Gms Get Out The Trade Bait

Around the NBA

Several National Basketball Association general managers are preparing to talk the talk trade talk, that is.

Among the players who are candidates for relocation:

Stacey Augmon. Detroit’s 6-foot, 8-inch swingman is having difficulty finding playing time because coach Doug Collins wants Grant Hill and Joe Dumars on the floor.

Sam Cassell. He will be a free agent after the season, and the Phoenix Suns believe rookie Steve Nash is their point guard of the future. The Indiana Pacers are interested in Cassell.

Greg Anthony. He is unhappy playing for struggling Vancouver, and he will want big money for his next contract. No, the Knicks do not want Anthony back.

Robinson to return

Center David Robinson will be in the San Antonio lineup for the first time this season tonight when the Spurs play host to Phoenix.

Robinson left an Oct. 11 exhibition game because of back pain and missed the Spurs’ first 18 games. San Antonio has started the season 3-15 without him.

Spurs general manager Gregg Popovich said team doctors cleared Robinson to play.

The All-Star center had experienced attacks of lower-back pain before and wore lower-back supports in some games last season.

On the court

Dell Curry scored 10 of his 23 points in the third quarter Monday night as the Charlotte Hornets rallied for a 107-91 victory over the Grizzlies in Vancouver. Glen Rice’s 30 points led the Hornets.

Around the league

Houston Rockets forward Charles Barkley missed Monday’s workout with a foot injury, but he expects to play tonight against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Barkley said doctors told him he had a neuroma, a benign tumor of nerve tissue that develops as a result of damage to a nerve… . Forward Jamal Mashburn, who has missed eight games because of a broken right cheekbone, was activated by the Dallas Mavericks.