According to Peter Vecsey and Evan Grossman of the New York Post, the Rockets and Raptors were ready to make a trade. Hakeem Olajuwon for a future 1st round pick. Then Olajuwon hit the brakes.

The Pacers had a deal in place that would have sent Austin Croshere to Boston, Vitaly Potapenko to Houston and Olajuwon to Indiana. Sam Perkins and his non-guaranteed contract may have been involved as well.

In Knick news, New York remains desperate to acquire a point guard. In addition to Charlie Ward, the Knicks are willing to part with Othella Harrington as well.

Cecil Harris of the Indianapolis Star reports that Adrian Griffin has signed with the Dallas Mavericks. Griffin, the Indiana Pacers' leading scorer last week at the NBA summer league in Boston, has agreed to a two-year, $1.2 million contract with Dallas. He is guaranteed $550,000 in the 2001-02 season and $650,000 the following season.

Indiana was reluctant to make Griffin an offer because of financial concerns. Pacers officials believe the league's luxury tax threshold will be about $54 million. Each team will be taxed $1 for every dollar it spends above the threshold.

Griffin, who spent the past two seasons with the Boston Celtics, benefited from increased playing time in the summer league because an ankle injury limited Jonathan Bender to one game. "Every play we put into our offense for Jonathan turned out to be run for Adrian, and he made the most of it," Pacers coach Isiah Thomas said. "Any time you can get guaranteed money... you have to take it."

The Mavericks were happy to get Griffin for the minimum, reports Jodie Valade of the Dallas Morning News, because it preserved their $4.5 million midlevel exception to help reel in other free agents, like Tim Hardaway, Moochie Norris, or LaPhonso Ellis.

The Associated Press reports that the Cleveland Cavalliers have entered the Olajuwon Sweepstakes. Cavs coach John Lucas says the team will exhaust all its options to try to sign free agent center Hakeem Olajuwon. "I know that there are several teams that have an interest in him and we're one of them," Lucas told Houston television station KRIV. Lucas mentioned the possibility of a sign-and-trade agreement. "We would have to look and see what it would take to get it done," he said. "Obviously, we don't want to try to rip up our whole team to do it."

Brian McTaggert of the Houston Chronicle says that Cleveland is not in a good position to get Olajuwon, with only $2 million under the cap.  He also quotes Rockets GM Carroll Dawson as saying they are trying to find more money with which to pay Olajuwon themselves.  Olajuwon is also being courted by Indiana, Toronto, Utah, Miami and New York.