In the wake of Friday’s Vince Carter trade, the dominoes have officially begun falling. Toronto’s deal with New Jersey marked the beginning of the NBA trading season, and sets up several follow-up deals that may transpire in the next several days.

The most important piece on the chessboard right now is Alonzo Mourning. Included in the Carter deal, Mourning has no intention of playing for the Raptors and wants to be bought out of his contract or traded to a contender. First, however, he needs to get healthy enough to play basketball again.

Because of Mourning’s kidney transplant, he can’t take anti-inflammatories and various other remedies (legal ones, mind you) that players use to keep up their strength during an 82-game season. Partly as a result, his body began breaking down after a quarter of the season, and he may require a long stint on the injured list before he’s healthy enough to suit up.

The most intriguing suitor for Mourning’s services would be Miami. The Heat need another frontcourt body (ex-Knick Michael Doleac isn’t cutting the mustard),and Mourning had his best seasons down there. A revival could be in the cards if Mourning and the Raptors can agree on a buyout that leaves ‘Zo free to sign with the Heat.

The other possibility is a trade. The Raptors are already blowing everything up, so why stop now? One idea is to deal some combination of Mourning, Donyell Marshall, and Jalen Rose to the Heat in return for the unproductive Eddie Jones and perhaps some other considerations, such as promising teenager Dorell Wright. The attraction for Mourning is obvious – with no buyout, he’ll make much more money. This arrangement would also allow the Raptors to buy some cap flexibility by unloading Rose’s contract, while fetching a talented youngster to pair with rising star Chris Bosh.

Marshall is only one of several power forwards in Toronto who could have a new home soon. With Bosh entrenched at the position, the Raptors have little need to keep Marshall, Eric Williams, and Aaron Williams. The two Williamses from the Nets can’t be traded for another 45 days unless it’s a one-for-one deal, but that still leaves a gap before the February 24 deadline. They pair could be included in a package to a contender.

Toronto’s most obvious need is for a real center with some meat on his bones. Raptors GM Rob Babcock thought he had his center of the future when he nabbed BYU’s Rafael Araujo in the lottery, but so far this season he’s been the biggest bust this side of Pamela Anderson. This has left the Raptors massively undersized up front. Their current starting frontcourt of Bosh and center Loren Woods weighs less than the Olsen twins.

Finding a center on the market isn’t an easy task, but the Raptors will certainly inquire about the availability of young but disappointing players like the Sixers’ Samuel Dalembert, the Bulls’ Tyson Chandler, and the Wizards’ Kwame Brown. Taking a risk on one of these players is Toronto’s only chance to find a solution without taking a financial bath.

Of course, the Raptors aren’t the only team facing a new set of possibilities. The Nets will be working the phones in earnest to try to land a power forward now that the Carter trade has cleaned out their stable. In fact, they might consider a second trade with the Raptors where the Nets get Marshall, whose contract expires this summer, and offer Zoran Planinic and/or another draft pick. Similar deals could be had involving Dalembert, Golden State’s Clifford Robinson, or Portland’s Shareef Abdur-Rahim (although the latter possibility would require a third team to get involved and probably multiple draft picks from the Nets).

And then there are the Knicks, who were shut out in their efforts to get Carter. I’m not sure this is a big setback for Isiah Thomas: As much as he talked about trading for Carter, it was obvious from his proposals that the Knicks weren’t willing to break the bank the way they did for Stephon Marbury. Thomas only offered Tim Thomas and Anfernee Hardaway, who have alternated between awful and terrible this year, so it’s no surprise the Raptors passed.

Now Thomas can turn his attention to other prey. Dalembert, a Seton Hall product, should be near the top of that list. Sixers coach Jim O’Brien hasn’t been terribly pleased with the Haitian string bean, who had a breakout year last season but has slumped so far in 2004-05. But Dalembert would prove a very important shot-blocking asset for the Knicks.

New York blocks just 5.2% of opponents’ field-goal attempts, a figure that ranks 23rd in the NBA. Dalembert would improve that figure significantly – he averaged nearly four blocks per 40 minutes a year ago and well over three this year. He’d also help the Knicks on the glass – his average of 12.6 rebounds per 40 minutes is better than anyone’s on New York’s roster.

The tricky question isn’t what Isiah would have to give up, but what he has to take back. Because Dalembert is still on his rookie contact, Philadelphia would likely stick the Knicks with at least one bad contract, such as that of Kenny Thomas or Corliss Williamson, in return for Kurt Thomas (by rule, every Knicks trade rumor must involve Thomas). The Sixers might also want some kind of future consideration, either in the form of a draft pick or promising rookie Trevor Ariza. Isiah might be inclined to pull the trigger if it was the former, taking the chance that Dalembert can provide the defensive spark plug the team so far has been missing.

Overall, it should be an exciting two months for local basketball fans. Both Isiah and Nets GM Rod Thorn have shown themselves to be adept traders (with the help of James Dolan’s deep pockets in Thomas’s case), so each figures to be an active participant in what should be a lively swap market. Let’s hope this NBA version of eBay ends with the local teams unloading some junk for priceless treasures.