No chance in hell they manage to get rid of him. They're stuck with him for the rest of this year. His $21mil expiring might be appealing next season though.
If I'm a team looking forward to the Summer of 2010 I may want to look at this now. I'm pretty sure Sarver just wants to save money as quickly as he can to avoid luxury tax. Shaq is owed $20 million this year and next, if a team gives Sarver a $7-10 million contract that expires this year, Sarver may be willing to take another large contract that goes beyond 2010 -- $10 million this year + $10 million the next 3 years = $40 million, which is exactly what Shaq will cost except Sarver gets immediate relief and the other team opens their salary for the magical Summer of LeBron. If teams wait until next year Shaq (read: his expiring contract) will cost top notch young players + draft picks, because by then they won't have any problem letting his $20 million fall off their books. But for the most part I think the teams that have a serious shot at LeBron (Cleveland, New York, New Jersey) are already financially setup for that summer; there's still Wade and Bosh though.
I think Detroit should take him in a straight up for Iverson. It would help both teams a lot IMO, the only question is if Dumars went out and got Iverson for money to spend this offseason, or next offseason. If Dumars has his eye on the 2010 class, this deal might stand a chance. Shaq provides the Pistons a big who can score down low, complementing Sheed pretty well and sliding him back to PF. It also undoes the three guard mess and might just give Detroit the fuel they need to get back into the East race. Obviously the kicker for Phoenix is AI's expiring deal.
I expect Cleveland to take a shot at Shaq. I wouldn't mind if the Bulls expanded the Amare deal to include Shaq. Add in Larry Hughes and Andres Nocioni. Something like this: http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=c9k3kc
They're hardly set at big positions. The team struggles when Big Z is resting because neith Big Ben or Big Hair can score. Shaq would give them a real threat in the middle and it doesn't cost the Cavs much. Not to mention the fanfare and exposure the francise would have with a LeBron-Shaq duo. It doesn't hurt their cap space for 2010 either and could be the edge they need to come out of the East.
That Shaq to the Cavs deal looks quite good and realistic. But I don't think that Shaq would be movable this year. I think next year would be better once his contract is expiring. Right now, he's just too heavy for most teams. You never know though.
