Two months after the season, Frey sent him to the Rangers in a nine-player trade that brought the Cubs a closer.

This could be the coach's first brush with the issue of playing time since the Nets' nine-player trade with Dallas.

The team still talks, with good reason, about the nine-player trade Melvin made with the Arizona Diamondbacks in December 2003.

He is currently an assistant for the Dallas Mavericks, a team 6-20 since the nine-player trade with the Nets on Feb. 17.

It was December, well before the transplanted Mavericks arrived via the nine-player trade.

The nine-player trade is the biggest since Texas and Seattle swapped 11 players on Dec. 12, 1980.

"It's good to get the monkey off our backs," said Gatling, who came to the Nets in a nine-player trade with the Mavericks last season.

And with a group that is still trying to learn about one another after a nine-player trade, there was confusion and chaos.

With one nine-player trade down and apparently none to go, many of the alleged blockbuster deals are being committed to rumor.

Davis played two seasons with the Hornets before being traded to the Miami Heat in a massive nine-player trade on August 1, 2000.