A Review Of Superstar Trades In NBA History

[KramerDSP]

I did a brief review of a number of huge superstar trades in the NBA, broken up into three sections. The first focuses on aging superstars traded past their prime. The second focuses on talented headcases whose teams gave up on them. The third focuses on superstars traded in their prime or just after their prime.

Trades for Aging Superstars Expected As Final Piece:

The Clyde Drexler trade (February 1995):

Houston trades Otis Thorpe, Marcelo Nicola, and a 1995 1st rounder ( 19th overall pick – Randolph Childress) to Portland for 32-year old Clyde Drexler and Tracy Murray.

Verdict – Houston clearly won this trade, and got another championship after trading for Drexler to add offensive firepower.

The Tim Hardaway trade (February 1996):

Miami trades Bimbo Coles and Kevin Willis to Golden State for Tim Hardaway and Chris Gatling.

Verdict – Miami won the trade, getting at least three more good seasons from Hardaway.

The Gary Payton trade (February 2003):

Seattle trades 34-year old Gary Payton and Desmond Mason to Milwaukee for 28-year old Ray Allen, Kevin Ollie, Ronald Murray, and a 2003 Milwaukee 1st round pick (14th overall - Luke Ridnour)

Verdict – Seattle won the trade by getting a lottery pick and Ray Allen still in his prime for a Glove that had lost a step.

Trades for Talented Headcases:

The Stephon Marbury Trade (January 2004):

Phoenix trades Stephon Marbury, Penny Hardaway, and Cezarv Trybanski to New York for Howard Eisley, Maciej Lampe, Antonio McDyess, Charlie Ward, Milos Vujanic, 2004 1st from New York via Phoenix (16th overall - Kirk Snyder), 2010 New York 1st ( 9th overall - Gordon Hayward).

Verdict: No clear winner

The Rasheed Wallace Trade (February 2004)

What: Detroit gets Rasheed Wallace and Mike James.
Atlanta gets Chris Mills, Z. Rebraca, Bob Sura, and a 2004 1st round pick (17th overall – Josh Smith).
Boston gets Chucky Atkin, Lindsey Hunter, and a 2004 1st round pick ( 25th overall pick – Tony Allen)

Verdict – Detroit clearly wins the trade and goes on to become NBA Champions.

The Baron Davis Trade (February 2011):

The Los Angeles Clippers trade Baron Davis (3 years, $40 million dollars left) and an unprotected 2011 Clippers first rounder (that became 1st overall – Kyrie Irving) to Cleveland for Jamario Moon and Mo Williams.

Verdict – Cleveland clearly won this trade hands down.

Superstars Traded In Their Prime/Just Past Their Primes:

The Shaq Trade (July 2004):

The Los Angeles Lakers trade Shaq to Miami for Caron Butler, Brian Grant, Lamar Odom, Miami 2006 1st (26th overall – Jordan Farmar), and a 2007 Miami 2nd (50th overall – Renaldas Seibutis)

Verdict – Miami clearly wins the trade and goes on to become NBA Champions.

Boston trades for Ray Allen (June 2007) and Kevin Garnett (July 2007):

Seattle trades Ray Allen and Glen Davis to Boston for Jeff Green, Wally Szcerbiak, Deltonte West, and a 2008 2nd (46th overall - Trent Plaisted)

Minnesota trades Kevin Garnett to Boston for Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair, 2009 Boston 1st (28th overall – Wayne Ellington), 2009 re-acquired Minnesota 1st (6th overall – Johnny Flynn)

Verdict – Boston wins the trade against Minnesota, who could have taken Steph Curry with the 6th overall pick and have been in great shape for the future. Boston and Seattle essentially deadlock, as Seattle wanted to pair Jeff Green with Kevin Durant. Boston goes on to become NBA Champions.

The Pau Gasol Trade (February 2008):

Memphis trades Pau Gasol and a 2010 2nd (43rd overall – Devin Ebanks) for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Marc Gasol, Lakers 2008 1st (28th overall – Donte Greene), Lakers 2010 1st (28th overall – Greivis Vasquez)

Verdict – Lakers won the trade hands down when it happened, and became NBA Champions twice over with the pairing of Kobe and Pau Gasol. Memphis stated their reasoning for the trade was that they basically got four first round picks for Pau Gasol (Crittenton, Marc Gasol, Donte Greene, Greivis Vasquez)


The Carmelo Anthony Trade (February 2011):

New York trades Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, cash, 2012 2nd rounder, 2013, 2nd rounder, 2014 1st round pick ( 12th overall – Dario Saric) to Denver for Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, and filler.

Verdict – New York basically gave up three first round picks (Gallinari, Chandler, and the pick that became Saric) in addition to a Center that eventually was traded for two first round picks himself. This trade looks like a push because New York is probably happier to have Melo than the parts they gave up to get him.

The Deron Williams Trade (February 2011):

Utah trades Deron Williams to New Jersey for Derrick Favors (2010 3rd overall pick), Devin Harris, New Jersey’s 2011 1st (3rd overall - Enes Kanter), and a 2013 Golden State 1st (21st overall - Gorgui Dieng).

Verdict – New Jersey/Brooklyn gets Deron Williams for three first round picks (including two top-three overall selections). Utah wins the trade.

The Chris Paul Trade (December 2011) – VETOED BY THE NBA:

New Orleans gets Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Lamar Odom, Goran Dragic, and a 2012 1st round pick from New York via Houston (16th overall pick – Royce White)
Houston gets Pau Gasol
Los Angeles Lakers get Chris Paul

The Chris Paul Trade, Part Two (December 2011):

New Orleans gets Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu, and Minnesota unprotected 1st round pick via Clippers (10th overall – Austin Rivers)
Los Angeles Clippers get Chris Paul

Verdict: New Orleans was probably screwed either way. They ended up getting the equivalent of two first round picks in Gordon and the Minnesota 1st, along with lottery picks in Kaman and Aminu that had lost their luster.

The Andrew Bogut Trade (March 2012):

Milwaukee trades Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson to Golden State for Monta Ellis, Ekpe Udoh, and Kwame Brown.

Verdict – When Bogut is healthy, Golden State is the clear winner.

The Dwight Howard/Andrew Bynum Trade (August 2012):

Orlando gets Nikola Vucevic (2011 16th overall pick), Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Mo Harkless (2012 15th overall pick), 2013 2nd (Romero Osby), Denver 2014 1st (Dario Saric), Philadelphia 2017 1st
Los Angeles Lakers get Dwight Howard, Earl Clark, and Chris Duhon
Denver gets Andre Iguodala
Philadelphia gets Andrew Bynum and Jason Richardson

Verdict – Orlando is the clear winner, having gotten four first round picks for Dwight Howard (Vucevic, Harkless, the pick that became Dario Saric, and a Philly 2017 1st). However, in their desperation for Elfrid Payton, they had to consolidate the assets of Saric and Philly 2017 1st. Howard walked away from the Lakers in Free Agency. Iguodala walked away from Denver in Free Agency. And the less said about Andrew Bynum, the better.

The James Harden Trade (October 2013):

New Orleans trades James Harden, Cole Aldrich, Daequan Cook, and Lazar Hayward to Houston for Jeremy Lamb, Kevin Martin, a 2013 1st round pick (12th overall – Steven Adams), a 2014 1st round pick (21st overall – Mitch McGary), and a future 2nd round draft pick.

Verdict – Houston got a Top-Ten player in James Harden for what essentially amounted to three first round picks.

The Kevin Love Trade (August 2014):

Minnesota gets Andrew Wiggins (2014 1st overall pick), Anthony Bennett (2013 1st overall pick), and Thaddeus Young.
Cleveland gets Kevin Love
Philadelphia gets Luc Mbah a Moute, Alexey Shved, Miami 2015 1st (top 10 protected for 2015 and 2016, unprotected in 2017)

Verdict – Minnesota got Andrew Wiggins, so they’re the winners. Philadelphia made out like bandits, however, by converting Thad Young into Embiid’s mentor, the Miami 1st, and another2nd when we flipped Shved. Minnesota eventually turned 26-year old Thad into 38-year old Kevin Garnett straight up.

The Goran Dragic Trade (February 2014):

Miami gets Goran Dragic and Zoran Dragic
New Orleans gets Norris Cole, Shawne Williams, Justin Hamilton, and cash
Phoenix gets John Salmons, Danny Granger, Miami 2017 1st (top 7 protected), Miami 2021 1st (unprotected)

Verdict: Too early to say. The unprotected Miami 2021 1st could be an amazing asset, but it is six years away. New Orleans seems like the loser in the early going.

[KramerDSP]

When you look at our assets, there's no question that we can easily give up four first round picks + cap filler in McGee + young cheap talent for a Kevin Durant/Russell Westbrook/Demarcus Cousins.

What do think it would take to land each of them? The same offer for each?

[109876ersFan]

I don't think we could get any of the three. Okc is a championship contender team( in their mind) that will only deal with absolutes ie there wouldn't trade Kd or goatsbrook for an unproven player, they would want a guy that already established themselves as a star or close to it. As for Sac Cousins has been the best player they have had in a while and the only star as well, I think Sac management is only looking to better themselves in the short term and still haven't directly comitted to a rebuild, cousins is a top ten player- I think they would rather build around him than trade him.

[ankle420breaker]

I don't think we could get any of the three. Okc is a championship contender team( in their mind) that will only deal with absolutes ie there wouldn't trade Kd or goatsbrook for an unproven player, they would want a guy that already established themselves as a star or close to it. As for Sac Cousins has been the best player they have had in a while and the only star as well, I think Sac management is only looking to better themselves in the short term and still haven't directly comitted to a rebuild, cousins is a top ten player- I think they would rather build around him than trade him.

KD and Westbrook aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Cousins is an emotional head-case, but he's still young and could be the most dominant big man in the game right now. Sacramento is going nowhere fast and its not exactly crazy to think that at some point he ends up forcing their hand and demanding a trade.

[KramerDSP]

I don't think we could get any of the three. Okc is a championship contender team( in their mind) that will only deal with absolutes ie there wouldn't trade Kd or goatsbrook for an unproven player, they would want a guy that already established themselves as a star or close to it. As for Sac Cousins has been the best player they have had in a while and the only star as well, I think Sac management is only looking to better themselves in the short term and still haven't directly comitted to a rebuild, cousins is a top ten player- I think they would rather build around him than trade him.

KD and Westbrook aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Cousins is an emotional head-case, but he's still young and could be the most dominant big man in the game right now. Sacramento is going nowhere fast and its not exactly crazy to think that at some point he ends up forcing their hand and demanding a trade.

I would offer Noel or Saric + Lakers 1st + Miami 1st + OKC 1st + McGee + Orlamdo 2015 2nd for Cousins and filler. That's four first round picks for a disgruntled superstar who will have demanded a trade from Sacramento. When Billy King announced Iverson was on the market, we could only get Joe Smith, Andre Miller, and two first round picks out of it. We are offering four to Sacramento (with Noel being the fourth). I would NOT offer the Sixers 2015 first under any conditions whatsoever for Cousins and would go Russell, giving us Russell-Cousins-Embiid with all of our picks, Covington, Grant, Wroten, Micic, McRae, Saric, Canaan. We would probably be able to get that fourth superstar via trade or free agency. Just some ideas of how it might play out this summer.

I'm assuming Embiid and cousins would fit with no problems and be the best front court in the NBA.

[ankle420breaker]

That's a generous package. If its a situation where Cousins demands a trade then a package of the Laker pick, lotto protected 1st, Wroten or Saric, and filler (McGee?) might be enough to get it done.

[sixers hoops]

I didn't know Dragic was a superstar. He even make an All-Star team yet?

[roma258]

Basically the team who gets the superstar almost always win. In trades involving multiple superstars, the team that gets the younger superstar almost always wins. Picks can be an x factor though.

[sixerswillrule]

I didn't know Dragic was a superstar. He even make an All-Star team yet?

I'd say he played like one last season, was a top 5 guard. He made the All-NBA third team. That could've been an outlier year for him, though.