CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A person familiar with the deal says the Bobcats have agreed to send top scorer Stephen Jackson to the Milwaukee Bucks in a three-way deal involving the Sacramento Kings that gives Charlotte two picks in the top nine of the NBA draft.
  
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday because the trade has yet to be finalized or approved by the NBA.
  
The Bobcats would also send the 19th pick and backup point guard Shaun Livingston to the Bucks. Charlotte would also get the No. 7 overall pick from the Kings and forward Corey Maggette from Milwaukee. The Bucks get guard Beno Udrih from the Kings. Guard John Salmons would go from Milwaukee to Sacramento, which also would get the 10th pick from the Bucks.
  
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)
 

The Sacramento Kings traded popular small forward Omri Casspi and a conditional first round draft pick (lottery-protected next season with decreasing stipulations thereafter) to the Cleveland Cavaliers for power forward J.J. Hickson on Thursday.

The move is hardly a surprise since Sacramento reacquired one-time King John Salmons from the Milwaukee Bucks in a draft-day deal and selected swingman Tyler Honeycutt with the 35th overall pick, further adding to the logjam at the small forward position. Considering that Casspi himself requested a trade towards the end of last season after he was removed from coach Paul Westphal’s rotation—Casspi played just 13 total minutes in eight April games—and it became clear that his days in Sacramento were numbered.

In Casspi, the first Israeli-born player in the NBA, the Kings lose not only a beloved fan favorite, but an energetic and hard-working young player who has shot a respectable 37% from downtown over the course of his NBA career and led the team in three-pointers last year. Yet, while he was once expected to be the franchise’s small forward of the future and drew comparisons to All-Star Peja Stojakovic (mostly from just me, but still), the 6’9″ forward struggled with consistency in his sophomore season and his numbers dipped across the board.

Hickson is coming off a career-year with the Cavs, increasing his scoring average by more than five points to 13.8 per game while also grabbing 8.7 rebounds per contest.  Following the last season’s NBA All-Star break, the 22-year-old further solidifed himself as one of the league’s up-and-coming big men, putting up 16.9 points and 10.8 boards.

Article Author: Alex Kramers

Alex Kramers is the editor of doktakra.com, a site about nothing; a fan correspondent and contributor to Kings.com; and a writer on the basketball humor blog, lowposts.com. He enjoys reminiscing about old school Sacramento Kings teams, fantasizing about Candace Parker, and dreaming of world peace. …

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