John Gabriel has set the bar high. Very high. Maybe too high. It may be that very reason why so many teams are disinclined or, dare we say it? -- afraid -- to pull the trigger before the trade deadline expires.

	Journeyman guard Anthony Johnson, here covering Sherman Douglas, is a footnote in history.

Gabriel, the Orlando Magic's general manager, was the man who stepped up to the plate last winter at this time and did the unthinkable -- HE ACTUALLY MADE A TRADE! Yes, he did the very thing that 28 of his colleagues wished that they had the courage, wisdom and foresight to do. He got himself a player.

How was he to know that acquiring a backup point guard (Anthony Johnson) for a conditional second-rounder was to usher in a round of paralysis around the league? We keep hearing that "talks are intensifying" about the possible relocation of Dikembe Mutombo [It finally happened on Thursday] or the inevitable exodus from Seattle of Gary Payton. But that's all talk. Gabriel proved, once again, that he was a man of action.

"He set the tone for the millennium," Golden State GM Garry St. Jean said admiringly. "It's a tough act to follow. How do you top what he did?"

Gabriel said he barely has any recollection of the deal, the only one consummated in the days leading up to the trading deadline last season. He remembers needing a backup point guard for the overworked Darrell Armstrong, something, incidentally, he still needs. He asked public relations chief Joel Glass to check the e-mails from teams around the league and found that all was quiet from coast to coast.

"I guess we needed a trade fix," Gabriel said, recalling the tension in the Magic war room leading up to the deal. "We had just gone through a period where we had made 57 transactions over the course of 18 months. We decided that if we made a deal, we'd be the lead story the next day. And we'd have our backup point guard."

Johnson remains a footnote in Orlando history; he didn't do much in his brief stay in Hooterville. He played in 18 games, starting four. The Magic just missed out on the playoffs. But wait. Johnson did do more than average 3.4 points and -- gasp -- less than one assist. He was a free agent and, because of that convenience, he was renounced to clear room so the Magic could sign Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady.

	“	There's going to be a lot of talk this year as well. But in the end, you're probably not going to have anything more notable than Anthony Johnson. He was a great kid, very pleasant. He just wasn't much of a difference-maker. ”
		— Magic exec Pat Williams

"He did his part so that that could happen," Gabriel said.

And the price? A second-round pick anytime between 2001 and 2004. The condition: it has to be the Magic's second-rounder. For instance, Orlando has the Wizards' second round pick this June, one that could be a pretty decent choice, given Washington's spectacularly underwhelming play. But Gabriel made sure that it would be the Magic's pick, mainly because he suspected Orlando's second-round pick over the next few years would not be a very good one.

And you wonder why this guy was the Executive of the Year.

And what ever became of Johnson? If you know, you probably need a life. The Hawks, perhaps realizing that Gabriel had pulled a fast one over on them, signed him as a free agent last August for a second tour of duty. He appeared in 25 games, averaging 11.2 minutes a game. But he became expendable once again, and Atlanta shipped him to Cleveland, which already has a backup point guard, in the Jim Jackson/Brevin Knight deal on Jan. 2.

In 13 games for Cleveland, he averaged 10.1 minutes, 2.7 points and 1.4 assists per game. He went on the injured list on Feb. 15 with patellar tendinitis, paving the way for the return of Wesley Person.

And, of course, no sooner did Johnson go on the injured list than the Cavaliers snapped a 10-game losing streak. This, clearly, is a player who knows his role, which, again, points to the genius of Gabriel and the entire Orlando organization.

The team's senior executive vice president, Pat Williams, was once the trigger man/general manager for the Philadelphia 76ers. He remembered doing a deal for another Johnson, Clemon, which, in part, enabled the 76ers to win the 1983 championship. They needed a backup center and, at the trading deadline, the Sixers parted with Russ Schoene, a No. 1 pick and acquired the free-agent-to-be Johnson from the cash-strapped Indiana Pacers.

"That was the only trading-deadline deal I can remember of any consequence," Williams said. "I'll tell you this: if you took all the money from all the phone bills you could find a cure for cancer. But you couldn't find too many that led to an NBA championship or even a significant run."

OK, so the Magic didn't use the Anthony Johnson acquisition to take them to another level. He turned out to be one of many who went through the crowded Orlando turnstile last season, joining the likes of Ron Mercer, Chauncey Billups, Ben Wallace, Chucky Atkins, Chris Gatling and Tariq Abdul-Wahad, to name but a few.

But he and Gabriel were there when history called and how many of us can say that? We should probably pass along credit to Atlanta as well, for the Hawks gave up the individual in question. But they took back a draft pick. Orlando took back a real person.

Maybe Mutombo will get moved. Maybe Payton will find a home in the East. Maybe Mike Bibby will get to leave Vancouver before Vancouver leaves Vancouver. We heard a lot of talk like this last February, too. But the trading deadline is fast becoming Just Another Reason To Spend the Owners Money, except, of course, for the courageous few like Gabriel who put their reputation on the line.

"There's going to be a lot of talk this year as well," Williams said. "But in the end, you're probably not going to have anything more notable than Anthony Johnson. He was a great kid, very pleasant. He just wasn't much of a difference-maker."

But he was a difference maker. He was the difference in having no trades versus having one trade last Feb. 14. And, as Abdul-Wahad might say, vive la difference!

Peter May, who covers the NBA for the Boston Globe, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.