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Wilcox Player Page Feb: Wilcox Trade a Win-Win Sonics News Archive

Chris Wilcox

(7:30 p.m., FSN, )

"I want to play," Wilcox said after the Sonics practiced Thursday. "I at least want to finish the rest of these games out, the rest of the season. I don't want to just not play. Then we're playing the Clippers, so that's a game I'm looking forward to."

"I want to play. We're playing the Clippers, so that's a game I'm looking forward to." Chris Birck/NBAE/Getty

Wilcox's motivation to play begins with his desire to finish the season strong, keeping up his excellent performance in his first two months with the Sonics that has seen him average 14.7 points and 8.0 rebounds per game in Seattle. It continues with the added motivation of facing for the first time the Clippers squad that drafted him and, after three and a half seasons, traded him to the Sonics for forward Vladimir Radmanovic.

The twin motivations mean Wilcox could tell reporters, "I just want to finish the season out strong, whether it's the Clippers, Sacramento or Denver, whoever it is," but then add, "You get traded from somewhere, you're going to always want to play that team, or when you go back to that job, you want to do better. You want to show them that you've improved and got an opportunity."

Fortunately, the injury which forced Wilcox to leave Wednesday's loss to the Hornets after the third quarter is not considered serious. Both X-Rays and an MRI came up negative as far as structural damage, indicating Wilcox has a foot sprain.

"It's up to him tomorrow," said Sonics Coach Bob Hill. "We'll have to see how he does at the walkthrough."

"You've got to take it one day at a time, see what Mike says when I come in for shootaround," added Wilcox.

Wilcox, who was traded to the Sonics on Feb. 14, has played in Los Angeles against the Lakers since the trade on Mar. 12. But tomorrow's game and Sunday's rematch in L.A. mark the first two times Wilcox will ever play against the Clippers, squaring off against old friends and teammates.

"I've still got a lot of people down there I keep in contact with, so it will be a great game, a great situation for me," Wilcox said. "Hopefully I can play in the game."

Wilcox admits he doesn't think the Clippers believed he could play as well as he has in Seattle, noting, "If they thought they had that in me, they wouldn't have traded me." But there is no unhappiness about the way his time in Los Angeles ended.

"I appreciate the situation that they made," he said. "(Coach) Mike (Dunleavy) did a great job of getting me somewhere where I have the opportunity to play. I'm getting an opportunity and I'm playing well. They're successful and I'm successful."

Indeed, what was characterized at the time of the deal by Sonics GM Rick Sund as a "win-win trade" has proven to be just that. While Wilcox has thrived in Seattle, Radmanovic has picked up his game since joining the Clippers, improving his True Shooting Percentage from 52.9% to 58.9%. The Clippers, at 45-33, are headed to the playoffs for the first time since 1997.

"I missed out on going to the playoffs, but other than that, I don't really miss anything," said Wilcox. "I'm having a great time here and it's a great situation and a great fit for me. This is somewhere that I might be able to play at in the future."

On Monday, Wilcox was recognized by the NBA as the Western Conference Player of the Week after averaging 23.0 points and 15.3 rebounds while shooting 75.0 percent during the Sonics 3-0 week. It was the culmination of a strong stretch of recent play, including his 26 points and career-high 24 rebounds last Tuesday against Houston, the Sonics first 20-20 game in more than a decade.

Amongst others, Wilcox's former Clippers teammates have taken notice of what he is doing in Seattle.

"They see me on ESPN and they always call and say, 'You had a great game,'" he said.

The challenge now is for Wilcox to maintain his performance and add to it a level of consistency that separates the elite players in the NBA from the rest of the league. Hill believes in Wilcox's talent, saying Thursday he thinks Wilcox could become an All-Star if he works hard during the off-season, and wants to keep him motivated.

"'You've spoiled us,'" Hill related telling Wilcox recently. "'You've captured the imagination of the league. You were Player of the Week. Everyone's talking about you. Every press conference we have, your name comes up two or three times. This is the time for you to capitalize on that and keep going.'"

To do that, Wilcox will have to be on the court.

After hitting six 3-pointers against the Hornets, Sonics All-Star Ray Allen now has 249 3-pointers, leaving him one away from becoming only the third player in NBA history to hit 250 in a single season. Allen would join the NBA's all-time single-season leader, Dennis Scott (267 in 1995-96 with the Orlando Magic) and George McCloud (257 in 1995-96 with the Dallas Mavericks). 1995-96 was during the NBA's brief flirtation with a shorter 3-point line (22 feet instead of its current distance of 23 feet, nine inches), making Allen the NBA's all-time leader at the longer distance.

With four games left on the Sonics schedule, Allen could still pass McCloud and Scott and hold the overall record. Allen would need 19 3s; he has four stretches of four games this season where he has hit 19 triples. Hill wasn't aware of Allen's chance to make 3-point history before being asked about it by reporters at Thursday's practice, and said he would chat with Allen about whether he wants help in his run at the record.

"I've always kind of left that up to the player," explained Hill. "If he wants it, I'll try to help him get it. He's got four games left; he's got a definite chance if I don't say anything to him. If we work on it, he probably can do it."