NEW YORK -- Did you hear the one about the three ex-Knicks who went out to dinner Wednesday night after the New York-Chicago game?

Funny thing was, two of them -- Nate Robinson and Jared Jeffries -- were not quite ex-Knicks just yet.

The third member of that dinner trio was Malik Rose, who was a member of the New York Knicks exactly one year ago before he was shipped to Oklahoma City a few hours before the 3 p.m. trade deadline.

Robinson, Jeffries, Larry Hughes and Jordan Hill were expected to join the legions of ex-Knicks on Thursday, as was Brian Cardinal, who only became a Knick on Wednesday when he was acquired for Darko Milicic but was expected to be waived in the morning to clear a roster space for New York's next trade.

As of Wednesday night, Knicks president Donnie Walsh had at least two deals in the pipeline -- a complicated one sending Robinson to Boston, and a much bigger pending one in which Hughes, Jeffries and Hill were expected to be packaged with one or two draft picks in a deal with Houston for Tracy McGrady.

But early Thursday morning, ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported that McGrady will be included in a deal in which Sacramento will send Kevin Martin to Houston, with the possibility remaining that McGrady ultimately would end up going to the Knicks before the deadline at 3 p.m. ET.

One complication arose during the Bulls game when Jeffries played only six minutes before exiting with a hyperextended right knee, but coach Mike D'Antoni said the injury was merely an aggravation of an old ailment, and that Jeffries should be able to play Saturday.

The endgame for New York is not acquiring McGrady, but clearing enough salary-cap space to make a push for a second max-level free agent once they extend their max offer to LeBron James on July 1; freeing themselves of Jeffries $6.9 million salary for next season would enhance their options significantly -- including giving them a chance to retain David Lee should they fail to obtain Chris Bosh in a sign-and-trade with Lee as the primary outgoing piece.

The Bulls also want to be major players in this summer's free-agent market, and they took a huge step toward getting there by agreeing to send John Salmons to the Milwaukee Bucks for the expiring contracts of Kurt Thomas and Francisco Elson (although a source cautioned that the trade could be "expanded," Salmons would still end up on Milwaukee's roster as the new starting two-guard.)

"We're seeking the flexibility and long-term ability to get pieces to add to the core of young players we're developing, and guys understand that," Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said after his team rallied from a 15-point deficit to defeat the Knicks 115-109.

The Salmons trade removes $5.8 million from the Bulls' 2010-11 cap obligations, putting them in the same league with the Knicks, Heat and Nets as teams with the most money to spend on free agents this summer. But the Washington Wizards and Los Angeles Clippers have joined that field too, with the recent trades of Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison (by Washington) and Marcus Camby and Al Thornton (by Los Angeles). The line of limousines at the foot of James' driveway in Akron, Ohio, could be fleet-sized by the time 11:59 p.m. rolls around on the night of June 30.

So on a night when soon-to-be ex-Knicks and actual ex-Knicks (including Charles Oakley, Rod Strickland, Charles Smith, Allan Houston and Pete Myers) were all over the building, it really wasn't all that surprising to hear this doozy whispered in my ear: Al Harrington was being shopped, too, and there was a chance he'd end Thursday as a member of the Bulls -- a team the Knicks tried and failed to defeat for the second consecutive night.

"I feel optimistic about some of it, not all of it," Walsh said. "I've done this too long, and it can be over in a minute. In any of the trades I'm in, that's the way I feel about it."

In a matter of hours, he'll know for sure.

Chris Sheridan covers the NBA for ESPN Insider.