Cardinals coach Bruce Arians was at one time Mendenhall’s offensive coordinator with the Steelers.

Mendenhall had led the Steelers in rushing for three straight seasons before a disappointing 2012 season marred by injuries and a one-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team.

He was suspended for a game in December for not attending a loss to the Chargers after he found out he wouldn’t dress for the game. He also was inactive for two games after fumbling twice on four carries in a loss to the Browns.

Mendenhall also was slowed by injuries last season. He tore the ACL in his right knee in Week 17 of the 2011 season and didn’t return until Oct. 4 of last season. His return didn’t last long, though, as he strained his right Achilles four days later.

The 25-year-old running back has rushed for 3,549 yards and 29 touchdowns in 57 career games.

The Cardinals released running back Beanie Wells last week.

The 6-foot-4, 229-pound Wells was envisioned as a power running back to anchor Arizona’s offense, but injuries and inconsistent play kept him from being a regular threat. He had only three 100-yard rushing games in his four seasons in the desert.

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However, a trade is unlikely because of Rondo’s injury, a torn left ACL, sources tell Broussard.

Celtics general manager Danny Ainge said Tuesday that he’s not sure any deals would get the Celtics what they need and give another team what it wants. Ainge, in fact, was not optimistic he would get any moves done before the 3 p.m. ET Thursday deadline.

“It looks unlikely that anything will be done, other than possibly some players we will add to our roster,” Ainge said. “Not sure yet of what that will be.

“There’s been a lot of conversation around the league, and we’ve been very busy. Trades are very challenging to make, and then on top of that we like our guys. I like watching this team play, I like the personality of our team. We just need to find a way to give them the best chance to win with the resources we have.”

There were reports before the All-Star break that the Lakers and Celtics had preliminary talks to trade Rondo to the Lakers for center Dwight Howard, but Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak denied that report to Broussard, saying he hadn’t talked to Ainge and reiterating that the Lakers do not plan on trading Howard.

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He bounced back to play again and Derrick Nix scored 17 points to help No. 22 Michigan State pull away for a 66-56 victory over Nebraska on Sunday night.

The Spartans — and Dawson in particular — held their breath early in the second half when the sophomore forward tumbled to the court in pain. He missed the Big Ten and NCAA tournament last season after tearing the ACL in his left knee.

“I was scared for a minute and said, ‘Not again,’ ” he said.

Nebraska’s Ray Gallegos was called for a foul when he trailed Dawson on his layup attempt.

“He really didn’t clip me,” Dawson said. “When I planted, the knee buckled.”

After Dawson was examined, he walked slowly off the court and later was able to jog back onto it.

“All of a sudden he came out running like Superman,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said.

Dawson was cleared to return much to the delight of the fans, who gave him a standing ovation with ear-to-ear grins.

“I think my smile was even bigger,” Izzo said. “I was scared to death.”

Dawson showed his knee was very healthy in the final seconds, soaring to slam an alley-oop pass from Keith Appling for the game’s final basket.

Michigan State didn’t have much else to cheer about until late in what was a closely contested game for much of the night.

“I have no idea why we looked so lethargic and why we missed so many shots,” Izzo said. “I am very disappointed in the performance.”

The Spartans (14-3, 3-1 Big Ten) have won three straight and kept the Cornhuskers (9-8, 0-4) from winning their first conference game this season.

Nebraska, which lost its two previous Big Ten road games to Michigan and Ohio State by an average of 20-plus points, was very competitive for much of the game at Michigan State.

“We’re not in it for any sort of consolation prize,” first-year Cornhuskers coach Tim Miles said. “We want to win the game.

“Credit Michigan State, they made winning plays. We had a bad shot and two turnovers late that hurt us. We don’t have enough things going our way to make errors late in the game.”

Nebraska’s David Rivers was put in the starting lineup and had 18 points — two points from his career high — in a breakout performance for a player averaging 5-plus points a game.

“I was more focused,” he said. “I knew someone had to step up and it just happened to be me who made some shots.”

Dylan Talley scored 17 points and Gallegos added 12 while Cornhuskers center Andre Almeida was held scoreless. The Huskers were without Brandon Ubel, who missed the game with an elbow injury. The 6-foot-10 senior is Nebraska’s leading rebounder and third-leading scorer.

Spartans reserve center Adreian Payne scored 14 points, combining with Nix to score 31 points.

“Their big kids went 12 of 17 and our center was 0 for 4,” Miles said. “We need Andre to match those guys if we’re going to be successful.”

Nix broke a 50-all tie with a layup with 6:17 left and Appling later connected on three free throws to give the Spartans a five-point lead, matching their largest to that time. After Nebraska pulled within a point, freshman Gary Harris responded with a 3-pointer — after missing his first 10 shots — that put Michigan State ahead 58-54 with 1:49 remaining during a 14-4 run.

Izzo, though, was not happy.

“They played harder than us, they coached better than us,” Izzo said. “They probably deserved to win the game in every way.”

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“It’s good,” said coach Tom Thibodeau before Wednesday’s 96-94 win over the Magic. “He’s been around the whole time. You guys don’t see him as much as everyone else does, the team does, I should say. So I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. It’s the next step in the progression for him. He’s getting up to speed with everything offensively, defensively, his teammates.

“It’s just the next step, and he’s got to continue the things that he’s been doing and the team has to continue to focus on our improvement and our opponent and then at some point he’ll be ready to go. But he still has some time to go, everyone has to be patient, but it’s good to have him around.”

Rose, who has been doing all the noncontact drills in practice for the past few weeks, is still likely a month or two away from seeing the floor. The Bulls have not wanted to place a target date on Rose’s rehab, and Thibodeau reiterated that stance on Wednesday. When asked about a possible return around the All-Star break, Thibodeau was noncommittal.

“It’s when he’s ready,” Thibodeau said. “So that’s not anything that has changed from the start of the season, it’s when he’s ready. It’s not going to be sooner, later, ‘this is the target date,’ it’s just when he’s ready. So he’s doing practice, the predictable contact in practice, the next step will be regular practice, then he has to be able to go through regular practice for a while. And then, if everything goes well, then he plays.

“But there’s no time schedule so it’s everything according to plan. It’s just the next step. There’s several steps he has to go through. There’s several more that he has to go through — so everything’s going well, nothing has changed.”

Aside from a promotional campaign by adidas, Rose has tried to stay out of the spotlight as much as possible. He walked into the Amway Center wearing headphones Wednesday and said hello to reporters.

Thibodeau doesn’t believe Rose’s presence on the road will give his team, coming off a disappointing loss to the lowly Charlotte Bobcats at home on Monday, much of an emotional lift.

“The thing is he’s already been in practice and they see him doing his rehab, so that part is … it is what it is,” Thibodeau said. “He’s not out on the court and that will be eventually what we have to do. He’ll be part of the group. But right now everything’s good, our team has to keep working, just focus on the improvement. Derrick has to continue to focus on what he has to focus on, and at some point he’ll rejoin the group.”

Rose also will travel with the Bulls to Miami for their game against the Heat on Friday night.

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