News from January 21.

The NBA released the 98-99 schedule.  You can find the schedule at
http://www.nba.com.  The season starts February 5 and the playoffs start
May 8.  The last possible date for the playoffs to end is June 29.

Voshon Lenard (Mia) has a stress fracture in his left leg.  He will
undergo surgery on the injury and will be out 8 to 10 weeks.

TRADE: The LA Lakers traded Tony Battie to Boston for Travis Knight.

TRADE: Seattle traded Jim McIlvaine to New Jersey for Michael Cage and Don
MacLean.

TRADE: A three team trade occurred between Minnesota, Denver, and Toronto.
Minnesota traded away Micheal Williams, their 99 or 00 1st round draft
pick and the rights to Zeljko Rebaca and received Bobby Jackson and Dean 
Garrett.  Denver traded away Bobby Jackson, Dean Garrett, and the better 
of the two 99 1st round draft that Denver owns (their own and Milwaukee's)
and received Chauncey Billups and the rights to 2nd round draft pick Tyson
Wheeler.  Toronto traded away Chauncey Billups and the rights to Tyson 
Wheeler and received Micheal Williams, the rights to Zeljko Rebaca, 
Minnesota's pick, and Denver's pick.

TRADE: Orlando traded Johnny Taylor and the rights to Keon Clark to Denver
for the lesser of Denver's or Milwaukee's 99 1st round draft pick (which
Denver owned) or Denver's 00 1st round draft pick (the option of taking
the pick in 99 or 00 is Orlando's).

TRADE: Golden State traded Latrell Sprewell to New York for John Starks,
Chris Mills, and Terry Cummings.

TRADE: Detroit traded the rights to #11 draft pick Bonzi Wells to 
Portland for a conditional 1st round draft pick.

TRADE: Houston traded the rights to #18 draft pick Mirsad Turkcan to
Philadelphia for a conditional 1st round draft pick.

[Note: players signed to non-guaranteed contracts are often training camp
fodder and are released before the season starts - though a handful 
occasionally win a roster spot.]

Dallas signed 1st round draft pick (#9) Dirk Nowitzki to a 4 year contract
worth $5.56 million.  The 4th year of the contract is at the team's
option.  Dallas also signed 2nd round draft pick (#30) Ansu Seasy, 2nd 
round draft pick (#53) Greg Buckner, and re-signed Ace Custis to 
non-guaranteed contracts.  

Dallas signed John Williams to a 3 year, $3,625,000 million contract.

Atlanta signed 1st round draft pick (#20) Roshown McLeod to a 4 year, $3.3
million contract. The 4th year of the contract is at the team's option.  
Atlanta signed Anthony Johnson and Mark West.  Atlanta also signed 
Shammond Williams, Kebu Stewart, Brian Oliver, Jason Lawson, Jeff 
Sheppard, Bakari Hendrix, and Mitch Henderson to non-guaranteed contracts.

Boston signed Dwayne Schintzius and Marlon Garnett to non-guaranteed
contracts.

Charlotte signed Derrick Coleman to a reported 5 year, $40 million
contract, signed Chucky Brown, and signed Eldridge Recasner to a 4 year,
$5 million contract.  Charlotte also signed Charles Shackleford, Brad
Miller, Melvin Watson, and re-signed Travis Williams to non-guaranteed
contracts.

Chicago re-signed Bill Wennington to a 1 year, $1 million contract.
Chicago also signed Curtis Staples to a 1 year contract.

Cleveland signed Damon Bailey, Litterial Green, Shawn Harlan, Otis Hill,
Antonio Lang, Charlie Melvin, Carlos Strong, Rocky Walls, and re-signed
Mitchell Butler to non-guaranteed contracts.

Golden State signed 1st round draft pick (#4) Antwan Jamison to a 4 year
contract worth $8.67 million.  The 4th year of the contract is at the 
team's option.  Golden State also signed Tony Farmer, Jeff Grayer, and
Gerald Madkins to non-guaranteed contracts.

Houston re-signed Charles Barkley to a 1 year, $1 million contract, 
re-signed Matt Maloney, re-signed Othella Harrington, re-signed Eddie
Johnson, re-signed Matt Bullard, and signed 1st round draft pick (#16) 
Bryce Drew to a 3 year, $2.7 million contract, and signed 1st round 
draft pick (#14) Michael Dickerson to a 3 year, $2.99 million contract.
Houston also signed Cuttino Mobley, John Coker, and Anthony Miller to
non-guaranteed contracts.

Indiana signed Sam Perkins to a reported 2 year, $3.75 million contract
and re-signed Travis Best and Fred Hoiberg.  Indiana also signed Mate
Skelin, Todd Lindeman, and Carlos Knox.

The LA Clippers signed 1st round draft pick (#22) Brian Skinner to a 4 
year contract worth $2.89 million.  The 4th year of the contract is at the
team's option.  The Clippers also re-signed Darrick Martin.

The LA Lakers signed Derek Harper to a 2 year, $2.1 million contract and
re-signed Rick Fox to a 1 year contract.

Miami signed Terry Porter and re-signed Mark Strickland, Keith Askins, 
Marty Conlon, and Rex Walters.  Miami also signed Randy Livingston, Jamie 
Watson, and Amal McCaskill to non-guaranteed contracts.

Milwaukee signed 1st round draft pick (#6) Robert Traylor to a 4 year 
contract worth $7 million.  The 4th year of the contract is at the team's
option.  Milwaukee also signed Kipp Christianson, Mike Higgins, Donny
Marshall, and Donald Royal to non-guaranteed contracts.

New Jersey signed Jayson Williams to a reported 6 year, $85.8 million
contract and signed Eric Murdock to a multi-year contract.

New York re-signed Charlies Ward to a reported 6 year, $28 million
contract and re-signed Chris Dudley to a reported 4 year, $35 million
contract.  New York also signed Ronnie Grandison, Ben Davis, Nick Davis,
Jason Wallace, Rick Brunson, and Lawrence Moten to non-guaranteed
contracts.

Orlando signed Isaac Austin to a reported 3 year, $15 million contract,
re-signed Darrell Armstrong, signed first round draft pick (#12) Michael 
Doleac to a 3 year, $3.3 million contract, and signed first round draft 
pick (#15) Matt Harpring to a 3 year, $2.84 million contract.  Orlando
also signed Robert Conlish, Damon Jones, Jonathan Kerner, and Ruben
Nembhard.  Orlando renounced their rights to David Benoit, Kevin Edwards,
Derek Harper, Jason Lawson, Kevin Ollie, and Danny Schayes.  And after
renouncing him, Orlando signed Danny Schayes to a 1 year, $1 million
contract.  [Note with the new CBA, there is no long a time delay for 
teams being able to sign players they renounced.]

Philadelphia signed Matt Geiger to a reported 6 year, $51 million 
contract, signed Harvey Grant to a 2 year, $2.1 million contract, signed
George Lynch to a 1 year, minimum contract, and re-signed Theo Ratliff 
to a 7 year contract.  Philadelphia also signed 1st round draft pick (#8)
Larry Hughes to a 3 year, $4.21 million contract, 1st round draft pick 
(#29) Nazr Mohammed to a 3 year, $1.68 million contract , and 2nd round 
draft pick (#37) Casey Shaw.  They also signed Benoit Benjamin, Stacey
King, Arthur Davis, and Darrin Hancock to non-guaranteed contracts.

Phoenix renounced their rights to free agents Antonio McDyess, Kevin
Johnson, George McCloud, Mike Brown, Horacio Llamas, Loren Meyer, Marko
Milic, Dennis Scott, and John Williams.

Portland re-signed Damon Stoudamire to a reported 7 year, $81 million
contract and re-signed Arvydas Sabonis to a 2 year contract.

San Antonio signed Mario Elie to a 2 year contract.

Seattle signed James Cotton to a 2 year contract, re-signed Dale Ellis to
a 3 year contract, and signed Olden Polynice to a 1 year contract.
Seattle also signed Jelani McCoy, Drew Barry Reggie Geary, Moochie Norris,
Christian Welp, Fred Vinson, Will Brantley, and Phil Cartwright.

Toronto signed Michael Stewart to a 1 year, $1 million contract.

Washington signed Terry Davis, God Shammgod, and Jahidi White.


[Whew!  And I didn't have time to do all the research/hunting I wanted to
for exact salary numbers and years - I simply ran out of time (despite
only getting 5 hours of sleep); I do have to go to work.  If I find out
more details for any of the above or other transactions that actually
occurred Thursday (and a lot of rumored stuff did not become official
yet), I'll include it in the next post.  Please excuse any misspelled
names.]