Despite Toronto general manager Rob Babcock's insistence that their star player Vince Carter will return to the Raptors, a person close to the Raptors' All-Star swingman insists that Carter is trying to force a trade to New York. According to the source, Carter is expected to announce publicly that he wants to be traded after his Charity game in Canada.

Knicks president Isiah Thomas has refused to comment on the rumor.

That same source has indicated the Raptors would like to move Carter to Seattle for Ray Allen. Carter does not want to be a Sonic and would prefer to be in New York.

Interestingly enough, just a few weeks ago knicks.realgm.com first broke the story on a rumored 3-way between the Sonics, Raptors, and Knicks that would have Vince Carter winding up in New York.

Calvin Booth is returning to Dallas for a second stint as the Mavericks traded forward Danny Fortson to the Seattle Supersonics to re-acquire Booth on Monday.

Booth left the team during the summer of 2001 when Seattle offered him a contract slightly above the Mid-Level Exception which Dallas couldn't match.

"It came down to a business decision. It wasn't a feeling that I wanted to get out," Booth said Monday night. "I definitely had had a good experience there."

He is excited to be back after three seasons.

"I'm definitely excited to be coming back," Booth said. "I had a nice experience [in Dallas] before, and they have a very good team. I'm going down there with the idea of competing for the starting position. I know Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley and Antoine Walker are going to get their minutes, but I also know there are spots up for grabs and the lineup is flexible."

The Cleveland Cavaliers and general manager Jim Paxson are not done dealing.

The market is active and Carlos Boozer's departure is further reason for Paxson to re-shape the roster.

Two holes -- backup point guard and power forward -- have been filled but others remain.  

Specifically, with Tony Battie now out, the Cavs will look to add a solid big man to come off the bench.

``We're going to have to be aggressive in addressing the backup center spot,'' Paxson said. ``If (Zydrunas Ilgauskas) goes down, it's not a pretty sight for us.''

Dajuan Wagner could be the odd man out.

The Sonics may be the logical trading partner.  Vitaly Potapenko, who is in the last year of his contract, or Jerome James, may be good options for the Cavs.

The Sonics have a lot of hope for Luke Ridnour, the lanky native of Blaine, WA this season.  However, a training camp injury has struck him again.

It is the second consecutive year in which Ridnour suffered an injury. Last year, he severely pulled an abdominal muscle in a pre-draft workout and underwent surgery.

"I just pulled it pretty bad," Ridnour said of the most recent injury. "It doesn't have anything to do with what I did before, but it's a pretty bad pull, so I've got to get it taken care of."

With the absence of an all-star roster, the Sonics will rely heavily on their young role-players to emerge into effective scorers and defenders.  With that, they can ill-afford to lose more to injury, such as the season ender sustained to rookie Nick Collison last year.

While the Lakers may have lured Kobe Bryant back to the fold, the exodus from their three-peat team of years past continued today when Derek Fisher came to terms with the Golden State Warriors.

Fisher is set to sign for the Warriors full mid-level exception, a contract worth $37 million over six years, according to ESPN.  He now joins Nick Van Exel and Speedy Claxton in a crowded backcourt.

The Lakers, Heat, Rockets and Sonics also pursued Fisher during this offseason, with the Sonics campaigning hard after losing Brent Barry to the Spurs.

Fisher wanted to become a starter once again which would not have happened in Los Angeles with Gary Payton returning.

Robert Swift, the Sonics 12th pick out of Bakersfield High School has been demonstrating that he can hang with the big kids.

Swift who at 7 feet and a mere 243 pounds, just started lifting weights his senior year of high school, and by his appearance, lacking the strength to compete with NBA centers, and is already drawing comparisons to Jermaine O?Neal in terms of the number of years it will take to develop into a NBA star (O'Neal averaged fewer than 14 minutes each of his first four seasons in the league).

"He doesn't back down at all," (Sonic Forward Nick Collison) said. "He's a pretty strong kid, actually. He looks thin, but he's pretty strong.

A "boy's night out" gone awry at a swank Miami nightclub lead to the arrest of Seattle SuperSonics center Vitaly Potapenko early Sunday morning.

Potapenko, who lives in Florida in the offseason, was denied entry to Miami Beach's Club Crobar at 2 a.m. Sunday because he was unsteady on his feet, swaying back and forth, slurring his words and reeking of alcohol.

Police responding to an angry and combative Potapenko threatened to arrest him if he did not quietly leave the scene, to which Potapenko allegedly responded with a racial slur. Potapenko was uncooperative with police and despite offering no resistance to being placed in handcuffs, tried to wander away down the sidewalk before the police transport vehicle could arrive on the scene.

Potapenko has been charged with resisting arrest without violence and disorderly intoxication, Sonics officials confirmed, but refused to comment on the situation. Potapenko could not be reached for comment either.

With the loss of their starting point guard, Brent Barry, the Seattle Supersonics are now in the hunt for a replacement.

One of the bigger names on the market right now, Derek Fisher, is a free-agent, and with Gary Payton re-signing for the Lakers, Fisher would have to keep the backup position if he stays in LA.

Fisher has proven he can be a solid starting point guard in the NBA, with clutch shooting and tough defense.  Seattle could be just the place for Fisher if he can handle the weather.

Fisher was scheduled to visit Seattle this weekend. It is believed that he was in town yesterday.

"Unrestricted free agent guard Brent Barry will sign a four-year deal with the San Antonio Spurs for between $22 and $24 million, a source told ESPN's David Aldridge."

Barry, 32, was being offered the full MLE from other teams but chose the Spurs because they were championship calibur. He also turned down the team he has been playing for, the Sonics, because he wanted a longer contract.  

The Spurs have been very busy. Yesterday they agreed to a deal with Manu Ginoboli and Bruce Bowen, now the agreement with Barry; and they still have to choose whether to match the Magic's offer to Hedo Turkoglu.

Losing Barry makes the Sonics even weaker at guard; they were in talks about sending Antonio Daniels to Houston as well.

Kentucky standout, Nick Collison, the Sonics first round selection in 2003 is ready to play his first game as a Sonic.  Collison missed all of last season while he endured shoulder surgery on both shoulders.

Collison will compete in the Sonic summer league set to begin July 16th.