The trade between the Celtics and Nets for Garnett and Pierce might go down as the worst in NBA history. Much more so if you are just talking about trades involving draft picks. Based on the Net's records, The Celtics ended up getting the #17 pick in 2014, the #3 pick in 2016, and the Nets' 1st round pick in 2018. Plus, Boston can trade picks with New York in 2017. That means they will send their pick which will end up around #26 to the Nets in exchange for a what will very likely be a top 3 pick with a chance at being #1 if the Nets win the lottery. Here are some other contenders: St. Louis Hawks trade rights to Bill Russell to Celtics for Cliff Hagan And Ed Macauly Hornets trade Kobe Bryant* to the Lakers for Vlade Divac 76ers trade Charles Barkley to the Suns for Jeff Hornacek, Tim Perry and Andrew Kang Bulls trade LaMarcus Aldridge* to the Blazers for Tyrus Thomas and Viktor Khyrapa Bucks trade Dirk Nowitzki and Pat Garrity to the Mavericks for Robert Traylor Bucks trade Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Walt Wesley to the Lakers for Junior Bridgeman, Dave Meyers and Elmore Smith Philadelphia traded Jerry Chambers, Archie Clark, and Darrall Imhoff for Wilt Chamberlain The Rockets traded Moses Malone to the Sixers for Caldwell Jones and a 1983 first-round draft pick that became Rodney McCray.
The Harden trade is not on your list? Also, the Rockets traded Moses Malone not for the Rodney McCray pick. It was for the Ralph Sampson pick. The trade was a blatant tanking attempt to get the #1 pick which everybody knew was Ralph player-of-the-century Sampson. In those days, having the worst record would have a 50% chance of landing the #1 pick.
It wasn't a bad trade for the Thunder in context. They couldn't give Harden the max and he was a free agent the following summer. They got a decent player in return. No it wasn't. The Cavs finished 3rd worst which is where McCray came from. The rockets earned the #1 pick due to finishing last in the conference and winning the coin flip. I don't believe that is right either. It was the year after for Hakeem and Jordan which was the blatant attempt at tanking that led to the rule changes in draft selection. http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/sports/draft-changed-tanks-84-lottery-born-article-1.591957
They gave up a multiple MVP candidate for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb and Steven Adams and you think they did well? And lets not forget they were paying Enes Kanter MORE last year than they would have been paying Harden. [they took on Martins 12.4mill in 2013 where Harden was making 5.8 mill, and didn't want to pay Harden the 13.8 mill in 2014, preferring to keep Perkins 9mill on the books. Oh my. Then they traded for Kanter, maxxed him, and he got more than Harden. Just poor management all round]
I wasn't talking about the pick they got. I was talking about the intent of the trade was not for the 3rd pick but for the 50% chance of getting the first pick. Trading away Moses Malone and getting back Caldwell Jones was a blatant attempt to tank. Getting rid of Moses left them with Allen Leavell as their top scorer who averaged a whopping 14.8 ppg. Getting the first pick again the next year for Olajuwon was also somewhat of a tanking job. But that was not the intent of the Moses Malone trade.
Look at the seasons immediately following the trade. Okc wasn't exactly missing him. He turned into what he is today. That's great but that doesn't mean okc wasn't still a great team without him because they absolutely were. They would just be even scarier with him had they had a couple more seasons together. But nobody saw harden turning into this MVP type of player. Anyone that says otherwise is kidding themselves
It was a bad trade for OKC because it wasnt a basketball decision. It was a financial one. Harden was a young stud even back then with a LOT of upside, even if he was not MVP like back then. He was their best playmaker and a very good pick and roll player even with OKC and had some excellent playoff games under his resume, especially against the Spurs. You dont give up a young prospect like that for Lamb and scraps just to save some money. Sucks for them. Good for us. if OKC had refused to let Harden go, they would have had several championships by now and Durant would still have been a Thunder.
Well that's the tough choices a GM makes. Just like how different coaches operate and have their own ways to go about things. So do GM's. They decided not to overpay in this instance. Looking at it from only one perspective is not something I'm going to do. I'm glad how it turned out for Houston. But Who knows okc could really have a title without harden actually. Injuries have been a major blow at different times, because anytime kd and wb were healthy in the playoffs together, they reached nothing less than the wcf. Were still true contenders without him
Golden State could trade Kevin Durant for a 2nd rounder and Golden State would still probably make the NBA finals. That doesn't mean it wouldn't be an idiotic trade despite them still being pretty good
I'd disagree with them making the finals taking kd out with the team they have now And jh at the time was no kd fwiw
In terms of recent trades: I don't believe trades like the Kawhi trade can be classified as "bad". It was a 15th pick for Hill trade. I loved Kawhi at the time but in terms of paper value at the time you couldn't say Kawhi was going to be MVP-level player, although I certainly believed he would be at the time. Terrible trade in hindsight, but at the time it wasn't as lopsided as even, say, the Nurkic trade. DeMarcus Cousins trade. Top 5 player in the NBA given away for peanuts. How he turns out in NOLA is another discussion, but the trade itself was horrendous.. Nik Stauskas Carl Landry trade. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Another Kings classic. Nurkic trade. You trade away a legit C AND give away a middle first round pick for the priviledge to pay a mediocre backup centre mega bucks that you have no need for? And nonetheless to a conference rival that just ripped away your playoff berth as a result of this gift platter? Ridiculous. Harden trade. Everybody knew Harden was going to become a superstar. Also I have to mention Morey letting Dragic go. The guy was a young promising PG entering into his prime that was asking for like $7 per year start for you on extremely efficient numbers and you let him go over a ******* Player Option? He was playing amazingly well. Its not like you had to pay based on potential to improve to justify that contract, (which Morey exactly did with the Jeremy Lin contract). How many players actually take up their player option? And you go for Jeremy Lin and you pay him even more based on even worse performance stats? Morey just wasted Harden's career with such ridiculous douchebaggery. He thinks he's too smart for his own good. Also he advocated for Rudy Gay over Shane Battier. T-mac/Yao's career ruined. Batter could even start on a lottery team much less a championship team. (now someone might mention he started for the Heat. Well if you have LeBron/Wade/Bosh starting, you could insert Dekker and probably win a championship. Also we obviously don't know the specific intricacies of what goes on behind the scenes, but our team played better with Ariza starting at PF than Anderson. Ariza rebounded just as well as Anderson, and he wasn't going to go on the court, chuck a few 3's within a 5 minute timespan, if they go in wow the team is gonna win, if the 3's dont go in he's benched for the rest of the game. If there were no other good ways to spend the money then sure you might as well get a semi-decent player while you can but I mean I actually prefer Ariza at the PF as the last few games have shown.
Well, they went to the finals without him the past 2 years, but that is besides the point They traded a player EVERYBODY knew was about to explode for absolutely nothing. There is no justification for something like that
Oh please based on what. And your previous post about everyone knowing harden would be this good is %100 false. Even his own teammate ibaka who saw him every single day has said publicly had harden stayed in okc he wouldn't turn into the player he is today. Stop kidding yourself.
The owner were cheap. It wasn't like Sam presti was like hey I want to trade harden for Kevin martin. The warriors or Washington could have had him.