Jamison Heading to Cavs in Three-Team Deal

The Antawn Jamison trade, which is essentially a done deal, the Clippers are also involved. The Cavs get Jamison and guard Sebastian Telfair, the Los Angeles Clippers get Drew Gooden and the Wizards get Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Al Thornton, Brian Skinner and a Cavs first-round pick. Jamison’s value takes a hit in Cleveland, Gooden is still useless for the Clips, Ilgauskas is a buy-out candidate in Washington (meaning Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee could both start), while Thornton becomes an interesting piece in Washington. He will battle with Josh Howard and Mike Miller for minutes.

Elsewhere around the NBA:

Boston: Nate Robinson did not play Wednesday against the Bulls due to flu-like symptoms, and if the reported trade sending him to the Celtics happens as expected, he could be in uniform for Thursday’s game against the Lakers. He flew to L.A., and barring a huge surprise he’ll be a Celtic come Thursday. Anything can happen between now and the trade deadline, but as the C’s are constituted now, Nate-Rob projects to be a gunner off the bench — and a poor man’s Jamal Crawford sounds like a reasonable outlook.

Phoenix: With Antawn Jamison landing in Cleveland, it’s now quite possible that Amare Stoudemire will not be traded by the Phoenix Suns. His agent says he’s still likely to be moved, but Paul Coro, beat writer for the Arizona Republic, says Amare may not have any deals in place. We’ll know for sure by 3 p.m. on Thursday.

Chicago: John Salmons has been instructed by the Bulls to say at the hotel Wednesday night, suggesting that he is a likely piece in a trade. No word from the NBA yet, but this is normally a good sign that something is going down.

Los Angelas: Kobe Bryant will likely sit out Thursday night to rest the ailing tendon in his lower leg. We were hoping he would be up for the big matchup against the Boston Celtics but by his own admission he’s not playing unless he sees a turnaround in the next twenty-four hours. Were this a playoff game or were the Lakers struggling for a playoff spot, we would probably see Bryant in the lineup.

Oakland: Monta Ellis will sit out both Wednesday and Friday night’s game as he continues to recover from a knee sprain. The good news is that his meeting with his doctor confirmed original reports of a sprain rather than more serious internal damage. “Knee sprain” certainly is better news than “ACL tear”.