Opponent: Philadelphia 76ers
When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Where: KeyArena, Seattle
TV: None
Radio: KJR (950 AM)
The NBA trading deadline is Thursday and the Sonics are continuing to talk with teams around the league. The most serious negotiations will probably start heating up about mid-week.
Brent Barry, Flip Murray and Vlade Radmanovic are among the players drawing inquiries from rival ballclubs, and the Sonics are responding with feelers of their own. And, as coach Nate McMillan said Monday, “If there’s something that makes sense, something could happen.”
Still, he said, this year pre-deadline atmosphere is nothing like a year ago, when the Sonics completed an 11th-hour deal that sent guards Gary Payton and Desmond Mason to Milwaukee for guards Ray Allen, Kevin Ollie, Murray and a conditional first-round draft pick.
“Trust me,” McMillan said with a smile, “I don’t feel like I did last year at this time. … … How quick a year goes. Last year about this time, there was a lot of conversation happening.”
Injury update: The only Sonic who has any injury of note is Allen, who sprained his left shoulder in a Feb. 6 game at Phoenix. Allen has continued to play since that game, including a 16-point appearance in Sunday’s All-Star game, “but he still has some soreness in his shoulder,” McMillan said.
Back in Blaine: Rookie guard Luke Ridnour headed for home over the All-Star break, which in his case meant a two-hour drive up I-5 to play. He spent three days hanging out with his hometown friends before returning to Seattle for Monday’s practice.
“It was great,” Ridnour said. “It was relaxing. No one’s bugging you or anything.”
Are his buddies awed with Ridnour’s celebrity status?
“They don’t get too impressed,” he said wryly.
Add, Ridnour: As usual, Ridnour was the last player off the practice court Monday. The workout started at 6 p.m., and at 8 p.m. – a time most of the players had already headed for home – Ridnour was alternating dribble sprints the length of the court with free throw practice.
One of the few players still in the locker room, good friend Richie Frahm, finally poked his head through the door.
“Go home,” he hollered. “We have to practice again in a few hours.”
The Sonics will work out again this morning.
Never long enough: Like any vacation, the three-day All-Star break passed far too quickly. Just ask McMillan, who managed to “get away and spend time with my family. But Sunday was here before I knew it. It was like, ‘What happened to Friday and Saturday?’”
Rich Myhre
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