By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

Friday, January 9, 2009

After a brief networking trip to the annual D-League Showcase and a whole lot of D-Miles this week, less than 40 days remain before the NBA trading deadline.

So it's clearly time to pass along some fresh dribbles of player-movement chatter from the front-office grapevine, as collected on the road and on the phone from various team officials, league insiders and more:

• It was Knicks president Donnie Walsh who initially tossed out the idea that buyout talks with Stephon Marbury would resume after Jan. 1. But they haven't.

One explanation in circulation is that Marbury still refuses to consider forfeiting any of this season's $20.8 million salary for the right to go to Boston or anywhere else. (Which stuns me, even though I realize who we're talking about here, given the potential PR payoff for Steph if he goes to the Celtics and plays well.) Sources close to the process maintain that the $1 million giveback Marbury initially offered to the Knicks remains off the table since Marbury stormed out of a face-to-face meeting with Walsh on Dec. 1.

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