Did Shaquille O'Neal, Shawn Marion, Ben Wallace, Pau Gasol, and Jason Kidd just changed teams?
Yep, and they're not even half of the players who got traded. That was how crazy it got for this year's trades before the 2008 deadline.
Here's a summary of the key NBA trades and transactions (Source: NBA.com):
- L.A. Lakers acquire Pau Gasol and a 2010 second-round draft pick from Memphis in exchange for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, the draft rights to Marc Gasol and first round picks in 2008 and 2010
- Phoenix acquires Shaquille O'Neal from Miami in exchange for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks.
- Atlanta acquires Mike Bibby from Sacramento in exchange for Shelden Williams, Lorenzen Wright, Anthony Johnson, Tyronn Lue and a 2008 second round draft pick.
- Dallas signs Keith Van Horn and trades Van Horn, Devin Harris, Trenton Hassell, Maurice Ager, DeSagana Diop, first-round draft choices in 2008 and 2010, and cash considerations to New Jersey for Jason Kidd, Malik Allen and Antoine Wright; waives Nick Fazekas.
- San Antonio acquires Kurt Thomas from Seattle in exchange for Francisco Elson, Brent Barry and a 2009 first round draft pick.
- Houston acquires Gerald Green from Minnesota in exchange for Kirk Snyder, a second-round pick in 2010 and cash considerations.
- In a three-team trade, New Orleans acquires Bonzi Wells and Mike James from Houston, Houston acquires Bobby Jackson, Adam Haluska and a 2008 second-round pick from New Orleans as well as the rights to Sergei Lishouk from Memphis and Memphis acquires Marcus Vinicius from New Orleans and the draft rights to Malick Badiane from Houston.
The winners of the trades are the Los Angeles Lakers, Atlanta Hawks, Miami Heat, New Orleans Hornets and Cleveland Cavaliers. Solid trades and the teams got better without losing much. The Seattle Supersonics and Memphis Grizzlies also did a good job of clearing cap space, so they get points for sticking to the rebuilding plan
The Losers? The Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks for their knee-jerk reaction to the Gasol trade. Throw in the Nets for not getting a better deal for Kidd, thanks to ex-Laker Devean George.
Sheesh, the trades put me in a doozy so I'll probably take a break and write about it more soon.
Tags: Lakers
