The Magic has made a dramatic turnaround from last season, but that isn't enough to keep DeShawn Stevenson happy.
Stevenson, the former prep phenom who signed with Orlando in the summer, this week told the Orlando Sentinel, "I want out of here. Get me out."
Stevenson has seen his minutes decrease and is now a backup to shooting guard Cuttino Mobley. He averaged 30 minutes and 11 points last season with Utah and Orlando, but this season he's down to averages of 16.6 minutes and 5.5 points.
Wednesday was the first day teams could trade players they signed this summer, but the Magic, in prime playoff position, probably won't deal Stevenson and lose a component of its success. Orlando probably wouldn't get much for him anyway.
CARTER'S VALUE: By being traded to the Nets on Friday, Vince Carter is saving the Raptors $30-million, but his value remains a question.
Rob Babcock, the first-year Toronto general manager, will find out. There was a whiff of desperation in the startling deal he made, trading Carter, the professional basketball icon in Canada, for Eric Williams, Aaron Williams, Alonzo Mourning and two first-round draft picks.
Babcock had been trying since the summer to trade Carter, first at his request and now because the new coach, Sam Mitchell, did not exactly embrace him. Money was also a consideration.
KOBE AND CHARLES: Kobe Bryant's interviews this week with ESPN were set up by his agent, Rob Pelinka. He will sit down Thursday with TNT's Charles Barkley, as arranged by the Lakers' public-relations staff, and Barkley is ready to do some grilling.
"I've heard about his interview with ESPN, and he said he doesn't know Shaq's number. That's a little bit of a bailout," Barkley said, in a network release. "If he doesn't say what I want him to say, I'm going to reach across the table and slap the hell out of him.
"I just want to ask him what he wants people to know about him, because right now he is getting killed. He doesn't have a lot of friends. He has to give people a reason to root for him."
ANTE UP: Las Vegas has emerged as the trendy location for a professional sports team looking to relocate, but gambling might first seep its way into the NBA through another direction.
Dennis Rose, president of an online gaming company called Casino Fortune, apparently will bid for the Cavaliers, who have been put up for sale by Gordon Gund.
Rose, who failed in an attempt to buy the Suns in June, will try to outbid Michigan businessman Dan Gilbert, who is reported to be offering $375-million.
NOT SO JAZZED: The Jazz started this season as one of the league's surprise teams, but injuries have derailed the team, and this week the relationship between coach Jerry Sloan and point guard Carlos Arroyo took a hit.
Sloan hoped he could mold Arroyo into an unselfish, John Stockton-type point guard, but on Wednesday, Sloan benched Arroyo for the entire first half of a big game against first-place Seattle. Arroyo had a brief, but contentious, on-court exchange with Sloan, which led to the benching.
TIMING IS EVERYTHING: According to a report out of Seattle, SuperSonics team officials will ask lawmakers to fund a major renovation of KeyArena, which was basically rebuilt only nine years ago. The team says the changes are needed to provide more revenue, and with the Sonics in first place, the city just might go for it.
OFF THE BALLOT: Although Indiana's Ron Artest appears first on the all-star alphabetical paper ballot which came out Nov. 18, he was removed from the Internet ballot after the infamous brawl.
Information from the New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Los Angeles Daily News was used in the report.
