Looking Back: The Biggest Trades in NBA History

Jason Kidd is on his way out of New Jersey in one of the largest player trades since Miami acquired Antoine Walker in a 13 player trade back in August 2005. New Jersey is asking for equal value and Dallas is giving them everything but the kitchen sink to fill that need. The breakdown looks something like this:

New Jersey Receives:

G Devin Harris

C DeSagana Diop

G Maurice Ager

G Trenton Hassell

F Keith Van Horn

Two first round draft picks and three million in cash 

Dallas Receives:

G Jason Kidd

F Malik Allen

F Antoine Wright

You have to ask yourself though, is an aging Jason Kidd worth so much? Dallas better pray the right decision was made and Devin Harris doesn’t turn into an all star overnight in New Jersey, or Dallas fans will look at Mark Cuban in contempt.

According to ESPN, here are some of the biggest trades in NBA history, try and wrap your mind around these player moves. 

Thirteen Players, August 2, 2005

Miami Heat acquires F Antoine Walker from the Boston Celtics, G Jason Williams, F James Posey, and G Andre Emmett from the Memphis Grizzlies, and the draft rights to C Roberto Duenas from the New Orleans Hornets in a five-team trade that sent G-F Eddie Jones to Memphis, F Rasual Butler to New Orleans, a 2006 second-round draft pick, a conditional second-round draft pick, F Qyntel Woods and the draft rights to Albert Miralles to Boston. The Utah Jazz acquired C Greg Ostertag from Memphis; Boston acquired C Curtis Borchardt from Utah and G Raul Lopez from Memphis; New Orleans acquired G Kirk Snyder from Utah.

The biggest piece in this trade was Antoine Walker who at the time was having one of his best seasons with Boston. Unfortunately Boston felt they weren't winning with him or getting better with his contract so why not try winning without him? Thus began Boston's demise.

Twelve Players, September 20, 2000

New York acquires F Glen Rice, C Travis Knight, and a first-round pick from the Lakers and C Vladimir Stepania, F Lazaro Borrell, G Vernon Maxwell, a first-round pick and two second round picks from Seattle in a four-team trade that sent C Patrick Ewing to Seattle. Los Angeles acquired F Horace Grant and F Chuck Person, C Greg Foster, and G Emanual Davis from Seattle; Phoenix acquired C Chris Dudley and a first-round pick from New York for C Luc Longley.

New York trading Patrick Ewing? it happened in this deal. What's most surprising is who they traded him for, Glen Rice? As you can see, New York has yet to recover.

Eleven Players, August 27, 1999

Houston traded G Michael Dickerson, F/C Othella Harrington, G Brent Price, F/C Antoine Carr, and a future first-round draft pick to Vancouver as part of a three-way deal in which the Rockets received draft rights to G Steve Francis and F Tony Massenburg from Grizzlies, and F Don MacLean and future first-round draft choice from Orlando. The Magic received F Michael Smith, G/F Rodrick Rhodes, G Lee Mayberry, and F Makhtar Ndiaya from Grizzlies.

Houston scrambles to get the Franchise, smart move by some, crazy by others; mainly because Francis would go on to achieve pretty much nothing for the Rockets as a whole, while making himself look good.

Nine Players, February 17, 1997

Dallas traded G Sam Cassell, G Jim Jackson, G George McCloud, F Chris Gatling, and C Eric Montross to New Jersey for C Shawn Bradley, G Robert Pack, G Khalid Reeves, and F Ed O’Bannon.

There goes the Dallas-New Jersey trade again. The two must really like doing business together. New Jersey got the better of this deal obviously. Do you remember any of the players Dallas traded for besides Shawn Bradley (who was a tall bust)?

Eight Players, January 5, 2003

New York traded F Antonio McDyess, G, Howard Eisley, G Charlie Ward, F/C Maciej Lampe, and the draft rights to G Milos Vujanic to Phoenix for G Stephon Marbury, G Anfernee Hardaway, and C Cezary Trybanski.

New York got the better of this deal, as they got both Marbury and Hardaway in their prime. On second thought, maybe it wasn't such a good deal, what has Marbury done in New York worth remembering?