Trail Mix: Former Blazer Greg Oden Arrested, Kevin Love To Cleveland Update

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There was a lot of news today in the NBA, with some familiar names getting into the news for the wrong reasons.

We start off first with the news of Greg Oden’s arrest in Indianapolis early Thursday morning. Oden was arrested for allegedly punching his ex-girlfriend.

From the AP’s report on the arrest:

Prosecutors plan to request for a 72-hour continuance to give them more time to decide what, if any, formal charges Oden will face, she said.

According to a Lawrence police report, officers were called to the home at around 3:30 a.m. and found a 24-year-old woman on a sofa with a swollen, bloody face. A friend of the woman told officers that Oden had “punched her in the face.”

The report says the injured woman was uncooperative and told officers she had fallen, but was unable to say when and where that occurred.

Oden, according to the Indianapolis Star, showed remorse and cooperated with police.

The house belongs to Oden’s mother.

Oden, 26, was “calm, apologetic and cooperative” when officers spoke with him, police said.

“I was wrong, and I know what has to happen,” Oden told police, according to the report.

Another sad turn in the story of the 2007 #1 overall pick. He played 82 games in five seasons with the Blazers, most of which were derailed by knee injuries. He signed on with the Miami Heat last summer and played in 23 games but didn’t make enough of an impact to stay on the court.

Oden, 26 and a free-agent, is facing a preliminary charge of battery.

If you remember, former Blazer and current Dallas Mavericks guard Raymond Felton was arrested earlier this year on gun charges, after reportedly getting into an argument with his estranged wife while playing for the Knicks last year.

The NBA brought down a 4-game suspension on Felton, without pay, for pleading guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a firearm in New York.

Felton had a formal apology in a release from the Mavericks:

“I demonstrated poor judgement and I take full responsibility for my actions. Moving forward I’m eager to get to Dallas, to start fresh and make a positive impact in the Dallas metropolitan area.”

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said over the weekend that Kevin Love would “most likely” be traded by late August according to Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com said earlier this week the Minnesota Timberwolves and Cleveland Cavaliers have a deal basically in place.

From the Tom Withers and Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press:

Love will soon be on his way from Minnesota to Cleveland after the teams reached an agreement in principle to a trade that will send the All-Star forward to the Cavaliers for Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and a first-round draft pick, two people with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press on Thursday.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the Cavaliers and Love’s camp already have an understanding that he will get tendered a 5-year max contract next summer.

Cleveland is making the deal with Minnesota with a firm agreement Love will opt out of his contract in 2015 and re-sign with the Cavaliers on a five-year, $120 million-plus contract extension, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

The Love trade almost assures that Minnesota won’t be a threat in the West this season. While the reported haul of Wiggins, Bennett and a first rounder is a nice haul, it’s one that will pay more dividends in the future than it will immediate.

The Timberwolves have also been linked with Philadelphia power forward Thaddeus Young.

And finally some Team USA related news before we wrap up this batch of Trail Mix. Kevin Durant announced on Thursday afternoon that he was withdrawing from the 2014 USA Basketball team.

Durant said this in a statement released from the Oklahoma City Thunder:

“This was an extremely difficult decision as I take great pride in representing our country. I know that I owe it to my USA Basketball teammates to be totally invested in the experience. After going through training camp with USAB, I realized I could not fulfill my responsibilities to the team from both a time and energy standpoint. I need to take a step back and take some time away, both mentally and physically in order to prepare for the upcoming NBA season. I will be rooting for USAB and look forward to future opportunities with them.”

This brings the final roster count in camp to 15 players competing for 12 spots. It’s tough to see whether the absence of Durant will have any affect on Damian Lillard’s candidacy for the squad.

Team USA still has plenty of players who can put the ball in the hoop. John Schuhmann of NBA.com wonders if the final roster spot will come down to Lillard and Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan, who are both represented by the same agency.

• If the U.S. is going to take only one of DeMarcus Cousins, Andre Drummond and Mason Plumlee for the back-up center spot (with Davis and Faried as the other bigs), there would be only one more player cut from the current 15-man roster. That final spot would likely come down to Damian Lillard and DeMar DeRozan, who obviously bring two different skill sets. Durant’s withdrawal may have guaranteed Gordon Hayward a spot on the roster.

Team USA resumes practices in Chicago on August 14. 

Bonus Reading: The great Jack McCallum has a fantastic profile on Cleveland’s first year head coach David Blatt in this week’s Sports Illustrated.