Worst trades of the past decade
Today's atrocity got me thinking, what trades (if any) in recent times, have been worse for a franchise than the one the Magic made (barring league intervention) today? *Sign and trades do not count*
I mean, the Magic had decent packages on the table for Howard, and reportedly, they have taken one involving an average, overpaid guard in Arron Afflalo, 2 unproven players in Harkless and Vucevic, an over-the-hill veteran in Harrington, and three 'protected' picks, from teams that will not be in the lottery for the foreseeable future; add this to the fact they were unable to even get Turkoglu and Duhon's contracts of the books, and you have a one hell of a bad trade..
The Magic had aimed to obtain the following:
1. Cap Space:
Failure. They still have the ludicrous contracts of Duhon & Turkoglu (and the newly signed; equally ludicrous deal of Nelson's, worth about $27 million over three years), and the unfavourable contracts of Quentin Richardson & Big Baby on the books. Plus, they just acquired Afflalo, and the 4 years (approximately $35 million) left on his contract
2. Talented young players:
Failure. Harkless and Vucevic are largely unproven, and whilst they have potential, they will likely not surpass the level of role-players in this league (especially Vucevic)
3. Lottery picks
Wash. The Magic chose to deal with three strong teams, and acquired a protected first-rounder from each. The catch? If these are protected so that the Magic may only acquire them if they are lottery picks, they may not be utilised for several years, as the Nuggets, Sixers, and Lakers figure to be playoff mainstays in their respective conferences for years to come.
From this trade, and the other moves made by Hennigan over the summer (letting Anderson go, signing Nelson to a three year, $27 million deal) it looks as if we may be seeing the second coming of Otis Smith in Central Florida... (Ok, maybe that's too far)
I'm interested to see people's opinions about this trade in particular, and whether other trades made in recent memory have been as lopsided as this one seems to be.