Total Pro Sports -Today Yahoo Sports is reporting that we may be very close to a trade that will see the Miami Heat send Shawn Marion to the Toronto Raptors for Jermain O'Neal.

With the emergence of the Raptors forward Andrea Bargnani, Jermaine O'Neal is finding himself deeper on the Toronto Raptors bench.  It also does not help that O'Neal has been sidelined with a knee injury for the past 9 straight games.

Miami's GM Pat Riley is in need of a center and has shown alot of interest in the injured O'Neal, but before Riley makes any deal he wants to see what the status is with O'neal's knee.

“If he’s healthy, it could very well happen.” one source close to O’Neal said Friday,

On the Toronto Raptors side, Bryan Colangelo would be more then happy to have Shawn Marion back on his team after drafting him out of UNLV when he was the GM of the Phoenix Suns.  Shawn Marion would fit the need of the Raptors small forward  position and provide alot of intensity to the sluggish team.  A high flying Marion combined with Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani can be a lethal triple combination that would be tough to defend every night.

Colangelo has been willing to move everyone on his roster but Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani. In fact, the emergence of Bargnani, the 2006 No. 1 overall pick, has made an even stronger case for moving O’Neal. Since returning to the struggling Raptors lineup on Friday, O’Neal had missed nine straight games with a sore right knee, he is averaging 14 points and 7.2 rebounds a game.

The trade deadline is approaching and you can be sure Bryan Colangelo and the Toronto Raptors will be very active.  We will just have to see if the rigth deal comes about and Colangelo is ready to pull the trigger.

Check Out These Stories From Around The Web