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Tuesday night when play resumes after the All-Star break the New Orleans Hornets will face off against the Oklahoma City Thunder but; things will be different…

The two teams have agreed in principle to trade center Tyson Chandler to the Thunder for journey-man 1st Overall pick Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox.

The Thunder also possess numerous draft picks to sweeten trade packages — including five first-round picks in the next two drafts — but Presti was able to land an accomplished center to complement his promising young trio of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green without surrendering any major draft considerations.

The Hornets were widely projected as a dark-horse title contender entering the season but hit the All-Star break as the No. 6 team in the West at 30-20 after a variety of injuries and struggles to cope with raised expectations. Chandler has been bothered all season by foot troubles and is averaging just 8.8 points and 8.3 rebounds, compared to 11.8 points and 11.7 rebounds last season.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Running back Fred Taylor wanted to end his career in Jacksonville, hoping to join the small list of standout players who spent an entire career with the same team but; He won’t get that chance.

The Jaguars released Taylor on Monday, parting ways with their all-time leading rusher after 11 seasons and continuing the team’s offseason makeover.

Coach Jack Del Rio flew to Fort Lauderdale earlier Monday to meet with Taylor and deliver the news. Del Rio made it clear the team has no plans to re-sign Taylor, who turned 33 last month and was scheduled to make $6 million next season.

“It makes it awkward. It makes it difficult. We came to an agreement on what the best course of action was as a football team.”

And that was to move on without Taylor, who ranks 16th on the NFL’s career rushing list with 11,271 yards, 81 behind John Riggins.

Del Rio said it was time to turn the offense over to Jones-Drew, a 5-foot-7 dynamo who has scored 40 touchdowns in three years. Former second-round pick Greg Jones also is expected to see more touches.

Taylor, the ninth overall pick in 1998 from Florida, made his first Pro Bowl in 2007 after running for 1,202 yards and a career-best 5.4 yards a carry.

Although Jacksonville never gauged trade interest in Taylor, Del Rio said he believes he will get a shot with another club.

“He’s got some talent,” Del Rio said. “I’m sure there is going to be some interest in him. I can’t speak for other teams. I know Fred’s done a great job taking care of his body and has been a complete stud in the time we’ve been here. I’ve said that several times. He’s been a good teammate, he’s been a guy that’s all about winning and I’ve been impressed with the way that he’s conducted himself since I’ve been here.

The Toronto Raptors have agreed to send Jermaine O’Neal and Jamario Moon to the Miami Heat in exchange for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks

The deal is pending league approval. All players involved would have to pass physicals as well, although they can be waived by agreement.

Marion was part of the Phoenix Suns deal in February 2008 that sent him and Banks to Miami for Shaquille O’Neal. Marion is in the last year of a deal that will pay him $17.8 million.

The Heat and the Raptors had discussed the deal for weeks and, with the trade deadline looming, decided to move forward. Miami also was linked to trade talk with several other teams, including Phoenix and Sacramento.

Marion was a key part of Miami’s 28-24 start to this season, averaging 12 points (third on the team behind Wade and Michael Beasley, who now could replace him in the starting lineup at small forward) and a team-best 8.7 rebounds.

But he wanted a long-term contract, something Miami was not willing to provide.

One of Miami’s primary areas of concentration, just as every other team in the NBA, is keeping cap space clear for the summer of 2010, when the likes of Wade, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Chris Bosh can be free agents.

And this trade clears another $4.8 million in cap room for that summer; that’s what Banks, who had fallen out of the rotation in Miami, would have been owed in the 2010-11 season.

Plus, it gets Miami a true center in Jermaine O’Neal. The 30-year-old averaged 13.5 points and seven rebounds for Toronto, but has been slowed by injuries. He’s owed nearly $23 million next season, but that money won’t affect Miami’s free-agent plans for 2010.

Without the tearful public ceremony that accompanied his retirement announcement from the Green Bay Packers just 11 months ago, quarterback Brett Favre has told the New York Jets he is retiring.

Favre had instructed his agent, James “Bus” Cook, to inform the Jets on Wednesday that he is retiring. Jets team executives and coach Rex Ryan confirmed the retirement in a statement, saying they talked to Favre on Wednesday morning about his decision.

In what appears to be his final NFL season, Favre threw 22 touchdown passes and an NFL-high 22 interceptions while leading the Jets to a 9-7 record — a five-game improvement over their previous season without him.

“I didn’t play as well down the stretch. It was probably a little bit of everything. It’s hard for me, but I have to say I gave out down the stretch.”

“I’m an emotional guy, and I’m sure people are tired of seeing me get emotional,” he explained. “People would probably say, ‘Oh, here he goes again.’ I think it would just be better for me to just thank the Jets, and I sincerely mean that. It was well worth what I invested. But I’m going to just quietly step away if that’s what happens.”

That is exactly what has just happened.

Matt Cassel has accepted the New England Patriots’ non-exclusive franchise tender, guaranteeing the quarterback at least $14.65 million next season.

The next step is for the Patriots to send Cassel a contract which effectively means he will not be a free agent come Feb. 27. That means Cassel will not be permitted to shop himself to other teams however, he Patriots could still trade Cassel.

Cassel faxed his acceptance to the Patriots, the NFL and the NFLPA on Saturday. That means a $14.651 million salary for 2009 in guaranteed even though he has not signed a one-year contract yet. The franchise tag’s value is the average of the top five salaries for NFL players at a particular position.

With his performance on the field last year, and the uncertainty of Tom Brady’s knee healing in time for the start of the season the Patriots had to resign Cassel.

According to a report by Sports Illustrated, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for anabolic steroids in 2003, when he was with the Texas Rangers and won the AL home run title and MVP award.

Sources say that Rodriguez was on a list of 104 players who tested positive that year, when Major League Baseball conducted tests to see if mandatory random drug testing was needed. However, in 2003, there were no penalties for a positive result.

Rodriguez, reached at a Miami gym for comment by Sports Illustrated, said, “You’ll have to talk to the union.”

Asked if there were an explanation for the positive test result, Rodriguez told Sports Illustrated, : “I’m not saying anything.”

Scott Boras, Rodriguez’s agent, did not immediately return calls from ESPN.com seeking comment.

Both the Yankees and the Rangers told ESPN they would not comment.

Michael Weiner, general counsel for the players’ union, declined to comment, and said he did not know if the union would have any comment Saturday.

Major League Baseball plans to release a statement regarding SI’s report later Saturday.

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Todd Haley will take the job as the new coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. An official announcement is expected from the team later today.

Haley, the offensive coordinator for the NFC champion Arizona Cardinals, had been seen as a favorite for the job for weeks. FOXSports.com and the Kansas City Star reported Thursday evening that the Chiefs, seeking a replacement for the fired Herm Edwards, had offered Haley the job.

Haley, who turns 42 on Feb. 28, and new Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli worked together with the New York Jets between 1997 and 1999, with Pioli as director of pro personnel and Haley as an assistant coach.

Now that Kansas City has some of the important pieces in place it will for sure have to start addressing the roster as soon as possible. Two of the main keys to the Chiefs in Larry Johnson and Tony Gonzalez have expressed interest in being traded.

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NEW YORK — James scored a season-high 52 points in his 21st career triple-double, joined Michael Jordan as the only visitors with multiple 50-point games at the present Madison Square Garden, and led Cleveland to a 107-102 victory over New York on Wednesday night.

Two nights after Bryant set a record at the present building with 61 points, James was on pace to break it after scoring 20 in the first quarter.

“I don’t go out there for the numbers, I just play my game,” James said. “You guys seen every phase of my game tonight, the scoring, the rebounding, the assists and defensively just trying to attack the opposing team.

“I never thought you could look at the box score and see somebody with 50 with a triple-double, but it’s happened.”

James added 11 assists and 10 rebounds, becoming the first player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975 to have a triple-double in a 50-point game. James grabbed his final rebound with under 2 seconds left, then tumbled out of bounds as time expired.

“We go out and try to win ball games. Myself and Kobe go out and win ball games and sometimes we make games like that,” James said before the game.

“It just so happens where we get high numbers or we make an unbelievable play. It just happens that way. But we’re out there first of all trying to win the basketball game. I never go into a game saying I’m going to try to put up a decent amount of numbers or anything like that. I’ve never been that type of player.”

The focus on James’ first trip here in November was his free agency in 2010, days after the Knicks made a pair of trades to clear salary cap space for a run at him. This time, the building was still buzzing from Bryant’s performance, and the talk was on whether James could top it.

He said he wouldn’t try — unless the situation called for it.

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