APShaquille O'Neal said he vetoed a trade to the Portland Trail Blazers at midseason.
O'Neal, who last week was traded to Cleveland in exchange for Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, a second-round pick in next year's draft and $500,000, told SI.com that Suns general manager Steve Kerr asked him about going to the Blazers.
"During the middle of the season, Steve said Portland was interested," said O'Neal. "He said was I interested in going to Portland? I told him no, so he stopped that."
The Blazers denied that they tried to trade for O'Neal.
"Why would we when we've got Greg (Oden) developing and we've already got (Joel) Przybilla?" an unnamed Blazers official told the website. "If were in go-for-it mode, maybe we would be more interested."
O'Neal said Portland was offering the expiring contract of Raef LaFrentz in a package for him.
O'Neal said he asked Kerr to not deal him to Portland because the Blazers weren't close to winning a championship.
"They have a young team, and their team is pretty good the way it is," O'Neal said. "When he called me, he didn't mention (Cleveland). He said, 'Portland is really making the move for you.' And I said, `I don't really want to go to Portland."'
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Paul Pierce has been around long enough to know what Rajon Rondo's performance can mean for the aging Boston Celtics.
Slideshow |
NBCSports.com |
ProBasketballTalk tweets |
|
Source: Twitter. For more, follow @basketballtalk. |
Video: NBA from NBC Sports |
Knicks, Lin still streaking Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni and point guard Jeremy Lin discuss the team and Lin's recent success. |
Slideshow |
more photos |
Special feature |
Who will be MVP? Interactive: Rank each player on a scale of 0 to 10 (10 = best player, 0 = barely worthy of consideration). NBCSports.com |
Slideshow |
more photos |
Slideshow |
The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos |