ATLANTA - Rasheed Wallace probably got his most severe punishment yet from the Portland Trail Blazers: a trade to the lowly Atlanta Hawks.

The Blazers sent the volatile forward and reserve Wesley Person to the Hawks late Monday night for Shareef Abdur-Rahim and two other players. In Wallace, Atlanta gets an often-troubled player who’s averaging 17 points and 6.6 rebounds a game.

“What you do in this situation is very clear, you start with a clean slate,” Hawks general manager Billy Knight said. “You judge people on the way they are with you. I’m not going to go on what someone else said.”

Wallace drew the ire of NBA commissioner David Stern this season when he told The Oregonian newspaper that the league’s white establishment is exploiting young black athletes to enrich itself. Wallace later issued an apology.

Last season, Wallace was suspended by the league for seven games for threatening an official on the loading dock at the Rose Garden Arena after a game. It was the longest suspension ever handed down that did not involve physical contact or substance abuse.

In the 2000-01 season, he set the NBA record with 41 technical fouls. He is set to earn $17 million in the final year of his contract, and he already had indicated that he did not want to re-sign with Portland.

“As far as the slate goes, there’s nothing to wipe away,” Atlanta coach Terry Stotts said. “We’re getting a very talented player who wants to win. I like what it is.”

The announcement of the trade came about 90 minutes after the Hawks beat the Dallas Mavericks 102-96. Abdur-Rahim had 27 points and 10 rebounds in the victory, and is averaging 20.7 points and 8.4 rebounds this season.

“This trade helps the franchise in many ways,” Trail Blazers president Steve Patterson said. “We get a younger core of players and can remain competitive in both the Western Conference the league.

“Another factor in the deal is that we are also acquiring three players of good character.”

Abdur-Rahim goes to the Trail Blazers along with center Theo Ratliff and little-used point guard Dan Dickau, a first-round pick of the Sacramento Kings in 2002, who was traded to the Hawks on draft day. Ratliff is averaging 8.3 points and 7.2 rebounds, and Dickau is averaging 2.1 points.

Abdur-Rahim is owed $28.1 million and Ratliff gets $21 million over the next two seasons.

“I can’t explain enough how tough a trade it was for me personally, because of Shareef,” Knight said. “He’s a class guy and the consummate professional.

“It’s just unfortunate that he’s got the highest salary on this team and he’s the best player on the team. In order to do anything, he’s the first guy everybody talked about.”

The contracts for Wallace and Person end after this season, clearing up salary cap room for the Hawks. They are right at the luxury tax threshold. Person makes $7.7 million.

“We are not winning enough games this year,” Knight said. “What this does is accelerate the process of rebuilding. This was a deal that gets us financially healthy and makes us a player in the free-agent market.”

Person, a guard, averages 6.1 points and 1.9 rebounds. The Blazers acquired him and a conditional 2004 draft pick from the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for guard Bonzi Wells earlier this season.

Patterson called Monday a “watershed day for the Trail Blazers, because for the last eight years, this team has been associated basically with Rasheed and Bonzi as the face of the franchise, and it indicates we are moving into a new era.”

The Blazers have won seven of their last eight games and are tied for ninth in the Western Conference with Utah, four games behind Denver for the eighth and final playoff spot.