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Date of 2013 NBA trade deadline was February 21.

NBA Rumors for Sunday, Oct. 13

InsideHoops NBA rumors updated 2:30 p.m. ET
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Even in a setting on Sunday when the Indiana Pacers finished their Global Games with an exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan – while entertaining a voracious crowd ranked high for the basketball ambassadors, knees and ankles still mattered more. During the Pacers’ 107-98 loss to the Houston Rockets at the Taipei Arena, point guard George Hill collided with Roy Hibbert during a third quarter play and grabbed at his ankle. Head coach Frank Vogel described Hill’s injury as a mild ankle sprain. Indianapolis Star

Paul George led the Pacers with 19 points while backup forward Danny Granger, recovering from knee surgery, scored 15 points and grabbed a team-best nine rebounds in his most productive preseason performance. Granger looked confident from beyond the arc by making three in five attempts. In the second half, Indiana shot 58.3 percent from the 3-point line but could not completely climb out of a double-digit hole. Indianapolis Star

The Lakers have experienced Kobe Bryant's torn Achilles' tendon, Pau Gasol's knee problems and Steve Nash's broken leg over the last year. Now there's the tobogganing injury sustained by Chris Kaman at the Great Wall of China. One of his fingers was squashed while he was sledding down a slippery concrete track after trekking along the wall for two hours Sunday with Lakers teammates and staffers. His sled, essentially a wheeled cart with a brake, was rammed from behind by teammate Shawne Williams. Kaman instinctively put out his hand as he saw Williams careening toward him and, well, ouch. LA Times

Will [Kaman] play Tuesday against Golden State in an exhibition here? "Yeah, I'll be fine," he said. LA Times

With the game decided early on, Utah head coach Tyrone Corbin used much of the second half to give the training camp free agents opportunities to show what they can do. That said, no one wowed with their performances. Dominic McGuire was solid in his 15 minutes, doing a lot of the little things that don’t show up on the stat sheet. Given that he’s received decent playing time in each of Utah’s three games, he might be a favorite to earn a roster spot. Veteran shooter Brian Cook showed that he can still stroke it from the outside, notching five points in the fourth quarter. Scott Machado was scoreless but dished out four assists. Should Burke’s injury keep him out, Machado’s chances of sticking might have improved. Deseret News

The initial court appearance for Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer on his DUI charge has been moved to Thursday. The initial appearance, part of the discovery process, was originally scheduled for Tuesday. Budenholzer, represented by Michael Hawkins, does not need to attend the hearing. The Hawks open the home portion of their exhibition schedule Thursday night against the Spurs. Atlanta Journal Constitution

MAIN MORNING NBA RUMORS STORIES

Carmelo Anthony said he took a “huge risk’’ this offseason in opting not to have left-shoulder surgery and claimed he also had a torn rotator cuff to go along with a partially torn labrum. Anthony said he’s “ecstatic’’ it has all worked out because he feels no pain so far through two preseason games. Coach Mike Woodson gave him Saturday night off against the Celtics at Verizon Wireless Arena, in a 111-81 loss, in the second night of a back-to-back. NY Post

“It was all types of stuff going on in there,’’ Anthony said in his first detailed remarks on his decision this summer. “It was messed up.’’ Anthony said he played with the shoulder injury throughout the playoffs. Anthony said he believes he injured the shoulder against the Pacers late in the regular season when they needed the win to clinch the second seed. NY Post

“I’m ecstatic going from a torn rotator cuff and torn labrum to not needing surgery,’’ Anthony said. “Let me take that back. Taking a risk in not taking surgery and letting it heal on its down. I took a huge risk in doing that. It meant I had to put more time in the offseason to do what I had to do to get it right.’’ NY Post

About five weeks after he suffered a sprain and bone bruise to his left ankle, [Deron] Williams still hasn’t practiced or played a game with his new teammates. Officially, he is day-to-day but has been ruled out of the next two games — Monday at Philadelphia and Tuesday at home against the Celtics. The stated goal has always been to have Williams ready for the season opener on Oct. 30 at Cleveland. That hasn’t changed. But Jason Kidd added Saturday that the Nets would be “comfortable” if Williams skipped the remaining five preseason games, while raising the possibility of his point guard missing the opener. NY Daily News

GM Billy King told the Daily News that nothing has changed and Williams is still expected to play in the opener, although he cautioned that injuries and recoveries are unpredictable. The Nets have been extra careful with Williams, considering his last season was sabotaged by inflammation in both ankles. The point guard’s health outweighs concerns that he will be out of sync or out of shape once the season begins. NY Daily News

China: Then the Lakers went up a thin pock-marked path that wound through a hundred kiosks and overzealous vendors. Scores of passers-by thrust out scraps of paper and begged players to take photos. An elderly vendor yelled "Paulo, Paulo," and proclaimed, "Big, big size" as he held out an extra-large T-shirt to Pau Gasol that said, "I climbed the Great Wall." "This is intense," Gasol said. "The fans are very forward here. Everything is a little different. But it's nice to be appreciated and see this much emotion and excitement. It's pretty crazy." LA Times

"Nashie!" someone yelled at Steve Nash, holding up a camera. The players rarely stopped. They were told to keep walking. Security issue. If they stopped, they'd be flooded with people. "It'd be alarming to someone who's never been here," Nash said on his fifth NBA-mandated trip to China. LA Times

The players got about two hours on the Great Wall. Some walked with spouses or girlfriends. Others walked alone or with a teammate. Jordan Farmar briefly hopped on a camel near a vendor's kiosk. "It's a lot of walking. A lot of hiking," Gasol said. "It's nice to do it with the team. Take advantage of the trip." LA Times

Kyrie Irving hasn’t said much about the decision facing him next year. He avoided the topic when asked about it in July, just a few days after his friend John Wall signed a max extension with the Washington Wizards. Akron Beacon Journal

No player coming off his rookie deal has declined a max contract from the team that drafted him, and aside from sulking toward the end of last season, Irving has never really given the impression he wants out. When he won the MVP of the Rising Stars challenge during his rookie season, he instructed the photographer shooting him with his trophy to, “Make sure you get the Cleveland,” referring to his jersey. He also laughed off a report from a New York radio station during the summer that he would leave Cleveland at his first opportunity. Akron Beacon Journal

Still, given the fragile psyche of Cleveland fans and the painful history of the way James departed, fans will likely remain nervous Irving will leave up until he signs an extension. Akron Beacon Journal

Celtics shooting guard Keith Bogans is out indefinitely with a sprained right thumb, coach Brad Stevens announced Saturday before the Celtics played the New York Knicks in a preseason game at the Verizon Wireless Arena here. Boston Globe

An MRI confirmed Bogans's sprain, which he suffered in the Celtics' 97-85 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in a preseason game Friday in Newark, Del. Bogans is scheduled to be re-evaluated Monday at New England Baptist Hospital, so a timeline for return is unclear. Boston Globe

Spoelstra said ongoing discussions “between Dwyane, myself and the coaching staff” will determine how much (or how little) Wade plays this preseason. Wade said on Friday that he expects to play Tuesday in Washington. So far, Wade has skipped two of the Heat’s first three preseason games. Miami Herald

Greg Oden: "I tell people all the time, for me, I'm just happy to be able to step on the floor and just play, even just work out," he said, with the Heat now idle until a two-game preseason trip that opens Tuesday against the Washington Wizards. "And now, to be on the NBA schedule, that's just one more step closer to getting back out there and playing." Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said re-acclimating Oden was among the reasons he was on the road this past week. South Florida Sun Sentinel

Whether that return comes sooner, during one of the remaining five exhibitions, or later, being along for the ride means plenty. A source told the Sun Sentinel that it is within the realm that Oden could appear in an exhibition game. "My main goal is to be back on the court playing," he said, signed in July as a free-agent to a one-year, veteran-minimum contract. "But every little thing is just a little step closer to what I want to do. In my head, I'm smiling. I'm back in the routine I'm back out here working out in front of fans." South Florida Sun Sentinel

Even with his solid contributions the past two games, Beasley appreciates that the terms are different during his reunion tour. "I'm going into a delicate situation," he said, drafted by the Heat at No. 2 overall in 2008 and then, after three seasons away from the team, signed to a non-guaranteed free-agent contract at the veteran minimum this offseason. "It's not like I'm on another team. I'm on a team fighting for a spot in history. I definitely don't want to mess up. I don't want be the reason the ship fails. South Florida Sun Sentinel

Timberwolves: Right now, Othyus Jeffers, A.J. Price, Robbie Hummel and Lorenzo Brown are battling for what almost certainly will be two spots when the team waives Chris Johnson. But Adelman left open the possibility that the team could add a player from another team's training camp once all teams make their cuts in the final week of the preseason. Minneapolis Star Tribune

And it's only natural to wonder when the Kings might play in India, considering principal owner Vivek Ranadive has stated he wants to make center DeMarcus Cousins a superstar in India, Ranadive's birthplace. Coach Michael Malone would not be surprised to see the Kings play in India in the coming years. "(Ranadive has) said many, many times he wants to be a global brand," Malone said. "With his background in India, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Sacramento Kings playing a game there in the foreseeable future. It's an untapped market." Sacramento Bee

The Magic invited Gladness, Harris, Jones and Joseph to join the team this month and compete for one or possibly two open roster spots with second-round pick Romero Osby. Although the players have signed contracts with the team, those deals are known within the NBA as "make-good" contracts. Those contracts entitle the players only to a food per diem during preseason road trips, reimbursements for hotel and transportation expenses and disability insurance. "It's a small sacrifice you have to make for the bigger dream and the bigger picture," said Joseph, a 24-year-old swingman. Orlando Sentinel

The Lakers' next practice will be at the MasterCard Center, which sounds like it could be in New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. It's in the Chinese capital, though, the first step of the Lakers' NBA-mandated weeklong trip away from home. The time change is 15 hours, their charter flight out of LAX was almost 13 hours, and, good morning, they'll be on the court at 9 a.m. Sunday local time in an effort to force themselves to acclimate to the time change. LA Times

So far, new Knicks president and GM Steve Mills likes what he sees. According to published reports, Mills was highly complimentary of the Knicks’ roster during an interview with reporters in Toronto on Friday. He went as far as to say the 2013-14 Knicks have “the makings of something special.” ESPN NY

There's a new twist on the injury front for the Wizards entering Saturday's preseason game vs. the Chicago Bulls in Rio de Janeiro (NBATV, 5 p.m. ET). Trevor Booker, who missed the first week of training camp because of a sore right knee, was available for action while veteran Al Harrington, 33, sat out with a left thigh strain. Booker has been sidelined along with top rookie draft pick Otto Porter (right hip flexor), but began doing limited contact drills last weekend. Booker entered the game late in the first quarter. CSN Washington

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