At Deadline, It Looks Like a Trade Deficit

All this just for Isaiah Rider’s annual reassignment?

The NBA general managers spent Wednesday low-balling each other in talks that are expected to produce only a few deals and no blockbusters before today’s trade deadline.

The plums of the class--the Lakers’ Glen Rice and Toronto’s Tracy McGrady--are expected to stay where they are, until the end of the season, anyway, when all bets will be off.

“I don’t think anything is going to happen at all,” Laker Executive Vice President Jerry West said. “We’ve talked to a lot of teams but all it is is talk.”

The likeliest players to travel are the Hawks’ Rider (who has worn out his third set of employers), the Clippers’ Maurice Taylor (upcoming free agent who vows not to return), the Wizards’ Isaac Austin ($5-million backup) and the Pistons’ Bison Dele (retired, last seen on an island off Africa, whose rights are prized because teams can use them to trim $5 million off their caps.)

“Reports” about big names with bigger contracts--Washington’s Juwan Howard, Cleveland’s Shawn Kemp--were jokes, representing only overheated Internet/talk show chatter, and the desire of the Cavaliers and Wizards to be rid of their financial burdens.

Both Kemp and Howard were “linked” with the Lakers, sending West even farther up the wall. Forget about Howard’s decline and Kemp’s ascent to the 280-pound mark. Howard has three years at $55 million left on his contract, Kemp four at $73 million--guaranteed luxury-tax triggers.

Teams that once threw money around by the tens of millions are now undergoing agonizing reappraisals, with their payrolls swollen--the median is $42 million, far above the $34-million cap--and the new tax looming.

The tax, expected to kick in around $55 million, will be assessed on next season’s payroll, on a dollar-for-dollar basis. In other words, the Knicks, who are already committed to $70 million, would have to pay another $15 million, making their real cost $85 million.

Even the rich owners (with the notable exception of the richest, Portland’s Paul Allen) are shying away. Cablevision, which owns the Knicks, who have always been allowed to spend anything, has reportedly announced those days are over.

“It’s serious,” says Indiana President Donnie Walsh, the proud chief of an East contender and a $54-million payroll. “You’re going to have to tap your owner on the shoulder and say, ‘That $64-million payroll? Well, it’s $74 million now.’ ”

Says West, who is--not coincidentally--holding at the $54-million threshold: “We’re not going to pay a tax, I’ll tell you that right now.”

Agents such as David Falk (Rice and Taylor) who promised their clients maximum contracts are now being told that neither the Lakers, Clippers, nor anyone else, will pay it. Being Falk, of course, he isn’t going for that one until they prove it to him in the summer, when Rice and Taylor are free agents.

That’s a battle for another day. Here’s how it looks now:

* Rice--He has either been struck mute or is upset. As the Lakers won their fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth in a row, he had the public relations staff announce he wouldn’t be available. Actually, Rice did a commendable job of ignoring the situation until recently, but it must be getting to him. It’s not that the Lakers didn’t try to move him--but nobody would take him, not at his current asking price, a $14-million starting salary.

* Taylor--Falk had vowed privately that Taylor would refuse to commit to anyone, making it impossible for the Clippers to trade him, as payback for their stonewalling. But taking pity on his client, Falk recently gave the team a list of cities he would go to: New York, Phoenix and Miami. Detroit has Christian Laettner on the table, but the Clippers say they haven’t been offered anything remotely interesting. However, with the certainty of losing Taylor this summer, they’ll have to entertain offers to the end.

* McGrady--A 20-year-old Scottie Pippen-type, he’ll be a free agent. The Raptors, having (only) recently fallen in love with him, have decided to try to re-sign him--risking the possibility that he’ll walk and they’ll get nothing. Insiders say they’re kidding themselves.

* Rider--The Hawks are so tired of his moods, walkouts, etc., they may waive him if they can’t trade him. Not that Rider minds. “That’s cool,” he said. “I’ll get my money.”

* Austin--Big men being at a premium, he’s the one disappointment Michael Jordan may be able to relocate. Jordan is stuck with Howard and the fading Mitch Richmond and doesn’t look as if he wants to hold a fire sale for Rod Strickland.

Other candidates to move: Hersey Hawkins, Chicago (the Bulls want to dump his $4.7-million contract for next season), Matt Geiger, Philadelphia (on the outs with Coach Larry Brown), Milwaukee’s Robert “Tractor” Traylor (the Bucks need a center bigger than 6 feet 7, 290), Toronto’s Doug Christie (always being offered for a point guard), Miami’s Voshon Lenard and Mark Strickland (making a combined $5.5 million but playing only a combined 39 minutes) and Boston’s Danny Fortson (after trading him and getting him back, Coach Rick Pitino insists they’ll try to re-sign him, which, loosely translated means, “We’ll take anything.”).