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Heavy interest in Shaun Livingston, Paul Pierce as free agency begins

By Net Income
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The tweets came fast and furious after midnight, as free agency opened in the NBA. And as expected, the two Nets free agents attracting the most interest are Shaun Livingston, who the Nets can only offer $10 million, the mini-MLE, and Paul Pierce, who the Nets can offer more than anyone.

As for Andray Blatche, all indications are that the Nets are not interested in extending him, with one Nets insider saying he's not the kind of player to whom you extend a long-term commitment. The Nets could be interested in working a sign-and-trade with him, but the question is what's the market?  No word yet on Alan Anderson, who the Nets would like to retain.

Zach Lowe described the basic problem in Monday's Grantland extravaganza on the Nets problems, noting that Blatche's "personal leave" was Kidd's way of suspending the often-troubled center.

The Nets couched Blatche’s absence as due to "personal reasons," but Kidd really booted him out of concerns over his conditioning and preparedness, per multiple sources familiar with the matter. The timetable on Blatche’s absence was open-ended; Kidd told Blatche to come back only when he was ready to play. It was a suspension in all but name.

Summing up the news overnight:

Livingston, who reportedly has several offers larger than what the Nets can offer, is likely gone, said a league source. But where? Marc Stein reports the Kings, Hornets, Timberwolves, Magic and Spurs are all interested in the 6'7" point guard. The loss of Jason Kidd hurts the Nets big time in that competition. The Nets would not be surprised if the Bucks made a call as well.

The recent controversy over Jason Kidd is giving teams, particularly the Clippers --and their coach, Doc Rivers, confidence he can be had for less money than the Nets will offer, reportedly $6 million to $8 million. In fact, Ken Berger reports that the Nets will see what the market is for Pierce before making him a firm offer.  Among the teams besides the Clippers that are likely to offer Pierce a contract are the Trail Blazers, Grizzlies, Bulls, Mavericks and Rockets. In several of those cases, teams see Pierce as a back-up plan if their first choice among top free agents goes elsewhere.

While Blatche may be telling people he's headed to New Orleans, the Pelicans leading beat writer says there's no interest.

What free agents might the Nets, with their limited flexibility, pursue? Alex Kennedy writes Brooklyn native Sebastian Telfair got a call and NetsDaily has been told that the team remains interested in wooing Bojan Bogdanovic if Livingston does depart.

Here are the best tweets on the Nets from overnight, laying out the competition.  We will be updating through Tuesday and remember, Billy King will speak to the media at 10 a.m.

On Livingston...

On Pierce...

On the Nets' interests...

On Blatche...

The big news out of the early morning recruiting: the Cavaliers and Kyrie Irving came to an agreement on a max contract, five years and $90 million. The agreement provides the Cave with stability going forward.

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