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The Toronto Raptors announced Friday they have acquired $10 million in salary cap relief and former Raptors centre/forward Antonio Davis from the New York Knicks in exchange for guard/forward Jalen Rose, Denver’s first-round draft pick in the 2006 NBA Draft and an undisclosed amount of cash. The Nuggets’ pick had been acquired from New Jersey as part of the December 2000 Vince Carter trade.

Rose will be a free agent after the 2006-06 season. Davis will be a free agent after this current season. Considering their production on the court, they both make massive amounts of money by NBA standards.

The trade now gives New York two first round picks, including San Antonio's selection.

InsideHoops.com presents the first comments from Rose about being traded to New York, via Ronn Torossian of 5W Public Relations:

"What better arena than Madison Square Garden to forward my basketball career," said Rose to InsideHoops.com via 5WPR. "I can't wait to play in front of the many Knicks fans, friends and family in the NYC area and very much look forward to being a part of the Knicks organization. Ask any athlete – One of his dreams is to play in Madison Square Garden. It's also always been a dream for me."

"Whatever Coach Brown needs me to do to help the team is my focus. I am thrilled to be a Knick," said Rose.

“As part of our strategic plan, one of the top priorities to move this franchise forward has to be to get under the salary cap. I’ve never seen a team rebuild itself without starting from that point,” said Wayne Embry, interim general manager of the Raptors. “This trade presents the opportunity for us to acquire $10 million in cap room. Being under the cap gives us flexibility to sign and trade, trade picks for a desired player, make multiple player deals for quality, and broker deals for value.

“Agents and players consider cap management--the ability to pay and also build--important when selecting a team. Retention of our own players is much easier when under the cap. We must have the ability to keep players that we have developed, while seeking opportunities to sign players others have developed. This trade is a big step toward being able to accomplish that.”

With Tuesday’s trade of Aaron Williams to New Orleans for two future second-round draft picks, the Raptors owned two first-round and two-second round selections in June’s draft.

“We’re a young team and potentially adding four more rookies through the draft plus our players in Europe (Uros Slokar and Roko Ukic) next season would only make us younger,” Embry added. “We have to ask ourselves if we would even have the roster spots for them, and then consider how long it will take them to develop. Building exclusively through the draft is more difficult in today’s NBA. This trade positions us better to pursue free agents who would be superior to mid-level exception players that we otherwise would be limited to consider.”

Davis makes a return to the Raptors after two seasons in Chicago and the current campaign in New York. He played for the Raptors from 1999-2003, appearing in 302 games and averaging 13.1 points, 9.3 rebounds and 35.2 minutes. He is Toronto’s franchise leader in total rebounds (2,803), offensive rebounds (942), defensive rebounds (1,861) and rebounds per game (9.3). He ranks second in blocks (404) and fourth in points (3,959).

Davis was traded by the Raptors to Chicago, along with Jerome Williams and Chris Jefferies, on December 1, 2003 in exchange for Rose, Donyell Marshall and Lonny Baxter. He was originally acquired by Toronto on August 1, 1999 from Indiana for the draft rights to Jonathan Bender.

Davis averaged 5.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 20.8 minutes for the Knicks this season. The 37-year-old is in his 14th NBA season and owns career averages of 10.1 points and 7.5 rebounds in 895 games. In postseason play, he has seen action in 93 contests with averages of 9.7 points and 7.4 rebounds. He appeared in 20 playoff games with Raptors, posting averages of 16.1 points and 10.6 rebounds. He made his lone All-Star Game appearance in 2001 as a member of the Raptors. Also, Davis and Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell were teammates with the Indiana Pacers for two seasons (1993-95).

Rose played in 46 games with the Raptors this season where he averaged 12.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 26.9 minutes. In 177 total games in a Toronto uniform, Rose averaged 16.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 32.2 minutes.

Rose, 33, is currently in his 12th NBA season. He has played in 868 regular season and 58 playoff games.

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