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Milwaukee guard T.J. Ford left the Bucks' game against Philadelphia on Monday night after slamming his head on the court following a collision with 76ers star Allen Iverson.
Ford complained of dizziness and did not return.
Ford, who was whistled for a foul after the collision with 3:43 to go in the first quarter, was helped off the court by some of his teammates. He was taken to the locker room for X-rays.
Ford, a rookie
out of Texas, was seventh in the NBA in assists (6.7 per game) entering the
game.
Isiah Thomas didn't take long to bring an All-Star point guard to New York.
Two weeks after becoming the Knicks president of basketball operations, Thomas acquired Stephon Marbury from the Phoenix Suns in an eight-player trade.
"We arguably got one of the top 10 players in the NBA," Thomas said after bringing the two-time All-Star guard back to his hometown.
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The Knicks also received injury-plagued guard Penny Hardaway and center Cezary
Trybanski in return for oft-injured forward Antonio McDyess, point guards Howard
Eisley and Charlie Ward, rookie forward Maciej Lampe, the rights to Milos Vujanic,
a 2004 first-round pick and a future first-round pick.
The deal is a coup for Thomas, who took over a team that is well over the salary cap and added a premier scorer to complement Allan Houston in the backcourt.
Former Knicks general manager Scott Layden failed in his attempts to land a point guard in four-plus seasons as general manager before getting fired on December 22.
Eisley and Ward shared the position for most of Layden's tenure, but Thomas was able to ship both of them to Phoenix. Thomas also got rid of McDyess, Layden's prize acquisition in April 2002. McDyess fractured his left kneecap and missed all of 2002-03 and the first 17 games this season.
The deal is a stunning move by Phoenix, which signed Marbury to a four-year extension worth the maximum $76.7 million in October. Marbury had two years remaining on his original deal that pays him $13.5 million this season and $14.625 million in 2004-05.
Now the Suns, who are in last place in the Western Conference at 12-22, have done an about face with Marbury. He averaged 22.3 points and 8.1 assists last season when he led the Suns to the playoffs.
With the 26-year-old Marbury, All-Star forward Shawn Marion and Rookie of the Year Amare Stoudemire, the Suns had a young, improving team. But since Stoudemire went down with an ankle injury on December 5, Marbury has been unable to lift the team, despite averaging 20.8 points.
By trading Marbury and Hardaway, who is signed through 2005-06, and picking up two players - McDyess and Ward - in the final year of their contracts, the Suns will clear about $10 million under the salary cap. That may pave the way for them to make an offer to Los Angeles Lakers star guard Kobe Bryant or Orlando Magic star Tracy McGrady, who has an opt-out clause in his contract.
"This creates the financial flexibility we need to move forward," Suns chairman and CEO Jerry Colangelo said. "It not only relieves us of a significant financial liability but also gives us a tremendous opportunity to compete in the free agency market."
Thomas was more than willing to take on the financial liability, which is no surprise since the Knicks have the league's highest payroll and appear determined to make the playoffs. They are 10th in the Eastern Conference with a 14-21 record.
A Brooklyn, New York native, Marbury wanted to play for the Knicks when he requested the Minnesota Timberwolves deal him during the 1998-99 season but settled for a trade to the New Jersey Nets.
Marbury lasted 2 1/2 seasons in New Jersey, averaging a career-high 23.9 points in 2000-01. But he failed to take the Nets to the playoffs and was traded to Phoenix in July 2001 for All-Star Jason Kidd. With Kidd as their floor general, the Nets have won back-to-back Eastern Conference titles.
The 6-3 Marbury now gets to oppose Kidd, who lit up the Knicks for 35 points Sunday night.
The Suns had been trying for years to dump Hardaway, a former All-Star, for the last few years. He is averaging 8.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 34 games, including 10 starts, but shot just 44 percent from the field.
Hardaway, 32, missed 24 games last season due to an assortment of injuries and averaged 10.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.1 assists.
The 6-7 Hardaway likely will fill the role as a swing guard for the Knicks behind Marbury and Houston.
A 10-year veteran, Hardaway was selected as an All-Star from 1995-98.
Trybanski, 24, played just 10 minutes in four games this season. The 7-footer from Poland appeared in 15 games as a rookie with Memphis in 2002-03.
The Suns are the only team in the rugged West that is more than five games under .500 and apparently have cashed in the season for more financial flexibility.
"In the short term, we were handcuffed with no place to go," Colangelo said. "The big part of this transaction is the acquisition of two first-round picks and the excitement about having two first-round draft picks this year."
McDyess, 29, played for Phoenix in 1997-98 and averaged 15.1 points and 7.6 rebounds. But he has not been the same player since tearing his left patella tendon in 2001-02 with Denver.
The 6-9 McDyess has continued to experience soreness in the knee and is averaging 8.4 points and 6.6 rebounds in 18 games. He had 14 points and 11 rebounds in 26 minutes in Sunday's loss to New Jersey.
With his $13.5 million salary, McDyess became valuable to any team looking to clear salary cap room.
Eisley, who has three years left on his contract, and Ward replace Marbury at point guard.
Eisley, 31, recently lost his starting job to Frank Williams and did not play in the Sunday's loss to New Jersey. He started 23 of 33 games with the Knicks and averaged 6.7 points and 4.7 assists.
Ward, 33, has a buyout clause in his contract that can be exercised before January 10. He spent his entire 10-year career with New York and averaged 8.7 points and 4.9 assists in 35 games.
Lampe, 18, was selected by the Knicks with the first pick in the second round of the 2003 draft. He has been on the injured list all season due to shin splints.
The 6-11 Lampe impressed on New York's summer league team, averaging 17.2 points and 7.0 rebounds.
Vujanic, the starting point guard on the Yugoslavian team that won the 2002 World Championships, is playing in Europe. The 23-year-old was a teammate of Suns rookie forward Zarko Cabarkapa on the gold medal-winning team at the 2002 World Championships in Indianapolis.
In 13 games this season with Skipper Bologna in Italy, Vujanic is averaging 19.2 points. Last season for BC Partizan Belgrade, he led all Euroleague scorers with a 25.8 average.
The Knicks also waived forward-center John Amaechi, who was acquired with guard Moochie Norris in Tuesday's deal that sent forward Clarence Weatherspoon to Houston.