Webber Is Sent to Philadelphia

The star-crossed seven-year career of Chris Webber in Sacramento ended in a stunner Wednesday night, when the Kings, who had risen and fallen with him, sent the five-time All-Star forward to the 76ers for three journeymen.

Going to the 76ers with Webber were reserve forwards Matt Barnes and Michael Bradley. Coming from the 76ers were forwards Corliss Williamson, Kenny Thomas and Brian Skinner.

The move signaled the end of the reign of the freewheeling Kings, who averaged 55 wins over the last four seasons, won the Pacific Division twice and, in the spring of 2002, took the Lakers to seven games in the Western Conference finals.

The Kings won 61 games that season and 59 in the one that followed, when Webber went down in the second round of the playoffs with a knee injury, effectively closing their window of opportunity for good.

The Kings were 43-15 last season when Webber rejoined them after a slow and difficult rehab from micro-fracture surgery.

He wasn’t the same player he had been, averaging 18.7 points over the last 23 games as the team was 11-12 and was sent home again in the second round of the playoffs.

Webber followed his own lackluster performance with a stinging rebuke to unnamed teammates: “If you’re always out of shape, I don’t want to play with you. If you don’t care when we lose and you’re always giggling and laughing, I don’t want to play with you. If you’re giggling before the game, a Game 7 before we play the Lakers, and you’re giggling and laughing and [stuff] is funny, I don’t want to play with you.”

Insiders knew the “out of shape” King to be Brad Miller and the “giggling” King to be Peja Stojakovic. Stojakovic responded by asking to be traded.

Webber claimed to have mended his relationships this season. He, Miller, Stojakovic, Mike Bibby, Bobby Jackson and Doug Christie paid $12,000 for a full-page ad in the Sacramento Bee, announcing, “Our spirit will never be broken.”

Their bodies began going first. Jackson was lost for the season because of a wrist injury. Desperate for a replacement, the Kings traded Christie to Orlando for Cuttino Mobley. Christie, doing a farewell radio interview from his home, became so emotional that he had to cut the session short.

Nevertheless, even without his old explosion, Webber went back to something resembling his old level, averaging 21 points, 9.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists, and the team roared to a 32-14 start.

Still, management had decided that one of the stars had to go and were already shopping Webber, who was about to turn 32 and had three more years left on his contract, worth $62 million.

Webber was offered to the New York Knicks a month ago. When the Kings lost six of seven games before the break, amid reports of renewed tension between Webber and Stojakovic, they dropped their price until they found a taker.

Tuesday, Webber scored 30 points in the Sacramento’s victory over Atlanta, amid speculation it had been his last game as a King.

“It’s something I live with,” Webber said after the game. “It gets very old, but there’s nothing you can do about it. If I believe everything I read and everything I hear, I’d be on an emotional roller-coaster.”

The Kings got no star power and no cap relief with Thomas signed through 2009, Skinner through 2007 and Williamson, a former King, through 2006.

The 76ers, meanwhile, just became a power in the bedraggled Atlantic Division, currently led by Boston with a 27-28 record. Glenn Robinson left the club in training camp when told he wouldn’t start and never returned, leaving Allen Iverson to carry the team as best he could.