After being caught up in the Los Angeles Clippers’ log-jam of power forwards for most of his four-year career, former Whiteville High basketball star Chris Wilcox was traded Tuesday to the Seattle SuperSonics in a direct swap for Vlademir Radmanovic.

Wilcox, who sat out part of last season with a lower leg injury, was averaging just 13.7 minutes per game with the Clippers this season while Elton Brand and Chris Kaman were manning starting post positions. The Clipper squad is making one of its strongest bids ever this season for the Pacific Division championship as it trails first place Phoenix by 2-1/2 games.

At Seattle, the 23-year-old Wilcox will join a 20-32 team, but he is projected to play his natural power forward position, splitting time with current starter Nick Collison.

The 6-foot-10 Wilcox was the Clippers’ first-round draft pick in 2002 after he helped lead the University of Maryland to the NCAA championship as a sophomore.

Wilcox has shown several flashes of brilliance during his NBA career, but this season has indicated that he is not a major factor in the current Clipper scheme.

Seattle general manager Rick Sund said that he felt Wilcox will be a strong addition to the Sonics.

“He’s just 23, he’s very young,” Sund stated in a team press release on Tuesday. “In some ways that’s good. In some ways, maybe we could use a little more experienced player. He’s a lively kid, he’s a runner.

“We play an up-tempo game; we’re second in the league in scoring,” Sund added, “We’re last in the league in defense; hopefully he can help us defensively. He’s a very good defensive rebounder. He’s a finisher. He’s kind of a catch-and-dunk type player.”

During his stint with the Clippers, Wilcox played in 213 games, getting starts in 46. He scored 1,374 points (6.5 per game) and averaged 3.8 rebounds per game. His top single-game point total was 27 scored against Portland on Jan. 5, 2004 and his top single-game rebound total was 14 against Orlando on Jan. 10 of this year.

Wilcox was a two-year starter for Coach Glenn McKoy’s Whiteville High basketball team. As a junior, he paced the Wolfpack to the state 2A championship and a 27-3 record. He played his senior season at Raleigh’s Enloe High before signing with Maryland.

ALL OF US HERE at The News Reporter lost a personal friend and a treasured co-worker with the unexpected death of Duval Norris last Friday.

Duval was one of several people who made things a lot easier for me when I first started to work here way back in November of 1974. He loved getting to know people and he particularly enjoyed being of assistance to them in any way he could. As soon as he found out I liked to write about sports, Duval and his wife Mary started looking out after me in a big way.

Duval not only spent 51 years as a valued employee of The News Reporter, but he also spent that much time as a true friend to youth in Whiteville, his Brunswick community and all of Columbus County.

Youth athletics, especially baseball, is where he really found his niche with youngsters. As a coach, umpire, league official, etc., he always strived for what was best for the kids.
Another thing we’ll always remember about Duval is the love and pride he had for his family.

When his older son Greg was pitching at the University of North Carolina and gaining such honors as First Team All-America, 1978 Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Player of the Year and 1979 Patterson Medal winner, Duval would step over to my office and talk about his son’s accomplishments in a rather nonchalant way. Of course, I knew all the while just how much pride was gushing and overflowing inside him. It was much the same way with his younger son Mark’s academic accomplishments at UNC. More recently, it had become the same with his grandchildren.