Szczerbiak Traded to the Celtics

The struggling Minnesota Timberwolves shook up their roster Thursday night, trading swingman Wally Szczerbiak to the Boston Celtics for guard Ricky Davis in an exchange involving seven players and three draft picks.

Davis, 26, forward Mark Blount, 30, guard Marcus Banks, 24, forward Justin Reed, 24, and two conditional second-round draft picks are going to Minnesota, and in exchange the Celtics are getting Szczerbiak, 28, center Michael Olowokandi, 30, forward-center Dwayne Jones, 22, and a future first-round draft pick, the teams announced.

Szczerbiak and Olowokandi had frequently been mentioned in trade speculation. Minnesota needed a spark after losing its last two games by 20 points or more, and finally made its move Thursday after a 107-87 loss to Memphis on Wednesday, its third straight defeat.

“Through this trade, we’ve become a much more athletic team,” said Kevin McHale, Minnesota’s vice president of basketball operations, in a statement.

Davis, a 6-foot-7 guard, was the Celtics’ second-leading scorer, averaging 19.7 points, and the 7-0 Blount was the team’s third-leading scorer at 12.4 points.

The 6-7 Szczerbiak was averaging 20.1 points, second on Minnesota. The 7-foot Olowokandi, a former No. 1 overall pick by the Clippers, was averaging 6.0 points in another disappointing season.

In another move, Minnesota traded 7-footer Nikoloz Tskitishvili, 22, to Phoenix for a 2006 second-round draft pick, reuniting Tskitishvili with Mike D’Antoni, his coach with Benetton Treviso of the Italian league in 2001-02. Tskitishvili was the fifth pick in the 2002 draft.

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Forward Jermaine O’Neal is expected to sit out at least eight weeks because of a left groin tear, depriving the Indiana Pacers of their leading scorer and rebounder.

O’Neal was hurt during Tuesday’s loss at Cleveland. The Pacers described the injury as “significant,” but said it was doubtful he would need surgery.

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The Toronto Raptors fired general manager Rob Babcock, 53, after 1 1/2 years, saying they should have hired someone more experienced. Wayne Embry, a senior advisor, will replace Babcock in the interim with the 14-29 Raptors.

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Center Greg Ostertag was suspended indefinitely by the Utah Jazz for his conduct after Wednesday’s loss to Seattle. Though the team refused to specify his actions, it did say that he missed practice the next day.... Former forward Luther Green, who played for the New York Nets and the Philadelphia 76ers, died of lung cancer in New York. He was 59.