Marc Stein: Sources with knowledge of the talks confirmed Wednesday night that the Rockets and Clippers discussed a deal Wednesday that would send Baron Davis to the Rockets.
Don't expect the deal to go down, though.
"Won't happen," said one source close to the process.
Said another: "There was talk [between the teams] but not enough of a salary match."
The Clippers have offered Davis to Dallas and back to Golden State in recent trade proposals and are trying again to bring an early halt to Baron's homecoming after signing the Los Angeles native to a five-year, $65 million deal in the summer. It appears that Clippers coach/general manager Mike Dunleavy -- whose job would figure to be under threat if he weren't owed more than $10 million over the next two seasons after this one -- has the blessing of owner Donald Sterling to shop Davis as much as he wants.
That's presumably because Sterling is determined to slash payroll, not only because of the effect of the global economic crisis on business but also because the most liberal spending of his 25-year ownership -- thanks in part to numerous injuries -- hasn't prevented the Clippers from spiraling to a nightmarish record of 13-41.
My longtime colleague Sean Deveney of The Sporting News was the first to report the possibility Wednesday of Davis' going to Houston. Scroll further down on this compendium of trade chatter and you will also find a report from ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard about the Clips trying to lure Houston and New Jersey into a three-way scenario that would put Davis in Houston, McGrady in New Jersey and Carter in L.A.
Yet I'm told that the Rockets are unwilling to take on Davis' contract even if the Clippers were prepared to structure a deal in which they took back Tracy McGrady, who will be 30 next season when he's due to earn $23 million while trying to make the never-easy comeback from microfracture knee surgery.
