Warriors, Bobcats make deal
Associated Press
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The Golden State Warriors found a home for disgruntled swingman Stephen Jackson yesterday, sending him to the Charlotte Bobcats in a four-player deal that pairs him with coach Larry Brown.
The Bobcats sent shooting guard Raja Bell and forward Vladimir Radmanovic to the Warriors for Jackson and guard Acie Law.
The deal gave Jackson his wish: a ticket out of town after his difficult relationship with Warriors coach Don Nelson, who acknowledged since the season began the team would try to trade him.
"We can get back to playing basketball," Larry Riley said after his first major move since becoming the Warriors' general manager. "Our players had done a great job doing everything they could to play through this and not let it be a major distraction. We felt we needed to do this and move on."
Now Brown, the Hall of Famer who has coached numerous difficult players, including Allen Iverson, will get a crack at the talented and polarizing Jackson.
Charlotte takes on Jackson's contract, which has three years and $28 million left after this season. Golden State inherits Radmanovic's deal, worth about $13.5 million over this season and next. Bell and Law are in the final year of their contracts.
GRIZZLIES
IVERSON WILL NOT RETURN TO MEMPHIS
The Allen Iverson experiment with the Memphis Grizzlies is over.
Memphis announced yesterday that the team has ended its one-year contract with the 10-time All-Star and former league MVP in what it called a mutual agreement. Iverson began an indefinite leave of absence Nov. 7 to deal with a personal issue after playing only three games with the Grizzlies, all in California.
The four-time NBA scoring champion became the 16th player in league history to score 24,000 points in his career earlier this season against Golden State.
YESTERDAY'S RESULTS
Mavericks 115, Bucks 113: Dirk Nowitzki hit a fallaway 18-footer as time expired in overtime to give visiting Dallas a victory over Milwaukee. With 3.1 seconds left, Nowitzki caught a pass from Jason Kidd, who finished a point short of a triple-double, and threw it up over Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Nowitzki finished with 32 points and 11 rebounds.
Magic 97, Bobcats 91: Rashard Lewis had 10 points in his first game back from a suspension, leading host Orlando to the victory. Lewis looked rusty after serving a 10-game ban handed out by the NBA for testing positive for an elevated testosterone level. Teammate Jameer Nelson finished with 16 points.
Hawks 99, Trail Blazers 95: Joe Johnson scored eight of his 35 points in overtime to lead host Atlanta to its fifth consecutive win. Josh Smith had 20 points and 16 rebounds for the Hawks.