NBA Rumor Mill

Tuesday Oct.28, 2003

TSL AP Wire Reports

"The Mavericks have been trying to coax 7-3 Arvydas Sabonis to return to the NBA, but vice president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson said Monday there is virtually no chance of the Lithuanian legend coming back.

Sabonis retired from the Portland Trail Blazers this summer and returned to play for the Zalgiris team in his hometown of Kaunas, Lithuania. Nelson visited Lithuania last weekend to receive a medal of honor from the president. While he was there, he visited with Sabonis." Dallas Morning News

"Laker management was said to have been disappointed with Bryant's observations. Bryant will be asked today to meet again with Kupchak about the decision to talk to ESPN so shortly after there appeared to be a team-wide agreement to avoid the subject. Although Kupchak has promised not to trade Bryant under any circumstances, it is possible Bryant's disobedience is an attempt to force a deal. Though Bryant is out of shape, on a bum knee, expensive ($13.5 million this season) and facing charges that, if convicted, could mean life in prison, Kupchak probably would find many willing trade partners." LA Times

"The Bulls were keeping an eye on which players the New York Knicks cut, but they waived Matt Carroll and Travis Knight and not Othella Harrington. The Knicks are talking with the Utah Jazz about a trade for Harrington." Chicago Sun-Times

"Bank of America Corp.'s planned $47.8 billion acquisition of FleetBoston Financial Corp. leaves New England without a major bank headquarters, a loss that some experts fear is a sign that the region is being sidelined.

The acquisition will give Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America a leading market position in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Jersey as well as a powerful retail platform in New York City, upstate New York, New Hampshire and Maine, both companies said Monday.

But will the home of the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins need a name change now that FleetBoston Financial is being sold to Bank of America?

The answer is, most likely. In Boston this afternoon, Bank of America chairman Kenneth Lewis said he'd like the FleetCenter to eventually become known as the Bank of America Center." ESPN.com