TNT's David Aldridge says that by the trade deadline on Thursday, Tracy McGrady very well could be in Sacramento (or possibly still New York).
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS --TNT's David Aldridge reports that by this time tomorrow, Tracy McGrady will either be really relieved or really ticked off.
As of 2:30 a.m. on Thursday morning, McGrady was a Sacramento King, in a stunning turn of events that saw the Kings get involved in discussions on the 30-year-old former All-Star swingman and acquire him late Wednesday, along with forward Carl Landry and rookie Joey Dorsey, from Houston for Kings star guard Kevin Martin, forward Kenny Thomas, forward/center Hilton Armstrong and guard Sergio Rodriguez. The trade, done with secrecy as usual by Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie, was under almost everyone's radar, with most expecting that the Rockets would eventually get a deal done with the Knicks -- one of two teams that Houston had been negotiating with almost exclusively for the past few days -- for McGrady.
Perhaps they still might.
A source involved in the discussions said early Thursday morning that there was still a "decent" chance that the Kings would re-route McGrady to New York by Thursday's 3 p.m. ET trade deadline. It was not known if that would involve the same package the Knicks were willing to send to the Rockets for McGrady -- forwards Jared Jeffries and rookie Jordan Hill, and guard Larry Hughes, along with draft picks.
The trade of Landry by Houston was a surprise. He had been one of Coach Rick Adelman's favorite players, an incredibly hard worker who had become, against all odds, one of the league's best fourth-quarter producers. But the Rockets were in desperate need of more offensive punch -- even, ironically, after scoring a season-high 127 points on Wednesday in a victory over Milwaukee.
ESPN.com first reported that the Kings were acquiring McGrady in a package for Martin.