The New York Post is reporting that Marc Jackson, the player the Nets acquired from Philadelphia after the Shareef Abdur-Rahim trade was rescinded, may be on his way out.

Marc Jackson was on the verge of being dealt to Charlotte, several league sources said. The move is designed to clear salary, not to import help. One source said the Nets may get back a player earning the NBA minimum salary.

Charlotte Bobcats guard Raymond Felton was slightly injured in a car accident and his status for an upcoming six-game road trip is unclear.

He was vacationing in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Sunday when his car was rear-ended while at a red light, the team said Monday. He sustained whiplash and complained of a sore back. The driver of the second car was charged with drunken driving, the Bobcats said in a statement.

The Myrtle Beach Police records department said accident reports for Sunday wouldn't be available until Tuesday. A department spokesman didn't immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press.

"My friends and I are blessed to escape this accident with only minor injuries, and thankfully I was wearing my seat belt," Felton said in a statement.

Bobcats starting center Primoz Brezec was held out of Charlotte's game against the New Jersey Nets because of a sore left Achilles' heel.

Bobcats coach Bernie Bickerstaff said Brezec tried to practice during the morning shootaround, but there was too much pain.

"He was really grimacing," Bickerstaff said. "Primo needs this break as much as anybody here. We need to lock him up in a house somewhere so he can't get to a gym."

Brezec vowed to be ready when the Bobcats return to action from the All-Star break.

"Just one game," Brezec said. "Just one game, that's all I'm going to miss. It's been bothering me two weeks already but last game [on Monday against Portland] was the worst."

The Bobcats were already without three other big men in Emeka Okafor, Gerald Wallace and Sean May.

Brezec came in averaging 12.2 points and 5.6 rebounds a game. Jake Voskuhl replaced Brezec in the lineup after missing Monday night's game with the flu.

Don't be surprised if Charlotte's Emeka Okafor is done for the season, due to ankle woes. He was originally thought to be out through February, but whispers inside the Bobcats' offices indicate that Okafor won't be back until 2006-07.

The Charlotte Bobcats were without their starting backcourt Friday night against the Toronto Raptors when Brevin Knight and Raymond Felton were added to the team's long injury list.

Felton, the last remaining Bobcats player who had not missed a game due to injury, was a late scratch due to a sprained right big toe. He hurt the toe and sprained his ankle in the fourth quarter of Wednesday's win over Philadelphia.

Knight did not dress because his left knee was sore after he ran into a cameraman in Wednesday's game.

Without their top two ballhandlers, the Bobcats used Kevin Burleon as their starting point guard against the Raptors. He had played a total of 194 minutes this season. Shooting guard Kareem Rush also worked at point guard during the team's morning shootaround Friday.

The Houston Rockets acquired guard Keith Bogans from the Charlotte Bobcats on Thursday for forward Lonny Baxter.

The 6-foot-5 Bogans is averaging 8.7 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.0 steals in 39 games with Charlotte this season. He has started nine games and scored 10 or more points 17 times.

But Bogans has missed nine games after a right knee sprain at Milwaukee on Jan. 21.

The move reunites Bogans with his former Kentucky teammate, Chuck Hayes. Bogans played in 135 games at Kentucky between 2000-03, averaging 14.2 points and 4.1 rebounds. He finished fourth on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,923 points.

Bobcats coach Bernie Bickerstaff told the Charlotte Observer that he has talked to the Sonics about acquiring Evans, but said Seattle was asking for too much in exchange.

The Sonics need backcourt help and are believed to be interested in Kareem Rush, while Charlotte is in dire need of a power forward while Emeka Okafor, Gerald Wallace and Sean May battle injuries.

The Bobcats are interested in a trade that swaps a shooting guard for a big man. Coach-general manager Bernie Bickerstaff told the Observer on Sunday he's had contact with the SuperSonics about unhappy forward Reggie Evans, but for now that's not going anywhere.

"We've had some conversations with them," Bickerstaff said.
"Their demands are too high. Come (the Feb. 23 trade deadline), who knows?"

Evans has played in two of Seattle's past six games, and has reportedly asked for a trade. He signed a one-year tender offer (worth about $1 million), which allows him to veto any trade this season.

Evans reportedly turned down a two-year, $4 million offer from the Sonics, so he obviously expects to get paid this summer. Any team trading for him could easily lose him without compensation in a few months.

Bernie Bickerstaff, suffering through another losing campaign in Charlotte, with Emeka Okafor sidelined by ankle troubles, might not return to the sidelines next season.

Word is the Bobcats are already looking at Kentucky's Tubby Smith to be Bickerstaff's successor. Smith has been up for other NBA jobs, including the Sixers' about 10 years ago. If Smith joined the Bobcats, Bickerstaff would stay on in his current GM role.

Still at a stage in its infancy in which management can make such goodwill gestures without affecting the future, Charlotte has publicly promised point guard Brevin Knight that it won't trade him somewhere without Knight's consent, like the Bobcats did last season with Steve Smith before sending Smith to Miami.

However ...

With rookie Raymond Felton looking increasingly competent playing next to Knight, Charlotte might be unable to resist parting with the veteran before the Feb. 23 trading deadline, lest anything happens to start decreasing Knight's value after a solid season and a half with the expansionists.

At a salary of less than $4-plus million this season and the next two seasons, Knight holds appeal to teams looking for reasonably priced know-how at the point. With Charlotte's season in ruins anyway -- with Emeka Okafor expected to miss another five to seven weeks and the Bobcats carrying an injured list as long as anyone's -- dealing Knight during the next three weeks makes more sense as Felton progresses.