On April 5th, 2002 the Seattle Sonics played host to Latrell Sprewell and the New York Knicks in KeyArena resulting in a disappointing three-point loss. However, for most Sonics fans the real disappointment was yet to come. Two day's later in an article by Frank Isola published by the New York Daily News, Vin Baker was quoted as saying New York would be a place where he would like to play after leaving Seattle.

For many Sonics fans Baker's Benedict Arnold routine was the last straw. Baker's lackluster performance has for years made him a thorn in the side of Sonics faithful, but publicly longing to be a part of another franchise was an insult too much to bear. To be fair however, the comments were far from being the egregious offence some emotional fans took them to be. They should probably be seen more as a realistic Baker seeing his time spent in Seattle as coming to a close, exactly what many of these same emotional fans have been demanding for seasons.

Despite showing improved effort and attitude this season, and the franchise's public support for their once All-Star power forward the Sonics have shown they are a team capable of succeeding without the 6'11" 250lbs. low post presence. Baker went to the injured reserve earlier this season after suffering three dislocated toes in the Sonics February 14th game against the L.A. Lakers, after which the Sonics were able to completely restructure their offensive system surprisingly winning 11 of their next 13 games.

Seattle's overachieving, along with Baker's recent injury-induced slump, and his bloated contract have all combined to make Vin expendable. Without doubt Vin's All-Star days are behind him, but a 6'10" post player with Baker's ability to score and draw double teams will always have value in the NBA, particularly in the vertically challenged Eastern Conference. So it should come as no surprise to anyone that Baker's wish will almost certainly come true this off-season as he is likely move onto greener pastures. Exactly where those greener pastures will be though is still very up in the air.

It is very unlikely that Seattle will be able to land a big impact player for Baker, especially without parting ways with any of the teams promising young talent. What the team would really like though is to get Baker's hefty contract off the books, freeing up cap space that can later be used to sign key role players to compliment the teams already impressive developing youth movement. What follows are a series of potential Baker trades that would accomplish, to some extent or another, that exact goal of clearing space and preparing for a bright tomorrow. (All these trade were approved by Realgm.com but still take them with a grain of salt). Round and round we go but where Vin ends up nobody knows:

Boston - to Boston: Vin Baker/Shammond Williams, to Seattle: Kenny Anderson/Tony Battie/Roshown McLeod

This deal, although probably not the best for the Sonics, and easily the least likely, intrigues me the most just because of the level of experimentation it would take on Boston's part. For a while now there have been rumours of the Celtics wanting to part with an underachieving Anderson and use Walker to bring up the ball to play a point forward position. Having Baker take over the power forward responsibilities for an undersized Antoine Walker, Boston's frontcourt could pack the most firepower in the league with Baker, Walker, and Pierce all on the floor at once. That is if the Celts could find enough touches to go around.

On Seattle's end Tony Battie could find a position in the organization for years to come as a solid big man contributor off the bench. Anderson and McLeod however are the real prizes, each becoming a free agent after next year giving Seattle a great deal of cap flexibility.

Phoenix - to Phoenix: Vin Baker, to Seattle: Tom Gugliotta

The odds are likely that when Vin Baker goes, he will end up in the Eastern Conference as his abilities and size would be much more effective amongst the smaller competition. But more effective or not, Phoenix is hurting for a power forward so much that they may overlook the fact they reside in the West. Gugliotta and Baker have a lot in common, both have a great deal of talent that can just never seem to shine through, motivational problems and nagging injuries. Baker though has shown signs of improvement and still demands a double-team down low, more than can be said for Gugliotta in recent years.

Gugliotta is a clear step down for Seattle, but the upside is that he has two years fewer on his contract, which expires after the 2003/04 season. Two years may be longer than the franchise hopes to wait to rid themselves of Baker/Gugliotta's contract, but after one season with Tom on the roster ,his contract will look very attractive to other GMs around the league looking to do a little economic house cleaning of their own.

Charlotte - to Charlotte: Vin Baker/Shammond Williams, to Seattle: P.J. Brown/Robert Traylor/Jerome Moiso/Matt Bullard

The Charlotte Hornets have a glut of for the most part useless power forwards, which Seattle would certainly love to take off their hands for Baker. The biggest problem with this deal for the Hornets is that it takes every power forward the team has to cash in for one dominant big man in Baker, leaving the team without a back up for the position. Finding a back up big man shouldn't prove to be too much of a problem for the franchise as they will have enough room under the cap to be active amongst this years free agent pool, and a legitimate low post scoring threat is desperately needed on the Hornets.

Traditionally, finding big men has been a weakness of the Sonics. This deal however, would mean a ton of big bodies to work with for a change. Jerome Moiso, who showed a lot of potential while at UCLA, has been a disappointment in Charlotte but could possibly become a contributor under a McMillan's watchful eye, while the rest of the forwards involved would spell cap relief, all with only a single season remaining on their contracts.

New York - to New York: Vin Baker, to Seattle: Charlie Ward/Travis Knight/Othella Harrington

Vin Baker has already let Sonics fans in on why the Knicks would like to see this deal happen. A low post presence could free up some room to let Latrell Sprewell, and Allan Houston finally operate the way the Knicks envisioned when they put together this roster.

Of all the deals dreamed up here, this probably has the most potential to get done as speculation and interest has already been expressed from both sides of the fence. Baker has already given his blessing and the Knicks have looked to acquire Vin once before as part of the Patrick Ewing deal.

For Seattle this deal is not as productive as some of the others, Harrington could offer some productivity as a bench player and Knight could contribute his six fouls a night to the cause. All in all though, Seattle gains very little from this deal. All of the players coming over to Seattle have multiple years left on their deals, although all are shorter than Vin's. But still having to wait possibly three seasons to clear all of the money Seattle is looking to roll over seems a bit much. New York is notorious for unreasonable dealing and a banged up and battered Marcus Camby would do nothing to either help the team or the salary cap situation, so expect any potential New York deal to maintain this general flavour.

Cleveland - to Cleveland: Vin Baker, to Seattle: Tyrone Hill/Bimbo Coles/Brian Skinner

Without a doubt this is my favourite deal to get done. Cleveland is a team seriously looking to wheel and deal this summer. Already the team has speculated about moving Andre Miller in order to move up in the draft and have a chance to land the highly touted Jason Williams out of Duke. Aside from their backcourt, the next logical priority for the team is a big man with the ability to carry the interior offense, something Cleveland has absolutely nothing resembling. Tyrone Hill, with his reputation of being a high maintenance player, is almost surely on his way out of town this summer along with disgruntled guard Bimbo Coles, both of whom could find temporary roles on the Sonics roster for next year.

Hill is first and by far foremost a rebounder, what the Sonics need most. He is the type of player that works hard every night on defense. Ignoring the fact that Hill would be a good fit for the team, this deal also makes sense from the cap space stand point with Hill and Skinner each having only one season remaining on their current deals and Coles with only a single year more than that.

All of these deals are purely speculative and probably will end up nowhere near what actually happens to Vin, but the heart of the matter will stay the same. The team needs to find Vin a home somewhere far away from Seattle and hopefully recover from the contract Vin will be taking with him. Seattle is a team with great growth ahead, and moving Vin is the right thing to do in order to allow that potential to finally blossom. Hey Vinny, remember, it's nothing personal, so don't let the door hit your ass on the way out!

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