Are you going through Chris Paul withdrawal? No worries, Adrian Wojnarowski has your daily fix:
New Orleans strongly engaged with Clippers, Warriors and Celtics in trade talks for Chris Paul on Tuesday, league sources tell Y!
"Strongly engaged" sounds serious. Updates if / when they become available.
Three teams in pursuit of Paul believe the Hornets will push for final offers – and make a decision – by the start of training camp on Friday, front-office sources told Yahoo! Sports. . . .
As constituted, the Hornets prefer the Clippers and Warriors packages, but were still discussing several scenarios with the Celtics – including third-team trade possibilities and sign-and-trade money for restricted free agent forward Jeff Green. The Hornets prefer Curry to Rajon Rondo, sources said, but a third team could sweeten the Celtics package beyond the core of Rondo and Green.
Update: Sam Amick has a slightly different package rumored:
Warriors, Clippers, Celtics lead race for point guard Chris Paul - Sam Amick - SI.com
Sources said their offer includes point guard Rajon Rondo, a 2012 top-10 protected first-round pick from the Clippers, second-year guard Avery Bradley and rookie guard E'Twaun Moore. Another source said restricted free agent Jeff Green would likely be part of that deal as well.
Update after the break
NBA source: Celtics contacted Warriors about Rondo-for-Curry & were turned down. Presumably, Boston wanted to flip Curry to NO for Paul.
Hornets engaged in serious CP3 talks - Ken Berger - CBS Sports
The details of offers surrounding talks with Dallas and Golden State weren't known, though Yahoo Sports reported that the Warriors' offer centered around Stephen Curry and rookie Klay Thompson. But the Celtics stepped forward with an offer that would not have to come with any commitment from Paul that he'd re-sign with Boston after the season. According to a person familiar with the discussions, the Celtics offered Rajon Rondo, two future first-round picks, and restricted free agent Jeff Green in a sign-and-trade for Paul.
Berger also makes an important clarification:
Paul can get only one year added to his contract in an extend-and-trade, and he'd get the same money via a sign-and-trade next summer that he would get simply by leaving outright as a free agent for a team with room: four years and approximately $74 million, as opposed to the five-year, $100 million deal New Orleans could offer he he played out the season. Paul also could get a five-year max deal from a new team following a six-month window from the date he was traded.
No matter where he gets traded, he's probably going to wait the 6 months to sign a max extension.