Trades/waivers might raise some eyebrows

[Kori Ellis]

Monroe: Trades/waivers might raise some eyebrows
Web Posted: 02/27/2005 12:00 AM CST

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b....e9075fa5.html

San Antonio Express-News

In all likelihood, power forward Alan Henderson on Tuesday is going to sign a free-agent contract with the Dallas Mavericks, the same team that Thursday traded him, along with Calvin Booth, to the Milwaukee Bucks for Keith Van Horn.

The Bucks waived Henderson after the trade, which begs the question: Why did they trade for him in the first place?

The answer to that one has everything to do with the NBA's salary cap and its rules regarding trades by teams over the cap. The aggregated salaries of traded players have to match, within 15 percent, which is one reason some NBA teams employ a "capologist" to keep track of such mysterious stuff.

When, and if, Henderson returns to the Mavericks, the team that poses one of the biggest threats to the Spurs in the Western Conference will have gained the services of Van Horn while giving up only Booth, a career underachiever.

The same scenario may play out for the Celtics, who Thursday traded Gary Payton, Tom Gugliotta and Michael Stewart to the Hawks for Antoine Walker. Boston may get Payton back if the Hawks comply with his insistence they buy out the remainder of his contract -- it expires at season's end -- and make him a free agent, too. That would mean the Celtics would get Walker while giving up only Gugliotta and Stewart, neither of whom were contributing players this season.

Earlier this season the Pistons traded Eldon Campbell to the Utah Jazz, believing they would get him back because the Jazz indicated they likely would waive him. The Pistons were angry when the Nets spoiled their plan by claiming Campbell off the waiver wire just in hour before he would become a free agent.

Hey, when you play in the mud, expect to get a little dirty.

These cases don't cons ute breaches of the league's rules -- teams aren't even allowed to discuss such scenarios with players or their agents before the fact -- but they seem to raise some sticky ethical issues.

It seems as if the Bucks were willing to make a deal with Dallas that included at least an implication they might be willing to waive Henderson because they needed someone to take Van Horn's enormous contract -- he will be on the salary cap for nearly $16 million this summer -- off their books in order to be in position to re-sign their best player, Michael Redd, this summer. Henderson's $8.2 million contract expires at the end of this season, so the Bucks end up with enough salary-cap room to fend off offers from other teams, such as the Cavaliers, who covet Redd this summer. But they also lose a productive big man in exchange for an unproductive center. Go figure.

The Hawks, who may have supplanted the Clippers as the league's most inept franchise, are committed to developing their young players, Josh Smith and Josh Childress, so they have little use for Payton and likely will buy out the rest of his $5.4 million deal.

Will he return to Boston if that happens? The Miami Heat, a lot closer to being a championship caliber team, may have some interest, but it isn't likely Payton would want to come off the bench behind Damon Jones, 29-9 as the Heat's starting point guard, or even split time with him. So, yes, Payton probably will wind up back in Boston.

The 76ers aren't going to like that.

Is this cheating?

Technically, no.

Does it raise ethical questions?

It depends on your perspective.

"Off the top of my head, I don't think it's an (integrity) issue," said Gregg Popovich, who doubles as Spurs coach and executive vice-president of basketball operations. "If you trade somebody or waive somebody, other people have a chance to take those players, also. So it seems to me it's just fine if the original team ends up with that player again, because it's not a for-sure that player comes back, because that player has choices.

"You can't make the arrangement ahead of time. You've got to go in the pot with everybody else and then ask the guy and hope he will come back."

If Henderson and Payton do become free agents, I'm betting they end up back with the teams that traded them. And in case you think NBA teams are above "wink-wink" deals when it comes to building a compe ive roster, we remind you of the Minnesota Timberwolves and the "deal in a drawer" they negotiated with Joe Smith a few years back.

[Duff McCartney]

When, and if, Henderson returns to the Mavericks, the team that poses one of the biggest threats to the Spurs in the Western Conference will have gained the services of Van Horn while giving up only Booth, a career underachiever.

So they gave up a career underachiever for another career underachiever.