Seikaly Traded Again; Barry for Austin

It appeared the NBA trade deadline would pass without much frenzy yesterday until the New Jersey Nets announced late in the day they had acquired Rony Seikaly from the Orlando Magic.

Three other deals were made, the biggest of which sent Isaac Austin from the Miami heat to the Los Angeles Clippers for Brent Barry.

Also, the Chicago Bulls sent forward Jason Caffey to Golden State and the New York Knicks acquired veteran forward Terry Cummings from Philadelphia.

With only four deals made league wide involving 13 players, it was the quietest trading deadline day since 1995. There were six trades made on each of the deadline days the past two years.

The days preceding yesterday were busy, however, as Damon Stoudamire, Kenny Anderson, Dennis Scott, Joe Smith and others changed teams.

"This came at us late, and it was a good opportunity for us," New Jersey coach John Calipari said of the Seikaly deal, which wasn't called into the league office until 15 minutes prior to the 6 p.m. EST deadline.

The Nets gave up David Benoit, Kevin Edwards, Yinka Dare and a lottery-protected 1998 first-round draft pick for Seikaly and forward Brian Evans.

"We didn't anticipate our offer would be the best they'd get, and we didn't even expect them to get back to us," Nets general manager John Nash said. "We understood we were probably their third or fourth choice, but those other offers apparently evaporated."

It was the second trade of Seikaly this week. The center was dealt to the Utah Jazz on Monday for Chris Morris, Greg Foster and a No. 1 pick, but that trade was voided when Seikaly refused to report to the Jazz within 48 hours.

Until he was sent to the Nets, the expectation was that the Magic would suspend Seikaly without pay.

"We benefited from a situation Utah was unable to benefit from," Nets general manager John Nash said. "Unlike Utah, we still have a deal even if he doesn't report or pass a physical. But he said he was pleased, and his agent, Steve Kaufman, echoed that he would be happy here."

The Nets also revealed that Seikaly may have a stress fracture of the ankle. He will be kept sidelined for at least a week while New Jersey evaluates the injury.

In the Austin-Barry trade, the Heat also sent rookie Chris Smith and their 1998 first-round pick to the Clippers.

Barry, who will be a free agent at the end of the season, had told the Clippers he did not intend to re-sign with them next summer. He is expected to be the third guard in Miami's rotation behind Tim Hardaway and Voshon Lenard.

Austin also will be a free agent this summer, and Miami feared losing him after this season. Because of salary cap rules, the Heat could offer him no more than the average NBA salary--about $2.8 million.

"They've traded a good player to get a player, and I think these two months are a feeling-out period for (the Clippers) as well as me," Austin said.

Austin, in his fifth NBA season, thrived in a 22-game stretch earlier this season when he started in place of the injured Alonzo Mourning. He was averaging 12.7 points and 6.3 rebounds in 52 games, including 25 starts, after being named Most Improved Player last season.

Barry, a third-year player who can be used as a point guard or shooting guard, was averaging 13.7 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists for the Clippers. He, too, will be a free agent at the end of the season. But Miami will be able to go above the salary cap to re-sign Barry because he will be a different class of free agent than Austin will be.

Caffey, who was Dennis Rodman's backup at power forward for the Bulls, was sent to Golden State for forward-center David Vaughn and second-round draft picks in 1998 and 2000.

Bulls coach Phil Jackson said the trade "puts direct responsibility on Dennis (Rodman) to stay healthy and finish the year on a positive note. We feel he's always responded to that challenge in the past. This move will also give Toni (Kukoc) more playing time."