rasheed deal close???

[1timesportsbeatwriter]

FROM FRIDAY MORNINGS PORTLAND OREGONIAN

The trade talks involving the Trail Blazers are no longer speculation. Owner Paul Allen on Thursday acknowledged rumors that the team is considering a trade are true and current, as evidenced by his 30-minute meeting with team president Steve Patterson and general manager John Nash during the third quarter of the Blazers' 105-96 loss to the Phoenix Suns at the Rose Garden.


After the game, Allen said he is contemplating whether he should pull the trigger on a proposed trade.

"Trade. Not to trade. I don't know," Allen said before walking out of the arena.

Patterson was equally elusive, saying, "We talked about all kinds of things . . . but I'm not going to talk about it."

No member of Blazers management would confirm the proposed trade, but sources in Dallas say that the deal involves Rasheed Wallace going to the Mavericks for forward Antawn Jamison and injured guard/forward Tariq Abdul-Wahad.

If the deal were to include Abdul-Wahad, it would seem to meet Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's criterion that a trade with Portland be a "sweetheart of a deal," because Abdul-Wahad is damaged goods. The 6-foot-6 Wahad is to make $28 million in the next four seasons, but he has not played this season because of a left knee injury that caused him to miss 67 games last season.

Another rumored trade has Wallace going to the Mavericks for Jamison, Tony Delk and Eduardo Najera.

Dallas coach and general manager Don Nelson told the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram late Thursday that he had not heard of a trade for Wallace being finalized.