Joel Przybilla has agreed to sign with the Blazers, according to a source.

Przybilla spent several seasons with Portland before being traded last February to the Bobcats.

Przybilla, who also considered signing with the Heat, Bulls and Bucks, will bring veteran frontcourt play to Portland.

Gregg Popovich sacrificed the Spurs’ 11-game win streak to rest Tim Duncan and Tony Parker in his team’s 137-97 blowout loss Tuesday night at Portland.

“(Tim) and Tony need a rest,” Popovich said before tipoff. “Everybody's played a lot of games, and somewhere along the line, everybody gives somebody a rest, and I think we've reached that point.

“Whether it's three games in four nights or X nights before, I don't know, I've lost track. But we've been going and going and going, and if we don't do it now, I think we're asking for trouble later.”

Duncan and Parker joined in injured players Tiago Splitter, Manu Ginobili and T.J. Ford on the Spurs' inactive list.

“We've had the same goal for 15 years: To be the best team we can possibly be come playoff time,” Popovich said before the game. “We've never ever talked about what our record should be, whether we are going to win a championship, or not. Never. It's never come up in any practice or game for 15 years.

“We just try to get better every day, and whatever happens, happens.”

Greg Oden has no intention of calling it quits, according to a source close to the situation.

"It's hard to put into words the heartbreak for everyone involved, but especially for Greg," said Blazers president Larry Miller. "He's a young man who has experienced a great number of physical challenges in his playing career and today is yet another significant setback for him. We have a lot of empathy for Greg and his family during this difficult time."

Oden has appeared in just 82 games over the last five seasons.

"Greg's still very young, in relative terms, for a professional basketball player," acting GM Chad Buchanan told reporters. "He's recovered from a couple of these before. His last two microfracture lesions have healed fine. So there's no reason to think he couldn't come back as long as he shows the work ethic and desire that he's had in the past to come back. I think it's premature to speculate anything beyond that."

Joe Johnson underwent an MRI in Atlanta on Tuesday, and he was diagnosed with left knee tendinitis. As previously announced, he’ll miss the Hawks’ next two games.

In addition, Johnson won’t participate in this weekend’s All-Star game and activities in Orlando. He will be re-evaluated prior to Atlanta’s first game after the All-Star break

Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe is reporting that Rajon Rondo will replace Johnson on the Eastern Conference All-Star team.

Nene missed most of training camp because of contract negotiations and has battled injuries this winter, appearing in only 23 of the Nuggets’ 33 games

George Karl said getting Nene back to speed "might not even happen this year."

Nene is averaging 30.6 minutes, 13.4 points and 7.8 rebounds.

"His conditioning, being out this long, how we keep him in shape and how we get him to be a 35-minute player might not happen," Karl said. "We might just have to rotate and play the big guys. It's actually been pretty fluid the past few games."

Jeremy Evans of the Utah Jazz has replaced New York's Iman Shumpert in the 2012 Slam Dunk Contest.

The Houston Rockets’ Chase Budinger, the Indiana Pacers’ Paul George and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Derrick Williams will also compete.

Dwane Casey set a preseason goal of getting the Raptors to the middle of the pack in defensive efficiency. Nearing the halfway point of the season, the Raptors rank 17th in points allowed per 100 possessions.

“Defensively, they picked up the zone quicker than I thought,” Casey said. “There are some nuances in it that we haven’t grasped.”

Casey said he wants the team eventually to be able to switch from man-to-man to zone defense and back again seamlessly, but lack of practice time has been an obstacle.

“No question, it’s going to wait until next training camp,” Casey said. “The worst thing we could do right now is add more defensive schemes [before] we are near perfect on what we’re doing right now. Lord knows we are nowhere near perfect as far as our defensive execution right now.”

Rashard Lewis and Chris Singleton have alternated starting at small forward for the Wizards this season.

“We’ve got to get more out of that position, all the way around,” coach Randy Wittman said. “It’s just not one player. It’s everybody that plays there.”

Lewis and Singleton combined to score 43 points on the Wizards’ recent road trip, with Singleton averaging four points and Lewis averaging 4.6 points. Lewis said Wittman’s offense is centered around production from the guards and big men.

“You’ve got to move without the ball, because it’s not very many plays called for the three-man in this offense,” Lewis said. “A lot of stuff is with the point guard and the big, as well as the two guard. Nick is our scorer. He’s our go-to-guy on the team. The three-man, you’ve got to spread the wing, open the floor and knock down threes, to open it up for pick and roll. You’ve got to do little things, getting offensive-rebound putbacks or knock down the shots. Or just be aggressive, especially when the ball is swung around.”

Eric Gordon admitted to having cartilage damage in his right knee. Hornets officials had only disclosed that a surgical procedure was performed to clean up his right knee.

“First off, you can label it as a bone bruise, or say so,’’ Gordon said. “Of course, it was a little more serious than that. It was a little bit of cartilage damage that came about, but nothing more serious than that.”

Gordon has not played since Jan. 4 and is expected to miss at least five more weeks.

“I had a little cartilage debris,” Gordon said. “That happens when you have damage to a cartilage, and that was that — and I needed it. I’ve never had surgery before. All you can do is listen to the doctors as far as moving forward, and I know the timing sucked, but no one knew how serious it was. We went through multiple doctors, and the only way we could find out is (to) go in there.’’

Joe Johnson explained why the Hawks have a motivation problem and play with a lack of energy at times.

"When I look at our team, we are a very talented team, but I [don't know] whether guys know their roles or not," Johnson said. "We know the right thing to do. A lot of times we don't come out and do it. I just think we should all have one agenda, one goal and that is winning the basketball game. Not who scores what, who does what. I think we are too self conscious about [who is] scoring and the little things that really don't matter. For us to win the game we have to put all of that to the side and help one another on both ends of the floor. If we don't do that, we are going to continue to struggle to win games. I think we have to put a lot into perspective about how good we want to be as a team or what direction we are headed in or what are our goals. Right now I'm not sure if everyone has that one common goal – and that is winning.

"We've had spurts where we've played great together. The ball movement has been great. We've had times when we haven't been so great. Times we haven't been so great, we have struggled as a team. I know it's noticeable. I think we just have to start getting the ball into the right people's hands who make plays, who score the basketball and make others better. That's it."