Deal #1: The arms race in the west continues
New Orleans gets: Mike James, Bonzi Wells, and cash from Houston.
Houston gets: Bobby Jackson, Adam Haluska, and a 2nd round draft pick from New Orleans. They also receive the draft rights to Sergei Lishchuk from Memphis.
Memphis gets: Marcus Vinicius and the draft rights to Malick Badiane.
Deal #2: Slightly more blockbuster-y sends Ben Wallace and Wally Szczerbiak to the Cavs.
Cleveland gets: Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, and a future 2nd round pick from Chicago. Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West from Seattle.
Chicago gets: Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons, and Shannon Brown from Cleveland.
Seattle gets: Adrian Griffin from Chicago. Ira Newble and Donyell Marshall from Cleveland.
This is a great trade for Cleveland and gives them some answers for the Big Three in Boston. They’re also shoving all their chips into the center of the table to try for a championship before LeBron leaves. They also get Wally Szczerbiak’s $13M worth of expiring contract next season. Granted, the Cavs will be left with Ben Wallace’s corpse the last season of his awful contract, but he should help them out huge for the next two seasons. Seattle gets an enormous salary dump and gets small, soon-to-expire contracts in return. Chicago gets rid of Ben Wallace’s contract.
This wraps up one of the craziest NBA trade deadlines in recent memory and really solidifies the Cavs slot as one of the top 4 in the East.
