Top 5 Largest Trades in History
Orlando’s two trades earlier this week, combined with the re-heated rumors about a potential multi-team New Jersey deal for Carmelo Anthony, brought up the idea to discuss the largest and most complex trades in league history. It took a lot of moving bodies to bring Gilbert Arenas, Jason Richardson, and Hedo Turkoglu to Central Florida, but that particular pair of trades involved only three teams and eight people—nowhere near the largest of all time.
So what do you suppose we’re going to do with today’s top five list? You got it, folks—here’s a look at the five biggest and most complex trades in the history of the NBA:
#5 – Nine-player deal between Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey Nets, and Minnesota Timberwolves (March 11, 1999)
Milwaukee Got: Sam Cassell and Chris Gatling from New Jersey; Paul Grant from Minnesota.
New Jersey Got: Stephon Marbury, Bill Curley, and Chris Carr from Minnesota; Elliot Perry from Milwaukee.
Minnesota Got: Terrell Brandon from Milwaukee; Brian Evans and a draft pick from New Jersey
How It Panned Out: Marbury played his best three (okay, 2-and-a-half) seasons of his career in New Jersey, but an eventual trade for Jason Kidd, followed by two consecutive Finals appearances for the Nets, only added to Starbury’s legacy as a postseason failure. Cassell spent four happy and healthy years with the Bucks—again, the best of his career—and Terrell Brandon lasted a few more solid years as T-Pup before injuries forced him to retire. In all, it was a pretty fair trade for all teams involved, though Minnesota giving up on Marbury so early in his career certainly wasn’t something the organization did with a smile on their faces.
#4 – Nine-player deal between Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, Utah Jazz, and Dallas Mavericks (August 17, 2000)
Golden State Got: Danny Fortson from Boston; Adam Keefe from Utah.
Boston Got: Robert Pack, Hot Rod Williams, and cash from Dallas; first-round draft pick from Utah.
Utah Got: Donyell Marshall from Golden State; Bruno Sundov from Dallas.
Dallas Got: Dana Barros from Boston; Bill Curley from Golden State; Howard Eisley from Utah.
How It Panned Out: It looked at first as though the Warriors were going to be the easy winners of this trade as Fortson started that season averaging over 16 boards a game. That only lasted six games, however, at which he point he hurt himself and missed the rest of the season. The next two seasons in Oakland were significantly less exciting, and eventually he ended up in Dallas for a year before finishing his career in Seattle 2007. Marshall was as advertised for Utah—a solid starting power forward—and Barros never actually played a single game for Dallas. The Mavs ended up re-packaging him to Detroit for Loy Vaught.
#3 – Eleven-player deal between Houston Rockets, Vancouver Grizzlies, and Orlando Magic (August 27, 1999)
Houston Got: Steve Francis and Tony Massenburg from Vancouver; Don McLean and a first-round draft pick from Orlando.
Vancouver Got: Michael Dickerson, Othella Harrington, Brent Price, Antoine Carr, and a first-round pick from Houston.
Orlando Got: Michael Smith, Rodrick Rhodes, Lee Mayberry, and Makhtar Ndiaye from Vancouver.
How It Panned Out: This trade happened only because Francis refused to play in Vancouver, so the Grizzlies sort of had their hand forced and ended up taking back nowhere near enough value for a kid who would end up one of the league’s most exciting young players. We all know how Stevie Franchise’s career panned out in Houston, but really nobody else on the list is worth saying too much about. Great trade for Houston, horrible trade for the Grizz, and seemingly meaningless trade for Orlando.
#2 – Twelve-player deal between New York Knicks, Seattle SuperSonics, L.A. Lakers, and Phoenix Suns (September 20, 2000)
New York Got: Glen Rice, Travis Knight, and a first-round pick from L.A.; Vladimir Stepania, Lazaro Borrell, Vernon Maxwell, a first-round pick, and two second-round picks from Seattle; Luc Longley from Phoenix.
Seattle Got: Patrick Ewing from New York.
L.A. Got: Horace Grant, Chuck Person, Greg Foster, and Emanual Davis from Seattle.
Phoenix Got: Chris Dudley and a first round pick from New York.
{AUTHOR_BOX}How It Panned Out: Ewing’s time in New York was up, and it was time for him to go, at least while some value could be claimed for the future Hall-of-Famer. The Knicks got plenty of it in the form of four draft picks and Glen Rice, who put up reasonable numbers in his one season as a Knick. As for Ewing, his time in Seattle was short and disappointing. The Sonics let his contract expire after the season, and Ewing signed with the Magic for a final season before retirement. Ho Grant, meanwhile, helped the Lakers win a second consecutive NBA title in 2001, perhaps giving the Lakers the best part of this trade from a big picture standpoint.
#1 – Thirteen-player deal between Miami HEAT, Boston Celtics, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Hornets, and Utah Jazz (August 2,2005)
Miami Got: Antoine Walker from Boston; Jason Williams, James Posey, and Andre Emmett from Memphis; the draft rights to Robert Duenas from New Orleans.
Boston Got: Qyntel Woods, the draft rights to Albert Miralles, and two second draft picks from Miami; Curtis Borchardt from Utah.
Memphis Got: Eddie Jones from Miami; Raul Lopez from Utah.
Utah Got: Greg Ostertag from Memphis.
New Orleans Got: Rasual Butler from Miami; Kirk Snyder from Utah.
How It Panned Out: You don’t see a lot of five-team trades in the NBA, so this one is particular special in its outrageous complexity. Clearly the HEAT came out of this the big winners, taking back three of the four most talented players in the deal and winning the NBA Championship that very year. Eddie Jones didn’t work out in Memphis, so after biding his time (a lot of which was inexplicably spent on the bench) for about 18 months in Tennessee, he got his release from the Grizzlies and ended up right back in Miami, though too late to get himself a ring with the team for which he had the longest tenure.
Honorable Mention:
Nine-player deal between Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks (August 18, 2003)
Dallas Got: Antawn Jamison, Danny Fortson, Chris Mills, and Jiri Welsch
Golden State Got: Nick Van Exel, Avery Johnson, Popeye Jones, Evan Eschmeyer, and Antoine Rigaudeau.
Nine-player deal between Dallas Mavericks and New Jersey Nets (February 17, 1997)
Dallas Got: Shawn Bradley, Robert Pack, Khalid Reeves, and Ed O’Bannon
New Jersey Got: Sam Cassell, Jim Jackson, George McCloud, Chris Gatling, and Eric Montross.
Something worth noting in all of this: every single one of these seven trades happened in the eight years between 1997 and 2005, and an overwhelming majority of those occurred between 1999 and 2000. What an insane 12 months that was for trades.
Another noticeable trend—moves this big tend to happen in the offseason as opposed to the trade deadline. All but two of these seven happened when no official basketball was being played, and that’s likely a testament to the fact that GMs and team presidents have more time to work these things out when games aren’t actually happening.
If Anthony does end up in New Jersey—or anywhere else, for that matter—it’s probably going to be another complex trade with a few teams and several players involved. Will it crack open this list for the first time in six years? Even if it doesn’t, we all know there are dozens of you out there already playing with Trade Machines to see if you can come up with a 14+ player trade that would.
And if you weren’t already thinking about it, now you are.
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