[djb]

Mavs won't be sending any picks to Houston - only cash (and "well below" the once standard $3 million Cuban throw-in).


With Eisley deal complete, Mavs eye Hardaway

08/18/2001

By JODIE VALADE / The Dallas Morning News

The Mavericks shipped backup point guard Howard Eisley to the New York Knicks on Friday, and at the same time moved closer to landing his replacement.

That might sound like old news, considering the Mavericks actually announced the Eisley part of a three-way trade a week ago. But it took that long for the trade to be finalized -- and it took a little of that well-known Mark Cuban cash thrown in, along with at least one Knicks draft pick -- for the Houston Rockets to agree to accept Glen Rice despite concerns about Rice's injured foot.

The completion of the trade officially secures a $3.2 million trade exception for the Mavericks, the prize they most sought in the deal that also landed Muggsy Bogues in Dallas. Also as part of the deal, Rice went to Houston in exchange for Shandon Anderson.

All that means Miami free agent Tim Hardaway could be headed to Dallas by early next week. The Mavericks have openly coveted Hardaway since the start of the free-agent signing period, but wanted the trade exception to acquire him.

Though Cuban would not specifiy his cash contribution in the three-way deal, it was well below the $3 million NBA-limit that he has thrown into four other trades in the past year. He said the Mavericks did not include any draft picks in the re-negotiations.

Dallas also gave the rights to second-round draft pick Kyle Hill to the Rockets in the trade, but last week Hill signed with a team in France. Cuban said Hill's defection had no impact on Houston's insistence on further compensation in the trade.

Source: With Eisley deal complete, Mavs eye Hardaway