The Nets’ acquisition of Clifford Robinson on Tuesday officially kicked off the NBA trading season. With the trade deadline eight days away, teams that have dithered over potential deals for several months will be forced to finally make up their minds.

Yet Robinson’s address change could be one of the few deals this week. While there’s an abundance of players who can be had if the price is right, that “if” is proving to be a sticking point. Most are declining players with millstone contracts – among them Glenn Robinson, Dale Davis, Keith Van Horn, Antoine Walker, Maurice Taylor, Derek Anderson, and half the Knicks – and few teams are interested in taking on such deals.

Moreover, uncertainty about the next collective bargaining agreement clouds the picture. Teams are less willing to trade an expiring contract for a longer one, because they think they can acquire talent more cheaply under the terms of the next CBA. That premise puts a lot of faith in David Stern’s bargaining skills, but they haven’t been let down yet.

So we won’t see as many deals as we did a year ago, but several players still should end up relocating between now and the deadline. With that in mind, let’s take a look at a few of the prominent candidates:

P.J. BROWN The Hornets’ reliable power forward is a slightly better version of Robinson, playing smart, suffocating defense and hitting the open shot. He’s 35 and still has trade value so it’s foolish for the rebuilding Hornets to hang on to him. The snag is his four-year, $34 million contract, which doesn’t run out until 2007. A team would have to cough up some ending contracts or draft picks for his services. That might prove tempting for Dallas or Sacramento, both of whom are one player away from being serious contenders.

GARY PAYTON Boston’s brass is torn about what to do with Payton. On the one hand, he doesn’t want to be there, and will certainly leave as a free agent after the season. On the other, the Celtics are sitting atop the Atlantic Division, and if Payton goes, they’ll have to make do down the stretch with erratic Marcus Banks and untested Delonte West at the point. Chances are Payton stays unless another team coughs up a no. 1 pick for him.

MICHAEL REDD Milwaukee’s ace shooter is a free agent after the season, and the Ohio native has all but packed his bags for Cleveland. That leaves the Bucks facing the dilemma of whether to get something for him now or nothing later. The former seems likely: There’s a huge advantage for the Cavs to acquire Redd immediately, because then they’d own his Larry Bird exception and be able to re-sign both he and Zydrunas Ilgauskas this summer. Look for the Bucks to demand some promising youngsters such as Anderson Varejao and/or Sasha Pavlovic.

SHAREEF ABDUR-RAHIM The Blazers’ versatile forward is on the injured list with an elbow injury, but everybody knows how good he is. He’s on the last year of his contract, which makes him desirable to those who fear commitment. The problem is that his contract is worth $13 million a year. Minnesota is the most likely destination, but only if the Blazers can swallow longer contracts and add to their payroll.

LATRELL SPREWELL AND WALLY SZCZERBIAK Timberwolves coach/president Kevin McHale is pushing Sprewell like a used car salesmen hawking an El Camino with 130,000 miles on it. But McHale can’t roll back the odometer. Spree’s age has caught up with him, and he can no longer play the hard-charging, aggressive game that defined his tenure with the Knicks.

If McHale is going to make a move to get the T-wolves back on track, it may have to involve Szczerbiak. His contract is a bitter pill to swallow, with four years and nearly $50 million left on it after this season. However, he’s young enough that he should earn most of it, and he could provide a boost for a team in need of shooting. The Knicks obviously fit that bill, but it’s a tough deal to broker unless McHale decides he’d rather have Tim Thomas. Suffice it to say McHale would be locked away in a mental institution long before that happened.

DONYELL MARSHALL AND ERIC WILLIAMS Pretty much everyone on Toronto’s roster has demanded a trade, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see any of the Raptors flying South next week. Marshall is the most desirable commodity because of three things: 1) he has an ending contract, 2) it’s for reasonable dollars, and 3) he can still play.

Williams’s contract isn’t about to expire, but the dollars are low enough that it hardly matters. He’s not playing for the Raptors, he wants out, and with Toronto rebuilding, he doesn’t fit in the team’s plans anyway. Here’s an interesting thought: What if the Nets bring Williams back to New Jersey in return for, say, a second-round pick and Zoran Planinic?

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Speaking of the Nets, their push to sneak into the playoffs should get a boost from Robinson. For starters, Robinson’s defense is superb, especially against quicker power forwards. That role has been vacant since Kenyon Martin left New Jersey. Second, it’s addition by subtraction – no longer will we see the Nets turning to Jabari Smith in crunch time when frontcourt starters Jason Collins and Nenad Krstic get into foul trouble.

Robinson is far from perfect, however. Although the 38-year-old has proven to be amazingly durable, his game has slipped from his prime a decade ago in Portland. Offensively, he’s been reduced to flinging line-drive jumpers that occasionally find the net. On the boards he’s the only big man in captivity worse than Collins – he averages a measly 4.1 rebounds per 40 minutes. That’s Jacque Vaughn territory, folks.

Considering that weakness, the Nets should start Robinson with Krstic and bring Collins off the bench. Krstic is the best rebounder of the Nets’ frontcourt players – hey, somebody has to be – so pairing him with the glass-averse Robinson is the best way to control the damage. Additionally, Cliffy likes to hang out on the perimeter, which should give Krstic more room to work on the blocks.

Overall, Nets fans have to be pleased to see the team forking out the dough to make a playoff push, though it begs the question of why they had such a fire sale in the off-season. New Jersey’s odds of making the postseason remain long, but with Vince Carter playing out of his mind and Robinson shoring up the frontcourt, it’s no longer the pipe dream it seemed two months ago.