Blockbusters, Blunders, and So Many Sixers Second-Round Picks
A ranking of the past 10 NBA trade deadlinesu003cstrongu003e u003c/strongu003eBlockbusters, Blunders, and So Many Sixers Second-Round Picks
A ranking of the past 10 NBA trade deadlinesu003cstrongu003e u003c/strongu003e
Rejoice! NBA trade season is upon us. It really is one of the most enjoyable times for those of us who like to deep-dive into off-court NBA nerddom. To that end, I went back and ranked the past 10 NBA trade deadlines based on three categories: marquee move (i.e., the biggest trade of that deadline), impact on the league (how that particular deadline affected the teams and players involved, as well as the NBA, for that season and the future), and entertainment value (pretty obvious). Each of those categories was given a score from 1 to 10, for a maximum possible total score of 30.
Some notes here about methodology: Not every trade for every season is listed below. In the interest of brevity, I pulled out what I thought were “notable trades.” The timing of when trades occurred was also considered. That is, the term “trade deadline” was loosely interpreted. I didn’t restrict it to deadline day, but I also didn’t include deals from, say, December or the previous offseason. In general, I tried to keep it to trades that went down within a few weeks of each season’s deadline. As a result, you won’t find the deal that moved James Harden to Houston (that happened in October 2012), and neither of the Chris Paul trades are listed (he landed in L.A. in December 2011 and left town in June 2017). Finally, this is a subjective ranking. My personal NBA taste is baked into the results of the trade tasting menu that follows.
Notable Trades
Lakers get: Kent Bazemore, MarShon Brooks
Warriors get: Steve Blake
Pacers get: Lavoy Allen, Evan Turner
Sixers get: Danny Granger, second-round pick
Cavaliers get: Spencer Hawes
Sixers get: Earl Clark, Henry Sims, two second-round picks
Wizards get: Andre Miller, protected second-round pick
Nuggets get: Jan Vesely
Sixers get: Eric Maynor, two second-round picks
Clippers get: Conditional protected second-round pick
Sixers get: Byron Mullens, second-round pick
Marquee Move
I mean … Andre Miller? Can we award negative points for this one? Score: 0/10
Impact on the League
This deadline was basically Sam Hinkie kicking in the door with a trade shotgun, commanding everyone to lie on the floor face down, and then robbing all their second-round picks. He even made sure to remove the dye packs. That was the beginning of the case that the NBA fun police would build against Hinkie for various Process-related crimes. Yes, he traded Jrue Holiday for a pick and Nerlens Noel at the previous draft, but this is how/when the rebuild began in earnest. Score: 6/10
Entertainment Value
Pretty low, except for the attendant comedy. The Cavs gave up four players for this dude, and Hinkie literally drove Turner, the former no. 2 overall pick, to the airport so the Sixers could buy out Granger and toss another second-round pick on their growing stockpile. Oh, and Luke Ridnour was still in the league back then. He got traded to the Bobcats. No one cared. This is probably the first time you’ve even heard of it. Score: 2/10
Total score: 8
Notable Trades
Cavaliers get: Channing Frye
Magic get: Jared Cunningham, Cavs future second-round pick
Blazers get: Anderson Varejao, Cavs 2017 first-round pick (which became Caleb Swanigan)
Pistons get: Tobias Harris
Magic get: Brandon Jennings, Ersan Ilyasova
Pelicans get: Two second-round picks
Sixers get: Ish Smith
Clippers get: Jeff Green
Grizzlies get: Lance Stephenson, lottery-protected 2019 first-round pick
Wizards get: Markieff Morris
Suns get: DeJuan Blair, 2016 first-round pick (Georgios Papagiannis, who was then flipped to the Kings along with a 2020 second and the rights to Bogdan Bogdanovic and Skal Labissiere for Marquese Chriss)
Marquee Move
Morris to Washington, if only by default. Morris has been fine for the Wizards, but his numbers in D.C. (12.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.9 steals, 0.55 blocks, 46.2 field goal percentage) aren’t exactly exciting. The real winner of this trade was probably the Kings, who weren’t even in the deal, but eventually got Bogdan Bogdanovic out of it. Good for the Kings. Look at them, doing stuff. Score: 3/10
Impact on the League
Harris was good enough for the Pistons that they were able to add him to the package that brought Blake Griffin to Detroit. And we already went over Morris. We should also note that shipping Frye to Cleveland created the wildly entertaining Road Trippin’ With R.J. & Channing podcast, which was a win for all of our ears. Score: 3/10
Entertainment Value
The unintentionally hilarious component helps what was, for basketball purposes, an otherwise boring and uneventful deadline. The Sixers traded two second-round picks to bring back a journeyman guard that they had on their roster the season prior and then let walk away for nothing—which was the most amazing I’m gonna show you how un-Hinkie I can be move Jerry Colangelo could have pulled. The Clippers did their Clippers thing and traded a pick for Jeff Green. Not even Jeff Green would trade a pick for Jeff Green. Also, in the course of researching this one, I wrote “LOL Magic” in my notes several times. Score: 4/10
Total score: 10
Notable Trades
Bulls get: Tim Thomas, Jerome James, Anthony Roberson
Knicks get: Larry Hughes
Rockets get: Kyle Lowry
Grizzlies get: Adonal Foyle, Mike Wilks, first-round pick (DeMarre Carroll), cash
Magic get: Rafer Alston
Heat get: Jermaine O’Neal, Jamario Moon, first-round pick (eventually traded back to Toronto), second-round pick (Da’Sean Butler)
Raptors get: Shawn Marion, Marcus Banks, $3 million in cash
Bobcats get: Vladimir Radmanovic
Lakers get: Shannon Brown, Adam Morrison
Bulls get: Brad Miller, John Salmons
Kings get: Drew Gooden, Andres Nocioni, Michael Ruffin, Cedric Simmons
Thunder get: Thabo Sefolosha
Bulls get: OKC’s 2009 first-round pick (Taj Gibson)
Marquee Move
In retrospect, it seems crazy that Memphis gave up on Kyle Lowry midway through his third season (and, functionally, it was really closer to his second season since he played only 10 games with the Grizzlies as a rookie). But the Lowry that Raptors fans know and love now is not the Lowry that the Grizzlies traded. Lowry averaged 8.6 points and 3.6 assists with a 53.5 TS percentage in Memphis. He was also in much worse shape. This is really only a big deal with the benefit of hindsight, because it freed up the Grizzlies to make Mike Conley their main man. Score: 5/10
Impact on the League
The Bulls moved a bunch of midlevel pieces around the board, made the playoffs, and then, after all that, lost in the first round to the Celtics. The Knicks were bad and got worse. O’Neal was a nice fit in Miami, but it still didn’t help them much; they lost in seven games to the Hawks in the first round of the playoffs. As ripple effects go, the Lowry trade was the most significant. If Memphis doesn’t give up, he doesn’t go to Houston, and if he doesn’t go to Houston, who knows whether he winds up in Toronto and completely rewrites his career narrative. This was the first step in giving the world Good Kyle Lowry. It was sort of the hockey assist of trades. Score: 5/10
Entertainment Value
Not much madness. Not much amusement, either—unless you consider Adam Morrison as the toss-in on a Vlad Radmanovic deal. Score: 1/10
Total score: 11
Notable Trades
Raptors get: Sebastian Telfair
Suns get: Hamed Haddadi, second-round pick
Suns get: Marcus Morris
Rockets get: Second-round pick
Raptors get: Rudy Gay, Hamed Haddadi
Pistons get: Jose Calderon
Grizzlies get: Tayshaun Prince, Austin Daye, Ed Davis, 2013 second-round pick
Bucks get: J.J. Redick, Gustavo Ayon, Ish Smith
Magic get: Tobias Harris, Doron Lamb, Beno Udrih
Marquee Move
This one’s a toss-up. The Grizzlies unloading Rudy Gay—I kinda fudged this one, since Gay was traded at the end of January and the deadline was in February—is retroactively seen as the moment they found religion and were reborn as their best version of Grit ’n’ Grind. And there was probably some soul searching that led them to make the move. But from a pragmatic standpoint, Memphis had to do some pretty simple bookkeeping calculations to come to the proper conclusion. At the time, the Grizzlies owed big money to Zach Randolph, Mike Conley, and Marc Gasol, as well as Gay. Someone had to go. Gay was the obvious choice. It was also a symbolic win for the NBA analytics movement; where old-school types loved Gay because he passed the eye test and fit their abstract idea of a star, his efficiency numbers told a different story.
Meanwhile, Redick helped push Milwaukee into the playoffs after missing the postseason the previous two years. On the other side, Orlando got a nice young piece in Harris that it had no idea what to do with and gave to the Pistons four years later for NBA scrap. [Looks down at notes again] … LOL Magic. Score: 5/10
Impact on the League
The domino effect of unplugging Gay from the Grizzlies helped Memphis reach the Western Conference finals. It was the best postseason effort of the Grit ’n’ Grind era. And less than a year later, the Raptors realized they made a similar mistake and bundled Gay—who had another full year remaining on his deal, for $20 million—off to Sacramento in exchange for Chuck Hayes and three expiring contracts. Like the Grizz before them, the Raptors proved the addition-by-subtraction principle and got a lot better without Gay. Meanwhile, the Redick move wasn’t so hot for the Bucks. They were one-and-done in the playoffs, and then Redick was sign-and-traded to the Clippers in the offseason. Score: 5/10
Entertainment Value
Morris twins, unite! Form of: a shared contract and a joint bank account. Also, I totally forgot about would-be-but-wasn’t phenom Sebastian Telfair. That was functionally the end of his NBA career. He played 13 games with the Raptors, sat out the next season, came back to play 16 games for OKC in 2014-15, and that was that. But the most memorable (and funniest) part of this deadline was Adrian Wojnarowski dragging the Gay trade by writing that John Hollinger—a new Grizzlies exec who had just joined the organization after leaving ESPN—was merely a “statistician who worked for a cable sports company.” That is some all-time silly shade. Score: 4/10
Total score: 14
Notable Trades
Wizards get: Nene, Brian Cook, second-round pick
Clippers get: Nick Young
Nuggets get: JaVale McGee and Ronny Turiaf
Rockets get: Derek Fisher, conditional first-round pick (later off-loaded as part of James Harden deal)
Lakers get: Jordan Hill
Spurs get: Stephen Jackson
Warriors get: Richard Jefferson, T.J. Ford, protected first-round pick (Festus Ezeli)
Lakers get: Ramon Sessions, Christian Eyenga, 2013 swap rights
Cavaliers get: Luke Walton, Jason Kapono, Kelenna Azubuike, 2012 first-round pick (Jared Cunningham, then traded along with Bernard James and Jae Crowder to Dallas for the rights to Tyler Zeller), cash
Sixers get: Sam Young
Grizzlies get: The rights to Ricky Sanchez
Warriors get: Andrew Bogut, Stephen Jackson (shipped out to the Spurs two days later)
Bucks get: Monta Ellis, Kwame Brown, Ekpe Udoh
Marquee Move
There was a time when trading Monta Ellis felt like a big deal. The exchange worked out better for the Warriors than the Bucks; they won a championship with Bogut, and it opened a path for Steph Curry.
But the biggest move may have been the one everyone thought would go down but didn’t. Dwight Howard, playing in the final season before he could opt out of his contract, had requested a trade from Orlando. The Magic, after much hand-wringing, had set up a deal to trade Howard to the Nets, where he would team up with Deron Williams. But, as then-teammate J.J. Redick told Adrian Wojnarowski in 2016, Howard changed his mind on the plane ride back from a game in San Antonio and opted into his final year. Howard later explained the decision by noting that the Magic provided him his favorite candies at the right moment. It really explains a lot about Dwight’s next six years. Score: 5/10
Impact on the League
This is the season when the Pelicans (then the Hornets) first tried to trade Chris Paul to the Lakers, had it vetoed by league commissioner David Stern, and then rerouted him to the Clippers. As bossman Bill once explained on The Grantland Basketball Hour, the ripple effects to that one were massive. Alas, that deal went down in mid-December, which is too far from the 2012 deadline to reasonably include in our accounting.
Still, trading Ellis officially turned the keys to the Warriors’ offense over to Curry, which set in motion one of the great and still-developing dynasties in NBA history. Even though it wasn’t until the following season that Curry embraced his full Steph-ness—he played only 26 games in the 2011-12 season because of injury—that’s a big deal whether or not the Warriors fully realized it would be at the time.
The Rockets also landed another pick that they used in the Harden swap. After his sugar high wore off, Dwight became disgruntled yet again, leading to Stan Van Gundy’s infamous Diet Pepsi–fueled interview, Howard getting traded to the Lakers, and the Lakers falling into disarray after he walked in free agency a year later. This was a sneakily high-impact year. Score: 9/10
Entertainment Value
This one accelerated the timeline for Fisher and Walton to stop playing and start coaching. That set us up for one of the great moments in coaching history: when Walton joked that he benched Lonzo this season because “his dad was talking shit.” Massive points for that. And big points for the Sixers-Grizzlies trade, if only because it later became the namesake of the Rights to Ricky Sanchez podcast. Say the name. Score: 5/10
Total score: 19
Notable Trades
Celtics get: Nate Robinson, Marcus Landry
Knicks get: Eddie House, J.R. Giddens, Bill Walker
Rockets get: Kevin Martin, Hilton Armstrong, Jordan Hill, Jared Jeffries, protected 2012 first-round pick from the Knicks (Royce White)
Kings get: Carl Landry, Joey Dorsey, Larry Hughes, cash
Knicks get: Tracy McGrady, Sergio Rodriguez
Knicks get: Brian Cardinal
Timberwolves get: Darko Milicic, cash
Wizards get: Josh Howard, Drew Gooden, James Singleton, Quinton Ross
Mavericks get: Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, DeShawn Stevenson, cash
Cavaliers get: Antawn Jamison, Sebastian Telfair
Wizards get: Zydrunas Ilgauskas, rights to Emir Preldzic, Al Thornton, Cavs 2010 first-round pick (Lazar Hayward, later packaged with Nemanja Bjelica and sent to Minnesota for Trevor Booker and Hamady N’Diaye)
Clippers get: Drew Gooden
Marquee Move
Some good ones. The Celtics adding Robinson for the pending playoff push was more sleight of hand from Dealer Danny. The Mavericks upgraded with Butler, a two-time All-Star. And the Rockets off-loaded Tracy McGrady’s expiring contract for some useful pieces. But the big one was Jamison to the Cavs for Big Z and parts. As the history books have it, the Cavs were reportedly interested in adding Amar’e Stoudemire but couldn’t come to an equitable agreement with the Suns. Jamison was the consolation prize (he was averaging 20.5 points at the time of the deal), though at 33 years old, he wasn’t able to push them into the NBA Finals as Cleveland had hoped. The Cavs lost in the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Celtics that season. Not the way the organization wanted to go into the offseason in advance of The Decision. Score: 7/10
Impact on the League
The winners were Robinson and the Celtics. Boston reached the NBA Finals (the Celtics lost in seven games to the Lakers), and the trade triggered a $1 million kicker in Robinson’s contract for making the playoffs. Still, a lot of these moves didn’t work out the way they were initially intended. After adding Butler, the Mavs got bounced by the Spurs in the first round of the playoffs. The Knicks took on McGrady’s $23 million expiring deal in the hopes of clearing space in the offseason for LeBron, Dwyane Wade, and/or Chris Bosh—a great idea that Pat Riley was happy to implement on their behalf. And the Cavs went for it, because they had to do something before LeBron hit free agency. But something obviously wasn’t enough, and he fled south to Miami. If they had gotten Stoudemire instead of Jamison, that might not have put the Cavs over the top, but it could have prevented LeBron from leaving. At the time, Stoudemire told the New York Daily News he and LeBron both would have re-signed with Cleveland had the trade come to fruition. As a result, it was a pretty consequential trade deadline for Cleveland and the rest of the league. Score: 10/10
Entertainment
This deadline had some significant moves, but it wasn’t the bananas frenzy of activity that happened the following year. Even so, points must be awarded for the Darko deal. Not only did he get traded for Brian Cardinal, but the Knicks had to pay the Wolves to take him. *crying laughing face emoji* Score: 5/10
Total score: 22
Notable Trades
Cavaliers get: Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West, 2009 second-round pick (Danny Green)
Bulls get: Drew Gooden, Larry Hughes, Shannon Brown, Cedric Simmons
SuperSonics get: Adrian Griffin, Donyell Marshall, Ira Newble
Hornets get: Bonzi Wells, Mike James, cash
Rockets get: Bobby Jackson, Adam Haluska, Sergei Lishouk, 2008 second-round pick
Grizzlies get: Malick Badiane, Marcus Vinicius, cash
Mavericks get: Jason Kidd, Malik Allen, Antoine Wright
Nets get: Keith Van Horn, Trenton Hassell, Devin Harris, DeSagana Diop, Maurice Ager, 2008 first-round pick (Ryan Anderson), 2010 first-round pick (Jordan Crawford),cash
Hawks get: Mike Bibby
Kings get: Anthony Johnson, Tyronn Lue, Shelden Williams, Lorenzen Wright, 2008 second-round pick
Heat get: Shawn Marion, Marcus Banks
Suns get: Shaquille O’Neal
Grizzlies get: Marc Gasol, Aaron McKie, Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, 2008 first-round pick (later traded for Darrell Arthur), 2010 first-round pick (Greivis Vasquez), cash
Lakers get: Pau Gasol, 2010 second-round pick
Marquee Move
Kidd back to Dallas was interesting, but the Gasol brothers being traded for each other is a great story. Pau won two championships with the Lakers, while the Grizzlies set up the Grit ‘n’ Grind era with the lesser-known, initially chunkier Gasol. That had to make for some fantastic conversations at the family dinner table. Score: 8/10
Impact on the League
The Cavs tried really hard to become legitimate title contenders (they lost in the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Celtics that season). Kidd eventually won a championship with the Mavericks in 2011, which remains one of the truly great fluke moments in NBA history. And the Lakers won two straight titles with Gasol. Score: 8/10
Entertainment Value
Five trades involving 22 players went down on the actual deadline day. In addition to Kidd going back to Dallas and two brothers getting traded for each other, Shaq got kicked to the curb by the Heat, which felt weird at the time but was smart and ahead of the curve looking back at it. Oddly fun deadline. Score: 7/10
Total: 23
Notable Trades
Raptors get: Serge Ibaka
Magic get: Terrence Ross, 2017 first-round pick (Anzejs Pasecniks, who was later rerouted to the Sixers for a protected first and second in 2020)
Mavericks get: Nerlens Noel
Sixers get: Justin Anderson, Andrew Bogut, protected 2017 first-round pick (converted to two second-round picks, one of which the Sixers traded for cash; the other is a 2020 second)
Rockets get: Lou Williams
Lakers get: Corey Brewer, 2017 first-round pick (Tony Bradley, then flipped to the Jazz for Josh Hart and Thomas Bryant)
Wizards get: Bojan Bogdanovic, Chris McCullough
Nets get: Marcus Thornton, Andrew Nicholson, 2017 first-round pick (Jarrett Allen)
Bulls get: Joffrey Lauvergne, Cameron Payne, Anthony Morrow.
Thunder get: Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott, 2018 second-round pick
Pelicans get: DeMarcus Cousins, Omri Casspi
Kings get: Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway, 2017 first-round pick (Zach Collins, then traded to Trail Blazers for Justin Jackson and Harry Giles), 2017 second-round pick
Marquee Move
Booooooooogie! After all those years of Cousins sulking in Sacramento, the Kings finally traded their franchise big man. It made sense for both sides to dissolve the marriage, but the Kings got killed in the divorce settlement. Cousins was destroying people this season—including a ridiculous line of 44 points, 23 rebounds, and 10 assists in a double-overtime win against the Bulls last month—before suffering an unfortunate Achilles rupture. Meanwhile, the Kings are … still the Kings. Poor Vivek. His “Buddy Hield is the next Steph Curry” prediction is not looking good. Score: 9/10
Impact on the League
At first glance, you’d think the 2017 deadline was a big deal given all the movement. But what really happened? Ibaka made the Raptors more Raptors-like (though they’ve played so well of late that it’s fair to wonder if this is the season they finally make it to the NBA Finals). Bogdanovic plays in Indiana now. Noel has been a disaster in Dallas. Boogie was excellent in New Orleans before getting hurt, but even when he was healthy, the Pelicans still only projected as a back-end playoff team. Adding Williams to the Rockets was important, if only because he was part of the trade package that eventually brought Chris Paul to Houston. Otherwise … eh. Score: 6/10
Entertainment Value
This is where 2017 really shines. Lots of weird activity here. The Bulls traded away the two best players in their deal with OKC and threw in a pick to get Payne, who may or may not still be in the league after losing his spot as Chicago’s point guard of the future to Kris Dunn. The Bulls are a hot mess. This deadline also led to Noel’s halftime hot dog, which is one of the truly fantastic moments of this or any other season. And the Kings unloaded the best player they’ve had in a very long time for an adult male who goes by “Buddy.” Score: 9/10
Total score: 24
Notable Trades
Wolves get: Kevin Garnett
Nets get: Thad Young
Heat get: Goran Dragic, Zoran Dragic
Pelicans get: Norris Cole, Justin Hamilton, Shawne Williams
Suns get: Danny Granger, John Salmons, Heat first-round picks in 2018 (protected 1-7) and 2021
Pistons get: Reggie Jackson
Thunder get: D.J. Augustin, Enes Kanter, Steve Novak, Kyle Singler, 2019 second-round pick from Detroit
Jazz get: Grant Jerrett, Kendrick Perkins, protected future first-round pick from OKC (later shipped to Timberwolves for Ricky Rubio), two second-round picks (2017 from Detroit), the rights to Tibor Pleiss
Celtics get: Isaiah Thomas
Suns get: Marcus Thornton, protected first-round pick (became Skal Labissiere, whom the Suns later packaged along with Papagiannis, a 2020 second-round pick, and the rights to Bogdanovic for Chriss)
Bucks get: Michael Carter-Williams, Tyler Ennis, Miles Plumlee
Suns get: Brandon Knight, Kendall Marshall
Sixers get: Lakers’ 2015 top-five protected first (which still has not conveyed, and might end up in the clutches of the dastardly Celtics as part of the Markelle Fultz trade that has worked out super well for everyone involved)
Marquee Move
Some big ones here. The Heat did well to add Goran Dragic, a quality player they desperately needed after LeBron took his ball and went home. The Celtics getting Thomas was an absolute masterstroke by Dealer Danny; while Thomas was held back by the Kings and Suns, he thrived in Boston. Meanwhile, the Sixers flipped one of the worst rookies of the year this side of Malcolm Brogdon for an incredible asset (which might end up in the clutches of the dastardly Celtics). And in both of those past two situations, the Suns got absolutely taken for a ride out into the NBA wilderness, dropped off, left to fend for themselves, and have not been seen since. The Suns should disband. Score: 9/10
Impact on the League
Thomas helped the Celtics reboot and reach the Eastern Conference finals—and then helped Boston again when Ainge put him in the deal for Kyrie Irving. Jackson was part of a recent movement that’s seen the Pistons go from awful to mediocre, but the biggest impact there was probably to his bank account since it resulted in a fat new contract. MCW went from Rookie of the Year to exposed. The Suns got two future first-round picks from the Heat, which they will absolutely need in order to undo all the other awful moves they’ve previously made (not only did they off-load Thomas, but they also gave away Bogdanovic, who might be the best player in the Skal/Papagiannis/Chriss swap). And the Sixers, bless them, got the Lakers pick (which might end up in the clutches of … ah, nevermind). Score: 9/10
Entertainment Value
Sheer madness. An eyeball-popping 37 players (not including picks) were moved in 11 trades. I still have cold sweats when I remember trying to track down all the second-rounders Hinkie acquired and then off-loaded and then re-acquired. Jackson forcing his way out of Oklahoma City, only to land in Detroit and then get constantly shit on by Stan Van Gundy, is pretty great. Plus, the former ROY got traded, the Suns basically had their pants around their ankles the entire time and didn’t realize it, and Garnett returned to Minnesota to finish his career. So fun. Score: 10/10
Total score: 28
Notable Trades
Blazers get: Gerald Wallace
Bobcats get: Dante Cunningham, Joel Przybilla, Sean Marks, 2011 first-round pick (Tobias Harris), and 2013 conditional first-round pick (Shabazz Napier, later flipped for PJ Hairston and a bunch of shit you don’t care about), cash
Suns get: Aaron Brooks
Rockets get: Goran Dragic, future first-round pick (later traded and eventually spun into Donatas Motiejunas)
Grizzlies get: Shane Battier, Ish Smith
Rockets get: Hasheem Thabeet, DeMarre Carroll, future first (later used in the Motiejunas deal)
Thunder get: Kendrick Perkins, Nate Robinson
Celtics get: Jeff Green, Nenad Krstic, 2012 first-round pick (Fab Melo)
Cavaliers get: Baron Davis, 2011 first-round pick (Kyrie Irving!!!!!!!!!!)
Clippers get: Jamario Moon, Mo Williams
Nets get: Deron Williams
Jazz get: Derrick Favors, Devin Harris, 2011 first-round pick (Enes Kanter), 2013 first-round pick (Gorgui Dieng, then flipped along with Shabazz Muhammad for Trey Burke), cash
Knicks get: Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Renaldo Balkman, Anthony Carter, Shelden Williams
Nuggets get: Wilson Chandler, Ray Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Kosta Koufos, Timofey Mozgov, 2014 first-round pick (later traded to Orlando and then Philly, eventually netting Andre Iguodala), swap rights in 2016 (allowing them to move up and take Jamal Murray), two second-round picks, $3 million cash
Timberwolves get: Eddy Curry, Anthony Randolph, second-round pick, $3 million in cash
Marquee Move
With apologies to the Nets unloading Deron Williams and the Clippers handing over a first-round pick that had more value than they possibly understood, the Melo trade was massive. A total of 12 players were moved, along with four draft picks, $6 million, and swap rights for good measure. And all to get Melo to NYC a few months earlier so he could sign an even bigger deal with the Knicks than he would have been able to ink if he had just gone there as a free agent that offseason. It’s still hard to believe that three teams pulled off something this crazy. Score: 10/10
Impact on the League
Where do we even begin? The Nuggets and Knicks had their fates drastically altered for years because of the Carmelo deal. The Jazz got rid of one of their best players for a bunch of parts that kept them in the middle for a while. The Nets started a long and painful plan of trying to become really good, only to get rid of all their quality assets along the way and set the franchise back for a still-undetermined period of time. The Clippers! The Clippers got Mo Williams and a dude I don’t even remember for a first that became Kyrie. Think about that one for a quick second. Apologists still say they were clearing space for Chris Paul; detractors contend that Paul was initially traded to the Lakers before the Clippers ever had a real shot at him. Regardless, if they don’t make that deal and simply keep the pick, they get Irving, pair him with Blake Griffin, and usher in a very different kind of Lob City era. And then what happens to CP3? And if the Cavs don’t draft Kyrie, he doesn’t eventually win a championship with them, fall out with LeBron, threaten to sit out this season and undergo knee surgery, force a trade to Boston, and then get drafted by LeBron for the weirdest All-Star reunion since KD shared a locker room with Russell Westbrook last year. So many butterfly effects. Every trade deadline should be 2011. Score: 10/10
Entertainment Value
It’s the Fast & Furious franchise of deadlines. Score: 10/10
Total score: ∞
An earlier version of this piece incorrectly stated that Bryan Colangelo ran the 76ers during the 2016 trade deadline; it was Jerry Colangelo.