FanHouse Suns

It's July 1st, which means the free-agent season has officially begun in the NBA. While some teams have made legitimate and official contact with players, there are some others where rumors and speculation continue to be all we have in trying to figure out what may be on their minds.

Not every rumor deserves our attention, but a couple that popped up Wednesday regarding the Lakers' Lamar Odom seem to make so little sense, that they need to be, at the very least, touched upon.

Not everyone is waiting for 2010 – the mother of all free agent summers – to try to improve their team by throwing big money at the seasoned veterans.

Even in hard economic times, the top players like Carlos Boozer, Hedo Turkoglu and Jason Kidd will leave teams and get their financial reward in other places. The squeeze will be on the lower-level free agents who must settle for minimum or various exceptions.

What hurts this class is that only seven teams really have major room under the salary cap to make something happen, and they usually aren't the NBA's biggest spenders. Unless the free agents stay with their current teams, only Memphis, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, Atlanta, Portland, Toronto and Detroit have major room.

Although there has been plenty of dancing and unofficial talks the last few days, the real dealings can't start until 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

Here is a breakdown by position of the five most intriguing – and unrestricted – free agents.

The deal that sent Shaquille O'Neal to the Cavaliers last week had been rumored since the trade deadline back in February, so it wasn't exactly a huge surprise. But had Shaq gone to another team -- like, say, the Portland Trail Blazers -- that would have been a pretty shocking development, mainly because we hadn't heard even a whisper of that being a possibility.

Apparently, though, the Blazers were indeed in talks with the Suns to bring O'Neal to Portland. This semi-bombshell comes from Shaq himself, who also says that the talks came to an end once he informed Steve Kerr he wasn't interested in being sent to the Blazers.

There's still a lot we don't know about the Stephen Curry/Warriors/Suns thing. But one thing we do know is that Warriors general manager Larry Riley and coach Don Nelson are saying in no uncertain terms: Curry ain't going anywhere.

The Warriors continue to staunchly maintain that they did not select Curry to be part of a future deal for Amar'e Stoudemire. And it was tough not to believe them on Friday afternoon, as they went about the process of introducing Curry to the Bay Area media – in front of Curry's mom, dad, girlfriend, family and even more than a dozen kids from a local youth group.

If the Warriors are lying, they're surely going above and beyond at this point.

Shaquille O'Neal going to the Cavaliers to play alongside LeBron James seems like a positive way for the future Hall-of-Famer to finish out his career, right? Well, it seems that Shaq himself is a little bit conflicted about it emotionally, as evidenced by the following video he tweeted to his many followers after the deal became official on Thursday afternoon.

The NBA Draft started with a no-brainer -- Blake Griffin going No. 1 overall to the Los Angeles Clippers. Then, the fun happened, with Memphis taking Hasheem Thabeet and the Timberwolves' vexing decision to horde as many point guards as they could. A few other teams lucked out when players dropped down the board and into their laps. Check out the grades for the Western Conference after the jump.

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The Warriors surprisingly took Stephen Curry at No. 7, leaving supposed heartthrob Jordan Hill on the board. (Hill went one pick later to New York.) Curry had refused to work out for Golden State during the workout season, and the hubbub followed that the Warriors would avoid a point guard to avoid angering Monta Ellis, who fancies himself a modern day Cousy.

But there's a twist: all evening, a rumor that Phoenix is working on sending Amar'e Stoudemire to Oakland for a package of the No. 7 (Curry), Andris Biedrins, Brandan Wright and Marco Bellineli, has circulated. Marcus Thompson of the Contra Costa Times reports that Golden State may already be working on a tentative extension agreement with Stoudemire, who will be a free agent in 2010. Stay tuned.

The trade of Shaquille O'Neal to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday was more than just a contract dump for the Phoenix Suns.

It also was done to satisfy point guard Steve Nash.

According to an NBA source, Nash expressed his displeasure with O'Neal during a meeting last week in New York with general manager Steve Kerr.

Nash, still one of the best point guards in the NBA, will become a free agent after this season if the Suns can't sign him this summer to a contract extension.

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On the eve of the NBA Draft, what's likely to be the biggest trade of the season has nothing to do with any of the players that will be shaking David Stern's hand on Thursday night. Shaquille O'Neal is headed to Cleveland to play alongside LeBron James, and Matt Moore joined me to break down the implications.

Are the Cavs now officially contenders? Did the Suns get anything more than cash savings in return? And most importantly, will all of our heads explode if Shaq, Lebron, and the Cavs face Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in the Finals next year?

Important stuff to be sure, and we discuss it all, after the jump.

You know what they say about the rumors: they're always true. And that's exactly the case with the talk of Shaquille O'Neal going to the Cavaliers to play alongside LeBron James. Yahoo! is reporting that it's a done deal, and that the Suns will receive Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, the 46th pick in Thursday's draft, and of course, some cash on the side.

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