NBA Trade Deadline: New Jersey Nets and More Teams That Squandered Deals

The 2012 NBA trade deadline was a frenzy of desperate teams trying to position themselves for the future or get ready to make a run in the postseason.

Some squads accomplished that, like the San Antonio Spurs, who added Stephen Jackson for their playoff push.

Others did not and most likely ended up doing nothing but setting their respective franchises back a bit.

Here is a look at some of those teams.

New Jersey Nets

The Nets made a huge mistake by shipping away Shawne Williams, Mehmet Okur and a 2012 first-round pick (top-three protected) to the Portland Trail Blazers for Gerald Wallace.

By throwing in that pick, which is certainly going to be high in the lottery, the Nets have decided to trash their future to get a decent player who becomes a free agent at the end of the season.

It was simply a ludicrous move and one that almost ensures they will have a terrible roster when they move to Brooklyn.

Wallace certainly isn’t convincing Deron Williams to stick around and GM Billy King better have some tricks up his sleeve this offseason.

Golden State Warriors

The Warriors moved the newly acquired Jackson and turned him into Richard Jefferson, a retiring TJ Ford and a late-first round pick from San Antonio.

This move makes no sense for a rebuilding franchise that just traded away a young star in Monta Ellis. They took on RJ, who isn’t a free agent until after the 2013-14 season, while S-Jax was only on the books until after next year.

They just destroyed their cap room until that summer and guaranteed they will not be contenders without a major shakeup soon.

Washington Wizards

The Wizards move to get Nene wasn’t terrible, but they gave up a player with a lot more upside in JaVale McGee.

It helped that they got rid of an inefficient chucker in Nick Young, but Nene isn’t going to impact this franchise and make them anywhere near contenders.

They’ll have to hope their first-rounder in 2012 really pans out and makes an impact.