Asked recently if any team in the league was close to making a trade, with barely a quarter of the season gone, one prominent general manager took pause to mentally survey the landscape.

"Well," the GM said, "Kenny Thomas is out there for the taking."

Amazingly that was enough.

Even the Houston Rockets would have to admit some surprise that Thomas could be a catalyst for the first in-season trade of 2002-03. Thomas makes just $1.6 million in the final year of his contract, meaning that he wasn't likely to fetch a big name in return in the matching-salaries game. It usually takes bigger numbers than that to ignite things.

Of greater concern, power forward has been Houston's problem position this season, and Thomas -- recovering from a broken thumb and some ankle trouble -- was part of that struggling three-man rotation. The statistical drop from last season (14.1 points to 9.9, and 7.2 rebounds to 6.8) is somewhat expected with Yao Ming's emergence, but Thomas had been missing open shots. Coach Rudy Tomjanovich shook up the lineup repeatedly trying to jump-start at least one of his three four-men, which seemingly couldn't have done much for Thomas' trade value.

Seemingly.

Turns out, Philadelphia likes Thomas regardless, needing an extra power forward with Derrick Coleman always a health risk. Thomas gives Larry Brown another option there besides Brian Skinner.

The Rockets, as part of Wednesday's three-team deal, claim James Posey -- who was nearly traded by the Nuggets to the Wizards around the draft. Posey offers athleticism and defense at small forward and gets the nod here as a better bargain than Thomas at basically the same price. Posey, earning $1.7 million this season, is also a free agent-to-be. The onus now falls on Eddie Griffin and/or Maurice Taylor to start playing better.

The Nuggets, meanwhile, add Philadelphia's first-round pick from 2005 and a future second-rounder from Houston to their down-the-road war chest. General manager Kiki Vandeweghe, besides systematically clearing out every remnant of the Dan Issel era, is collecting assets for this summer's team makeover.

Vandeweghe will have more than $20 million in salary-cap space for signings and trades. Thanks to Thomas, he has at least one more attractive piece (yes, the first-round pick) to play with.

Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here.