The first in-season trade of the 2002-03 campaign took place Wednesday night, as three teams exchanged four players and two draft picks. The Denver Nuggets sent swingman James Posey to the Houston Rockets in exchange for two draft picks and veteran forwards Mark Bryant and Art Long, who had been with Philadelphia. The Rockets sent forward Kenny Thomas to Philadelphia to complete the three-team trade.

All four players in the trade are in the final year of their contracts, with Posey and Thomas slated to become restricted free agents on July 1, 2003. Bryant and Long would become unrestricted free agents on the same date. Denver received a conditional future first round pick from Philadelphia and a future second round pick from Houston.

The move is another in a series of moves by Denver General Manager Kiki Vandeweghe to completely rebuild the team by accumulating draft picks and young players operating under rookie contracts.

“This trade further bolsters the future of the Denver Nuggets,” said Vandeweghe. “We now have the potential to have multiple first-round picks in two of the next three drafts, while maintaining our salary cap flexibility.”

Although Posey was in only his fourth season with the team, he and Ryan Bowen were the only players remaining from the 1999-2000 Nuggets team. Like Thomas, Posey had been extended a fourth season (covering 2002-03) under terms of his rookie contract during the summer of 2001. That extension meant he and Thomas would become restricted free agents in the summer of 2003.

For Houston, the exchange of Thomas for Posey gives the Rockets a versatile defender who can guard both small forwards and big guards. It also alleviates a logjam of players with similar skills in its frontcourt. Thomas was competing with Maurice Taylor for minutes as a low-post scoring option at the power forward spot. Houston also has veteran scorer Glen Rice and shotblocker Eddie Griffin playing regular minutes at the forward spots. Since neither Thomas nor Taylor offers the shotblocking of Griffin or the three-point prowess of either Rice or Griffin, their skills were somewhat duplicative. Posey (14.1 ppg, 5.8 rpg) can guard out on the floor against the quicker players who might give Rice trouble.

In acquiring Thomas, the 76ers add a player of size who can score, important for a team that starts three guards and does not have a single reserve averaging more than 7.3 points. Entering Wednesday night’s action, Philadelphia was getting 46 percent of its points from two players, Allen Iverson and Keith Van Horn. Thomas, who was averaging 9.9 points and 6.9 rebounds in about 29 minutes per game for Houston, is an excellent mid-range shooter, the type of player who could benefit from Iverson’s penetration into the lane that create open shots. Neither Bryant nor Long was playing much in Philadelphia.

In a related roster move Wednesday night, Denver waived point guard Kenny Satterfield, who was averaging 5.6 points in around 19 minutes per game.