Wizards Mavs 7-player trade swaps Howard & Butler

The city of Dallas is looking ahead to the 2010 All-Star game to be played Sunday, but meanwhile the Mavericks swung a trade Saturday while not many were looking. It was speculated that Caron Butler would be dealt from the Wizards and he was on Saturday. Dallas traded away Dwight Gooden and Josh Howard as well as two other players in exchange for Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, DeShawn Stevenson and cash. The Mavs are looking to build up momentum for their 2010 playoff run by bringing in Butler, who president of operations Donnie Nelson calls a good fit for their team. He also admitted it was a tough decision to give up Howard, but said you've got to "give quality to get quality".

The Wizards meanwhile are hurting with a record of 17-33 and low expectations since losing Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton for the season following their gun incident in the locker room. The team president expressed their needs in the current season:

"We're all disappointed in how our season has gone. We need some freshness and we're getting proven players who will help us, and it gives us some flexibility down the road," Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld said. "We want to remain competitive and maybe this group can provide a spark. The group had gotten stale, and we needed a change." (NBA.com)

Also involved in the deal were James Singleton and Quinton Ross who the Wizards acquired. This marks the 8th new team for Drew Gooden who is becoming a journeyman of sorts, while Howard has spent all his career since 2003 in Dallas. The Mavs will now acquire the additional skills of Butler who is averaging about 17 points and 7 rebounds per game, while Haywood was averaging around 10 rebounds a game.

There may be more moves in the days ahead, as the NBA Trade deadline officially hits on February 18, 2010.

Read more about today's trade at NBA.com