Isiah Thomas and the New York Knicks desperately wanted to acquire center Erick Dampier.

They offered him the $5 million mid-level exception.  That was respectfully declined.

They attempted to negotiate a sign-and-trade deal with the Golden State Warriors, but Isiah Thomas could not come up with the players that would satisfy Chris Mullin.

So instead Erick Dampier was sent to the Dallas Mavericks in a sign-and-trade deal.

"We couldn't offer the dollars that Dallas could at that time," Wilkens said. "And we couldn't get Golden State to do a sign-and-trade with us. I thought that he had the experience and that he could be a real good addition to our team."