NBA Rumors Round-Up
NBA Rumors: Ray Allen Still Undecided on Future
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated27 Oct 2023
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The reports that Ray Allen intends to play for the Cavs are unfounded. He has not yet decided if he will play next season or for which team.
On Thursday, there was a report that said Ray Allen was leaning toward playing in the 2014-15 season and signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers. However, the Twitter account for Tandem (the agency that represents Allen) was quick to dispute this rumor, saying that he hasn’t decided if he’ll play next season.
As I tweeted last night, Allen is really struggling with this decision. The 39-year-old feels like his body can handle another 82-game season and he believes he can still contribute to a team, but he has four young boys and he doesn’t know if he wants to spend another year away from his family. This is the same reason that Allen told me back in June that he won’t consider coaching when his playing career comes to an end, because he doesn’t want to continue living the NBA lifestyle and spending time away from his family.
“As far as me coaching when I finish, I couldn’t see myself going from this to then being a head coach, no,” Allen told me last month. “I have four boys at a young age and I would love to have an immediate impact on them where I’m not always gone every day. If I went into coaching then that would really take me away from them and it’d be even worse than what I’m doing now. I would much rather spend my time doing that with them.”
If Allen does decide to return for his 19th season, it makes sense that he would join the Cavaliers. Cleveland has been pursuing Allen ever since they signed LeBron James, and James and Mike Miller have reportedly been recruiting him. If Allen continues his playing career, he’ll want to go somewhere he can compete for a championship, and it seems like Cleveland will be one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference next season. Last season, Allen averaged 9.6 points in 73 games for Miami.
Do you see yourself playing again in the NBA?
Richard Hamilton: “Yeah, yeah. I think for me, personally, I have to see how my body responds after the summer. I want to play another year and hopefully get an opportunity to play on a team with a chance to win a title. … I’ve had a couple calls from teams.”
Last offseason, the Chicago Bulls waived Richard Hamilton and he became an unrestricted free agent. Surprisingly, he remained unsigned for the entire 2013-14 season and it seemed like his career might be over.
Now, Hamilton says that he decided to take that time off to be around his family and let his body heal. He also used this time to see if he wanted to continue playing.
He says he received interest from several teams, but that he wanted to take a year off. He admitted that he considered retirement, but says that he wants to play one more season before hanging ‘em up for good.
Hamilton says that a number of teams have expressed interest in him this summer and he hinted that he would be willing to play for the veteran’s minimum since he “made a whole lot of money in my career.”
He wants to join a contender, if possible. It remains to be seen where he’ll land, but the desire to continue playing is still there. He has averaged 16.5 points per game over the course of his 14-year career.
Official numbers on Jameer Nelson’s new contract with Dallas: $2,732,000 next season, $2,854,940 player option next season
For the first time in his NBA career, Jameer Nelson won’t be wearing an Orlando Magic jersey when he takes the court next season. The Magic waived Nelson earlier this offseason and now the veteran point guard has signed a two-year deal with the Dallas Mavericks.
After trading Jose Calderon earlier this offseason, Dallas’ point guard rotation is somewhat up in the air. Nelson will compete with Devin Harris, Raymond Felton and Gal Mekel for minutes. Nelson received interest from several other teams, but he decided to go with Dallas and admitted that he had his eyes on them from the moment he became a free agent.
Nelson told The Dallas Morning News that he’s looking forward to playing alongside veteran scorers like Monta Ellis and Dirk Nowitzki, and he believes his shooting percentage will improve this season since he has so many weapons around him.
The last few years have been rough for Nelson. He was accustomed to going on deep playoff runs with the Magic, making the postseason in six straight years and competing in the 2009 NBA Finals. However, after Dwight Howard’s departure, Orlando went into rebuilding mode and won just 43 games over the last two seasons. He knew it was time to move on and now he’s thrilled to be on a winning team again.
Last season, Nelson averaged 12.1 points, seven assists and 3.4 rebounds in 68 starts with the Magic.
