Brendan Haywood

Brendan Haywood is coming back to the Dallas Mavericks — as the starting center. Haywood agreed Thursday to a $55-million, six-year contract, according to a person familiar with negotiations. The person spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because details were still being finalized. Dallas acquired the 7-footer from Washington as part of a blockbuster deal at the trade deadline last season. He was a big part of the Mavericks getting on a roll soon after, but down the stretch he lost playing time — and his starting job — to Erick Dampier . The Mavericks have been planning to trade or cut Dampier.

Bring on the likes of bigs Tyson Chandler , Brendan Haywood and Dirk Nowitzki . Yes, the challengers were sizable and many for Blake Griffin in the third game of his NBA career, this one against the Dallas Mavericks. "Blake has enough ball skills to be more effective than he was tonight, there's no question about that," Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro said. "It's a good learning curve for him. He guarded Dirk well at times. He took a charge in the second half, which was great.

Bring on the likes of bigs Tyson Chandler , Brendan Haywood and Dirk Nowitzki . Yes, the challengers were sizable and many for Blake Griffin in the third game of his NBA career, this one against the Dallas Mavericks. "Blake has enough ball skills to be more effective than he was tonight, there's no question about that," Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro said. "It's a good learning curve for him. He guarded Dirk well at times. He took a charge in the second half, which was great.

Brendan Haywood is coming back to the Dallas Mavericks — as the starting center. Haywood agreed Thursday to a $55-million, six-year contract, according to a person familiar with negotiations. The person spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because details were still being finalized. Dallas acquired the 7-footer from Washington as part of a blockbuster deal at the trade deadline last season. He was a big part of the Mavericks getting on a roll soon after, but down the stretch he lost playing time — and his starting job — to Erick Dampier . The Mavericks have been planning to trade or cut Dampier.

The Dallas Mavericks traded Josh Howard , Drew Gooden, James Singleton and Quinton Ross to the Washington Wizards on Saturday in exchange for Caron Butler , Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson . Howard was in his seventh season with Dallas, a span filled with promise and disappointment since he was the 29th overall pick in 2003. Gooden, signed by Dallas last summer, will be going to his eighth team in eight NBA seasons. It is a significant move for the Southwest Division-leading Mavericks (32-20)

When the Dallas Mavericks first made a trade to acquire three key pieces, the Lakers viewed that move as one of the best in the NBA. Wednesday night, when the Lakers play the Mavericks at American Airlines Center, they get to see firsthand how much Dallas has improved since it acquired guard Caron Butler, center Brendan Haywood and reserve guard DeShawn Stevenson from the Washington Wizards on Feb. 13. "I think they've added a little brawn,"...

Mike Bresnahan covers the Lakers for The Times and ties up loose ends on the day of his self-designated "Game of the week." The Lakers play tonight at Dallas. The Dallas Mavericks made huge headlines by stealing, oops, trading for Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood from Washington before last week's deadline. Great move for the Mavericks, sure, but also for my fantasy team. I've needed a center to step up and play because Mehmet Okur is a total embarrassment and Ben Wallace has a season-high of, what, three points?

There's hope for the rest of us In the good news for Gilbert Arenas , at least they didn't send him to Alcatraz to bunk with Al Capone . Actually, Alcatraz is part of a national park, Capone is dead and the big guy wouldn't have taken anyone who was in for not licensing unloaded pistols seriously, anyway. The judge set aside a request for three months in jail by the crusading D.A. — who let teammate Javaris Crittenton off with a misdemeanor — instead suspending Arenas' sentence with 30 days in a halfway house.

There goes a great Bullet, er, Wizard. Even if the whole world abandoned Gilbert Arenas, who had the misfortune to become perfectly inconvenient and vulnerable at the same time, there was one man who would have remembered all he meant to the Washington Wizards and the "legacy of Abe Pollin" the late owner's family keeps talking about. That man, of course, was Abe Pollin. If Pollin was different, it wasn't for being wildly successful as an NBA owner, because he wasn't.

Washington Wizards center Brendan Haywood, ejected for a flagrant foul on the Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James in Monday's Game 2 loss, was not suspended by the league Tuesday for the act. Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett won the NBA's defensive player of the year award, receiving 90 first-place votes and 493 points from a media panel to beat out Denver's Marcus Camby (178) and Houston's Shane Battier (175).

There's hope for the rest of us In the good news for Gilbert Arenas , at least they didn't send him to Alcatraz to bunk with Al Capone . Actually, Alcatraz is part of a national park, Capone is dead and the big guy wouldn't have taken anyone who was in for not licensing unloaded pistols seriously, anyway. The judge set aside a request for three months in jail by the crusading D.A. — who let teammate Javaris Crittenton off with a misdemeanor — instead suspending Arenas' sentence with 30 days in a halfway house.

Mike Bresnahan covers the Lakers for The Times and ties up loose ends on the day of his self-designated "Game of the week." The Lakers play tonight at Dallas. The Dallas Mavericks made huge headlines by stealing, oops, trading for Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood from Washington before last week's deadline. Great move for the Mavericks, sure, but also for my fantasy team. I've needed a center to step up and play because Mehmet Okur is a total embarrassment and Ben Wallace has a season-high of, what, three points?

When the Dallas Mavericks first made a trade to acquire three key pieces, the Lakers viewed that move as one of the best in the NBA. Wednesday night, when the Lakers play the Mavericks at American Airlines Center, they get to see firsthand how much Dallas has improved since it acquired guard Caron Butler, center Brendan Haywood and reserve guard DeShawn Stevenson from the Washington Wizards on Feb. 13. "I think they've added a little brawn,"...

The Dallas Mavericks traded Josh Howard , Drew Gooden, James Singleton and Quinton Ross to the Washington Wizards on Saturday in exchange for Caron Butler , Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson . Howard was in his seventh season with Dallas, a span filled with promise and disappointment since he was the 29th overall pick in 2003. Gooden, signed by Dallas last summer, will be going to his eighth team in eight NBA seasons. It is a significant move for the Southwest Division-leading Mavericks (32-20)

There goes a great Bullet, er, Wizard. Even if the whole world abandoned Gilbert Arenas, who had the misfortune to become perfectly inconvenient and vulnerable at the same time, there was one man who would have remembered all he meant to the Washington Wizards and the "legacy of Abe Pollin" the late owner's family keeps talking about. That man, of course, was Abe Pollin. If Pollin was different, it wasn't for being wildly successful as an NBA owner, because he wasn't.

Jason Kapono of UCLA, Casey Jacobsen and Jarron Collins of Stanford and Michael Wright of Arizona are the Pacific 10 Conference players on the 20-player John Wooden Award ballot. The 25th John. R. Wooden Award Trophy for college basketball's player of the year will be presented April 6 at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. Kenyon Martin won the award last year.

Lakers tonight AT DALLAS Time: 6 PST. On the air: TV: Channel 9, ESPN; Radio: 710; 1330. Where: American Airlines Center. Records: Lakers 43-14; Mavericks 36-21. Record vs. Mavericks: 2-1. Update: Dallas has won four consecutive games, including a 91-82 victory over Indiana on Monday. New additions Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood are averaging a combined 25.6 points and 16.4 rebounds in five games for the Mavericks.