Wallace Traded Again, This Time to Pistons

Rasheed Wallace is headed to the Detroit Pistons, who gave up reserves and draft picks to land the frontcourt scorer they coveted.

Wallace, 29, was moved to Detroit in a three-team deal before Thursday’s trading deadline after playing only one game for the Atlanta Hawks, who acquired the temperamental player from the Portland Trail Blazers last week.

The two-time All-Star has averaged 16.1 points and 6.7 rebounds during nine NBA years and 17.1 points and 6.6 rebounds this season.

“It gives us a real shot to compete at the highest level in the NBA right now,” said Joe Dumars, the Pistons’ president of basketball operations.

The Pistons sent center Zeljko Rebraca, 31, guard Bob Sura, 30, and a first-round pick to the Hawks. That pick will come from Milwaukee this year if the Bucks make the playoffs.

Detroit also sent guards Lindsey Hunter, 33, Chucky Atkins, 29, its first-round pick this year and cash to Boston, while the Celtics sent forward Chris Mills, 34, to Atlanta and guard Mike James, 28, to Detroit.

Besides adding Wallace, the deal will put Detroit about $10 million under the salary cap this summer.

Atlanta acquired Wallace to clear salary-cap space and will be about $20 million under it this summer.

“Rasheed’s a heck of a player, but I think this is best for us and best for him,” Hawk General Manager Billy Knight said.

Dumars said Wallace’s past problems, including an NBA-record 41 technical fouls in a season and a seven-game suspension for threatening a referee after a game, were not a factor in his decision-making.

“We know about all the issues,” he said. “We feel this is a guy who can help us make a run when it comes to playoff time. We’ve said for a while now that we wanted to add an impact player, and we feel he’s the type of guy who can impact our team.”

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The Utah Jazz traded guard DeShawn Stevenson, 22, to the Orlando Magic for guard Gordon Giricek, 26. The Magic also received a second-round pick. In another move, the Jazz sent injured forwards Keon Clark (ankle) and Ben Handlogten (knee) to the Phoenix Suns for forward Tom Gugliotta, cash and two conditional first-round picks.