Are the Bulls Closing on Amar'e?

It appears All-Star Weekend will come and go without an official Amar'e Stoudemire trade. That's probably for the best; it'd just be weird to see an All-Star starter playing for the wrong conference in his own town.

But the apparent stay on Stoudemire's Phoenix career for a few more days hasn't limited the rumors. The big, flashing arrow this weekend points toward Chicago, with four independent reports mentioning the basic parts and another quoting a Chicago reporter as telling Amar'e he's heading to the Windy City.

Without actual news, triangulation is all we have. Here's Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee on Saturday:

According to league sources, Chicago and Cleveland are among the contenders. The Bulls would send Drew Gooden and his expiring contract ($7.1 million), Tyrus Thomas (this season at $3.7 million, next season at $4.7 million) and Thabo Sefolosha ($1.9 million and $2.7 million this season and next, respectively) to the Suns.

Published at nearly the same time, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic offered a similar report:

Chicago, Houston and Cleveland are at the forefront of negotiations with the Suns, who would want the expiring contracts of Chicago's Drew Gooden, Houston's Ron Artest or Cleveland's Wally Szczerbiak included. A Bulls deal could include Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefolosha, players they coveted in past drafts.

SI.com's Chris Ballard wrote this late Friday night:

The hot topics were the Heat-Raptors trade, which most players believed to be a step up for Miami, and a rumored Suns-Bulls swap that had Amaré Stoudemire and parts headed to Chicago in exchange for Tyrus Thomas and parts. This was considered enough of a sure thing that Chicago media folks were already making their introductions to Amaré.

On Saturday ESPN.com's John Hollinger offered this:

[R]ight now, the Bulls' offer of Tyrus Thomas, Thabo Sefolosha and the expiring contracts of Drew Gooden and Cedric Simmons appears to be the leader in the clubhouse as we approach Thursday's trade deadline.

And finally, Howard Beck of the New York Times leads a piece on the Suns with this anecdote from Friday's All-Star media availability:

"Where am I going?" [Amar'e] asked someone wearing an All-Star Game credential.

"To the Bulls," said the someone, who happened to be a reporter from Chicago.

Again, this is triangulation. But smoke, fire and all that. Every other rumor has crumbled a lot faster than the Bulls version.