Monday, August 19, 1996

Charles Barkley headed for Houston Rockets

By Associated Press

The Houston Rockets' summerlong pursuit of Charles Barkley is over. The Phoenix Suns traded the star forward for four players.

"I'm very excited, obviously it's something I wanted to do," Barkley, vacationing in Philadelphia, told Phoenix television station KSAZ on Sunday. "Houston was my first priority."

Under the deal, to be announced Monday, Houston will send point guard Sam Cassell and forwards Robert Horry, Mark Bryant and Chucky Brown to Phoenix. All four become free agents after this season.

Barkley, intent on winning an NBA title before he retires, confirmed what was first reported earlier in the day by The Arizona Republic.

Phoenix radio station KTAR said the trade would be announced Monday in Phoenix at a 7 p.m. EDT news conference. Houston radio station KTRH said the deal awaited only NBA approval.
An NBA spokesman did not immediately return a message left on his home answering machine.

Brown told KTRH Sunday he would be going to the Suns. He said he had been contacted at his home in Raleigh, N.C., by Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich, who told him Cassell and Horry were to go with him.

"Rudy called and said that I had to be part of it for the salary cap and stuff," he told the station. "It wasn't really a surprise because it's not like I never felt I would be traded."

Cassell, who returned to Houston on Sunday from a charity basketball game in Memphis, Tenn., described the move as business.

"I know the Rockets wanted Charles to get here," Cassell told KRIV-TV in Houston. "Hopefully, (Houston) can regain another championship but I'm going to try to make it as hard as possible."

Cassell said Robert Barr, Rockets vice president of basketball affairs, notified him of the trade.

"It's not like I'm a guy that can't play the game of basketball, and this is my last stop," Cassell told the station. "I'm going down to Phoenix and learn everything I can from Kevin (Johnson) before he retires. Then, I'll step right in when he retires, and it'll be my ballclub."

Neither Suns president Jerry Colangelo nor Barkley's agent, Glen Guthrie, could be reached by The Associated Press on Sunday. Calls to Tomjanovich and two other team officials were not immediately returned.

Barkley's relationship with the Suns soured last season, and he has said he would retire if they didn't trade him to a contender. In an interview with NBC during the NBA finals in June, Barkley said Houston was among the teams he would consider joining.

Barkley said Sunday he was pleased with the way the deal had worked out.

"I'm excited because .. I called the shots," he said of the trade. "When push comes to shove I think you have to stand up to the system."

The Rockets have aggressively pursued a deal for Barkley this summer. Rumors last month had Barkley going to Houston in a three-way deal that would have sent Horry and Cassell to Denver, and free agent center Dikembe Mutombo to Phoenix.

According to the Republic, the Rockets made a new offer to the Suns last week that added Brown to the package of Horry and Cassell. After the deal was rejected, the Rockets agreed to the Suns' demand to add Bryant.

Bryant, an eight-year veteran, would strengthen the Suns' defense and rebounding. Cassell and Horry played key roles in the Rockets' championships in 1994 and 1995.
Horry, 25, was the 11th pick of the draft in 1992 out of Alabama. Cassell, 26, was the 24th player taken in the first round of the 1993 draft.

Barkley, 33, has two years left on his contract, which pays him $4.6 million next season. The combined salaries of the four Houston players are within the allowable 15 percent of Barkley's salary, bringing the reported deal into compliance with the league's salary-cap restrictions.