Power forward Kenyon Martin spent seven seasons with the Denver Nuggets before heading off to China this season to make some bucks while the NBA and its players worked out its new CBA. Now Martin can sign on to whatever team will take him in the NBA and you’d think he’d have some minor interest in rejoining the Nuggets since the team now has the second-best record in the Western Conference (behind only the Oklahoma City Thunder).

But no. The word from the Denver Post is that Martin isn’t planning to return to the Mile High City.

Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the 34-year-old Martin, who averaged 8.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game last season for Denver, “has visited with several NBA teams interested in signing him, including the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday.” The Los Angeles Clippers and Miami Heat lead the pack for him,

Wojnarowski reports, though, that the Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, New York Knicks, and Hawks also have interest in Martin and his decision is expected to be made this weekend.

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Kenyon Martin has been cleared by the NBA to sign on with whatever club he wants to now that he’s back from his adventure in China.

The New York Knicks have been rumored to be interested, but the New York Times is hearing that the team “won’t do back flips to get” Martin and only have “modest, at best” interest in adding him to the roster.

The man the Knicks have more interest in bringing onboard, once e is cleared to return from his own Chinese adventures, the Times notes, is a former teammate of Martin’s: shooting guard J.R. Smith.

The pair played together for the Denver Nuggets for six seasons and then both went to China when it looked like the NBA season might be lost due to a lockout. Martin went to the Xinjiang Flying Tigers while Smith joined the Zhejiang Golden Bulls.

The 26-year-old Smith, selected 18^th overall in the 2004 draft out of high school despite signing a letter of intent to play for the University of North Carolina, averaged 12.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game for the Nuggets last season.

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The Miami Heat got lots of grief last year for not having an effective big man on the roster, particularly after the team lost the Finals to the Dallas Mavericks and Tyson Chandler.

The Heat, currently fourth in the Eastern Conference with a 16-6 record, still aren’t happy with the big guys on its roster and ESPN reports that the team has made offers to 7-1 Joel Przybilla and 6-9 Kenyon Martin, both of whom “could make their decisions by the end of the week” as to where they want to spend the rest of the season.

Przybilla, who was the ninth overall pick back in the 2000 draft by the Houston Rockets, is deciding between the Chicago Bulls and Heat, his agent tells the site. Martin’s agent tells ESPN that his client has a few more teams than that as a possibilities.

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The San Antonio Spurs took down the Houston Rockets Wednesday night with the help of center Tim Duncan’s 25 points, 16 of which he scored in the third quarter. He had seven rebounds, too.

Even with that performance, Duncan may be sitting out Thursday night’s game against the New Orleans Hornets. Coach Gregg Popovich has said that he plans to rest the 35-year-old 13-time All-Star throughout the season and this may be the chance he’s been waiting for, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

Duncan, though, didn’t want to hear about it after Wednesday’s win. “I don’t think about that,” he said, according to the paper. “I’m not worried about that. I hope it doesn’t come to the point where I need to take a day off. I feel pretty good right now and I’m not resting or saving for any other game. I’m just going to play whatever game is in front of me.”

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The New York Knicks are more than a quarter of the way through their 66-game schedule and they’ve had to suffer through their 8-13 record without the help of point guard Baron Davis, who had back surgery in December but was expected to be in the lineup by now.

The word from Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni now is that Davis won’t be in the lineup till next week, the New York Post reports. “We all wanted things earlier,” D’Antoni said, according to the Post. “But we want when he comes back he could stay back and not risk the in-and-out and all that stuff.”

Davis sat out Monday’s practice because he was “too sore,” the paper reports, but he is expected to be practicing again Wednesday. “He hasn’t looked strong in scrimmages,” the paper reports and “D’Antoni said (Davis) hasn’t had ‘enough pop’” and needs “recovery time from scrimmages.”

The 32-year-old Davis, a two-time All-Star, split last season between the Los Angeles Clippers and Cleveland Cavaliers, averaging 13.1 points, 6.7 assists, and 2.7 rebounds per game.

The Knicks, expected to be a powerhouse in the Eastern Conference this season, are currently a game and a half out of playoff contention.

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Richard Hamilton has a deep thigh bruise and some “lingering left groin issues” that will continue to keep him out of the lineup for the Chicago Bulls, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The team plans to hold Hamilton out till he’s fully healthy since he missed eight games after playing on Jan. 4. He played Sunday against the Miami Heat and then skipped Monday’s game against the Washington Wizards.

“It’s frustrating, but I have to get healthy,” Hamilton said, according to the Trib.

The paper points out that forward Luol Deng, who has a torn ligament in his left wrist, may return to action before Hamilton since doctors are telling him he can’t make the injury worse and it is now simply about managing the pain.

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said Deng will return soon, possibly as early as Thursday against the New York Knicks.

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Portland Trail Blazers small forward Nicolas Batum was “very scared” that he would be going the way of Greg Oden and Brandon Roy with a serious knee injury after watching the play in which he suffered his injury Monday night over and over, the Oregonian reports.

Bynum’s other fear, the paper points out, is that he wouldn’t be healthy enough to play for France in the Olympics this summer. “That was my main goal, my purpose,” Batum said, according to the paper. “I was thinking I’m going to miss the Olympics.”

But Bynum’s MRI Tuesday shows that he “does not have a serious injury,” according to the paper. What he does have is a bone contusion, the paper notes, which will keep him out of the team’s game against the Charlotte Bobcats Wednesday.

“I was so happy after that, ” Batum said, the Oregonian reports, and he plans to travel with the team Thursday to take on the Sacramento Kings (though it isn’t clear if he’ll be ready to play).

The 23-year-old is averaging 11.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per game this season.

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The San Antonio Spurs took a big hit on Jan. 2 when Manu Ginobili broke his left hand. The San Antonio Express-News reports that Ginobili has had his post-surgery splint removed and he’s allowed to do some basketball activities with his other hand.

“He’s shooting mid-range shots,” coach Gregg Popovich said Monday, according to the paper. “He’ll be cleared to go one-on-one in a week or so.”

The 13-9 team has gone 10-7 without the 34-year-old native of Argentina and he’s expected to return “at some point during the Spurs’ nine-game road trip next month,” according to the Express-News.

In the five games he’s played this season, Ginobili has averaged 17.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, and three assists per game.

The other injured Spurs guard, T.J. Ford, who tore his left hamstring on Jan. 10, won’t be back till after Ginobili, the paper reports.

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The Denver Nuggets take on the Memphis Grizzlies Tuesday night and the team may have to do it without its centerpiece player, point guard Ty Lawson. He’s missed the last two games due to a sprained ankle that he suffered in Wednesday’s win over the Sacramento Kings.

“When we don’t have Ty, the versatility of the team, the confidence that comes with being short one of your best players, it’s not how you lose the game, it’s the confidence you don’t have all the time,” Nuggets coach George Karl said Sunday after his team ended a six-game winning streak with a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, according to the Denver Post.

The ankle injury to Lawson, who is averaging 15.7 points and 6.5 assists per game this year, is getting better, the Post notes, but “during pregame warm-ups Sunday, he couldn’t cut the way he needed to” and it won’t be known if he can play Tuesday until he tests the ankle in pregame warm-ups.

“It felt a little bit better moving back and forth today,” Lawson said Monday, according to the Post. “So it definitely will be a game-time decision. It’s just the cutting thing. … I can jump and do everything else. But just cutting back and forth, playing defense and stuff like that, that would have been tough (against the Clippers).”

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The now 7-13 Phoenix Suns got crushed by the Dallas Mavericks 122-99 on Monday night, partially due to hitting the floor without Steve Nash, who took “a knee to his left thigh on the final play of Saturday night’s win,” according to the Arizona Republic.

It is unclear if Nash, who is only seven assists away from breaking Kevin Johnson’s franchise record, will be ready to go for Wednesday’s game against the New Orleans Hornets.

“It’s very, very sore and a sharp pain, but it’s also very stiff,” Nash told the paper.

The 37-year-old seven-time All-Star, who has been league MVP twice, is averaging 14.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 9.9 assists per game this season.

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