Shaquille O'Neal is always spouting off. He wants to be traded to Dallas. He wants to buy the New Jersey Nets.
And, now according to the New York Daily News' Mitch Lawrence, he's saying he expects to be traded to the Hornets in the offseason.
If I were the Hornets that is a deal I would make.
Here's why:
It is a forgone conclusion that center Tyson Chandler will be traded in the offseason. The Hornets can deny it all they want. Chandler makes a lot of money (10 mil plus this season) and has two years left on his contract. Plus, Chandler's health (or lack of) makes him a liability.
If you can package him to Phoenix with another player making over 6 million a year plus (Morris Peterson or Antonio Daniels) and sweeten the package with a draft choice, you can make that deal.
Phoenix would have Chandler in a front court with Amare Stoudemire. The Hornets would have a guy who would sell tickets in his final season in the NBA. Shaq would finish his career only 80 miles from where he played college basketball.
If the Hornets took Shaq's contract, they would be over the luxury tax. But even if they were say 7 million over the tax, they would get some of those millions back in ticket sales. At this point, the Hornets expect at least 10 percent of their current season ticket holders not to renew. Shaquille O'Neal in creole blue might reverse that trend.
And, on the court, the Hornets would have a lineup of Shaq, David West, Chris Paul, Peja, and Rasual Butler, for one year. Then Shaq's contract expires, he retires, and the Hornets have a ton of cap space freed up for the summer of 2010. That is the summer a ton of high priced free agents will be on the market.
Like I said, it makes sense and cents.
Ed Daniels