The day of the NBA trade deadline is always interesting. Teams are either buyers or sellers. Buyers are championship contenders who make deals for their team to be better in the “stretch run”. Sellers are teams headed to the Draft Lottery at the end of the year. They are trying to shed salary and add draft picks. There were plenty of deals. Here are a few.
The Denver Nuggets were one of the busiest teams. They made two trades. The first was sending Arron Afflalo and Alonzo Gee to Portland. Portland sends Thomas Robinson, Will Barton, Victor Claver, and a 2016 first round pick. This is a very fascinating deal. The Denver Nuggets reacquired Afflalo this summer. He played well, averaging 14.5 points per game. Portland receives a player who is going to play hard. This will add another shooter to help their offense. They already have Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge. Alonzo Gee is a bench player but will give them solid minutes. The Nuggets obtained players who are mostly going to ride the bench. At least they acquired some talent for Arron Affalo. The other deal they made was with the Philadelphia 76ers. Nugget JaVale McGee heads to the 76ers basically for nothing. This gives Denver more salary cap room for next season. McGee is in the middle of a four-year $44 million contract. He didn’t play much for the Nuggets this year or last year. It was too much money to pay for a player who spent almost all his time on the bench. Denver drops all that salary.
One of the more intriguing transactions was with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Brooklyn Nets. Kevin Garnett is probably playing his last year in the NBA and wanted to go back to Minnesota. They drafted him. The Nets agreed to a deal to send him back to Minnesota in exchange for Thaddeus Young. Garnett goes back to his first team. Brooklyn collects a player who is a scorer and will play with energy. He is averaging 14.3 points per game. That is not bad.
Goran Dragic told the Suns this week he didn’t want to continue to play for them. The Suns had no choice but to find a trade partner. In a three-team deal, the Miami Heat land brothers Goran Dragic and Zoran Dragic. Suns obtain Danny Granger, two first-round picks, and John Salmons from New Orleans. New Orleans acquires Norris Cole, Justin Hamilton, and Shawn Williams. All this trade did was to make Goran Dragic happy. He wasn’t going to play for the Suns. Phoenix had to do something and they received plenty in return. This was an excellent deal for the Suns.
These were the major trades occurring during the trade deadline. Every team that was part of a deal received something in return. They either collected draft picks or players.
What was the best trade at the trade deadline?
I wonder what’s leads a player todecide not to play for the team he signed a contract with. Aren’t there rules about this. ?
Yes and No. They do sign a contract. The signed contract should be honored but teams want to win. If there is is a lot of change in the organization or they aren’t improving a player will ask out. Most teams to make the player they will trade them. They don’t want to deal with an unhappy player.