SEATTLE -- The Milwaukee Bucks were looking toward the playoffs. The Seattle SuperSonics were looking well beyond that.

In the only big trade conducted before Thursday's deadline, Seattle sent nine-time All-Star Gary Payton and promising swingman Desmond Mason to Milwaukee in exchange for Ray Allen and two other players.

As coincidence would have it, the Bucks and Sonics played Friday night in Seattle, but none of the players involved were in uniform. Under league rules, players have 48 hours to report to their new teams.

The Sonics had eight players suited up for the game and won 88-58.

It wasn't too soon to start talking about what the deal meant for the teams, who are headed in very different directions.

Milwaukee (27-27) finished the day in the No. 7 playoff position in the Eastern Conference, and coach George Karl is hoping his reunion with Payton will help the Bucks advance deep into the postseason in the wide-open East.

"We're very happy with what we got,'' said Karl, who coached Payton and the Sonics to the 1996 NBA Finals against Chicago.

Karl should be happy. At 34, Payton is seven years older than Allen but is averaging 20.8 points and a league-high 8.8 assists. And although he's in his 13th season, Payton still is one of the league's better defenders.

The Bucks also get the 6-foot-5 Mason, Seattle's top reserve who's averaging 14.1 points and seven rebounds in just his third NBA season. Karl, in his fifth season with the Bucks and searching for the right formula to turn them back into winners, said he needed some defenders like Payton and Mason for his own mental health.

"I think it's more philosophically that maybe I'm fatigued by not playing defense for about four years,'' said Karl, whose Bucks missed the playoffs last season after reaching the conference finals in 2001.

Seattle, meanwhile, traded away probably the best player in franchise history, and the organization now must convince fans that it has a plan for rebuilding. The Sonics (23-30) stand 11th in the Western Conference, 4 1/2 games behind Houston for the final playoff spot.

"I'm not punting on the season, because we're still fighting for the eighth spot, but realistically, we'll probably have a lottery selection this year,'' general manager Rick Sund said Friday. "Make no mistake: We're rebuilding.''

In Allen, the Sonics get a three-time All-Star and one of the game's best shooters. Seattle also gets guard Kevin Ollie, rookie guard Ronald Murray and a conditional 2003 first-round draft pick.

By trading Payton and sending backup point guard Kenny Anderson to New Orleans for center Elden Campbell, the Sonics are hoping they can finish the season with Ollie, a 30-year-old career backup, as their starting point guard.

Seattle coach Nate McMillan knows the rest of the season could be arduous.

"You're sad to see two of your best players go -- two good guys who were very important to the structure of this organization and the future of this organization,'' he said.

Sund is hoping to build the Sonics around Allen and starting small forward Rashard Lewis, whom Seattle signed to a seven-year contract in September. That contract is worth $60 million in guaranteed salary and another $15 million in performance bonuses.

Speaking of salaries, Payton is making $13 million this season, after which he could leave as a free agent. That made the deal a gamble for the Bucks, but Karl said it was worth it.

"I think we're definitely a better team on paper,'' he said. "I think by the end of mid-April we can be a very serious basketball team.''

Karl thinks the Bucks can re-sign Payton, but he's not going to worry about that now.

"I told Gary, 'Let's not think about the summer. Let's not think about the future. Let's think about three months of basketball,''' Karl said.

Allen made his first public comments about the trade when he talked to reporters after landing at the airport in Milwaukee Friday night.

"I feel real weird,'' he said. "I went on a road trip to play basketball and I ended up finding a new city.

"I still do have all my stuff here in Milwaukee, and of course all my friends are here. It's just gonna take a while to get used to.''

Mason attended Friday night's game and sat on the Bucks' bench in his street clothes, but Payton stayed away from the Key Arena after attending the team's shootaround earlier in the day.

At a news conference, Mason, one of Seattle's most popular players, said Thursday's trade "was kind of shocking.''

"At first my mind was racing 100 miles per hour,'' he said. "It was hard to deal with. It was a little disturbing. I'm going to miss Seattle, but I'm going to a team that wants me.''

In conversations with Sund, team owner Howard Schultz and team president Wally Walker, Mason said he was led to believe he was going to be a big part of the Sonics' future.