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King nixes rumors, decrees that Iverson is staying put
By PHIL JASNER
[email protected]
Today's 3 p.m. NBA trade deadline? Billy King says that if you've already read about something the 76ers are doing, or heard about it, it's not happening.
That, the 76ers president/general manager said before last night's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, includes an ESPN report about a prospective deal with Denver for Allen Iverson.
But believe this: The Nuggets did call, and there was at least some level of discussion.
You can equally believe that, despite a report on local TV about a two- or three-team deal involving Iverson and the Atlanta Hawks, that was far enough out of the blue to catch even King by surprise.
And while it is true that King called Seattle asking about the availability of Ray Allen or Rashard Lewis, that was simply in the category of due diligence, no different from various teams asking about Iverson.
King indicated that the Sixers might do "something minor," but doubted anything major would happen. The first minor thing that happened was that they chose not to re-sign backup big man Zendon Hamilton for the remainder of the season after his second 10-day contract expired.
"We'd like to do something [major], but it takes two teams," King said. "At this point in time, there's nothing we can get done."
The ESPN report indicated a deal with the Nuggets could include power forward Nene, guard Earl Watson and possibly draft choices. As that report appeared, an Eastern Conference executive asked King whether it was true that the Sixers were acquiring Kenyon Martin.
(An executive from yet another Eastern team indicated the Nuggets' offer included Martin and Watson.)
King acquired Chris Webber, Michael Bradley and Matt Barnes from Sacramento at last season's deadline for Kenny Thomas, Brian Skinner and Corliss Williamson.
"Last year, we were able to do something major, but I don't think you do a lot of deals at this point in time," King said. "You have a lot of teams trying to get rid of money, [and] a lot of people don't want to take money in."
That would seem to preclude the Sixers using their $4.5 million midlevel exception, their $4.45 million trade exception or the expiring $10 million-plus contract of the injured Jamal Mashburn; they want no part of paying large luxury-tax penalties.
In an e-mail response Tuesday evening, King said, "We're not trading Allen."
Last night, he said, "People always ask about him, just like I ask about other superstars; that's your job, to ask, especially when what's written in the paper are a lot of false rumors - it makes other teams want to call."
And when teams call about Iverson?
"I said no," King replied.
Yesterday morning, King said he was hearing reports about the Sixers' getting Minnesota's Kevin Garnett.
"It's shocking sometimes," he said. "A team may call and ask about somebody and you say no [and] the next thing is, it's in the paper."
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