Remembering the madness that was the 2015 NBA Trade Deadline
Adrian Wojnarowski delivered one final Woj bomb on Wednesday when he announced his retirement from NBA news breaking and will spend the rest of his career helping his alma mater St. Bonaventure as the GM of their men’s basketball program.
That presumably means he can retire a few of his smart phones and perhaps fix whatever posture problems have been created by seemingly spending the majority of every working day staring at the brick in his hand trading messages and intel with the NBA’s elite.
Woj has been omnipresent in the NBA, but he’s still only 55 years old and really only cemented his status as an NBA newsbreaker in about 2008 or so as a columnist and well-connected reporter at Yahoo Sports.
In reflecting on everything that is Wojnarowski, my mind immediately went to my all-time favorite tweet from the unflappable reporter. You have to go back all the way to February 2015 and remember how crazy the final moments of the NBA Trade Deadline truly were.
Anyone who thought Woj not only knew the narrative but practically controlled the narrative got to see the mask slip a bit and the human side of Wojnarowski come out with two simple words: “Good lord .”
Good lord.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 19, 2015
What could bring the NBA’s most well-connected reporter to this point? Approximately 415 trades in the final 20 minutes of the deadline — including a few involving your Detroit Pistons .
The Pistons were involved in two three-team trades in those waning moments, ultimately sending out Kyle Singler, DJ Augustin, Gigi Datome, and Jonas Jerebko and getting Reggie Jackson and Tayshaun Prince in return.
But the news was coming in drips and drabs and because so many teams were involved, among other deals flying around at the last minute, nobody was quite sure who got dealt where and for what.
The flurry of activity had NBA players scratching their heads. Joel Embiid said “please help” and Jerian Grant wasn’t quite sure if his brother, and former Piston, Jerami Grant was still a member of the Siers when it was all said and done.
Someone tell me what’s going on please help
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) February 19, 2015
Is my brother still on the Sixers?!?!
— Jerian Grant (@JerianGrant) February 19, 2015
It was enough confusion to make Wojnarowski exclaim, “Good lord” in disbelief.
The official transaction for Detroit looked like this, and it’s quite simple, really (per Basketball Reference ):
- As part of a 3-team trade, the Detroit Pistons traded a 2017 2nd round draft pick (Thomas Bryant was later selected) to the Utah Jazz ; the Detroit Pistons traded D.J. Augustin , Kyle Singler and a 2019 2nd round draft pick (Isaiah Roby was later selected) to the Oklahoma City Thunder ; the Oklahoma City Thunder traded Reggie Jackson to the Detroit Pistons ; the Oklahoma City Thunder traded Grant Jerrett , Kendrick Perkins , Tibor Pleiß and a 2018 1st round draft pick (Josh Okogie was later selected) to the Utah Jazz ; and the Utah Jazz traded Enes Kanter and Steve Novak to the Oklahoma City Thunder .
- As part of a 3-team trade, the Detroit Pistons traded Gigi Datome and Jonas Jerebko to the Boston Celtics ; the Boston Celtics traded Tayshaun Prince to the Detroit Pistons ; the Boston Celtics traded Marcus Thornton and a 2016 1st round draft pick (Skal Labissière was later selected) to the Phoenix Suns ; and the Phoenix Suns traded Isaiah Thomas to the Boston Celtics . (PHO 2016 1st round pick received from BOS is CLE’s pick and is top-10 protected.)
Other deals in those final 20 minutes include Goran Dragic going to the Heat, KJ McDaniels, Paglo Prigioni to Houston, Alexy Schved to the Knicks , Brandon Knight to Phoenix, Michael Carter Williams, Miles Plumlee, and Tyler Ennis to Milwaukee, Enes Kanter to OKC, Kevin Garnett to Minnesota, Thaddeus Young to Brooklyn, Norris Cole to the Pelicans, and Isaiah Canaan to Philly.
Good lord.
What is your favorite Woj memory, or the biggest Woj bomb you remember involving the Pistons? There are so many to choose from and subsequently remember how excited we were before the reality set in. Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva? Josh Smith? Blake Griffin? The Darko trade? The hiring and/or firing of any particular head coach? Ahh, memories.