Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News reports: With the NBA's trading deadline only hours away, the Dallas Mavericks are after Miami Heat forward Brian Grant.

Sources close to the team said it is likely that Grant would be packaged with point guard Travis Best inexchange for Nick Van Exel and center Evan Eschmeyer.

Grant, who turns 31 on March 5, is averaging a career-best 10.7 rebounds and just under 10 points per game this season.

The sources said that while the Mavericks have not shut the door on other possibilities, the Grant deal is the only thing on their front burner. While the swap has not been OK'd by either team, it makes sense for both.

The Mavs would get the frontcourt player they so desperately need and Miami would be dumping Grant's contract for a shorter one (Van Exel's).

Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune reports: Thursday's trading deadline is only a day away and several teams are working the phones trying to get a deal done.

League sources say the Bulls are talking to the Heat about guard Eddie Jones, who almost signed with Chicago nearly three years ago.

However, the Heat want 5 million expiring contracts, something the Bulls do not have.

Smith suggests a deal that would include forwards Eddie Robinson and Marcus Fizer for Jones. Either Jamal Crawford or Fred Hoiberg would likely be included to make the numbers work.

He also mentions that a deal could get held up by management's concern that Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler, and Jay Williams could all command maximum contracts when they become free agents but that is unlikely.

Miami is also talking to teams about Jones and forward Brian Grant.

Now, on to some other teams.

The Atlanta Hawks are saying they'll deal Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Theo Ratliff. Miami is said to be interested, along with Golden State, Philadelphia, Memphis, Orlando and the New York Knicks.

Then, it appears that Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban wants Gilbert Arenas in Denver.

With the Warriors desperate to acquire expiring contracts inorder to make a competitive offer to Arenas, One insider said  Cuban is trying to block the deal because he wants his friend, Denver general manager Kiki Vandeweghe, to be able to acquire Arenas as a free agent this summer. If the Warriors are not below the salary cap by 6-8 million, they will likely lose Arenas to the Nuggets. Right now, all they can do is offer him the league average salary, which will be close to $5 million next season.

While, the Nuggets should have around $18-20 million to spend.

Still, it's going to be extremely difficult to get so many expiring deals.

Finally, Most executives expect the 76ers to start the dealing soon with Derrick Coleman possibily the first to go.

Florida is a prime vacation spot, but the Hawks still had one more game to play.

Maybe they didn't receive the memo.

They were upset that the Miami Heat showed them up by 34 points on New Year's Day, the last time they played. The Hawks remembered their worst loss of the season and the taunts and laughs Heat players sent in their direction. "Nobody likes a showoff," Hawks forward Alan Henderson said before the game.

But you have to respect a winner. Though 17-31, the Heat has three wins against the Hawks. The Heat may have been struggling entering the game, but Eddie Jones helped it win the season series with a 99-79 victory.

The Hawks had won three in a row and five of their previous six games, showing some promise with the All-Star break approaching. They wanted to start the second half with 20 wins; instead they had to swallow their 30th loss of the season.

They got careless against an opportunistic defense, and the Heat turned 20 Hawks turnovers into 24 points. It was the first time in 10 games that the Hawks had 20 turnovers.

The Hawks also had some defensive lapses. After Jason Terry let Mike James zip by him, Theo Ratliff yelled at Terry and shook his head as he headed to the bench.

Miami scored a total of 65 points against San Antonio Saturday, but surpassed that mark with 1 minute, 25 seconds left in the third quarter when Jones completed a three-point play to put the Heat up 68-57.

Jones led the Heat with 26 points, including 5-for-8 from 3-point range. His fifth three put the Heat up 89-69 with five minutes to go.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim, playing his 500th career game, led the Hawks with 19 points and 10 rebounds, but got little help. Glenn Robinson had scored 20 points or more in six consecutive games, but that streak ended as he shot a dismal 5-for-18 from the floor for 12 points. He also gave the ball to the Heat five times.

Early on, the Hawks worked the ball inside to Abdur-Rahim and outside to Robinson as they built a 22-13 lead. Then, they collapsed.

The Heat scored 17 straight points, former Hawk LaPhonso Ellis leading the run with two steals and two 3-pointers. The same two Hawks who helped the team get an early lead contributed to its downfall, with Abdur-Rahim and Robinson combining for seven of the Hawks' 12 first-half turnovers.

Jermaine Jackson hadn't been around for the truly horrific days, but even he got involved, throwing the ball out of bounds while attempting a post entry pass to Abdur-Rahim.

The NBA has announced that Caron Butler of the Miami Heat and Amare Stoudemire of the Phoenix Suns are the NBA's top rookies from the Eastern and Western Confererences respectivily in January.

Butler averaged 16 points, 5 rebounds and 3.1 assists while Stoudemire finished with 14 points and 9.6 rebounds over the same span.

Other candidates for Rookies of the Month were Denver?s Nene Hilario, Houston?s Yao Ming and Memphis? Gordan Giricek.