Barbosa denies ESPN Brazil story

Here's what LB told @SteveBHoops:

Barbosa strongly denies report of trade request: "No, I want to play. I want to be here. That's it."

— Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) January 17, 2013

Barbosa was shown both the translation and original story and denied ever making the statements.

— Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) January 17, 2013

As for uneven playing time, Barbosa says, "I knew it was going to be like this when I came here."

— Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) January 17, 2013

I'm sure there was a lot lost in translation, but since the original story was posted, several readers have read Barbosa's quotes and it sounded pretty clear that either Barbosa expected to be traded or that a trade was going to be made to free up some playing time for him. This isn't Manti Te'o territory, but there's definitely smoke. According to this Celtics blogger in Brazil, the conversation was recorded and he has the audio. The next couple of weeks are going to be interesting, to say the least. There's a stretch of games next week against the Knicks, Hawks, and Heat that will be very telling of the team's progress. If the C's take at least two of those contests, that may douse some of the trade fervor, but if they come out flat, you can expect Danny's cell phone to be on fire.