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DALLAS -- The immediate return on any NBA trade is always summed up for me in the best player involved.

In the seven-player deal consummated by the Mavericks and Wizards here on All-Star Saturday night that players is Caron Butler.

Snagging Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson from the Wizards in exchange for Josh Howard, Drew Gooden, James Singleton and Quentin Ross is as lopsided as it looks on paper.

(And if we're all lucky, this move is the first of a flurry of deals that get done before Thursday's trade deadline.)

The Mavericks made out like bandits, getting two players in Butler and Haywood, that could help jump-start a team that's played uneven basketball (10-11 in their last 21 games) and looking to make a move in the rugged Western Conference.

To appreicate exactly what the Mavericks are getting in Butler you'd be wise to listen to Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant.

"You're going to love him," Bryant told the Dallas Morning News about his former Lakers teammate. "I hate to say that, but you guys are going to absolutely love him. You put him on a contender and I'm telling you, you're going to love him. And he's tough as nails, too."

Not everyone is as convinced that this trade pushes the Mavericks into that elite company in the Western Conference playoff picture.

I asked Nuggets All-Star Chauncey Billups, himself a piece in a major trade last season, if 30 games is enough for everyone to adjust to the new set up?

"It just takes time for guys to mesh on different teams and for guys to mesh their personalities," Billups said. "You just don't ever know if personalities mesh up or if skill sets match up. And anytime you've already got a good team and you bring in a great player, that player is still going to want to be great. These things work out sometimes ... and sometimes they don't."

The last two blockbuster deals of this nature worked to perfection for both parties. Two years ago the Lakers stole Pau Gasol from Hang Time's Grizzlies and made back-to-back trips to the NBA Finals.

Last year the Nuggets shipped Allen Iverson to Detroit for Billups, a Denver native, and watched as the hometown hero led them to the Western Conference finals, where they fell to Bryant's Lakers on their way to the title.

"I think Dallas has been making great moves since the summer," Billups said. "One thing you have to know is that [Mavericks owner] Mark Cuban is trying to get it done. You never have to wonder about that."

Snatching Butler and Haywood for what essentially amounts to spare parts is bold step in the right direction.