Chris Kaman keeps up on trade rumors

Fantasy-league owners aren’t the only ones closely monitoring trade rumors.

Long-injured Clippers center Chris Kaman was talking Wednesday about the incessant stream of speculation regarding Carmelo Anthony’s eventual destination, joking about the sheer number of players involved.

“There’s like 25 players, 40 players or something,” Kaman said, smiling. “Realistically, it’s like 12 or 15. It’s just wild. I didn’t realize they were going to move Chauncey [Billups].”

Kaman, out because of an injured ankle, is not remotely close to returning to action and said he still is feeling a lot of pain. His return certainly won’t be before February when the Clippers go into exile on the road, two massive trips with the All-Star break in between.

Still, that hasn’t stopped Kaman’s name from bouncing all over the Internet like a pinball, especially given the emergence of third-year center DeAndre Jordan.

Kaman said Neil Olshey, the team’s vice president of basketball operations, told him “awhile back” that the team did not have any interest in trading him. He wants to stay here too.

“Who knows? If somebody gives them a good deal … I don’t know,” Kaman said. “Anybody is tradeable. There’s very few guys that are hard to trade.”

Kaman is the longest-serving Clipper and spoke about the immediate ramifications of a midseason trade for any player.

“I see it as, ‘Oh, man,’ if I got traded.” he said. “I’ve got a house here, a boat, businesses I own. My wife just got a job here. I would sell all this stuff and figure out a way to move it all. It would just be a weird thing.

“My heart kind of goes out to all those guys. I look at Marcus Camby last year and it was tough for him.”

“… Everybody knows the trade deadline is coming up next month. There’s going to be some interesting stuff happening. We’ll see.”

Etc.

Another one of the long-term injured Clippers, Brian Cook, is seeing some improvement. Cook, also out with a sprained ankle, had wanted to be able to return for the Heat game Wednesday but knew it was not possible.

For Cook, a more realistic target date will be Sunday’s game against the Lakers.

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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