Who doesn’t love a good trade? In the NBA, trades have accounted for some of the biggest seismic shifts in the NBA through the years (non-LeBron/Kevin Durant division). It was a trade that brought Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics and keyed their run to the NBA title, it was a trade that sent Andrew Wiggins to Minnesota in exchange for Kevin Love’s arrival in Cleveland, and the list goes on. The biggest trade the NBA has ever seen also contributed directly to a championship, but it’s still more notable for the sheer amount of moving pieces.
On Aug. 2, 2005, a trade involving five teams, 13 players and a host of draft picks went down. There’s no clean way to explain it, but we’ll do our best.
The Boston Celtics traded Antoine Walker to the Heat, and received Albert Miralles, Qyntel Woods and two second-round picks from Miami in exchange. They also received Curtis Borchardt from the Utah Jazz.
The Miami Heat traded Miralles, Woods and the picks to Boston, but also sent Eddie Jones to the Memphis Grizzlies and Rasual Butler to the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets. They received Walker from the Celtics, Jason Williams, James Posey and Andre Emmett from the Grizzlies, and Roberto Duenas from the Hornets.
The Memphis Grizzlies traded Williams, Posey and Emmett to the Heat, and Greg Ostertag to the Jazz. They received Eddie Jones from Miami and Raul Lopez from the Jazz.
The New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets traded Duenas to the Heat and received Kirk Snyder from the Jazz.
The Utah Jazz traded Snyder to the Hornets, Borchardt to the Celtics, and Lopez to the Grizzlies. They received Ostertag from the Grizzlies.
We repeated player names to give you a better sense of each team’s movement, but rest assured that’s really 13 players who changed addresses. Walker and Williams proved immediate boosts to Miami, who went on to win the NBA title that very season. As far as the rest of the teams involved, they didn’t find themselves on the winning end of the deal. Hey, at least Ostertag gave the Jazz a decent year or two.
(Via NBA)
