Major moves made before at NBA trade deadline
New Year’s Eve sees Goran Dragic and the Suns looking for a rare win in Oklahoma City.
The buzzer sounded on the NBA trade deadline on Thursday afternoon with a flurry of moves from numerous teams around the league. Plenty of potential game-changers were said to be available on the trade market with Goran Dragic, Reggie Jackson, Brandon Knight, Arron Afflalo and Ty Lawson arguably the cream of the crop.
The biggest name on the trading block in the NBA was arguably Dragic. The rumors were swirling around the league about the Slovenian point guard’s discontent with his situtation with the Phoenix Suns. Although Dragic continued to be put up numbers this summer in Phoenix, it was a foregone conclusion he’d be headed elsewhere after the Suns committed to Isaiah Thomas and Eric Bledsoe long-term.
Only days before the trade deadline, Dragic let it be known that he didn’t want to be in Phoenix and had no intention of signing an extension with the team. Dragic also told his agent that he wanted to be traded to one of the few teams on his preferred destination list that included the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks or Miami Heat.
All three teams expressed interest, but only the Heat had the assets that intrigued the Suns. Miami acquired Goran along with his brother, Zoran, in a blockbuster deal with Phoenix. The Suns received Danny Granger, Justin Hamilton and two first-round draft picks in return. A solid deal for both sides.
Ironically enough, Thomas was sent packing shortly after the Dragic deal was announced. Thomas was traded to the Boston Celtics in a three-team deal with the Detroit Pistons being the third team involved. Veteran forward Tayshaun Prince headed back to Detroit with Thomas, Jonas Jerebko and Luigi Datome moving to Boston. Phoenix acquired Marcus Thronton and a first-round draft pick in 2016 in the deal.
Phoenix wasn’t done with making moves after the Thomas trade with the Milwaukee Bucks sending Brandon Knight to the Suns in another three-way deal. The Philadelphia 76ers got involved in this deal by sending Michael Carter-Williams to Milwaukee. The Suns dealt Miles Plumlee and Tyler Ennis to the Bucks with the 76ers coming away with more draft picks.
Reggie Jackson
Another major three-team trade that was made involved the Oklahoma City Thunder, Utah Jazz and Pistons. The Thunder were finally able to find the right trade partner for Jackson moving the up-and-coming point guard to Detroit receiving D.J. Augustin and Kyle Singler in return. Oklahoma City also sent Kendrick Perkins and Grant Jerrett to Utah with Enes Kanter and Steve Novak coming to the Thunder.
Other notable moves made on Thursday included Afflalo being dealt to the Portland Trail Blazers and Kevin Garnett heading back to the Minnesota Timberwolves from the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Thaddeus Young.
Needless to say, one of the busiest trade deadlines in the NBA in recent memory. A lot of playoff contenders preparing for the postseason.
