Nick Van Exel has had his little talk with Kiki Vanderweghe about a trade and he's still saying the same thing -- I want out.  The Denver Post reports that Nick and others around the league agree it won't be an easy task.  The size and, more importantly, the length of Van Exel's contract will be stumbling blocks.

Van Exel is in the midst of a five-year deal guaranteed through the 2003-04 season. If Van Exel reaches certain incentives this season, he will lock in a sixth year at $12.8 million during the 2004-05 season. And if he meets similar incentives next season, he will lock in a seventh year with guaranteed annual compensation of $13.7 million during the 2005-06 season.

"I'm not saying it's impossible, but it would be difficult to do it," a Western Conference front-office official said. "The biggest thing is his salary. With teams up against the luxury tax, it would have to be a situation where the money matches up almost perfect. I think there is some interest. Whether it's enough to take on the contract, that's a different story."

So before you budding GM's get Nick into your convoluted six team trade scenarios on the RealGM trade checker, think about this:  What team really wants a 37 year old point guard with a 13.7 million dollar contract whose career numbers are 15.9 points and 7.6 assists?