Report: Ben Gordon's Debacle with Coach Makes a Trade Imminent

Last week, a Ben Gordon-Kris Humphries trade between the Charlotte Bobcats and Brooklyn Nets was talked about, but nothing came to fruition.

Gordon displayed an unprofessional attitude and behavior toward Coach Mike Dunlap during the Bobcats' practice earlier today. A Gordon trade seems imminent at this point, considering his situation with the organization is pretty shaky.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the Bobcats are now more willing than ever to trade their backup shooting guard.

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As Dunlap led the Bobcats in a morning shootaround on Monday before a victory over the Celtics, Gordon refused Dunlap's request to stop bouncing a ball as the coach spoke, sources said. Before long, Gordon began baiting Dunlap, telling him that he needed to "humble himself," sources said.

Gordan refused to give the ball to Dunlap, and eventually tossed it toward a ball rack, sources said.

Bobcats general manager Rod Higgins was in the practice session and ultimately intervened, sources said.

"Beyond disrespectful," was how one league source described the scene.

The front office didn't suspend Gordon, a decision sources said was based in part on the belief the incident would diminish his trade value so close to the league's deadline next Thursday. The Brooklyn Nets are still mulling an offer to trade forward Kris Humphries for Gordon, but have thus far been unmoved over the possibility Gordon can make an impact for them, sources said.

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Gordon has fallen off in recent times since he was considered one of the best shooting guards with the Chicago Bulls earlier in his career. 

The last relevant memory of Gordon was during the first round of the 2009 NBA playoffs, where a seventh-seeded Bulls team nearly knocked off the defending champion Boston Celtics in one of the most memorable playoff series in recent history. Gordon averaged over 24 points per game in those seven games.

After the 2008-09 season, Gordon seemingly faded into obscurity, as he played three meaningless seasons on a rebuilding Detroit Pistons team before being dealt.

With the Bobcats, Gordon is only registering 12.6 PPG on 42.8 percent shooting in 22 minutes per game. However, he demonstrated that he can still explode on any given night, as evident by his 34-point performance against the New Orleans Hornets earlier this season.

The Gordon-Humphries trade involving the Nets would actually benefit both teams. The Nets would obtain a productive offensive player, who can shoot the ball and create off the dribble for his teammates while playing behind Joe Johnson.

For the Bobcats, Humphries' rebounding would certainly improve the team with the worst rebounding rate in the league (per Hollinger's Team Stats).