Caron Butler, courtesy NBA.com

Josh Howard, courtesy NBA.com

The Washington Post’s MIchael Lee reports that the trade we mentioned in today’s Saturday Morning Post has now been agreed to by both sides. Washington has traded Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Josh Howard, Drew Gooden, James Singleton and Quinton Ross.

Trading Butler and Haywood is a huge slam of the reset button for a team struggling to find its footing amidst so much turmoil. The trade mostly eviscerates whatever was left of the nucleus that the Wizards featured for the past few seasons. As Dan Steinberg points out, this trade includes three regular starters from a Wizards team, that as recently as 2008, was in the playoffs. Lone remaining star Antawn Jamison, whose own ticket out the door is probably not far off, is really the last link that Washington has to those days. With everything that’s happened in the last couple of years, though, 2008 couldn’t feel further away.

It bears repeating: this, like so many other trades in the National Basketball Association, is more about finances than it is about anything basketball-related, at least for the Wizards. The move is a total salary dump — Washington will slash nearly $15 million off their salary figure next season by dumping Butler and Haywood. The Wizards will also trim their luxury tax bill, as they are trading for less salary than they are giving up. Ross would be the only player the Wizards would receive in the deal that is signed to a contract past this year. ESPN’s NBA Trade Machine has the exact numbers, should you be interested.