Shaq wants to play in Dallas?

The World Famous LayupDrill Rumor Mill
4/8/09

With the Suns now thinking about their summer vacation plans instead of a playoff match up, the biggest Sun of them all is thinking about where he wants to play next year. Word out of Dallas is that Shaq and Mark Cuban had informal talks about having him in a Mavericks uniform next season. The Dallas Morning News reports a potential deal would include sending Shaq to Dallas for Jerry Stackhouse and Erick Dampier, and at least on numbers alone, the money makes sense. Phoenix would do this deal to save money, and Dallas would do this deal to add a scoring force to play alongside Dirk in the paint. Mark Cuban, who has always enjoyed the antics of O’Neal, would reportedly jump at a chance to make a deal for Shaq, as O’Neal would mean so much more than wins and losses to his franchise. Stay tuned to this one….

Another future Hall of Famer sure to be changing places this summer is Allen Iverson. Word is already leaking at potential suitors for A.I., though the money that Iverson is used to getting will not be there. Iverson is expected to receive the veterans mid-level exception contract offers by some contenders looking to add scoring punch, and Iverson will have to make a very important decision. If he wants to be the centerpiece of offense, does he want to spend the rest of his career on a 30 win team? If he wants a ring, is he willing to take a lot less money to fit in rather than stand out on a true contender?

In other news, more college players officially put their name in the NBA Draft hat yesterday, including James Harden of Arizona State, DeJuan Blair of Pitt, and Chase Budinger of Arizona. All three players are expected to go high in the upcoming draft, according to our latest NBA Mock Draft.

Tagged as: 2009 NBA Draft, allen iverson, chase budinger, Dejuan Blair, erick dampier, james harden, Jerry Stackhouse, mark cuban, mavs, nba draft, shaq, suns