Knicks David Lee wants $12 mil per season. David Lee’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, is seeking $12 million per season, according to an executive whose team is pursuing Lee. Given the depressed market, that figure may be out of reach. The three teams that still have substantial cap space — Memphis, Portland and Oklahoma City — are not believed to be pursuing Lee. Most other teams have only the midlevel exception, or $5.85 million, to spend. The Knicks have not made a formal offer but are hoping to keep Lee for about $7 million to $8 million per season. – NY Times
“Birdman” re-signing with Nuggets. Get ready to flap your wings again. “The Birdman” is back. Chris Andersen and the Nuggets have agreed on a five-year contract that could earn Andersen up to $26 million, the player’s manager, Mark Bryant, said Tuesday night. This locks in one of Denver’s most popular athletes for the next half-decade. “We’re ecstatic to stay in the community,” Bryant said. Andersen will make $3.7 million next season in his backloaded and incentive-based contract, which will help the Nuggets financially. They entered this free-agency period over the NBA luxury tax line of $69.92 million, which was announced Tuesday. Andersen can officially sign today. He was on vacation Tuesday, his 31st birthday, and couldn’t be reached to comment. – Denver Post
Knicks in driver’s seat for Lee, Robinson?. The Knicks are in the driver’s seat with David Lee. Only Portland is far enough under the cap to sign Lee and is hesitant to offer him $10 million a year. Walsh can match any offer. Agent Mark Bartelstein is talking to several teams about sign-and-trades, but the Knicks aren’t that interested. “We haven’t gotten to a workable place,” Walsh said. “We wanted to see if an offer was coming in and I don’t know if there will be.” Robinson could be in the same boat despite drawing interest from the Lakers, Magic, Bulls, Trail Blazers and Kings. – NY Post
Larry Bird defends number of white players on Pacers. Is Pacers president Larry Bird specifically trying to build a team dominated by white players? It’s an uncomfortable question to ask in these politically correct days, but how do you ignore a roster that includes Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy, Josh McRoberts, Travis Diener, Jeff Foster and now, first-round pick Tyler Hansbrough? In a league where little more than 10 percent of the players are white Americans, the Pacers roster is racially split down the middle, making them one of the whitest teams in the league. “I don’t see race at all,” Bird said recently. “I know a lot of it comes out of the brawl (in 2004 at Detroit), people think Indiana has to get all white guys, but I don’t buy any of that. I played in Boston, where it didn’t matter who came in or who left, it was who helped us win. – Indy Star
