Basketball: Marks trade bait as Raptors go big

New Zealand's Sean Marks faces an uncertain United States National Basketball Association (NBA) future after his Toronto Raptors franchise selected two big men in the NBA draft.

Marks seems likely to be offered as trade bait after the Raptors, who narrowly missed the NBA playoffs last season, drafted 2.12m high school player Jonathan Bender and 2.23m Serbian Alek Radojevic.

Bender is earmarked for a certain trade with experienced Indiana Pacers forward Antonio Davis, ensuring the Raptors will be stacked with forwards.

Marks, a 2.08m power forward who made his Tall Blacks debut for New Zealand in their shared two-test series against Canada last month, is therefore likely to be offered by the Raptors as part of a trade deal as they attempt to secure support at guard for last season's NBA Rookie of the Year, swingman Vince Carter.

The Raptors have already tried to gain NBA Hall-of-Fame centre Hakeem Olajuwon from the Houston Rockets in a trade which may have involved Marks, and definitely forward Kevin Willis and guard Doug Christie. This happened before the draft but the Rockets rejected the proposal.

Tall Blacks coach Keith Mair said he spoke to Marks regarding his NBA future future during the Canada series and said he was "reasonably confident but realistic" about being retained by the Raptors.

"He thought they may trade Rogers, who is another 6ft 10in [2m] power forward, from Australia," Mair said.

Marks, 24, was the first Kiwi to be drafted into the NBA when he was selected by the New York Knicks for the 1998-99 season before being traded immediately to the Raptors.

He is under contract there until the end of the 1999-2000 season.

The former University of California-Berkeley student should end up with another NBA franchise, although a worst-case scenario would see him spending a season in Europe on loan or merely warming the bench for the Raptors.

Marks played eight matches in a reduced 50-game NBA season with the Raptors last season, averaging just three-and-a-half minutes per appearance.

He is currently in Los Angeles, playing with a Raptors development side in a professional summer league. - NZPA