NBA trade deadline marked by flurry of transactions

A lot of the big names that we have heard bandied about over the past few months stayed home but there were still a flurry of trades that occurred as the NBA trade deadline expired on Thursday.

Pau Gasol, Rajon Rondo, Dwight Howard and Josh Smith will all remain with their respective teams at least for the rest of the season but there were a lot of other players who have new cities they will be calling home.

The most shocking was longtime Los Angeles Laker Derek Fisher who was traded to the Houston Rockets for forward Josh Hill. Trading Fisher isn’t so much a surprise from a performance perspective since he is no longer fast enough to defend many of the leagues’ younger and speedier guards but he was a very important guy in the Lakers locker room.

Kobe Bryant has a reputation as a difficult guy to get along with at times but Fisher was usually a good buffer who helped bridge the communication gaps that Bryant had with management and other players from time to time. Let’s see how the team responds without Fisher’s presence there.

The only reason the Lakers were able to trade Fisher is because they acquired Ramon Sessions from the Cleveland Cavaliers. They shipped off forward Luke Walton and a 2^nd round pick to bring in Sessions and forward Christian Eyenga.

Stephen Jackson was traded to his second team within a week as the Golden State Warriors sent him to the San Antonio Spurs for Richard Jefferson and a conditional 1^st round pick.

The Denver Nuggets parted ways with longtime center Nene moving him in a three-way trade with the Los Angeles Clippers and the Washington Wizards. Nene and Clippers’ forward Brian Cook go to Washington, shooting guard Nick Young was shipped to the Clippers and the Nuggets received center JaVale McGee and backup center Ronny Turiaf.

The Portland Trail Blazers were involved in two trades on Thursday shipping Gerald Wallace to the New Jersey Nets for Mehmet Okur, Shawne Williams and a top-three protected 1^st round draft pick. They also shipped off center Marcus Camby to the Rockets for Jonny Flynn, Hasheem Thabeet and a 2^nd round pick.

The last two trades of the day were not quite as splashy as the Toronto Raptors traded Leandro Barbosa to the Indiana Pacers for a 2^nd round pick and the Memphis Grizzlies traded guard Sam Young to the Philadelphia 76ers for future considerations.

Not the power-shifting trade day that many were expecting but still a rather busy day for the NBA’s league offices.  

  
Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and an NBA Blogger for The Sport Mentalist 2. He is also a Sports Reporter for Pro Sports Lives. He can be contacted at RHall_TPFB@Yahoo.com and be sure to follow him on Twitter @sportmentalist.