NBA WEDNESDAY’S TRADES : Cheeks Dealt for Strickland; Carroll to Nuggets

The New York Knicks traded backup point guard Rod Strickland to the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday for veteran guard Maurice Cheeks.

Strickland, 23, a second-year pro, had expressed unhappiness with his role as a backup to Mark Jackson earlier this season and asked to be traded. He averaged 8.2 points and 4.3 assists while playing 20 minutes per game.

Cheeks, 33, was traded from Philadelphia to San Antonio last summer after spending his 11-year NBA career with the 76ers. He averaged 10.9 points and six assists in 35 minutes per game with the Spurs. In his 11 seasons with the 76ers, Cheeks averaged 12.2 points and 7.3 assists in 853 games and leads active players in steals.

Cheeks is expected to back up Jackson. Strickland likely will assume the starting point guard role with the second-place Spurs.

The New Jersey Nets traded center Joe Barry Carroll to the Denver Nuggets for rookie guard Michael Cutright and acquired center Chris Dudley from the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for two second-round draft picks.

Cleveland then packaged the draft choices from the Nets to acquire Derrick Chievous from the Houston Rockets.

Dudley, a fourth-round selection from Yale in the 1987 draft, averaged five points and 5.5 rebounds in 37 games with Cleveland this season. The 6-foot-11 Dudley started the season on the injured list with a broken bone in his left wrist and was activated Nov. 15.

Carroll entered the NBA after being drafted by Golden State with the first pick in the first round of the 1980 NBA draft. After playing six seasons with the Warriors, he was traded to Houston in December of 1987, then went to New Jersey in November of 1988.

Carroll has played in 45 games for the Nets this season, starting 20, and has averaged 8.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 21.8 minutes per game. In his nine-year career he has averaged 18.2 points and 7.8 rebounds.

The Rockets received three second-round draft picks and an undisclosed amount of cash from the Cavaliers for forward-guard Chievous.

Also, the Rockets acquired guard Vernon Maxwell from San Antonio for an undisclosed sum, said Houston General Manager Steve Patterson.

The Rockets will get the Cavaliers’ 1992 or 1994 second-round draft pick, plus Boston’s 1991 and 1993 second-round picks, which Cleveland had acquired from New Jersey for Dudley.

Chievous was the Rockets’ 1988 first-round draft pick. He averaged 5.9 points and 1.8 rebounds in 41 games for Houston this season.