Why did the Hawks trade Dominique Wilkins for Danny Manning

[JordansBulls]

Why did the Hawks trade Dominique Wilkins for Danny Manning in 1994?


Post by Guy as I am curious as well.

I've always wondered what was up with this trade, and if someone knows the details, please let me know. Atlanta had one of the best records at the time of the trade, and tied for the best record in the East with the Knicks by the end of the year, but midway through the year, they traded their best player, Dominique Wilkins, to the Clippers for Danny Manning.

Nique was the Hawks best player, had been for 12 years, but then they trade him while the Hawks were having their best season since he arrived? And this was the first season of Nique's career, that neither Bird's Celtics, the Bad Boy Pistons, or Jordan's Bulls were standing in the way. And to top it off, Danny Manning was nowhere near as good as Nique. He was a guy that put up good stats on a bad team, the Clippers. With the Hawks, he was a 16 ppg/6.5 rpg/3.3 apg player, while Nique was averaging 24.4 ppg/6.2 rpg/2.3 apg before he got traded. Before the all-star break that year, the Hawks were 34-13 with Nique, while after the all-star break, they were 23-12 with Manning. They still ended up tying for the best record in the East, and only 6 games behind the best record in the league. With Nique instead of Manning, its not far-fetched to think they could've had the best record in the league, and they definitely would have had the best record in the East and no ties. I really don't see them losing to the 4th seeded Pacers in the 2nd round with Nique, and would've had a great chance at making the Finals.

[ahonui06]

It's the Hawks. What did you expect?

[Jase]

Danny Manning was a stud in his day. I remember watching him with the Clips and wishing LA would swing a deal for him. Granted, he wasn't in Nique's league, but he was no scrub.

[Harry10]

it was an age and money issue.

it was a contract year for Nique. of course the Clippers wanted an expirering contract, and the Hawks were willing to give a big contract to a young 20/10 guy

their was also a rumor that Lenny Wilkins and Nique didn't get along because of how Nique played defense, but i don't beleive that.

Babcock is such a duchebag, regardless of age, he should have let Nique stay and finish the season. Hawks had a good team, and were the best team in the league, and the way they played the Rockets in the regular season, could have beaten the Rockets in the Finals. and Nique should have retired as a Hawk

[JordansBulls]

It's the Hawks. What did you expect?

For them to keep there star if they are the #1 seed. They never were the #1 seed before and all of sudden they trade him.

[Kalidogg24]

I remember those days.

That season Nique was on the Clippers, they were better than the Lakers .

Clippers were the 7th seed and the Lakers were the 8th seed.

[courtvisionmag]

Dominique was aging and coming of that career changing injury. Danny Manning had a lot of promise in his day.

[hourockman]

I remember those days.

That season Nique was on the Clippers, they were better than the Lakers .

Clippers were the 7th seed and the Lakers were the 8th seed.

Your memory is off. Both the Clippers and Lakers missed the playoffs in 1994 (the yr of the trade).

In 1993, LAC was 7 and LAL was 8. Both teams took the 1st and 2nd seeds to the brink of elimination in the 1st Round. It's a matter of debate how much better the Clips actually were (outside of seeding) being that the Lakers' opponent was the eventual Finals participant, and the Lakers nearly beat them all 3 times in Phx.

[hourockman]

it was an age and money issue.

it was a contract year for Nique. of course the Clippers wanted an expirering contract, and the Hawks were willing to give a big contract to a young 20/10 guy

Danny Manning was up for extension as well. He spent the entire year crying to get out. Sterling didn't want to pay him market value. 2 + 2 together = this trade.

It was rumored that Manning was going to test the FA market before the trade was made, for the record. He did just that and went to Phx, a franchise that he had mentioned during the turmoil. Among other things, he compared their new building w/ the old Sports Arena. I think he already has his mind made up to go there no matter what.

Nique got screwed. The Hawks blew their only legit shot at a title in decades. You could see they F'd up when they struggled to ouster the Miami Heat in the first round. There was a pretty good brawl in that series between Kevin Edwards and Grant Long.

[AdamTheGreek]

Good topic.

'Nique was on the downhill at that point. Manning did look like a sure thing. Whoops.

[hourockman]

Good topic.

'Nique was on the downhill at that point. Manning did look like a sure thing. Whoops.

He hit a brick wall the very next season in Boston, but he was still chuggin w/ ATL and the Clippers. I remember actually watching some of their games that year because of him (vomit). I understand the Hawks wanting to parlay him, but they waited too late. What they did showed no class whatsoever. They F'd their own continuity to boot and wound up sinking themselves. Then Manning left like 2 months later.

[JordansBulls]

I am still amazed that Nique was able to come back in 1993 and be a superstar even had he ruptured his achilles the 1992 season.

[elbowthrower]

I was living in ATL at the time this went down and from what I remember the Hawks were worried that they were going to lose him the next season for nothing.

They were good that year but they probably wouldn't have won a ring anyway.

[blackhawk2076]

Had to bump this thread since Nique was my favorite player growing up.

To this day, I still can't believe this trade. Even though the Hawks were winning, I remember Lenny Wilkens telling the media he wasn't happy with Nique play on defense. They had the best record in the Eastern Conference at the time, yet you trade Nique for some unproven player from a losing team.Not only that, Manning who was 6/10 would be playing along side Koncak and Willis(who both were 7 footers). I remember watching the game and saying to myself ''Where is the spacing'' .I knew they were doom after that. The Pacers went on to defeat the Hawks in the second round.

The only good thing about the trade was looking at the box scores and seeing Nique and Ron Harper scoring 30 points a game .Nique was able to pad his stats at the end of the season and finished at 26 a game I believe.

Off topic. Was Nique and Ron Harper playing pick up basketball for the Clippers, cause when I read the box scores I would go WTF.lol

[DEEP3CL]

I remember vividly Manning and his agent told Donald T. Sterling that they had no chance in hell on resigning him. Can't really speak for Nique, but I do recall hearing about the riff between him and Coach Wilkins.

Hell the Clips had nothing to lose anyway.....it was a revolving door for them during those days.

[jax98]

Manning: 23.7 points at age 27
Wilkins: 24.4 points at age 34

Manning had netted 22.8 points the year before, so I wouldn't be surprised if Atlanta thought Manning was the next big time scorer. However, they lost him in free agency to Phoenix anyway.

The following season Atlanta's best player was Mookie Blaylock.

[Collie]

It was, as Bill Simmons put it, a rare Both-these-guys-are-leaving-via-free-agency trade.

[hourockman]

I remember vividly Manning and his agent told Donald T. Sterling that they had no chance in hell on resigning him. Can't really speak for Nique, but I do recall hearing about the riff between him and Coach Wilkins.

Hell the Clips had nothing to lose anyway.....it was a revolving door for them during those days.

I remember Manning crying all that year AND naming Phx as the team he wanted to be traded to (among a couple other names).

[NiqtheAntiq]

Problem with trades were you trade your teams star player who has been there over a decade is you never get full price in return and you end up just alienating fans. Manning did alot for Kansas but his whole NBA career was far from "being the man".

Here is the last part of a doc that helps explain it a little better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44kIP6jND7o

[Alan Ogg]

Nique was always my favorite non-Celtic, so I was excited when we signed him that following summer. He looked like he still had some good years left. I don't know what happened, but he was a shell of his former self in Boston. Only a few months had passed, but it seemed like years.