Trade deadline passes with lots of deals, but none by Wolves

The NBA's 2 p.m. trade deadline has come and gone and Michae Beasley and his sore big toe are still here.

Portland blew up their team, firing coach Nate McMillan today and trading Gerald Wallace to New Jersey and Marcus Camby to Houston in a deal that brought back former Timberwolves guard Jonny Flynn.

But Jamal Crawford stayed put, never making it to Minnesota in that three-way deal with the Lakers that would have sent Beasley to L.A.

From what I've been able to gather today, that's the only proposed deal the Wolves came close to making and ultimately the deal fell apart because the Lakers as their part of the deal wanted the Wolves to take back a guaranteed salary for next year.

The Wolves ultimately decided Crawford wasn't that much of an upgrade over Beasley, not at the price of adding $3 million or more to their payroll next season and the fact that Crawford just might be a two-month rental.

He has a player option for the second year of the contract he signed with Portland in December and every indication is he will opt out from that $5 million salary and test the free-agent market again.

I don't believe Luke Ridnour -- or Steve Blake -- were ever part of the trade discussions.

The Lakers did find takers for salaries they wanted to dump for luxury-tax purposes: They dealt Luke Walton's $6 million for next season, Jason Kapono's expiring and their own first-round pick to Cleveland for Ramon Sessions to address their point-guard problems, then sent Derek Fisher's $3.4 million contract for next season and Dallas' first-round pick to Houston for forward Jordan Hill.

All of that means Beasley remains a Timberwolf through this season.

He will be a restricted free agent this summer. Don't expect the Wolves to extend him a whopping $8 million qualifying offer, but they could still decide to re-sign him as an unrestricted free agent to a lesser salary come July.

That's what I've been saying all along: GIve him the entire season -- including possibly playoffs -- to prove himself and then decide whether you want him to be part of your future, and at what price.

Don't expect to see Beasley tonight at Utah: Even though he's still with the Wolves, that big toe was hurting him at shootaround this morning and it's doubtful he'll play.

"I like it as it is," Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman said about his team before the deadline passed. "The other night we scored 127 points. We have ways to score and ways to play, so I like the group we have."

The Lakers didn't pull off a deal for Beasley, but they did get Sessions (and Hill).

Other trades included:

* Denver dealt away Nene just three months after signing him to a huge deal in a three-way deal with Washington and the Clippers that sent JaVale McGee to Denver and Nick Young to the Clippers.

* Golden State sent Stephen Jackson to San Antonio for Richard Jefferson.