At midnight tonight teams can begin negotiating with free agents. The Dallas Mavericks will look to resign Jason Terry and give Dirk Nowitzki a contract extension. Several other teams are looking to resign key players, but don’t be surprised to see some of the big names traded in sign-and-trade deals that didn’t happen during the NBA Draft.

The Detroit Pistons traded off Maurice Evans because he wouldn’t be getting enough minutes to satisfy him this season, but the main motive behind the trade is resigning Ben Wallace. The 31-year old All-Star center will receive several intriguing offers but look for him to stay with the Pistons as long as they remain championship contenders.

Paul Pierce may get his star player after all. The Boston Celtics seem ready to acquire Allen Iverson and are just waiting for the Sixers to make sure no better offers come up. Iverson isn’t so sure, and seems to want to spend the last days of his career throwing alley-oops to Josh Smith in Atlanta.

The Milwaukee Bucks will be trading Jamaal Magliore, once they find a decent player or group of players in return. The team who currently seems to be pushing hardest to acquire the center is the Washington Wizards.

Isiah Thomas says he doesn’t plan to make any big trade involving the New York Knicks. He somehow believes that with Larry Brown out the door, an improved attitude is all that’s needed before the team has success.

It was announced that the NCAA will not be expanded to 128 teams, because there is no need to do so. “There is no enthusiasm on the part of the committee to expand the tournament at this time,” said Craig Littlepage, chairman of the men’s basketball committee.