WALKER TRADED -- NO JOKE

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'll post my thoughts later. Wanted to get this out to the list:



Mavs send LaFrentz, first-round pick to Celtics 
08:08 AM CDT on Monday, October 20, 2003 
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News 
The Mavericks continued to reshape their roster early Monday when they
acquired Antoine Walker and Tony Delk from the Boston Celtics, president of
basketball operations Donnie Nelson said. 
Headed to Boston are Raef LaFrentz and two players acquired in the
off-season trade with Golden State, Jiri Welsch and Chris Mills. The
Mavericks also included their 2004 first-round draft pick to sweeten the
deal. 
Walker is a strong-scoring forward who could create a logjam in the front
court - unless another deal is in the works. He, Dirk Nowitzki and Antawn
Jamison, not to mention Eduardo Najera, would be splitting up playing time
at the two forward positions. 
Delk will shore up the Mavericks at point guard. He's been a part-time
starter in the league for several years and will give the team an insurance
policy since the only proven point guards on the team were starter Steve
Nash and backup Travis Best. 
The deal makes sense from a financial standpoint for the Mavericks, who have
the third-highest payroll in the NBA. Walker has a maximum contract that
ends after the 2004-05 season. He will earn $13.5 million this season and
$14.625 million next season. 
LaFrentz signed a seven-year, $69-million deal before last season. With
Delk's deal added in, the Mavericks will be relieving themselves of about
$35 million in salary over the life of all the contracts. 
The trade talks got hot on Sunday and the deal was finalized early Monday
morning after the Mavericks returned to Dallas from a preseason game in San
Antonio.