Lola Eiler
Many players from the NBA that have gotten traded throughout their careers.
If you haven’t been paying attention, you may be surprised at whose wearing what jerseys in the NBA next year. A bunch of players got traded this year that you may not have expected.
An NBA trade is when multiple teams exchange players, draft picks and cash with each other causing players to have to uproot their lives and potentially move across the country. These deals are between the teams, meaning the players have little to no say in where they end up. This happens every year, but some years, like this one are busier than others. There are many reasons that players get traded: some players get traded because of problems with the organization that doesn’t want the player anymore, while some players are just collateral damage in the pursuit of a bigger goal.
One important trade which shocked a lot of NBA fans was between the Lakers and Mavericks. The Lakers traded away Anthony Davis and Max Christie for Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris. This is a rare trade where both teams will potentially benefit. For both teams this trade can improve their team by connecting with new players that are coming to the team.
Why would a team trade away their franchise player? Well, I’ll tell you. The NBA trade that everyone is talking about is the Luka Doncic trade. Why would the Dallas Mavericks trade their five-time All-Star? It’s because there had been “significant frustration within the organization about Doncic’s lack of discipline regarding his diet and conditioning on the Dallas Mavericks,” writes ESPN Shams Charania reporter. He may have been a star, but the team didn’t want to deal with the problems that came along with his on-court performance.
Another interesting trade was between the Heat and Warriors. The Heat traded away Jimmy Butler, along with two second round picks and cash for Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson, Davion Mitchell and a 2025 first round pick from the Warriors. The reason the Heat traded away Jimmy Butler was because Butler wanted to get paid significantly more, but the Heat didn’t offer Butler a contract extension that he wanted, so Butler requested a trade out of Miami. In an ESPN article, Butler said ”I want to get my joy back from playing basketball.” Butler didn’t think it was possible to get any joy from playing in Miami, apparently. This is probably because this season has been a tricky one, with owner Pat Riley suspending Butler on January 3rd. ”He no longer wants to be part of this team, and we will listen to his offers” said Pat Riley . Listening to his offers turned into a huge trade.
In a rare three way trade, The San Antonio Spurs acquired De’Aaron Fox and Jordan McLaughlin, while the Kings get Zach LaVine, Sidy Cissoko, and several draft picks from various teams. To round off this trade, the Chicago Bulls get Zach Collins, Tre Jones, Kevin Huerter, and one draft pic. This trade can really help the Spurs since their star player Victor Wembanyama got injured due to deep vein thrombosis. The Kings needed a shooting guard, so they went a got a 2-time all-star Zach Lavine who has been playing basketball for 10 seasons. As a more seasoned player, Lavine knowns the game a little bit more.
The final interesting trade was to help the Toronto Raptors do better since they are doing poorly this year with a record of 20-42. The New Orleans Pelicans traded away star forward Brandon Ingram to the Raptors for Bruce Brown, Kelly Olynyk, one- second round pick and a second-round pick from the Pelicans. All of these trades can help the outcome of these teams have a better season.