• Is the rumored Mavericks and Wizards trade the first domino? The trade as currently structured is a straight swap of Josh Howard for Caron Butler, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo!Sports. Howard has a team option next year which will most certainly be terminated whether he gets traded or not. I may be looking way ahead here, but if Joe Johnson is unavailable this Summer do the Clippers take a look at Josh Howard?

• Al Thornton looked spry at practice today. The ankle has improved and he’s probable for tomorrow night’s game vs. Chicago.
• 22-year-old Yaroslav Korolev has been logging meaningful minutes and has put up some respectable numbers with the Albuquerque Thunderbirds of the D-League.
• A little dated (from Jan. 15), but

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• Chris Kaman’s field-goal percentage drops considerably in the fourth quarter. I think this is less likely a product of conditioning and clutchness, as it is a tendency for opponents to double Chris late in the game.
• A couple of sources have said the Clippers aren’t likely to move Marcus Camby unless they’re absolutely overwhelmed by an offer. Some of that can be attributed to Blake Griffin’s season-ending injury, but much of it has to do with the fact that there aren’t that many available players who are compelling to the Clips and who fit their very particular needs. The Clips are a team that’s set at four of five positions for the foreseeable future. Good healthy small forwards with reasonable contracts are in short supply.

Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com on why Eric Gordon may not be getting love from the refs: “Superstars in the NBA are both feared and loathed. They are assertive and loud, sometimes selfish and always a presence. Gordon might play loudly, but he speaks politely and deferentially to referees, teammates and coaches. Which should be a good thing but sometimes has some unintended consequences.”

Michael Lee of the Washington Post with the latest Marcus Camby rumor: “I also heard another rumor involving [Caron] Butler and the Los Angeles Clippers, with the Wizards getting back Marcus Camby and his expiring contract.”

Want Chris Kaman in the All-Star game? You can vote here (login required). You should probably vote for Steve Nash as well, if for no other reason than this “awesome” video.

Ken Levine with a nice tribute to the recently deceased former Clippers announcer Rory Markas: “Many of you never heard of him. But you would have liked him. He loved people but lived alone. He was a performer but very shy. He worked in Anaheim but lived 100 miles away in Palmdale. For years he was a Los Angeles TV news anchor and Milwaukee Brewers baseball announcer — at the same time. He was a remarkable person.”

Ian Thomsen of Sports Illustrated on Baron Davis and his relationship with Mike Dunleavy: “Davis understands the skepticism that will follow his claim of a newfound relationship with Dunleavy. But he insists their rapport is real. ‘It’s been a great year, it’s been a learning year,’ Davis said. ‘Coach Dunleavy has been great as far as allowing me to have some input and he’s kind of like grooming me to be a coach. I can’t be mad at that.’ “

• Mike Dunleavy returned to practice Saturday after going to the hospital Friday morning for treatment on a herniated disk in his back. “I feel OK,” Dunleavy said, “but I’m not going to be doing any dancing any time soon.”

• Eric Pincus grades the first 30 games for the Clippers. Pincus points out the biggest change in the most improved Clipper so far this year, Chris Kaman: “The biggest difference in Kaman’s offensive attack this year is a smooth face up jumper.  It’s a shot Dunleavy has encouraged Chris to take for years – but it’s only over this past summer that Kaman developed enough confidence.”

• It’ll come as no surprise that the Clippers are struggling mightily without Eric Gordon, and his absence is impacting the performance of the other guys in the rotation. So far as the small forward spot, Al Thornton’s offensive numbers are improving rapidly, while Rasual Butler continues to struggle with his shot, but is still the better defensive option at the 3.
• Of greater concern, the new starting lineup of Davis-Butler-Thornton-Camby-Kaman is getting shredded defensively, and is Bobcats-bad offensively.
• An in-depth profile on “Clipper Darrell” Bailey. You can place Bailey squarely in the camp of those who feel Mike Dunleavy has performed well as a general manager, but has lost the team as its head coach.
• DeAndre Jordan furtively defies the Clippers’ strength and conditioning coach and opts for the Brownie Sundae: “When Blake doesn’t go on the road trips with us, I’ll have to go out to eat with some other people, like Richard Williams our Strength and Conditioning coach. I’ve told you before how he doesn’t let me eat sweets, so when we go out to dinner I’m not allowed to get dessert. It sucks! Every single time we go to dinner, we’ll go out somewhere like Yard House or Grande Lux Café or CPK, which all have my favorite dessert on the menu – a brownie with caramel on it, then ice cream then more caramel and a cherry on top. They’ll even decorate your plate for you. Whenever I’m out with Rich, the waiter will come over and ask if we want to see the dessert menu. I’ll look over at Rich and he’ll just give me that knowing look and I have to tell the waiter, ‘No thank you.’ I can’t even look at the waiter when I’m saying it. I always like dessert. The good news is, he’s not on Twitter so he doesn’t know about that delicious brownie sundae I got when I went out to dinner last week.”
• Speaking of DeAndre, he’s leading the hazing campaign against rookie Blake Griffin (video below).