More Updates: McGrady Making Stops on His Way to NY, Amar'e Could be Staying, Mavs Want Z, and Boston Isn't Blown Away... Yet

Here's a new development involving McGrady -- according to Yahoo! Sports, McGrady is supposedly going to be traded to Sacramento for Kevin Martin and basically a few extra bodies for McGrady, Carl Landry, and Joey Dorsey. Then Donnie Walsh is going to burn out his jets to 3 p.m. in an effort level out his offer with Sacramento's asking price for McGrady. Here's what Yahoo! rumors had to say:

According to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, the Sacramento Kings are sending Kevin Martin(notes), Sergio Rodridguez, Hilton Armstrong(notes) and Kenny Thomas(notes) to Texas in exchange for McGrady, Joey Dorsey(notes), and Carl Landry(notes).

But hold onto your Stetson. McGrady and his $23 million expiring contract is then supposedly going to be moved to the New York Knicks, where team president Donnie Walsh wants to give T-Mac an extended audition for next season, when Walsh hopes his team will finally lift itself out of the dismal state its been for years after he becomes a New York hero and signs some big-name free agents.

In other news, the same Mark J. Miller is reporting that time is running out for Amar'e Stoudemire:

With the Cleveland Cavaliers grabbing Antawn Jamison(notes) from the Washington Wizards, one major player for the Phoenix Suns' Amar'e Stoudemire(notes) disappeared from the action and now it's looking like the forward that everybody seemed to covet may actually end up staying in Arizona, according to FanHouse.

Stoudemire said after last night's game that he talked with Suns owner Robert Sarver and gets the feeling he will be staying in Phoenix past 3 p.m. Eastern trade deadline today.

"I feel good. But either way I was going to feel all right," Stoudemire said.

The Miami Heat is still interested in getting Stoudemire but the money seems to be on the forward staying in Phoenix. There's no telling if this means he'll not opt out of his contract this summer and play for Phoenix for one more year or not.

Down in Texas, there's a reported interest from the Mavericks about recently trade center Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Dallas acquired star forward Caron Butler just a few days ago, and is looking to stock up for perhaps their most armed playoff-ready team since their '05-'06 NBA Finals team.Center Zydrunas Ilgauskas(notes) might as well not even unpack his bags.

He just got moved from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Washington Wizards as part of the Antawn Jamison(notes) deal and it now appears that he could be moving along from D.C. pretty soon.

ESPN is reporting that Ilgauskas could be headed to the Dallas Mavericks to be an insurance piece in case Erick Dampier(notes) doesn't ever heal up. The word is that Ilgauskas could get a contract buyout from the Wizards.

Back on the east coast, Ray Allen could be staying put, says Marc J. Spears and Adrian Wojnarowski (via Red's Army):

Ray Allen has heard his name included in potential trades for Rip Hamilton, Monta Ellis, Kevin Martin, Andre Iguodala and Jason Richardson. He knows he has no control over whether the Boston Celtics send him to another team. He also knows he doesn’t want to go.

As Thursday’s 3 p.m. ET trade deadline approaches, Allen has one hope: He’d like to be starting for the Celtics when they face the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday.

According to multiple team sources, Allen will likely get his wish. While the Celtics have spent the past few weeks exploring their trade options with Allen, they don’t expect to move the veteran shooting guard. The team is close to acquiring Nate Robinson from the New York Knicks, probably in exchange for Eddie House and J.R. Giddens. But Celtics president Danny Ainge called the potential for an Allen trade “highly unlikely.”

“I understand what my expiring contract means and the business we are in,” Allen told Yahoo! Sports. “But Boston is the optimum place for me. I’d want to keep my family here. I’d be disappointed [if he is traded], but there is nothing I can do about it.

It should be a very interesting day.

Make sure to check out Celtics 17's NBA trade deadline live chat from 12 p.m.-4 p.m. for all your best NBA news, rumors, and discussions!

Rumors, Thoughts, and Kindling the Trade Deadline Fire

After another memorable All-Star weekend (besides the Dunk Contest) in the books, it's time to start preparing for this year's NBA trade deadline. As reporters have heavily alluded to, we're in for an exciting couple days heading into Thursday's deadline this year. And as TNT analysts pointed out last night, the dominoes will start to fall after the blockbuster Dallas-Washington deal.

Let's start with Cleveland/Amar'e Stoudemire. At this point, the Cavs proposed offer for Amar'e has become the back pocket deal for Phoenix, as they appear to be one of many teams that are extremely interested in Andre Iguodala. The Cleveland deal, as much as Phoenix wants to dump cash and as intriguing as a J.J. Hickson pickup while he's still cheap is, will be the absolute rock bottom point in this sell for the Suns if it goes through, given Amar'e ability. The Suns don't want to be the team to trade a top five big man without getting a superstar, or at least a star, in return. And with the Heat heavily pursuing Stoudemire and there still being potential for a Suns-Sixers deal, I can't see Amar'e going to Cleveland unless a third team comes into the picture, Phoenix gets desperate at the last minute, or Cleveland throws someone else in the deal.

But, all is not lost for Cleveland. Troy Murphy, Andre Iguodala, Antawn Jamison, and more all still remain on the market. And there's no doubting that Cleveland's front office will do most anything it takes to raise the team to a higher level and sweeten the case for LeBron to stay in the 2010 offseason.

And that brings us to Cleveland's inner-conference rivals, the Celtics. Boston is still looking at Antawn Jamison, and appears to have interest in Kevin Martin, Andre Iguodala, and Monta Ellis. D.J. Augustin and Gerald Wallace are also possibilities for the Celtics. However, despite the availability of those players and the involvement Boston has in the market, time is ticking and with just three days left, the Celtics don't seem to be anywhere close to any of those players without offering somebody or something up they've been holding close all along. Boston is all over phone throughout the league, but talks haven't gone any further than a day or two before imploding. With Caron Butler being shipped to Dallas, Boston's best option and most discussed player is now out of reach.

CelticsBlog has suggested Boston gets involved with Phoenix for somebody like Leandro Barbosa, and mentions that a third team would be needed.

On a more panicky note for Boston fans, one NBA GM "gets the feeling that Boston is getting desperate." But if Danny Ainge ever needs an idea, here's one for him: Ray Allen for Ben Gordon (10 mil., 4 years) and Tayshaun Prince (10.34 mil. plus change, 2 years). Gordon would fit perfectly into Boston's system, we'd immediately have our starting shooting guard, and our depth would instantly become a whole lot better. We could go big with Marquis Daniels, Tony Allen, Tayshaun Prince, Glen Davis, and Rasheed, or we could go small with Eddie House, Tony Allen, Marquis Daniels, Tayshaun Prince/Glen Davis, and Rasheed/Shelden. It makes sense for both teams, as Detroit saves roughly 20 million for the offseason and Boston gets an experienced player and a starter for their playoff run (and possibly other playoff runs in the years to come).

Lastly, the Los Angeles Lakers are supposedly looking for a backup point guard (sorry for those of you that don't have ESPN Outsider), according to Chad Ford. Ford reports that both Bulls' guard Kirk Hinrich and Pacers' guard Earl Watson could be on L.A.'s radar:

First, there aren't a lot of great point guards available right now. The Bulls' Kirk Hinrich has been the name most associated with the Lakers, and the team has explored smaller deals, such as one for the Pacers' Earl Watson.

Second, a deal could be very costly. The Lakers already have the highest payroll in the league and would prefer to avoid adding more long-term commitments.

Here's one potential solution: The word out of the All-Star Game late Sunday had the Lakers recruiting the Portland Trail Blazers as a third team in trade talks with the Bulls. According to one source familiar with the discussions, the Lakers would get Hinrich, the Bulls would get Adam Morrison, Steve Blake, Travis Outlaw and Juwan Howard, and the Blazers would land Tyrus Thomas and Sasha Vujacic. Such a deal would lessen the amount of money the Lakers would be adding to their payroll next season.

Make sure to check out Celtics 17's NBA trade deadline live blog on Feb. 18th, Thursday, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. EST!