Eddie Griffin is expected to officially sign with the New Jersey Nets sometime in the middle of the week.

However, Griffin won't join the team right away as he has to get some hearings for charges on felony assault and marijuana possession out of the way.

It is more likely that he will begin playing with the team at the end of the month.

"Probably sometime on that trip at the end of the month," said team president Rod Thorn of the Nets' trek that starts in Philadelphia on Jan. 27 and goes to Orlando, Houston (for Griffin's former team) and ends in New Orleans Feb. 2.