\In a blockbuster five-player deal Thursday at the NBA trading deadline, Ray Allen was sent from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Seattle SuperSonics for Gary Payton and Desmond Mason.

The Sonics also received guards Kevin Ollie and Ronald Murray and a conditional first-round draft pick.

The trade ended Payton’s career in Seattle after 121/2 seasons and reunited him with coach George Karl.

Milwaukee plays at Seattle tonight, but Sonics general manager Rick Sund said that neither Payton nor the four others in the trade would play.

Payton’s contract expires after this season, and the Sonics risked losing the nine-time All-Star guard over the summer on the free agent market with nothing in return.

Instead, they acquired one of the purest shooters in the game.

Allen, a six-year veteran and three-time All-Star, has spent his entire career with the Bucks. A gold medalist for the United States at the Sydney Olympics, he also will be a member of the 2004 Olympic men’s basketball team.

“We hate trading a player of Ray’s caliber and character. He’s done a lot for the city of Milwaukee, but everybody gets traded at some point in this league,” Bucks general manager Ernie Grunfeld said. “We got two outstanding players for him.”

The trade creates a logjam at point guard for the Bucks while causing the opposite problem for the SuperSonics.

Seattle also made a trade with the New Orleans Hornets, exchanging point guard Kenny Anderson for center Elden Campbell.

In the day’s only other deal, Boston sent guard Shammond Williams, a second-round draft pick and cash to Denver for center Mark Blount and forward Mark Bryant.

“Quite frankly, I’m surprised any deals were made,” Atlanta Hawks general manager Pete Babcock said.

The Hawks were expected to be one of the most active teams before the deadline, but it passed without any of their best players — Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Jason Terry, Theo Ratliff and Glenn Robinson — being traded.

“The tax had added another layer of issues you have to work through,” Babcock said. “You rarely see a trade just talent-for-talent.”

Many owners told their basketball executives they would not take on added payroll commitments, especially if it would put them over the expected luxury tax threshold of $52-53 million. Teams with payrolls higher than that amount will have to pay a dollar-for-dollar tax on the overage.

Concerns about long-term financial implications apparently scuttled a deal that would have sent Derrick Coleman from Philadelphia to Golden State for Adonal Foyle and Bob Sura, an Eastern Conference official told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.