The Toronto Raptors and Dallas Mavericks agreed in principle Wednesday night to a complicated four-team sign-and-trade deal including the Memphis Grizzlies and Orlando Magic that will land Shawn Marion in Dallas and Hedo Turkoglu in Toronto, sources close to the process told ESPN.com.
The teams have scheduled a trade call for Thursday.
The Raptors and Magic agreed to handle Turkoglu as a sign and trade for two reasons. First it allowed the Magic to acquire a significant $8 million plus trade exception. Second, it allowed the Raptors to retain their mid-level exception. The Raptors are now free to spend their full mid-level on another free agent.
Several other players including the Raptors' Kris Humphries and Quincy Douby, the Mavericks' Jerry Stackhouse, Devean George and Antoine Wright and the Grizzlies' Greg Buckner are part of the trade according to sources. The Grizzlies will be getting Stackhouse, Douby and cash, sources said. George and Wright will end up in Toronto, according to the same sources. Humphries and Buckner are on their way to Dallas.
Including Humphries, Wright and George in the deal gave the Raptors the financial incentive to do the sign and trade. Both George and Wright are in the last year of their contracts. Humphries has two years left on his current deal. In addition, the Raptors are in need of a two guard with the departure of Anthony Parker to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Adding Wright to the mix gives them a credible starter until rookie DeMar DeRozan is ready to contribute.
Dallas is hoping that the combination of Marion and Orlando restricted free agent Marcin Gortat -- along with the re-signing of Jason Kidd -- would greatly improve the depth and flexibility possessed by a team that won 50 games last season and advanced to the second round of the playoffs before losing to Denver.
Mavs owner Mark Cuban has said for months that he was prepared to be as aggressive as possible this summer as opposed to waiting for the free-agent bonanza of 2010, when Dallas was initially expected to have substantial cap space. Orlando retains the right to match any offer sheet to Gortat but the Magic are widely expected not to match.
Sources say that the Mavericks, meanwhile, are determined to keep Josh Howard even if a trade for Marion can be worked out, with Howard entering the final year of his contract. One potential drawback for Dallas is the fact that Marion would be yet another key member of their core over the age of 30, joining Nowitzki (31), Kidd (36), Jason Terry (31) and Howard (who turns 30 next April).
Sources say the Mavericks' plan is to play Marion at the three and move Howard to the two. The Mavs will also sport other looks with Howard at the three, Marion at the four and Nowitzki at the five.
Marion earned $17.8 million last season and was traded for the second straight February when Miami sent him to Toronto in a swap for Jermaine O'Neal. He went from Phoenix to Miami one year earlier in the Shaquille O'Neal trade.
The Raptors were intent on re-signing Marion if they couldn't win the Turkoglu sweepstakes, seeing late-season signs of promise in Marion's collaboration alongside Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani. Sources say that the Cavaliers, despite their recent pursuits of Trevor Ariza and Ron Artest and a well-chronicled need for a combo forward, were not making a hard push for Marion.
