More On The Matrix: A Third Partner, What It Means To J-Ho, How Much Shawn Marion Might Get Paid

Five chunks of fresh grist for the Shawn Marion mill: 1) The apparent third trade partner, 2) Marion’s possible salary in Dallas, 3) What Kris Humphries means in all this, 4) What’s the timetable? And 5) Does this mean Josh Howard is on the outs?

   2 Put this under the category of “speculation’’ if you wish, but clip-and-save: Marion made $17 mil last year. He was very close to a new Raptors deal of four years and $32 million. Look for the Mavs to help orchestrate a deal of  four years, around $7 million a year, with Year One starting at $6.2625 million. (And if Dallas wants to be tricky with an instant-expiring like we’ve described from the start with The Stack Chip and The DUST Chip, maybe they give him five years. … which will sound bloated but only to the uninformed.)

   3 Kris Humphries will apparently be a Mav. Whether he can play isn’t the issue right now; it’s more about working him him to see if he will waive some or all of his option year, or make Year Two a partial guarantee, or something like that.

   4 The ESPN report suggests the deal could involve a fourth club and could happen later this week. But don’t misunderstand that as a lack of urgency on the part of the Raptors. They are under a week-long gun here.

   5 So Josh Howard’s getting traded now? That rumor is all over the radio, and all we can say about it that that information does not come from any credible person at Mavs HQ. (Nor do some of the names being speculated about.) The plan as it’s been described to us includes no immediate post-Marion flip of any top-tier talent.