The Sonics hope to re-sign Barry, a free agent at season’s end. Jeff Reinking/NBAE/Getty

“I circled four or five things and sat down with (Coach) Nate (McMillan) and said, ‘Hey, Nate. Maybe this guy might be available to pry away from a specific team. Let’s go after him. Let’s go after him big-time.’ If we can, great, if not, well, we sent a message to those guys that we like him,” Sund said before the Sonics lost to the Philadelphia 76ers at KeyArena yesterday evening. “We did that with a number of teams and nothing materialized. That’s fine. Nate was very comfortable with us doing nothing, as was I. Most teams don’t do anything this time of year.”

McMillan later backed up that sentiment during his pregame media availability, emphasizing that the team did not want to depart from its long-term plan and goals when looking at pre-deadline deals.

“I think what we said all along, we have a direction we plan to go in,” McMillan explained. “This trade deadline, whatever we did or were planning to do, it had to go along with that direction. Nothing made sense for us for the direction that we’re trying to go. Not making a move was the right thing to do. You wait until the summer and see what is out there.”

Certainly, failing to make a trade cannot be blamed on lack of effort on the Sonics part. The rumor mill placed the team in talks with several other organizations, and Sund confirmed that his team was one of the most active leading up to the deadline.

“This time of year, only about four or five teams are really willing to make a deal, and we were one of them,” Sund said.

Sund also emphasized that the team was looking to add an impact player to the roster if it did make a move, not to do something simply to shake up the roster.

“If we’re making a deal, I felt we needed to get a star,” Sund said. “I’m of the star theory. We’ve got Ray (Allen), we’ve got Rashard (Lewis) up and coming. … I would like to have gotten, if we could have this trading period, a star. Could we give up some of our assets, our draft pick, some things, to get another star to go with these (two)? I didn’t expect it, to be honest with you, because teams that have stars don’t like to give them up, particularly in the middle of the year.”

Again, McMillan was in lockstep with his boss on this point, saying, “I don’t think we felt like we needed to make a move for the sake of swapping players or just making a move – it had to make sense. Nothing out there that was available or was offered made sense for us to give up the players we had.”

Murray was mentioned in trade rumors. Michael Martin/NBAE/Getty

Many of the Sonics rumors centered around injured guard Brent Barry, who will be a free agent at season’s end. Barry’s 6-6 size and ability to play the point, along with his outstanding shooting, made him a valuable commodity. The Sonics have had discussions with Barry about extending his contract, and Sund made it clear that’s something he plans to re-visit, if not between now and the end of the season, then this summer when Barry is a free agent.

“I’m pretty confident,” Sund said about re-signing Barry. “We’ll pay market value, and if he wants to stay here, I think we have a legitimate shot at getting it done. Whether it’s now or it’s in the summer … I’m confident that the numbers we’ll eventually get to will be market value for him.”

Barry, who told SUPERSONICS.COM during training camp that he wanted to stay in Seattle, reiterated that yesterday in discussing the extension process with the media for the first time.

“I hope that some of the talks that Rick and I have had, that some of those good-faith negotiations can continue, and I can get something done to stay here,” Barry said.

The other players mentioned in rumors involving the Sonics are at the other end of their NBA careers, youngsters Ronald “Flip” Murray and Vladimir Radmanovic. The Sonics were reluctant to part with either player because of their hopes the duo will continue to grow and develop. After all, it was at last year’s deadline that the Milwaukee Bucks threw Murray into their blockbuster deal with the Sonics, only to watch him blossom into one of the NBA’s top second-year players this season.

Murray and Radmanovic reminded Sonics fans of what they could have been missing last night, combining for 25 points off the bench as Seattle’s reserves outscored Philadelphia’s 39-23. Murray, playing against his hometown team, had 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting. Radmanovic added 11 points and three three-pointers.