The Nuggets have offered Anthony a three-year, $65 million extension and he has yet to make a decision on it.  If Anthony does turn down the offer it is unlikely that he will stay a Nugget much longer, besides the notion that he will likely be giving up several millions as the next CBA is unlikely to allow such lengthy and large contracts. If Anthony is seeking a large extension it’ll have to be a extend-and-trade, similar to what happened with Kevin Garnett being traded to Boston a few years ago.

Anthony has long been tied to the New York Knicks as he was recently married there (his wife is from there), and he played his college basketball as nearby Syracuse. While the Knicks seem to be the frontrunners, sources say the Magic are also high on Anthony’s list.

Despite all the speculation, especially with the Chris Paul situation, don’t expect anything to happen anytime soon as Denver is still without a GM.

O’Neal last played for the Cleveland Cavaliers who were title contenders before LeBron James signed with the Miami Heat. While his plan to “win a ring for the king” eventually failed, O’Neal did have a productive season for the Cavs before injuring his thumb late in the season. He averaged 12 points and 6 rebounds on the season in 23 minutes per game, although his stats fell during the playoffs.

O’Neal joins a Celtics squad coming off a Game 7 loss in the NBA Finals to the L.A. Lakers. One reason they lost was the absence of starting center Kendrick Perkins, who went down with a knee injury early on in Game 6. To replace his production, along with the soon-to-be retired Rasheed Wallace, the Celtics signed Jermaine O’Neal and are close to adding Shaquille O’Neal as well.

While there were some concerns regarding O’Neal health, defensive liabilities, role, and desire for a large 2 year deal, O’Neal was arguable the best big man available to the Celtics considering their lack of cap space.

According to Black Sports Online, O’Neal will sign a 2 year deal worth $1.7 million annually, which is far below his supposed asking price of $5.8 million.

NBA News and Rumors reported days ago that the NBA will release blockbuster games this coming Tuesday.

NBA News and Rumors has learned that several “blockbuster” games on the NBA schedule will be released early next week.

It is now official that the NBA is releasing a partial schedule of the 2010-2011 regular season, including opening games and Christmas Day games, in a one hour special event on NBATV on Tuesday, August 3, but as always leaks are to be expected.

Robinson was acquired by Boston this past February that sent fan favorite Eddie House to the New York Knicks. The scoring guard did not play much in the regular season for the Celtics as he averaged a career low 14 minutes per game with Boston. This trend continued in the playoffs as Robinson played just 7.5 minutes per game. However, in Game 5 of the NBA Finals vs. the Lakers, Robinson went off for 12 points as he and Glen Davis led the Celtics to a victory.

The fan favorite expressed his desire to resign with the Celtics, despite seeing limited playing time and averaging just 6.5 points per game, 2.0 assists per game, and 1.5 rebounds per game while with Boston.

Update: According to various Celtics blogs, Robinson’s new deal is worth $8 million over two years. Robinson’s deal now gives the Celtics over $41 million in expiring contracts during the lockout year (2011-2012) (Garnett, Allen, O’Neal, Robinson)  (H/T @celticsblog).

The Wolves had been trying to trade Jefferson for some time now as management did not believe that first round pick Kevin Love (2008) and Jefferson were compatible playing together.

Jefferson was the key piece in the deal that sent All-Star Kevin Garnett to Boston in 2007. As I mentioned on Twitter, the trading of Jefferson means that Minnesota now has no players left from that deal (Jefferson, Gomes, Green, Telfair, Ratliff). The 25-year-old Jefferson has 3 years and $42 million left on his contract, and despite his lackluster defense and injury concerns, he is still arguably the best low post scorer in the NBA as well as one of the few 20-10 players left.

Jefferson joins a Jazz team that has seen its starting power forward Carlos Boozer sign with Chicago, as well as its starting center Mehmet Okur suffer an injury in last year’s playoffs. His arrival will allow Paul Millsap to continue to come off the bench. It is unclear where the Jazz intend to use him whether it be at power forward or center, or if he will clash with longtime coach Jerry Sloan, but it is clear that the Utah Jazz just got a whole lot better without giving up hardly anything.

Wright’s deal likely signals that the Warriors will not match the offer sheet that swingman Anthony Morrow signed with the New Jersey Nets. Even though Morrow is among the league’s best 3 point shooters, it’s believed that the Warriors prefer Dorell, since he’s a true small forward, unlike Morrow.

According to SBNation’s Mike Prada, the Miami Heat will sign free agent sharpshooter Mike Miller. Miller will sign a 5 year, $30 million contract, which the Heat are able to offer since they traded Michael Beasley to Minnesota. Miller is a career 40% shooter from 3 point range. He will provide a good complement to the Heat’s new Big 3 of Wade, James, and Bosh, since none of them are very proficient long range gunners.

The 30 year old Miller is a 10 year veteran of 4 teams, but the former Rookie of the Year has always been a great shooter, good passer, and above average rebounder. He will most likely serve as Miami’s 6th man. It remains to be seen however, how the Heat plan to acquire more pieces, since Miller’s signing will mean Miami has just 5 players under contract.

More details to come.

Haywood was acquired by the Mavericks midseason and in 28 games with Dallas averaged 9.8 points per game, 7.4 rebounds per game, and 2 blocks per game. Part of the reason that his Dallas numbers were low was because he was sharing time in the middle with center Erick Dampier.

While it might be a large amount of money to commit to a 30 year old big man, Haywood is one of the few great defensive centers left in the NBA. His resigning probably means that the Mavericks will shop Dampier, as his 2010-11 salary is a team option, essentially making him a $11 million expiring contract.

Boozer has spent the last six seasons with the Utah Jazz where he averaged 19.5 points per game along with 11.2 rebounds per game, although he only managed to average only 59 played games a season. He was the 5th best rebounder (11.2 rpg) in the league this past season.

Boozer’s deal is expected to start at $12.9 million, meaning the Bulls still have about $17 million worth of cap space, giving them just enough to be able to offer a maximum deal to a free agent such as LeBron James.

John Hollinger with more:

The Bulls are still in the running for LeBron James, who is going to make an announcement Thursday on ESPN. Chicago has enough cap space to take on a max contract, and a source close to Boozer said he is going to reach out to James about joining him in Chicago.

Boozer’s presence will finally give the Bulls the low-post scoring option they have been lacking for years. He will join starting center Joakim Noah (11 rpg) to give Chicago a formidable frontcourt.