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Wizards Send Howard To Mavs

February 22, 2001 / 8:19 PM EST / CBS/AP

Michael Jordan pulled off the improbable Thursday, trading a player believed to be untradable as he dealt Juwan Howard to the Dallas Mavericks in an eight-player trade.

Howard and his salary cap-consuming contract were sent to the Mavs along with Calvin Booth and Obinna Ekezie for Christian Laettner, Courtney Alexander, Loy Vaught, Hubert Davis, Etan Thomas and $3 million.

To make room on their roster, the Wizards released Gerard King, Mike Smith and Felipe Lopez and placed Rod Strickland on the injured list.

"Michael Jordan has made a good deal for his team. He got a bunch of good guys and he's cut his payroll," Mavericks coach Don Nelson said. "They gave us an opportunity to acquire a very fine player, and we took advantage of that."

Jordan had been working frantically to trade one of the three veterans Howard, Rod Strickland or Mitch Richmond whose huge salaries and long-term contracts were paralyzing the Wizards' ability to acquire major free agents. Howard has two full seasons remaining on his contract and will earn about $40 million over that span.

"It's been a long couple of days," Jordan said. "This deal actually happened in the last five or six hours. There were a lot of other things being considered."

Jordan said the team should be close to getting under the cap at the end of this season when the remainder of Strickland's contract will likely be bought out and that the team will be in excellent shape to pursue free agents during the summer of 2002.

Howard had been a disappointment and was rutinely booed by the home crowd since signing a seven-year, $105 million contract in 1996. However, he recently stepped up his game and was a rare bright spot in a 13-41 season. He led the team in scoring with an average of 18.2 points and was second in rebounding with 7.0 per game.

"He played well enough to create interest for himself," Jordan said.

The deal also offers some vindication for Jordan, who has suffered through a tumultuous first year of managing a team that has been mediocre to bad for more than a decade.

"We've still got a long ways to go. I'm pretty sure you guys are going to stay on (me) until we start winning," Jordan said. "Right now, we've just made a step in the right direction.

"Sure, everyone said Juwan was an untradeable situation, but you never know," Jordan said.

Laettner is averaging 7.5 points and 4.0 rebounds, but he comes with a prickly reputation and likely won't figure into the Wizards plans when his contract expires at the end of the season.

"Hopefully, he will come here with a positive attitude," said Jordan, trying to suppress a chuckle.

Alexander, the 13th overall pick of the 2000 draft, is averaging 4.2 points and 1.7 rebounds. He and Thomas, who is out for the season with a toe injury, are the only two players in the trade who would appear to figure in the Wizards long-term plans.

Booth has been a pleasant surprise with his gritty play this season and at one point displaced Jahidi White as a starter. He is averaging 4.5 points and 4.3 rebounds in 22 starts.