10 Craziest NBA Draft-Day Trades of All Time

Every year, there are a ton of draft-day trades, and the 2012 NBA draft will be no different.

Whether it's trading players straight up, trading draft picks for future draft picks, trading picks for cash or any other possible permutation, trades make up a majority of draft day.

While it's impossible to know what a player is going to turn out like when he's first selected, some teams just make bone-headed decisions.

When a team trades a future star player for a scrub or a youngster for a top veteran, the fortunes of a team can change.

There will be a number of trades during the 2012 NBA draft, but teams should study history to see what trades worked and what trades didn't.

Here are 10 of the craziest draft-day trades of all time.

Knicks Trade for McDyess

In 2002, the New York Knicks decided that Antonio McDyess was the missing piece. It was a bad decision.

The Knicks selected Nene ninth overall and immediately sent him, Marcus Camby and Mark Jackson to the Denver Nuggets for McDyess and the 25th overall pick, which became Frank Williams.

McDyess was a disaster. The forward only played in 18 games with the Knicks before getting hurt. In those 18 games, McDyess averaged only 8.4 points per game, which was not what they were expecting.

Nene turned into a solid player, averaging 12.4 points and seven rebounds in his career.

Frank Williams, who the Knicks acquired in the trade, was a complete bust. He started only three games for the Knicks and averaged 2.9 points per game.

This is one in a series of poor decisions for the Knicks in the early 2000s.

Suns Sell Rondo

The Suns had the No. 21 pick in the 2006 NBA draft and selected Kentucky point guard Rajon Rondo.

They promptly traded Rondo to Boston for cash and a 2007 first-round pick.

Then, they traded that 2007 pick to Portland for cash.

So, essentially, the Suns sold Rondo to get some money.

Imagine: Rondo and Steve Nash. Rondo learning from Nash. Rondo coming off the bench and being the best six man in the league. Rondo as the heir apparent.

Instead, Nash is a free agent, and the Suns have no option to replace him. Rondo averaged 17 points and almost 12 assists per game last season.

Was it worth the money, Phoenix?

Allen to Celtics

In 2007, the Boston Celtics were in the middle of acquiring a championship roster, as Kevin Garnett was coming to join Paul Pierce.

Still, the Celtics needed something more, and they decided that was Ray Allen.

The Celtics acquired Allen and the 35th overall pick from the Sonics for the No. 5 pick Jeff Green, Wally Sczerbiak and Delonte West.

The 35th overall pick turned out to be Glen Davis.

In one fell swoop, GM Danny Ainge acquired the third member of the Big Three as well as a valuable role player in Davis. 

That's better than most drafts. 

Chicago Trades Aldridge

The two best big men in the 2006 NBA draft were Texas forward LaMarcus Aldridge and LSU forward Tyrus Thomas.

The Chicago Bulls, with the second pick, took Aldridge. The Portland Trail Blazers, with the fourth pick, took Thomas.

But the teams must have had some second thoughts because Portland sent Thomas and Viktor Khyrapa to the Bulls for Aldridge and a second-round pick.

Chicago should have stuck with its gut.

Instead of having Aldridge, who averaged 21 points last season, the Bulls had Thomas, who only played for the team for two-and-a-half seasons before being shipped to Charlotte.

The combo of Derrick Rose and LaMarcus Aldridge would have been very potent. Instead, they took Thomas who was largely a bust and is not even in town anymore.

Celtics Get Parish and McHale

Red Auerbach is an NBA legend, and this deal shows why.

At the 1980 NBA draft, Auerbach traded the first and 13th overall selections to the Golden State Warriors for the third overall selection and Robert Parish.

With the third overall selection, the Celtics took Kevin McHale.

Just like that, Auerbach traded for the nucleus of three championship teams. 

The Warriors took Joe Barry Carroll with the first selection and Rickey Brown with the 13th.

Carroll turned into a solid player, but nothing like Parish or McHale. In this trade, the Celtics came out as huge winners.

Sonics Trade Pippen

Scottie Pippen is one of the best NBA players of all time. And the Sonics traded him away.

At the 1987 NBA draft, the Sonics traded Pippen, who they had selected with the fifth overall pick, to the Chicago Bulls for Olden Polynice and future draft picks.

Who's Olden Polynice? Exactly. 

The Bulls got a Hall of Famer for Polynice, who averaged seven points per game in his career. 

If the Sonics were smart and held on to Pippen, they could have formed a great trio with him, Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton. That's a group that could have won championships.

Instead, the Sonics were stuck with Polynice. They never won a title, and now the Sonics are no longer in Seattle.

Probably should have kept Pippen, huh?

Hornets Trade Kobe

The Charlotte Hornets selected Kobe Bryant with the 13th overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft.

Kobe wasn't too thrilled with Charlotte; he wanted the bright lights of L.A.

So, the Hornets traded him to the Lakers for Vlade Divac. 

Divac was a good player in L.A, as he scored 16 points per game before being traded.

But he lasted only two years in Charlotte before being traded to Sacramento, where he helped them become one of the better teams in the league.

On paper, the trade wasn't bad. The Hornets got a strong center and didn't have to deal with the risk of a high school player.

But then Kobe became Kobe, and the rest is history.

If the Hornets had held onto Kobe, they probably would not have moved from Charlotte.

One trade. So innocent, but has such far-reaching consequences.

Dirk for Traylor

Dirk Nowitzki is probably the best international player of all time and one of the best players of all time—period.

And the Bucks traded him.

Milwaukee selected the German ninth in the 1998 NBA draft. Before Nowitzki had a chance to try on his jersey, he and Pat Garrity were traded to Dallas for Robert Traylor.

Traylor averaged 4.8 points per game in a six-year career. He died tragically in 2011 of a heart attack.

Milwaukee had Traylor for only two years. Nowitzki has been the best player on Dallas since he got there.

Not the best move by the Bucks.

Allen and Marbury

Stephon Marbury was chosen with the fourth overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. Ray Allen was selected fifth by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

They were immediately swapped, with the Bucks also grabbing a future first-rounder.

Minnesota probably wants this one back. While Marbury has always been talented, he's been a problem for every team he's been on. He lasted only three seasons in Minnesota.

Allen, meanwhile, is the NBA's all-time leader in three-pointers made and was a leading scorer in Milwaukee.

If Allen had stayed with Minnesota, he would have teamed up with Kevin Garnett. They won a championship together in 2008.

That championship could have been 10 years earlier in Minnesota.

Bill Russell Heads to Boston

In perhaps the greatest draft-day trade of all time, Red Auerbach showed once again why he is one of the all-time greats.

Boston had the number three selection in the 1956 NBA draft, but wanted Bill Russell. 

St. Louis, at No. 2, took Russell, but that didn't stop the Celtics.

Boston traded Ed McCauley and Cliff Hagan for Russell.

McCauley went on to have a Hall of Fame career.

But he's not Russell.

Russell won 11 championships, five MVP awards and was a 12-time all-star.

He's one of the best players in NBA history and started the Boston dynasty. They won 10 out of 11 titles between 1959 and 1969.

Russell was a transformative player and made Boston one of the premier teams in sports.

The Hawks moved to Atlanta in 1968. With Russell, that would not have happened.