Craziest trades in NBA history
At just around midnight eastern time on February 1, 2025, Shams Charania of ESPN broke one of the biggest blockbuster trades in NBA, and one that came out of the blue. In a three team deal the Dallas Mavericks traded superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis.
The trade sent shockwaves throughout the NBA world. 25 year old superstars don't just get traded, especially not as randomly as Doncic did. Yeah, there was the Donovan Mitchell trade to Cleveland, but everyone expected that he was going to get traded at some point. Nobody expected the Mavs to trade Luka Doncic in his prime.
10. The Seattle Sonics traded Gary Payton, and Desmond Mason to the Milwaukee Bucks for Ray Allen, Ron Murray, Kevin Ollie and a first round pick.
This trade was a bit shocking, not that the Sonics were looking to move on from the Glove, but what they got for him. Allen gave them a new star to build around.
The trade was not franchise altering for either team. Seattle had a few good years with Allen before sending him to Boston and the team to Oklahoma City. Payton left Milwaukee after the season.
9. Phildelphia 76ers trade Allen Iverson and Ivann McFarlin to the Denver Nuggets for Andre Miller, Joe Smith and a pair for 2007 first round picks.
This trade both came out of nowhere and did not. Iverson has been voicing his frusteration with the Sixers prior to the 2006 trade, what shocked people was that he was traded to the Denver Nuggets and for a relatively lean package.
The Sixers got very limited use of any of their assets, and both firsts were traded. The Nuggets did see some good years pairing AI with Carmelo Anthony, but it never resulted in a finals appearance and a few years later they broke the duo up.
8. The Indiana Pacers trade Billy Knight to the Buffalo Braves for Adrian Dantley and Mike Bantom.
This was a really weird trade as both players were in their prime and Braves had just drafted Dantley the year before. But this trade surprised the NBA world in its boldness.
The trade also turned out to be a disaster for both teams in a sense. Dantley never fit with the Pacers and 3 months after trading for him, they traded him to the Lakers. Billy Knight would return to the Pacers a couple of years later, but never reached his former glory.
7. The Los Angeles Lakers trade Adrian Dantley to the Utah Jazz for Spencer Haywood.
In a span of 2 years Dantley would be traded 3 times, which is unheard of for a star player. But Dantley had issues in Indiana and than had issues with the Lakers and their new rookie Magic Johnson, so the Lakers shipped him off for another problem child in Spencer Haywood. Haywood had been good with the Jazz in a short stint and had revitalized his career, but was not happy with the teams relocation from New Orleans.
The trade was lopsided. Haywood never regained form with the Lakers and was out of the league a couple of years later. Dantley finally settled down and became an all-NBA league leading scorer for the Jazz.
6. The Denver Nuggets traded Chauncey Billups, Carmelo Anthony, Renaldo Blakman, Anthony Carter, Shelden Williams and 2016 first rounder to the New York Knicks, and a 2015 sedcound to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Timberwolves traded Kosta Koufos to the Denver Nuggets, and Corey Brewer to the Knicks. The New York Knicked traded Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov a pair of 2nd round picks, a 2014 first round pick, and a 2016 first round pick to the Denver Nuggets, and traded Eddy Curry, Anthony Randolph and cash to the Wolves.
The Nuggets, Knicks and Wolves made one of the biggest trades in NBA history at the 2011 trade deadline. This was not out of the blue as Anthony had been wanting to play in New York, but it still sent shockwaves through the NBA. The trade blew up the Nuggets roster, but did allow them to get the pieces that they eventually used to rebuild and win an NBA championship. Melo gave the Knicks some of their best years since the 1990s and their only playoff series win from 2000-2024.
The trade got many asking, what is the craziest trade in NBA history. What other deals in the nearly 80 year history of the league has been so abrupt and franchise altering, and left fans, rival General Managers, and people in the know just awestruck. It took a while to research, but here are 10 of the craziest trades in NBA history.
5. The Cleveland Cavaliers trade Kyrie Irving to the Boston Celtics for Jae Crowder, Isaia Thomas, Ante Zizic, and 2018 first round pick and a 2020 2nd round pick.
This trade shocked many. Both Irving and Thomas were coming off fantastic seasons, and Kyrie looked to be a building block with the Cavs, who had won an NBA title with him and Lebron. But Irving wanted to go to Boston. The Celtics traded beloved gaurd Isaiah Thomas and other assets to get Irving.
This trade did not really work out well for anybody. Irving was often injured for the Celtics and eventually signed with the Nets after 2 years. Thomas never regained form and has struggled to stay in the NBA since. Crowder was traded to Utah for Rodney Hood months later, though the first rounder became Collin Sexton who the Cavs used to trade for Donovan Mitchell.
4. The Miami Heat trade Glen Rice, Matt Geiger, Khalid Reeves and a first round pick to the Charlotte Hornets for Alonzo Mourning, LaRon Ellis and Pete Myers.
As the league got ready to celebrate its 50th season the Heat and Hornets did this blockbuster. The trade came out of nowhere and left fans scrambling trying to figure out what had just happened.
This is one of the rare trades that is really a win for both sides. Rice was really good with the Hornets, winning all-star MVP with them, and they were always a playoff team. Zo was a consistent all-star and DPOTY for the Heat.
3. Philadelphia 76ers trade Charles Barkley to the Phoenix Suns for Jeff Hornacek, Andrew Lang, and Tim Perry.
This is often regarded as one of the worst trades in NBA history, and may be the closest thing to the Luka Doncic trade, but is much worse. The Sixers traded Barkley, in his prime, for absolutely nothing of value. Barkley would win MVP the following season and lead the Suns to the NBA finals. Lang and Perry with both terrible for the Sixers and were gone quickly. Hornacek coming off his lone all-star appearance was the highlight of the trade for the Sixers, he played 2 injury prone seasons before being traded to Utah for Jeff Malone.
It took the Sixers a long time to recover from this trade, but the terrible years eventually lead to them getting the #1 pick and selecting Allen Iverson in 1996.
2. The Denver Nuggets trade Allen Iverson to the Detroit Pistons for Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess, and Cheikh Samb.
AI makes the list again. The Pistons-Nuggets deal early in the 2008-09 season rocked the NBA world. The Pistons were coming off a remarkible run of six straight Eastern Conference Finals and had been one of the most dominate teams in the NBA winning a title in 2004 with Billups winning MVP. The Nuggets had been good and made the west finals but never got over the hump with Melo and AI.
The trade really backfired for both teams. A year and a half later the Nuggets traded both Billups and Carmelo Anthony to New York and Iverson only played the one season in Detroit. The Pistons have never recovered from this trade, and have not won a playoff game since trading Billups.
1. The Dallas Mavericks trade Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markief Morris to the Los Angeles Lakers, and trade a 2nd round pick to the Utah Jazz. The Los Angeles Lakers trade Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first round pick to the Dallas Mavericks, and Jalen Hood-Schifino and a 2025 2nd round pick to the Utah Jazz.
As you can see, there really has never been a trade like this in NBA history. It is the first time in NBA history where two players who were all NBA the year before were traded for each other mid-season.
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