Kevin Garnett to Clippers trade nowhere close to happening

At this time of year, teams have some preliminary discussions about more trades than you do with your buddies in your fantasy league — teams will even ask about guys they never would trade, just to get a sense of their market value.

There is a Mississippi River of back-channel or down-low trade conversations that take place, what we hear is snippets when a reporter gets a bucket full of the water and reports it. Almost none of that chatter ever becomes an actual trade.

Such is the case with the talk between the Clippers and Celtics about a possible Kevin Garnett trade. I have no doubt there was a conversation, maybe more than one. But as Paul Flannery notes at SBN the Celtics are not interested right now.

The trade rumor that made the rounds before the game started -- Garnett for Caron Butler and Eric Bledsoe -- was floated from the Clippers’ perspective, but the Celtics don’t have any interest. It would take a lot more than that to get KG out of Boston and that’s before anyone gets around to asking him if he wanted to waive his no-trade clause to make it happen.

And if you think that’s just the Boston side, here is Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com.

To be clear, in a double negative sort of way: I'm not going to say Clippers acquiring KG is NOT an option. There's just nothing doing now

— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) February 4, 2013

If the Clippers made this move, it would essentially signal the end of their trust in DeAndre Jordan. And while he has been losing some late-game minutes lately the Clippers are not there yet.

But it was a fun diversion to talk about for half an hour while they fixed the lights at the Superdome Sunday.