Look for Tim Thomas to go West after his buyout from Chicago, the Newark Star-Ledger is reporting, after Bulls GM John Paxson told agent Arn Tellem that he is determined to give Thomas the money he has left on his $14 million contract and allow him to become a free agent, but only if Thomas subsequently signs with San Antonio or Phoenix.

Although no agreement has been reached between Thomas and the Bulls, the latter have the upper hand with the March 1 deadline just around the corner.  Players who are not waived before Wednesday are not eligable for the playoffs.

So once again it comes down to money for Tim Thomas.  Does he take a lower buyout in exchange for full freedom in choosing a new team this season, or does he take all the money and become a Spur or Sun?

The Bulls are working on a buyout, but general manager John Paxson said he doesn't want Tim Thomas go to an East team that Chicago is chasing. The Nets, Heat and Sixers are East teams with an interest along with the Spurs out west.

Thomas, who includes the Nets on his wish list, would have to be waived by Wednesday to be playoff eligible. Since they're over the cap, the Nets only can offer a minimum contract.

"I'm going to make Tim Thomas come here," Carter said.

The Spurs nearly traded Brent Barry on Thursday afternoon in a multi-team deal that would have netted New Orleans guard J.R. Smith, two NBA sources said.

The deal was close enough to completion ? one opposing team executive said he had heard it was done ? that Spurs officials initially told Barry he might not need to board the team's charter flight here.

The deal unraveled near the league's 3 p.m. trade deadline, which was an hour before the Spurs were scheduled to depart. After Spurs coach Gregg Popovich told Barry the trade was dead, Barry accompanied the team here.

Tim Thomas has expressed interest in joining New Jersey, San Antonio, Miami or Philadelphia should the Chicago Bulls not be able to trade his expiring contract today and a buyout is reached, but Thomas has made it clear to North Jersey that a buyout will not come cheap.

Negotiations for a buyout have not been discussed between the parties, with Thomas still owed roughly $6 million of the $13.95 million he is contracted to collect this season.

Thomas said Wednesday that he wouldn't accept less buyout money than the sum he is owed to officially part ways with the Bulls.

"I hope it's not one of those things where I have to sit out a whole year," said Thomas. "I don't think it's going to get that far because I think they'll do what's best for their organization and we'll both move forward."

Gregg Popovich had a good relationship with Latrell Sprewell when both were in Golden State. When the Spurs discussed trying to trade for Sprewell three summers ago, assistant coach P.J. Carlesimo said he would have no problem reuniting with the player who choked him.

"He's a fantastic competitor," Popovich said. "We've talked about him, and he's somebody I've thought about for a long time. But at this point we're not sure if taking on another person even makes sense or if he'd even be willing to do something like that."

Tim Thomas also is a possible player that the Spurs can sign if he is bought out by Chicago.

One free agent the Bulls figure to look at this summer is Chicagoan Nazr Mohammed, who had a career-best 20 rebounds in 36 minutes off the Spurs' bench last week against the 76ers. After starting for the champion Spurs last season, Mohammed fell behind Rasho Nesterovic because of defensive deficiencies.

During the summer, he turned down a four-year extension from the Spurs worth in the $25 million range. He said he wanted to wait until the summer when he would become a free agent and be eligible for a five-year deal. "I would be lying to say I haven't thought about it at all," Mohammed said.

No one can assure that the Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs will meet in the playoffs.

But the probability of that encounter ? and the fact it would take place in the second round ? has NBA officials starting to question whether the system is flawed.

The plight of the top teams in the Southwest Division wasn't a front-burner issue at a meeting of the league's competition committee. But deputy commissioner Russ Granik said the committee will gather information about the seeding format and place the topic on its agenda in June.

"My view is that there are just a lot of anomalies that come into play when you talk about playoff pairings, particularly in the first rounds," Granik said. "I think the concern this year is because we have two teams in the West that seem to be way ahead of everybody else."

The Mavericks lead the Western Conference with a 41-11 record. The Spurs are next at 40-12. The Phoenix Suns trails the Spurs by five games in the standings.

If the season ended today, the Mavericks would land the No. 1 seed under the current format. The Suns would be No. 2 and Denver, with a record of 28-26, would be the No. 3 seed. Both of those teams would be seeded ahead of San Antonio because they won their divisions.

"Obviously, there will be issues, no matter what the system," commissioner David Stern said. "I'm sort of disinclined to change it, but we're going to get the data, and maybe something will emerge from a little data mining that will suggest that we have it all wrong, or a little bit wrong, and then we'll make the change."

Any potential change in format would not take place until the 2006-07 season.

Should the Bulls be unable to unload Tim Thomas' expiring contract by the deadline, Chicago is expected to begin buyout talks to leave the forward eligible for another team's playoff roster by the March 1 cutoff.

Thomas said his preference at that stage would be to sign with the Nets (he lives about 10 miles from the arena) or Spurs.

There was a time when Tim Thomas wanted to fight any Net he could get his hands on. Now he wants to play for the Nets.

The former Knick and currently exiled Chicago Bull is waiting for the Bulls to trade him or buy his contract out so he can resume playing again. Thomas said if the Bulls buy him out, he sees no problem with playing with Jason Collins and the Nets, who play Milwaukee tonight. It was Collins' flagrant foul on Thomas in Game 1 of the 2004 first-round playoff series that sparked trash-talking between Thomas and the Nets. Kenyon Martin, whom Thomas memorably labeled as a "fugazy" tough guy, is now in Denver but Collins remains.

The Nets have talked to Thomas' agent, according to the forward. Thomas, who claimed he is considering the Spurs, played in just three games this season before being excused from the Bulls.

"That's done," Thomas said about Collins at Friday's Nets-Spurs game. "I don't respect what he did still, but it's done. We've got the same agent. He knows how to get in contact with me. If I wanted something done to him, I'm from Jersey, it's nothing but a phone call. I wish I was on (a) team at the time that somebody would have taken somebody else out like that. What can I say?"

The following seven players were named as reserves to the Western Conference All-Star team.

Ray Allen
Tony Parker
Elton Brand
Kevin Garnett
Shawn Marion
Dirk Nowitzki
Pau Gasol