminent," one source said. "It's very close. There's always a chance it could fall apart, but it's 90 percent done."

The deal is believed to involve either a few extra players or draft picks, sources said.

Orlando, losers of five of its last six games, is also seriously pursuing Arenas. Sources said that deal will likely send Rashard Lewis to Washington for Arenas and a Wizards big man to replace Gortat. It could go down near the same time as the deal with Phoenix.

Magic president Otis Smith told The Associated Press on Saturday that he has had serious talks this week with the Wizards about acquiring Arenas.

Smith said he would rate the aggressiveness of the talks at an "eight out of 10" but that "nothing is imminent." He would not talk specifics of the potential deal with The AP.

The Magic have plenty of lucrative pieces to package in a trade, notably Carter's expiring contract. Lewis, who has 2½ years remaining on a $118 million, six-year deal, would line up with Arenas' backloaded contract -- which still has about $60 million left.

Arenas was at Washington's morning shootaround but did not speak to reporters.

"Have we had conversations with a number of teams regarding guys on our roster? Of course we have," Smith said. "Do we like losing five of six? Of course not. Yeah, there's conversations with Washington regarding Gilbert Arenas."

The latest round of talks, first reported by Yahoo! Sports, come as no surprise.

Smith has been a close friend and mentor to the troubled guard going back to their days together at Golden State, when Smith was in the front-office and Arenas was a young player. Smith has said in the past that Arenas' troubles, which included a 50-game suspension last season for bringing a gun into the Wizards' locker room and faking an injury to sit out a preseason game this year, are not a concern.

"The length of his contract and health probably have been more of my concerns," Smith said. "With the length of his contract, you're always concerned about taking on more, of course. That's always been one of my concerns. I know a little bit more detail about Gilbert off the court and who he is as a person.

"He's probably similar to the guys we have in the locker room right now. I would say that sometimes good people make dumb decisions, and he's one of those guys."

Arenas, a three-time All Star, has had several knee problems that limited him to 47 games over the previous three seasons. But while playing alongside -- and often behind -- No. 1 overall pick John Wall this season, Arenas has showed flashes of his old self.

He has averaged 17.3 points and 5.6 assists per game this season, including a season-high 31 points in a loss against the Magic on Nov. 27. The Magic have made strong pushes to acquire Denver's Carmelo Anthony and New Orleans' Chris Paul, but with those talks showing little progress, they might be forced to make another move.

Orlando has lost five of its last six games, including a frustrating 1-3 West Coast trip, falling from first to fourth in the Eastern Conference. The Magic were set to host Philadelphia on Saturday night, and Washington was hosting Miami.

"I circled the West Coast trip on our schedule a long time ago," Smith said. "The West Coast trip, to me, was going to decide whether or not we're going to either fix our woes or continue down the same path. I don't think we've played particularly well leading up to the West Coast trip. So, we were on the West Coast trip and some of our woes continued, so you start to explore opportunities that are out there."

 

[$tunna]

Dag, Hedo back in Orlando could be a problem

 

[snipezo]

Magic win the trade but I guess Suns are trying to clear some cap by trading for Carter's expiring.

 

[Rios15]

It might be good for Orlando now but that contract sucks lol.

 

[DJT]

Hedo and JRich in Orlando??? That would be deadly. They would totally get the better of this trade, but the Suns could use Gortat badly. While i'm guessing VC might be expiring?

 

[elcheato]

Now all the Magic fans are going to say how good a move this is after they said how bad Hedo was when they let him go 2 years ago..

 

[DJT]

lol Hedo was such a beast for them.

 

[buzzy]

Done deals apparently.

Gortat, Pietrus and VC for J-Rich, Earl Clark and Turkoglu.

Lewis for Arenas probably too.

 

[bestkeptsecret13]

Good trade for Orlando if Hedo can play like he did the first go round with the Magic. I don't see that happening though, so at least they got J-Rich, who is an upgrade over VC at this stage in his career.

Nash and Carter would have been sick on the fast break a few years ago. LOL Maybe he can pick his game up playing alongside Nash.

 

[bestkeptsecret13]

Done deals apparently.

Gortat, Pietrus and VC for J-Rich, Earl Clark and Turkoglu.

Lewis for Arenas probably too.

I don't get why they would trade Lewis for Arenas... Do they plan on going small with Howard-Turkoglu-Richardson-Arenas-Nelson in the lineup, or is Arenas going to be the sixth man with Brandon Bass starting at PF?

 

[DJT]

I think Gortat will do well for the Suns to. They have been in need of a big man for quite some time.

I like this trade, I think it helps the Magic more than the Suns, but still decent deal.

 

[RipCity32]

I like this deal for Orlando and Phoenix.
Turk back with the Magic is money pretty much, should of never left. And I feel like Carter and Nash will be pretty fun to watch.

 

[Pugz]

i dont get the backcourt for magic but i like the deals for them. huge deals, too.

 

[Swish]

This is really an exciting trade.

First of all, Magic become a way better shooting team with all these sharp shooters and with hedo back in Phoenix.

Suns get VC who has an expiring contract so he will be part of the rebuilding process plans of Suns

Rashard will finally prove in DC why he has this huge ass contract