Big Day Of Trades In The NBA

Gambling News - June 26, 2009 - Written by Jimmy

When Thursday finally came to a close, several teams, in the NBA, formed new look rosters in preparation for the 2009-2010 NBA Season. Of course, every team is going to look a little different, especially with the 2009 NBA Draft also taking place last night. What I'm referring to is the big day of player trades between the Cavaliers and Suns, and a deal that involved the New Jersey Nets and Orlando Magic.

Around noon, on Thursday, the Cavaliers completed a deal that would send Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, a 2nd round pick, and $500,000 in cash, to the Phoenix Suns, in exchange for Shaquille O'Neal. This looks to be the move that the Cavaliers need to push them over the top, and catapult them into the NBA Finals. In 2008-2009, the Cavaliers had the best record in the NBA, but fell short of the NBA Finals, losing to the Orlando Magic, in 6 games, in the 2009 NBA Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavaliers will also have to compete with the Boston Celtics, who are expected to have a healthy Kevin Garnett.

Seemingly in response to the Cleveland/Phoenix deal, the Orlando Magic made some moves of their own. Later Thursday, after the Shaq trade, the Magic announced a trade between them and the New Jersey Nets, which would send Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson, to the Magic, in exchange for Rafer Alston, Courtney Lee, and Tony Battie. This move should be a nice complement to Dwight Howard, and Rashad Lewis. While the Magic did represent the East, in the 2009 NBA Finals, they realize they must not sit idle, as other teams around them get better.

In addition to yesterday's trades, the NBA held it's annual NBA Draft, which saw Blake Griffin go number 1, overall, to the Los Angeles Clippers. Griffin was followed by Hasheem Thabeet at the number two pick, to the Memphis Grizzles. The Oklahoma City Hornets then took the third pick to select James Harden. The fourth pick belonged to the Sacaramento Kings, at which time they selected Tyreke Evans. The fifth and sixth picks both went to the Minnesota Timberwolves. With the fifth, they selected Ricky Rubio (Spain), and with the sixth, the Kings selected Jonny Flynn. Other notable players include Tyler Hansborough, going at 13 to the Indiana Pacers, Ty Lawson going to Denver, from Minnesota, at the 18th pick, Wayne Ellington to Minnesota at pick 28, and Toney Douglas going to the New York Knicks, at pick 29, after a trade with the Los Angeles Lakers. There were 7 teams without a first round pick.

So, as we head into Friday, things are all but settled. There are still several more rounds to go, in the NBA Draft and there is a good chance we will see more trades, especially with teams trading picks. If Thursday is any indication of the action we'll see on Friday, it should be a pretty exciting conclusion to the work week.