The Portland Trail Blazers may still be able to find a trading partner for their disgruntled wing player before the 2010 NBA season opens up at the end of next month.
According to a source close to ESPN's Marc Stein, the Chicago Bulls have not "abandoned hopes of trading for Portland's Rudy Fernandez."
Said Stein of the potential trade: "The Bulls and Blazers have discussed a deal that would send Fernandez to Chicago, but it's believed that Portland continues to hold out for more than a future first-round pick in return for the Spaniard."
According to most sources, new Trail Blazer GM Rich Cho is looking for a high, non-lottery, first round draft pick in exchange for Fernandez. Most teams, however, will be reluctant to pay such a high price for a player who has openly showed a strong urge to leave the NBA and return to Spain.
The New York Knicks also continue to pop up in possible deals for Fernandez, although different sources contend how much interest and communication is actually occurring between the Blazers and Knicks.
According to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, New York President Donnie Walsh recently nixed a 3-team deal that would have sent Fernandez to New York, Anthony Randolph to Indiana, and a first round draft pick to Portland.
Newsday's Alan Hahn, however, contends that Rich Cho has not made a single call to Walsh since taking over as Portland's GM. All of the previous talks regarding Rudy Fernandez took place when Kevin Pritchard was still the Blazer general manager.
Wrote Hahn: "There has been talk about a three-way deal that Walsh reportedly turned down recently that would have sent Anthony Randolph to the Pacers for a first-round pick that would have then gone to Portland for Fernandez, but multiple sources said the talks only involved the Pacers seeking Randolph for a first. Of course the Knicks could have used that first round pick -- which had been Portland's initial asking price for Fernandez -- to then get Rudy and fill a need at the 2G spot, but, from what I'm told, that was never in the conversation."
In any case, a trade suitor for Rudy Fernandez has yet to come forward with a proposal meeting Cho's high demands. And it also appears that Cho is not going to back down from his requests for a first round draft pick in exchange for Rudy, even after Fernandez declared he would not participate in any team activities with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Fernandez was already fined by the NBA for making those comments.
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