The Best Games to See NBA Trades in Action

By ScoreBig on February 20, 2015

In 20 minutes yesterday, the entire landscape of the NBA changed. That’s the nature of Trade Deadline Day, that annual NBA holiday after the All-Star Break where teams either pick up new talent for the stretch run to the playoffs or shed unwanted pieces to get excess salary off the books. Depending on where your favorite players wound up, you may want to pick up some new NBA tickets before they all sell out…

This year saw a few minor trades up until right before the deadline and then the league fax machine started going crazy with trade after trade after trade with just minutes to spare. When the dust settled, a slew of guards changed jerseys, a few old vets came home to the teams that made them, and the Philadelphia 76ers acquired enough draft picks to select the entire Kentucky Wildcat starting five for next season.

Brothers Dragic

The biggest trade of the day saw the Brothers Dragic moving from Phoenix to Miami. While Zoran might not excite Heat ticket holders, Goran is one of the best young point guards in the league. Sorry, Mario Chalmers, but your days of starting are now over. In return, Phoenix picked up the corpse of Danny Granger, career journeyman John Salmons, and, more importantly, two first-round draft picks. Not a bad haul for the Suns.

Watch these two teams in a post-trade head-to-head on March 2 when Phoenix heads down to the American Airlines Arena to play the Heat. Save up to 60% on tickets now!

The New Look Bucks

Speaking of the Suns, they also brought in a replacement for Dragic by way of Milwaukee. Brandon Knight’s been lighting it up for the Bucks all year and now he’ll be running the show in the Valley of the Sun while Milwaukee grabs upcoming big man Miles Plumlee, backup PG Tyler Ennis, and last year’s Rookie of the Year, Philadelphia’s Michael Carter-Williams, who got involved with the trade when the Sixers decided to gobble up even more draft picks.

MCW and the new look Bucks get to show off to Philadelphia next week on February 25 when the Sixers fly over to icy-cold Milwaukee for a mid-week match-up. Save up to 60% on tickets now!

Homecoming

Following the lead of LeBron over the summer, both Kevin Garnett and Tayshaun Prince get to return to the teams where they got their starts. Prince returns to Detroit where he won two championships while Garnett heads back to Minnesota where he’ll attempt to infuse some veteran leadership into the locker room for the cellar-dwelling Wolves. In return for KG, Thaddeus Young moves to Brooklyn to bring some youth into the starting lineup and, more importantly, save the Nets a ton of luxury tax money. Brooklyn is right on the doorstep of playoff contention and if they get some Ws on their upcoming West Coast road trip, they might just sneak in.

Celebrate Garnett’s homecoming with Timberwolves Tickets. Grab Pistons Tickets to see Price.  And check the Nets out against Denver on Monday when new Net Thad Young gets to go at it against Kenneth Faried. Save up to 60% below box office price on tickets now!

The New OKC

Joining Tayshaun in Detroit is Reggie Jackson, who made his OKC misery well-known and now has a chance to thrive as the Pistons’ point guard of the future. In the same trade, the Thunder got rid of perpetual sad face Kendrick Perkins and brought in Enes Kanter as a replacement. OKC is still finding its legs after a rash of injuries, but Kanter’s a major upgrade in the middle.

If you get tickets to the Thunder/Bulls game on March 5, you can see the improvement yourself as Kanter will have to battle legit big men Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah. Save 50% on tickets now!

Afflalo on the Move

The last significant trade of the day involved Arron Afflalo on the move – again. Denver said goodbye to the defense-oriented shooting guard in exchange for former lottery pick Thomas Robinson, Will Barton, Victor Claver, and a Top 5-protected first-rounder. The Blazers are already awesome and Afflalo is a luxury as a back-up two-guard behind Wes Matthews. The Nuggets, on the other hand, need to start the rebuilding process and draft picks are always the best way to do that. It’s a decent victory for both teams.

Lots of movement this year at the trade deadline and there are roughly 30 games left in the season to see how it’ll all shake out. You can catch the action at home, but you’re much better off buying NBA tickets and seeing it all unfold before your very eyes. Save up to 60% below box office price on NBA tickets with ScoreBig.com. With no fees and free shipping, you’ll save on every ticket every day.

By Jason Kessler