NBA Rumors: Latest Buzz Surrounding Top Title Contenders

The rumors continue to flow during the NBA offseason. No one can ever be completely free from them for too long, particularly the top teams in the NBA.

So what's going on with the top title contenders in the league?

Are things about to change for the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs?

Read on for the latest news and rumors.

Boston Celtics

Avery Bradley might not be ready for the start of the season following offseason shoulder surgery.

According to CSNNE's A. Sherrod Blakely, Danny Ainge is prepared for the Boston Celtics' defensive ace of a shooting guard to miss up to two months and has built the roster accordingly.

Fortunately for the C's, Ainge has indeed done a fantastic job of finding replacements for Bradley, signing both Jason Terry and Courtney Lee. As a result, Boston can afford to let Bradley heal fully before bringing him back.

However, one player who the Celtics won't bring back is Mickael Pietrus.

Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald reports that Pietrus' agent doesn't expect his client to put on the same jersey for the 2012-13 season given the lack of contact between the two parties.

Los Angeles Lakers

There is a lot of speculation about the Los Angeles Lakers' possible free-agent targets to complete the roster—Jodie Meeks and Leandro Barbosa in particular—but no actual rumors to deal with in those regards.

However, there is one massive rumor that refuses to go away.

You guessed it: Dwight Howard.

Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio reports that multiple league sources believe the big man will be traded by the end of the week:

"

With Dwight Howard reiterating his wish to be traded, multiple league sources predict the Orlando Magic will again step up efforts to find their All-Star center a new team. 

Several of those sources told FOX Sports Ohio on Saturday they believe Howard could be traded by the end of next week.

"

The current rumor du jour revisits the three-way trade between the Orlando Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers and Lakers, one that would send Dwight to L.A. and Andrew Bynum to Cleveland.

I would guess what's going to happen, but I'm not even going to pretend to have any clue how this drama will play out.

Miami Heat

The Miami Heat are the only one of the top five contenders for the 2013 NBA title who have been out of the rumor mill lately.

Miami has already signed Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen. The never-ending source of discussion named LeBron James is in London and dominating for Team USA.

The roster is nearly full, and summer league players will fill up the last spots.

Amazingly enough for the defending champions, there's not much happening.

Oklahoma City Thunder

James Harden and Serge Ibaka are both set to become restricted free agents at the end of the upcoming 2012-13 season, which means that we're going to hear a lot of rumors about extensions and possible landing spots for the two young stars.

The rumor season kicks off for the Oklahoma City Thunder with the lefty shooting guard saying he's open to signing with the Phoenix Suns.

Here's Harden's response after being asked about going to Phoenix, as relayed by The Arizona Republic's Dan Bickley:

"

Of course. I love it there. My mom lives there still. So that's definitely my second home as far as my comfort level and going to school there. But obviously, I'm with the Thunder right now and what we have is special.

"

OKC has also been in the news—although much less so—for some interest in Lester Hudson. Here's the report by Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio:

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Teams not exactly lining up to sign free-agent G Lester Hudson, but I'm hearing Thunder & Nuggets interested. He can help someone off bench.

— Sam Amico (@SamAmicoFSO) July 25, 2012"

Hudson played in 16 games during the 2011-2012 season, averaging 10.9 points, 2.3 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Memphis Grizzlies.

San Antonio Spurs

If you're surprised by the latest report out of the San Antonio Spurs' camp, then clearly you aren't familiar with this organization. After all, it's been the epitome of class and success for quite some time now.

As reported by Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News (via Yahoo! Sports' Kelly Dwyer), Tim Duncan's salary is dropping from $21.16 million last year to $9.65 million for this upcoming season.

That means he's going from the third-most money in the league to the fourth-most on the Spurs.

By cutting his salary in half, Duncan is enabling the Spurs to re-sign Danny Green, Boris Diaw and Patty Mills, sign Nando de Colo and possibly re-sign Manu Ginobili and Tiago Splitter next offseason.

It's the latest great move for Duncan, who has quite the history of making news for the right reasons.