The Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls are discussing a trade-and-waive deal of Andrew Bynum for Luol Deng.

The Bulls would save in excess of $20 million in salary and taxes by trading Deng while waiving Bynum.

The Bulls maintain that they believe they will be able to re-sign Deng in the offseason.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers have discussed a trade involving a swap of Pau Gasol for Andrew Bynum.

No deal is believed to be imminent, but both sides are considering it ahead of the Jan. 7 deadline for when the second half of Bynum's salary for the season becomes guaranteed.

The Lakers could save more than $20 million in salary and luxury taxes by trading for Bynum and then waiving him.

A trade would need to include at least one additional player to make the deal work and perhaps other assets from the Cavaliers.

Sources say the Lakers are reluctant to part with Gasol in any trade without receiving assets of some value in return.

The Cavaliers have pursued Gasol since this past summer when they had extensive talks with the Lakers, which ended after Dwight Howard signed with the Houston Rockets.

The Cleveland Cavaliers attempted to acquire a third top-10 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft with Klay Thompson as the target, according to a source.

The Cavaliers selected Kyrie Irving first overall, followed by Tristan Thompson at No. 4.

The Cavaliers discussed a deal involving J.J. Hickson for the No. 7 pick, but the Sacramento Kings did a different deal with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Another option was a deal with the Utah Jazz for No. 12, but the Golden State Warriors selected Thompson at No. 11.

Kyle Lowry was recently involved in trade discussions and has been on a tear ever since.

Lowry had 32 points and 11 assists in the Toronto Raptors' 115-100 win over the New York Knicks on Saturday.

Dwane Casey believes Lowry is playing at the highest level of his career.

"He's playing with such force and such confidence," Casey said. "He's been playing the game the right way and he's been playing lights out. It's really good for Kyle and I'm happy for him."

Lowry was linked to a move to the Knicks just a few days after the team traded Rudy Gay.

"It is what it is," Lowry said. "I'm not really worried about it. I've said it 50 million times and I'm going to say it 50 more: Until something happens I'm a Raptor and I'm going to play for the Raptors and I'm going to play hard for the Raptors."

The Chicago Bulls remain determined to keep Luol Deng and hope to re-sign him in the offseason.

Deng will be a free agent in the offseason and the two sides broke off extension talks before the start of the season.

Deng has been mentioned in trade rumors with several teams.

Luol Deng is already receiving interest from the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors, San Antonio Spurs, Memphis Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets among others, according to sources.

The Bulls have reportedly decided they will try to re-sign Deng in free agency.

“I’ve moved around a lot, but this is the longest I’ve been in one place my whole life and I came here at 19," Deng said. "I’m 28 now. I pretty much grew up here. So for me to think about being somewhere else, it’s a weird feeling. But at the same time, I don’t know what it’s like to be somewhere else. I’ve been here my whole career. Maybe it’s better, maybe it’s not. I don’t know that. The best thing I can do is play, be the best I can be and hope it works out. I don’t know if it will be here, if it will be somewhere else. I don’t know that.

"But right now, I can’t hang on to that. I can’t control that. I think when the season’s over and everything is done, then you sit down and you go through that stuff. But for me to think about it now, it’s just a waste of energy because I don’t even know — what am I supposed to think about? I don’t know what city. So it’s just a waste of time.”

James Dolan addressed the New York Knicks before Thursday's practice to assure the team that no trades or changes to the coaching staff would be made, according to sources.

The Knicks lost by 29 points on Christmas Day to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Dolan's move is an attempt for players to rally together and focus under Woodson.

Woodson announced after practice that he believes the Knicks will again win the Atlantic Division.

"Eventually we'll get healthy and we'll see how it all plays out," Woodson 

The Memphis Grizzlies are active in trade discussions that would add wing athleticism onto the team, according to sources.

The Grizzlies are expected to try to retain Zach Randolph as a free agent, but they are also determined not to lose the veteran power forward for nothing.

The Grizzlies plugged Tayshaun Prince into the small forward position last season after trading Rudy Gay.

The New York Knicks are interested in acquiring Rajon Rondo from the Boston Celtics.

The Knicks hope that Rondo will eventually try to force a trade to the Knicks in a way that was similar to Carmelo Anthony in 2011, according to sources.

The Celtics have consistently denied wanting to trade Rondo, but he will have just one guaranteed season remaining on his contract after the deadline.

The Knicks fully expect to re-sign Anthony in the offseason and at the very least have enough cap space in 2015 to sign a max player.

"They're one confident bunch," a league executive said this week. "To listen to them, they expect to have Carmelo re-signed and have another star with him in another year. They're so sure about it you'd think they already know what will happen."

An executive of the Brooklyn Nets told a gathering of season ticket holders on Monday that the team could become "sellers" closer to the deadline.

The Nets have struggled to gel this season coming out of an offseason in which they hoped to become title contenders by acquiring Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Andrei Kirilenko.

Brook Lopez is out for the season with a broken foot.