After rampant trade speculation, the playoff-positioned opt to keep Amar’e Stoudemire in Phoenix
Lately there have been many grumblings involving Amare Stoudemire, one of the premier frontcourt players in the game.
For the past Few weeks talks have increased between general manager Steve Kerr and Cleveland Cavaliers on trade options. Another team interested in Amare was the Miami Heat who have key players that can offer lots of talent to Phoenix.
Stoudemire, who is averaging 21 ppg and 8 rebounds, is keeping a positive attitude towards any movement made after being with Phoenix almost eight seasons. The Cleveland Cavaliers would send Zydrunas Ilgauskas who is averaging 13 ppg and 7 rebounds, and J.J. Hickson for Stoudemire. Miami has in mind sending Michael Beasley and a 1st round pick for Amare. Beasley is averaging 15 ppg and 5 rebounds and has spent almost two seasons with Miami.
Then, on Wednesday, Phoenix suffered a stunning loss to Dallas. Critic’s word was that might be Amare’s last game in a Suns uniform. Before the game Amare was interviewed in that he sounded very sure he was going to stay but wouldn’t say anything else. The deadline was at 3:00 .p.m. Eastern time. Reports from several sources concluded that a trade with Miami was imminent.
Then, like many possibilities during the Sarver/Kerr era, possibilities turned to nothing.
NBA Fanhouse confirmed that night Amare wouldn’t be traded by Thursday’s deadline. “I think I’m pretty much safe,” Stoudemire said after a talk with owner Robert Sarver later that night. After that, two league sources said Stoudemire would be staying and Suns coach Alvin Gentry did nothing to dispute that before Wednesday’s game. It probably also hasn’t hampered matters that Stoudemire reiterated to FanHouse that he’s still leaning toward not opting out of his contract this summer.
“I don’t think that was ever an issue that we were looking to trade Stoudemire,” Gentry said. “People always make phone calls. They think somebody’s available, and the guy’s a great player… Quite naturally, anybody would field phone calls… I don’t think anybody went in saying, ‘We’re going to trade Amar’e.”
After a slew of conjecture and speculation, it turns out that as the trade deadline passed Thursday, the one constant thing in life, in Phoenix, and in the NBA appears to be that Amar’e Stoudemire is still a Sun.
For more details about other key trades from other teams across the NBA visit NBA.com
Online sources: Fanhouse.com,ESPN.com,Suns.com and NBA.com.