Johnny Ludden of the San Antonio Express-News reports: The San Antonio Spurs made their second trade in three days Friday, sending the draft rights to Croatian guard Gordan Giricek to Memphis for a second-round pick in 2004 and cash considerations.

The Spurs had hoped to use Giricek, the 40th overall pick in 1999, to trade up in Wednesday night's draft to get 18-year-old Yugoslavian center Nenad Krstic. Phoenix (No. 22) and Detroit (No. 23) both had interest in trading their picks for Giricek and the Spurs' 26th selection, but balked at Giricek's contract demands.

Giricek averaged 22.9 points for CSKA Moscow in Euroleague play last season, but the Spurs did not have room for him because they plan on signing Argentine guard Emanuel Ginobili in the next three weeks. The Spurs opted to deal Giricek's rights before he signed a long-term contract in Europe that would have lowered his NBA trade value.

The Spurs also had trade conversations involving Antonio Daniels around the draft, but the team does not have any more impending deals after moving Giricek, one source said. Depending on what happens over the remainder of the summer, the Spurs could enter training camp with Ginobili, Daniels and Steve Smith, who also plays small forward, competing for minutes at shooting guard.

Bruce Bowen, who becomes a free agent on Monday, Charles Smith and Stephen Jackson, who is not expected to opt out of his contract, also can play both the small forward and shooting guard positions.

"There are a lot of different ways this team can go," Daniels said. "If it is log-jammed at one spot, it will just be a very competitive camp.

"This just means I'm going to have to bust my (butt) that much harder this summer to get ready. That's all. The great thing about this organization is they don't 'give' a position to anybody. You have to earn it."

Mike Kahn of Sportsline.com reports that this season?s free agent class is in for a rude awakening.  On July 1 -- the date contracts end and free agents can begin negotiating with other teams -- young and very talented free agents are going to find out real quick about the business of basketball.

Major free agent moves are unlikely because the NBA?s new TV deal is actually worth less in the first two years than the old deal was. According to commissioner David Stern, teams won't make the $23 million they made the final season of the NBC deal, but will make far more in years 3-6. This will have a negative impact on the salary cap which is bad news for free agents.

Also, the threat of the luxury tax is more real this summer than it was last year. The escalation of previously signed contracts coupled with the decreased revenue due to the TV contract means the luxury tax is almost a certainty this season. What that means is that owners already thinking about next year's money issues won't be inclined to give big contracts to free agents. "This summer," one NBA general manager said, "teams are going to spend even less money, you can count on that."

The NBA Players Association has filed a suit of arbitration against the league charging collusion among the owners kept player?s salaries down and in some cases, kept players out of the league all together. The luxury tax was written into the CBA, but what wasn?t written into the document was what the NBA would do with the 10% escrow payback on players? salaries. When the NBA decided to disperse the escrow payback to teams that are under the luxury tax limit, the Players Association was upset. Essentially, it was another tax of at least $3 million imposed on teams that exceeded the limit.

"We didn't agree to this deal for a double-tax," NBPA executive director Billy Hunter said. "That's bad faith. That's collusion."

Not according to NBA?s Russ Granik.  "The language was very clear that it was up to our discretion how we would handle the escrow money," Granik said. "They can see that as well as we can." But the good-faith element lingers, or as one NBA source said, "The players got backdoored on this one. There were a thousand ways they could distribute the money rather than threaten to withhold it from teams. Stern got his hard cap that way."

However, there also is the strong possibility that if the luxury tax does not go into effect, a portion of the escrow tax will be returned to the players that would ease some of the pain.

"I guess if in fact there's no tax, that opens up the possibility that not all of the escrow will be paid to the owners, that some of it will be paid to the owners and some paid to the players," Stern said. "That would be great, too. All we want to achieve is the percentage in salaries and benefits that are provided for in the agreement. If there's no tax and -- if it turns out we didn't need the tax or the escrow to achieve that result -- that would be No. 1. But to achieve it with part of the escrow and no tax is No. 2. That would be very positive."