Antonio Daniels will be receiving two things this offseason that the Sonics will not be able to provide; a full mid-level contract and a starting job.

Both the Cavaliers and Jazz will be in the hunt for Daniels, who gave the Sonics great stability at both guard positions.

Sonics coach Nate McMillan, nicknamed ?Mr. Sonic? for his years of loyal service in Seattle, will speak with his agent, Lonnie Cooper this weekend. From there, Sonics general manager Wally Walker and Cooper should begin discussions on a contract next week.  

?Our strategy will be, we will be fair,? Walker said. ?I don?t know if it will be the most money, but I think what we will offer is a fair contract, a great situation, a great city. And I hope that we will keep doing it together.?

McMillan has not elaborated on which way he is leaning as far as coaching is concerned.

?I have always taken the approach that I will take some time off to evaluate myself and make the decision if I want to continue,? McMillan said. ?It is no different this year. I am just going to take some time this week, first of all to relax, get away, talk to my agent, see what steps we take from there.

?This organization has been great for me. This is where I started. As a player and as a coach, it has been nothing but good for me.?

The SuperSonics said on Monday that they are going to re-open talks with All-Star guard Ray Allen in the hopes of reaching an extension before Allen?s contract and the league?s collective bargaining agreement expire June 30.

?We want to get him signed,? Walker said. ?It is no more complicated than that. Given what he did in the postseason, which is stating the obvious, we would like to get it done just to have it done.

?It will happen,? Walker said. ?At least the dialogue will.?

When negotiations began in August, the Sonics offered Allen a five-year deal for $68.5 million. When the sides met at the All-Star break, the Sonics increased their offer to $75 million, according to a source.

Sonics guard Ray Allen will become a free agent for the first time in his career on July 1 and since he moved around a lot in a military family when he was younger, Allen could just as easily back his bags and leave Seattle.

"I can pack up easy because I've been doing that my whole life," he said last Friday while leaving the team's practice facility for perhaps the last time. "You get your stuff, somebody packs it for you and you go. Do I want to do that? No.

"Jason Kidd told me, the one reason he signed back in New Jersey is because he did not want to pack his house up. ... It's just one small little thing that we laugh about, but you do take those things in consideration. You have to worry about school systems and moving your whole life."

Contract talks between the two sides got to within $5 million when they broke off in February.

"It's been my position all along not to talk about what's going on there and leave that to Lon and Rick," Allen said. "Were we close? Hmmm. I don't know. What's close? ... A deal isn't a deal until it's done. So maybe we were close on some things and not on others.

"I've said from the start, it's my intention to be here and stay here and build here. I thought we'd have something done by now. I thought it would get done before the season and (in February). Now I'm just waiting to see what happens."

Backup point guard Antonio Daniels confirmed on Friday that he plans to opt out of a deal that would pay him $2.2 million next season, and test the free-agent market.  

Daniels is a big point guard who will receive interest from teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Reserve forward Danny Fortson, on the other hand, said on Friday he will not exercise an option that would make him a free agent. He has two years remaining on a deal that will pay him $13 million.

With the Seattle SuperSonics now out of the NBA Playoffs, Isiah Thomas and the New York Knicks will try to schedule a formal interview with Nate McMillan.

McMillan has been the Sonics' head coach over the last five seasons and his contract expires this summer.  He is known as "Mr. Sonic" and there is an excellent chance that he returns to the Seattle bench.

McMillan and Thomas are represented by the same agaent, Lonny Cooper.

Sonics guard Ray Allen expressed dismay toward players' union chief Billy Hunter after Hunter told ESPN that the league's suggestion that player agents are influencing the union was racist and bigoted.

"Those types of things, Billy has to stand up tall," Allen said. "He's proven himself over a course of a decade, his merit, based on what he does for us and has done for us.
"I don't think he needs to worry about his skin in this situation because he's done a fine job and we all respect him and he needs to know that."

Allen asserted that if agents are involved in labor negotiations, which were suspended this week, then it would be counter productive.

"These issues have to remain between the players association and the NBA," Allen said. "We don't need to have outside interests jumping in because, for the good of the game, we need to continue growing the sport. ... We don't need a third party."

After the first two games of this Western Conference Semifinals it seemed as if the Sonics did not have a chance in this series, the Spurs dismantled the Soups making the game of basketball look all too easy.  And the Sonics had their excuses as well, a hobbled Ray Allen, their sixth-man Vladimir Radmanovic out for the series and worst of all their all-star forward Rashard Lewis unable to play with a toe-injury.  

Yet it all came down to a fade-away Ray Allen 3-pointer with .5 seconds left.  A shot that would have taken the Sonics to Game 7 versus the rival Spurs.  Back rim clang and the season was over, a valiant effort by one of the purest shooters the NBA has ever seen.  But this was a season that met and exceeded any expectations Sonics fans could have ever had.  Truly a dream season with an almost ?Cinderella? ending.

So it was not meant to be.  The Sonics fell to the mighty San Antonio Spurs 98-96 in a thriller in the Key Arena.  This was a game that saw Tim Duncan shoot 6-21 from the field and still finish with 26 points while also hitting the game winner off a dime from Manu Ginobili.  This was a game that had no dead time, no chances for the average viewer to turn away.  A crowd that did not relent from screeching their high-decibel cheers, making for a Key Arena that, in this writer?s opinion, has never been so loud, so boisterous.  

With the win the Spurs move on to the Western Conference finals and a date with either the Phoenix Suns or Dallas Mavericks.

All-Star Rashard Lewis will not play in Game 6 of the NBA Western Conference semifinal's against San Antonio after an MRI revealed more damage to his left foot then what was originally thought.

"Rashard will not dress tonight," said Sonics coach Nate McMillan said after the shootaround. "His MRI showed a contusion and some tissue damage and something else that I can't pronounce

Many critics are calling Lewis soft for not suiting up for the latter games of this important series; however McMillan insists that Lewis wishes to be on the court.

"He's been disappointed the entire time not to be able to perform this time of the season after having such a good season for him and this team," said McMillan of Lewis, who has not spoken to the media for several days. "To not be here when he feels the team needs him is very frustrating for any player and it's been pretty emotional for him."

Thanks in part to the MVP?s triple-double and Jim Jackson?s 15 points in the fourth quarter, Phoenix is just one win away from the Western Conference Finals, beating the Dallas Mavericks 114-108.

Steve Nash led the way for Phoenix, getting his first career playoff triple-double, scoring 34 points, grabbing 13 rebounds and handing out 12 assists. He shot 50% from the field, made two of his five three-point attempts and made all of his free throws. Center Amare Stoudemire, coming off his worst game in the playoffs, scored 33 points and got a playoff-high 18 rebounds, five offensive, and added 3 blocks. Shawn Marion scored 16 points and had ten rebounds.

The Suns now travel to Dallas for Game 6 where they have a chance to finish off the Mavericks and advance to the Conference Finals versus either the Spurs or the Sonics.