Dirk Nowitzki ran into trouble with Cristal Taylor in the beginning of May when he learned she had used aliases and been in trouble with the law before they met. The two seemed to have a pretty normal home life in this video, but fake names and fraud charges brought those times to an end.

To make things worse for Dirk, Cristal found out she was pregnant while being processed in jail. Nowitzki feels if it’s his kid, he should have sole custody so he had paperwork filed on June 12 to make it happen. Read the full story

Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks has a major problem on his hands and it’s not that his team is down 0-2 to the Denver Nuggets. Off the court, Dirk’s girlfriend Cristal Taylor was arrested at his house on a felony fraud warrant. And reportedly they’re engaged and she’s pregnant. This will definitely help Nowitzki focus for Game 3 against the Nuggets. Here’s some video of the couple from happier times. Read the full story

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban will have to throw more money at the problem next year because the team’s fading 2008 championship hopes went down with Dirk Nowitzki on Sunday. Dirk is expected to miss two weeks with what is being called a lower left leg injury.. In layman’s terms that means season killing injury. Read the full story

I don’t know which is more unbelievable.. Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry’s acting or the idea of Dirk and Jet within 500 yards of a Hyundai dealership. Read the full story

The phrase “cancel Christmas” is just that, a phrase. It seems Dirk Nowitzki is taking it to heart after last season’s embarrassing first round playoff exit. He’s not buying anybody, including Steve Nash, a Christmas gift.. Not even a Dirk doll.. Talk about bah humbug. If Dirk Nowitzki or Baron Davis pulled your name in the secret Santa gift exchange, you got screwed.

Tags: Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, Dallas Mavericks, Phoenix Suns, Baron Davis, NBA, utube, youtube

According to information provided by the Oregonian’s Jason Quick and my assumptive deduction, 2 players from the Garnett, Iverson, and Kobe trio were recently offered to Portland in exchange for the #1 pick. You can listen to Jason drop the hint here or just check out this quick excerpt:

“I know that two Western Conference teams have offered their superstars in return for the number one pick… And they are Hall of Famers and the Blazers have turned them down on both.”

There you have it. So how did I end up with Kobe, KG, and AI representing the players on the block? Walk with me.

NO CONSIDERATION: Portland and Seattle obviously. New Orleans, Memphis, Utah, Golden State, and Sacramento all have zero Hall of Famers on their rosters at this moment.

NOT YET: Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, and the L.A. Clippers all have players that are close or should play their way into the Hall of Fame. Dirk Nowitzki should be in one day, Tracy McGrady needs a few more solid years and he has to do some damage in the playoffs, Yao Ming could get in one day if he continues to improve, and Elton Brand has a legitimate chance if he continues on his current pace. I don’t have Steve Nash from Phoenix in the Hall of Fame yet. I know Steve has the two MVPs but his career numbers 14pts, 7.6ast, and 2.9rbds, are still lower than Stephon Marbury’s 19.9pts, 7.9ast, and 3.0rbds, even with Nash’s incredible 3 season stretch.

NOW WE’RE TALKING: San Antonio, Denver, Minnesota, and the L.A.L are the only teams in the Western Conference that have Hall of Fame locks on their rosters right now. Let’s go ahead and assume that the Spurs aren’t dealing Duncan. That’s a safe bet right? Well, that leaves Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, and Kobe Bryant as the only players that could have been offered to Portland.

So who were the two players? I could see Minnesota making that offer. They would set Garnett free and start over with a major chip in their pocket. The T-Wolves would have been looking at a young nucleus of Oden/Durant, Randy Foye, and Rashad McCants (depending on what you think of McCants’ game). The Nuggets would presumably move Iverson out, bring in Durant/Oden and piece either one of them together with Melo, Camby, J.R. Smith, and hold on to Steve Blake. What about the Lakers offering Kobe? I can’t see Portland turning down a trade offer that includes Kobe Bean Bryant unless they are so turned off by his off the court problems, and so wary of his emotions that they wouldn’t want the best player in the league on their roster. Plus, the Lakers would become a non-factor for a couple of years while their young roster developed. I can’t see the La-La land management doing that.

That means (to me) that Minnesota tried to trade K.G. and the Nuggets tried to trade Allen Iverson for Portland’s number one. I guess the Blazers figured why trade for aging superstars with a ton of mileage when they have the chance to draft a player that they could have for the next 15 years. Portland was right on with this decision. They’re not an A.I. or Garnett away from the championship so there’s no need to bite at the lure of a big name.

I originally peeped this story over at Henry Abbott’s True Hoop. It’s the ninth link down. Courtesy of ESPN and True Hoop

You can read the paraphrased version of Casey Holdahl’s interview with Jason Quick here, or you can listen to the entire interview here.

This is the snippet of Jason Quick on the two Western Conference teams offering Hall of Famers for the #1 pick.

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