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We are getting closer and closer to 19 October, the start date of the 2022-23 season, and the market is getting more and more alive. Each of the thirty NBA franchises is constantly looking for new players to sign to reinforce roster and meet seasonal goals. However, the new arrivals do not always perform as hoped for and the exchanges can damage rather than reinforce the team, often affecting not just one but more seasons due to their weight on the balance sheet. The site Bleacher Report has compiled a ranking of the five worst trade of the last three seasons, considering the impact on the pitch and on the finances of the individual teams.
5 – Kelly Oubre jr. ai Golden State Warriors, 2020
At the beginning of the season 2020-21 the Golden State Warriors, after a bad season due to heavy injuries to key players in the team, try to replace long-term Klay Thompsonstill struggling with a ruptured Achilles tendon, with Kelly Oubre jrarrived from Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for a choice in the first round and one in the second of the 2021 draft. The difficulties of the former Kansas Jayhawks are immediately evident, and its performance decidedly subdued, with solos 11.7 average points in the first 19 races and particularly low percentages (35.9% from the field e 22.1% three-point). In addition, his hefty salary from 14.4 million dollars annually forces the Bay allowance to increase the payment of the luxury tax of well 68 million dollarswith a total expense of 82.4 million which certainly hasn’t paid off in the field. After just one season, the player left San Francisco to marry Charlotte Hornets.
4 – Cam Reddish ai New York Knicks, 2022
At the beginning of the season 2021-22Cam Reddish it was a “luxury reserve” for the Atlanta Hawksplaying about 24 minutes per game with 11.9 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1 steal on average pulling with a very respectable 37.9% three-point. In January 2022, the Georgia team concludes one trade with the New York Knicks who, on paper, look very interesting: Reddish, Solomon Hill and a pick in the second round of the 2025 draft land in the Big Applein exchange for Kevin Knox and a first-round pick in the 2022 draft. In New York, the number 21 reunites with his former college friend RJ Barrettbut he coaches Tom Thibodeau seems not to see the potential of the former Duke. Reddish only plays about 14 minutes per game, and his stats plummet: 6.1 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.8 steals on averagewith an efficacy of the solo 25.8% from three. The choice in the first round was then passed in the summer to San Antonio Spursin trade which led to the Hawks DeJounte Murray. Forse, se i Knicks still had that available pickthey would have had a few more chances to take Donovan Mitchellmarrying instead ai Cleveland Cavaliers.
3 – Nikola Vucevic and the Chicago Bulls, 2021
In an attempt to flank another All Star and Zech LaVinein order to make the leap in quality and bring the team to the playoffi Chicago Bulls they decide to set up an exchange with the Orlando Magic: Nikola Vucevic e Al-Farouq Aminu land in the Windy City in exchange for Wendell Carter jr.Otto Porter jr.a first-round pick in the 2021 draft (later used to acquire Franz Wagner) and one in the draft 2023. At the time of the trade, the center had some very important statistics: 24.5 points, 11.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1 stolen ball per game and a great one 40.6% three-point. All this, however, in red-and-black little has been seen. The Montenegrin is certainly an excellent player, but he did not have the expected impact, and the belief of many is that the price paid by the Illinois franchise was decidedly high, especially considering the exponential improvement of Carter jr. and the call from Wagner, who had a very positive first season and looks promising.
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2 – I Boston Celtics cedono Desmond Bane, 2020
The second position is occupied by a trade that, for once, did not see “defeat” the team that acquired the player in question, but the one that sold him. In the 2020 draft, in fact, the Boston Celtics had three choices in the first round and, after calling Aaron Nesmith with the fourteenth and Payton Pritchard with the twenty-sixth, they are forced to sell the player called with the third choice, the thirtieth, to avoid exceeding the salary cap and paying the luxury tax. Thus, the Massachusetts franchise establishes a multi-team trade involving the Portland Trail Blazers eh Memphis Grizzlies. The Oregon team gets Enes Kanter from green-and-whites and a sum of money from Bearswho in turn give two picks in the second round (2023 and 2025) to the Celtics and get Mario Hezonja from Portland and, in fact, the player called with the thirtieth pick in the draft from Boston. Too bad that player is Desmond Bane, quickly became a staple of the Tennessee franchise. In its second season, the number 22 exploded, recording 18.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.2 steals per gamealso becoming the second best three-point shooter this season with a more than excellent 43.6%.
1 – Russell Westbrook ai Los Angeles Lakers, 2021
It couldn’t be otherwise. There trade worst of the last three years of transfer is, without a shadow of a doubt, the one that brought Russell Westbrook to the Los Angeles Lakers. Landed in California along with second-round picks for the 2023, 2024, and 2028 drafts, to get Brodie the yellow and purple have succumbed to Washington Wizards Kyle KuzmaKentavious Caldwell-PopeMontrezl Harrell and pick number 22 in the 2021 draft, later used to call Isaiah Jackson. Defined by Bleacher Report “The worst trade since the Brooklyn Nets debacle of 2013”, this exchange has, in fact, economically destroyed the Los Angeles franchise, which has so far failed to place the maxi-contract from 47.1 million dollars a year of his number 0, after a season in which the ex Oklahoma City Thunder he provided a decidedly subdued performance, at times being detrimental to the team, which ended the regular season con 33 wins and 49 losseslacking the entrance to the playoff and not even qualifying for the play-in. Some market rumors would like him to be close to farewell but, so far, no team has dared to take this step for a player who, at 33, now seems to have passed his best moment.
