any updates?

From today's Insider:

NBA Rumor Central 
NBA Power Outage: Western Conference Schedule Strength 
Perhaps we should call it the February trade dud-line. With less than four days to go before the Feb. 21 trade deadline, all is quiet on the trade rumor front. Several GM's went so far as to tell Insider that their phones are no longer ringing.

In other words, it appears that the pool of potential trade participants is set and now it's up to a handful of teams to see if they can get anything done. In keeping with the Monday IN and OUT list tradition, here's a look at which trades appear to be IN and OUT as we head into the home stretch.

IN

Jalen Rose, Travis Best and Bruno Sundov for Brad Miller, Charles Oakley and Ron Artest: The Bulls and Pacers continue to talk but there isn't much left to discuss. The Pacers are ready to pull the trigger on the trade. It's probably no surprise that the holdup is Bulls operations chief Jerry Krause, who is leery to take on Rose's significant contract. Sources inside the Bulls told Insider this weekend that Krause still believes that with enough cap room he can lure a top-flight free agent to Chicago in 2003. Adding Rose would essentially prevent that.


However, sources also say that Krause is warming up to the trade. Everyone from Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf to the Chicago media seems to be for it, and for the Bulls to have cap room in 2003, they'd have to balk on re-signing Miller and Artest. In other words, they're going to lose all of these players anyway if they want cap room.

Marc Jackson to anywhere: Marc Jackson finally blinked. Jackson gave Warriors GM Garry St. Jean a list of five more teams he would be willing to accept a trade to this weekend. That brings the grand total of teams St. Jean can work something out with to nine. In addition to Orlando (unlikely), Memphis (very unlikely), Indiana (still a possibility if it can't swing a deal with the Bulls) and Phoenix (still very hungry for a big man) Jackson said he would accept a trade to Utah, Minnesota, Dallas, New York or Seattle.


Of those teams, the Mavericks, Knicks and Jazz appear to be the most interested, a league source told Insider this weekend. Despite Mavs owner Mark Cuban's insistence that the Mavs are looking to do anything before the deadline, the Mavs are scurrying for a big man and have the tools to get a trade done. The Knicks, who appear to be striking out everywhere else, wouldn't mind landing Jackson, but are very reluctant to give up a first-round pick given the age of the team. The Jazz are picking things and might decide to make a play for Jackson. They have several players in the last year of their contracts and are getting nothing from their two centers, Greg Ostertag and John Amaechi.

Stephon Marbury to the Knicks: With Suns coach Scott Skiles ousted and the Knicks likely out of the Nick Van Exel sweepstakes, the Suns and Knicks may be two reeling teams in need of each other.


The talk during the All-Star break had the Knicks, Suns and Warriors involved in a three-way trade that would've sent Marbury and Erick Dampier to the Knicks, Latrell Sprewell and Marc Jackson to the Suns and Marcus Camby, John Wallace and a first-round pick to the Warriors.

However, with the Suns' interest in Camby, the Knicks have at least discussed a trade that would send Camby and Latrell Sprewell to Phoenix in return for Marbury, center Jake Tsakalidis, Wallace and Rodney Rogers (both in the last year of their contracts) and a No. 1 pick from Phoenix.

It looks like Marbury may already be on the outs. He was one of the few supporters of Skiles, and a DUI combined with some major chemistry issues has caused his play to suffer. Sunday, Marbury arrived late for a shootaround and new coach Frank Johnson played him only 14 minutes in a loss to Dallas.

Still, a trade isn't likely to happen, but the Suns and Knicks are the two most desperate teams in the NBA right now and that often leads to bad deals.

OUT

Nick Van Exel out of Denver: Van Exel appears to have balked at an early promise to opt out of the final two years of his contract, effectively killing most of the Nuggets' talks with teams interested in Van Exel.


"If a team needs me to restructure my deal, I wouldn't have a problem helping them out by taking less money than I am making my last two years," Van Exel told the Denver Post. "I won't have a problem with that. But for me to give up all of my money, that would be ridiculous. I don't know why Kiki is saying that and is trying to get me to do that. I don't have a problem with [renegotiating]. But I'm not just going to give up my last two years. That's suicide. You never know what can happen. I don't see a big difference in $26 million and $19 million. I have no problem helping a team out."

However, it's not even clear whether Van Exel can even do what he's proposing. Van Exel has an opt out clause on his contract after the 2003-04 season. However, league sources told Insider that the Players' Association would oppose any attempt to restructure a current deal.

"If [Van Exel's] original contract stays in place, it will be difficult to move," Nuggets assistant GM Dave Fredman said. "I don't know any teams that would be interested in five years."

If Van Exel sticks to his guns, the Nuggets' only chance to get him out of Denver this season is to include Raef LaFrentz in the deal. With LaFrentz playing some of the best basketball in his career, the Nuggets seem to be balking at shipping him off before the deadline.

In other words, Van Exel has put the kibosh on several interesting deals that were discussed this weekend. Among the most intriguing -- a Magic-Nuggets swap that would've sent LaFrentz and Van Exel to Orlando in return for Darrell Armstrong, Jud Buechler, Pat Garrity and two No. 1 picks. The Nuggets were holding out for Mike Miller and the Magic, of course, were insisting that Van Exel opt out of his contract in the summer of 2004.

Vin Baker out of Seattle: With three dislocated toes and still no real timetable on when he may return, Sonics sources told Insider this weekend that the possibility of moving Baker now appear slim to none.


"Teams that were interested in Vin were all playoff contenders," the source told Insider. "It doesn't look like they'll take the risk that he'll be healthy in time to make any meaningful contribution this season."

Bryon Russell to the Celtics: The Jazz and Celtics had discussed a swap that would've sent Russell to Boston in return for Walter McCarty, Randy Brown and a No. 1 pick, but the Jazz are balking. With the team on a current roll and coach Jerry Sloan and captain Karl Malone publicly opposing the deal, it isn't worth the trouble.

Posted by scylla:

Posted by Caseloads:

any updates?

Judging from your other post, I'm guessing you're not thrilled...

Yeah, i don't want to give up spree AND camby for steph and junk. Send us steph and marion and we got a deal. But i would hate marbury. He kills teams. By leaving and coming. Jersey did so good in getting him. I would want to trade marbury for GP in a 3 way... can this be done? Probably not. GP is the only other PG or us besides Kidd. Even XL is better than 'bury.