NEW YORK -- A Steve Francis-Stephon Marbury backcourt? Don't hold your breath. Francis and all his behavioral baggage, plus the $48.7 million he's due the three seasons after this one, may not be in Orlando by the NBA trade deadline a week from today. Yet, although the Knicks and Magic have talked, league sources indicated Wednesday it's more likely he'll end up elsewhere. That's because there's a theory throughout the league that Knicks president Isiah Thomas is generating talk about such big-ticket players to divert attention from his free-falling team. Thomas didn't speak to reporters Wednesday and didn't watch the Knicks snap their 10-game losing streak from his usual spot in the center-court tunnel. But with the NBA's trade deadline a week from today and his team flirting with the league's worst record, there's no doubt he's working the phones. Francis, however, is considered more likely to end up in Denver, especially if the Nuggets can unload Kenyon Martin. The Nuggets' forward has four years and more than $54 million left on his contract, plus a fifth-year option worth $16 million. Memphis is also reportedly pursuing Francis, a three-time All-Star. The ingredients of a potential Francis deal to New York also took a hit Wednesday when Orlando backup center Kelvin Cato was thrown into the Magic's deal with the Pistons for Darko Milicic. The Magic could substitute starting center Tony Battie's salary (about $3 million less than Cato's), but get less in return in a package that would include their former star Penny Hardaway's expiring $15.75 million contract. Martin was also reportedly offered to the Knicks earlier this month in a three-way scenario that also would have brought Nuggets backup point guard Earl Watson to New York. A straight Martin and Watson-to-New York deal all but died when the Nuggets insisted on Knicks rookie Channing Frye. Trading for Francis, though (suspended earlier this season for insubordination when he refused to reenter a game last month), is considered as much of a gamble as getting Martin, who's coming off microfracture knee surgery. Francis also forced his way out of Vancouver (which drafted him, but quickly dealt him, before the team moved to Memphis) and Houston earlier in his career. All the trade talk, meanwhile, doesn't surprise Knicks coach Larry Brown, who again insisted Wednesday he's playing no firsthand role in any of the discussions. He did, however, admit it's been a distraction to his players, but also said something else has diverted his players' attention from the task at hand: the media. "They try to divide you," he said, gesturing toward a group of reporters surrounding him at the morning pregame shootaround. "All these guys try to divide you. They try to divide the team by their questions. And they try to divide the team. They get an unnamed source, or a player here [saying] we're all pointing fingers." -- 嗯… 重點是 小法是不太可能到尼克就對了 夜深了 看到英文會想吐~~ --

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