Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five teammates who were once traded for each other, and the video games that feature those stints.

While it’s become far more common – and some would say, acceptable – for stars to change teams nowadays, it’s always been somewhat rare for players to spend their entire career with one club. Even if a player does stay put, they’ll end up playing with a host of different teammates throughout the years. Between the players that join the team they’re on and the teams that they may go on to join, old rivals will become teammates, former teammates will reunite, and superteams will form, giving us plenty of interesting lineups to talk about…and of course, play with in video games.

Needless to say, trades also break up duos and teammates who no doubt enjoyed playing with one another. We’ve even seen former college teammates get traded for each other during the Draft, as Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison were back in 1998. A trade where former teammates end up being swapped for one another gets you thinking, specifically whether the reverse has ever happened. In other words, have any players who were once traded for each other later become teammates? It has indeed happened, and since I explore such trivia through the lens of the virtual hardwood, here are five traded players turned teammates, and the games featuring those pairings.

1. Dennis Rodman & Sean Elliott

As the era of the Bad Boy Pistons drew to a close, their key players began retiring or moving on to new teams. Dennis Rodman, on the verge of coming out of his shell in a way that would make him a celebrity on top of one of the league’s best defenders and rebounders, was traded to the San Antonio Spurs for Sean Elliott. It was the beginning of a turbulent two seasons for The Worm in San Antonio, and a rough year for Elliott in Detroit. As always, I can’t skip mentioning that the Pistons tried to trade Elliott to the Rockets for Robert Horry in a deal that was ultimately cancelled, but nevertheless included in the fourth revision of the arcade version of NBA Jam Tournament Edition.

Despite his struggles and the revelation that he was suffering from kidney disease, the Pistons did eventually find a taker for Elliott: his old team, the Spurs. For the price of rookie Bill Curley and a future pick, Elliott would be reunited with David Robinson. Dennis Rodman was still there too – he wouldn’t be shipped to Chicago for another year – so the All-Star forwards that the Spurs once traded for each other were now teammates as San Antonio looked to take a run at the defending champion Houston Rockets. It didn’t work out, but they were still a formidable team that you can find in any games set in 1995, such as the PC versions of NBA Live 95 and NBA Jam TE.

2. Ray Allen & Stephon Marbury

I’ve always found it funny when players who get drafted back-to-back are then traded for each other. It’s obviously done so that teams can also swap future picks and cash considerations, but it still feels largely pointless in the moment. The aforementioned swap of college teammates Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter – the fourth and fifth picks in 1998 respectively – is a good example of a deal made to exchange other assets. Two years earlier of course, the fourth and fifth picks of the 1996 Draft also swapped hats shortly after they were selected. It’s easily forgotten, but Ray Allen was originally picked by the Timberwolves, while Stephon Marbury went to the Bucks.

Minnesota and Milwaukee subsequently traded the two future All-Stars, with the Bucks also receiving a future first round pick; one they ultimately traded back to the Timberwolves a couple of weeks later for Andrew Lang (it eventually became Rasho Nesterovic). Given that unusual turn of events, it seems only appropriate that Allen and Marbury eventually became teammates, long after they were traded for each other on Draft day. A year after acquiring Allen along with Kevin Garnett, Boston signed Marbury in a move that you can see in roster updates for NBA Live 09 and NBA 2K9. It was also a reunion for KG and Starbury, once a promising young duo in Minnesota.

3. Allen Iverson & Antonio McDyess

This is a fun example of teammates who were once traded for each other, as unlike the other situations covered in this list, it happened within the same season! After a year and a half in Denver, Allen Iverson was traded to Detroit for Chauncey Billups. The deal also included Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb, which briefly made McDyess a familiar face back in a familiar place; something that he’d already been thanks to a second stint with the Phoenix Suns in 2004. He was only included in the trade for salary cap purposes, so after completing the deal on November 3rd 2008, the Nuggets waived McDyess on November 10th, and he became a free agent on the 12th.

McDyess then signed with the Pistons on December 9th. The wait was due to what came to be unofficially known as the “Gary Payton rule”; a clause in the new CBA signed in 2005 stating that a player who is traded and then waived cannot re-sign with the team that traded him for 30 days. It’s one of several infamous loopholes that the league has tried to close over the years, but it doesn’t actually prevent a player from returning to a team that traded them, if they’re willing to wait. McDyess was, and in signing with the Pistons, he became a teammate of Allen Iverson after being traded for him. It was a short-lived pairing, as both players left Detroit at the end of the year.

4. Tracy McGrady & Steve Francis

Although he did have a successful NBA career, it’s fair to say that Steve Francis didn’t quite live up to the “Stevie Franchise” nickname. Mind you, while he may not have proven himself a franchise player, his various pairings with other big names led to scenarios that were enticing in franchise modes! Beginning with his first couple of years playing alongside Hakeem Olajuwon and then a couple more as a duo with Yao Ming, he went on to become teammates with Grant Hill, Dwight Howard, Stephon Marbury, and Tracy McGrady. Unfortunately, a combination of age, injuries, and a lack of chemistry and/or a deep roster made those scenarios much better on paper.

And of course, Francis becoming teammates with T-Mac was significant as Houston and Orlando traded them for each other in 2004. It was a rare blockbuster where it felt like both sides were getting equal value…indeed, like a trade executed in a franchise mode! Come 2007, following his stints on lottery-bound Magic and Knicks teams, Francis had the opportunity to return to the Rockets and join forces with T-Mac. It didn’t last long as injuries ended his season and ultimately his career, but they were a fun duo in games like NBA Live 08 and NBA 2K8. Indeed, with the 2008 Rockets becoming a classic team in NBA 2K, you can still play with this unexpected tandem.

5. Kobe Bryant & Vlade Divac

The Allen-for-Marbury swap at the 1996 Draft was a major deal, but in the annals of NBA history, that night produced a far bigger trade. Charlotte agreed to draft Kobe Bryant for the Los Angeles Lakers, in exchange for Vlade Divac. The deal was held up as Divac originally threatened to retire rather than be sent to the Hornets, but after he relented, it became official in July. Divac ended up having a solid 16-year NBA career, notably playing a key role in the Sacramento Kings becoming a powerhouse in the early 2000s. The Lakers obviously got the best of the deal though, with Kobe’s 20-year career more than justifying them gambling on a player fresh out of high school!

That trade – which also freed up the cap room to sign Shaquille O’Neal – had already linked Kobe and Vlade forever. Eight years later though, these two long-time Lakers who had once been traded for each other became teammates when Divac re-joined LA. Now in his mid 30s, he was called upon to replace Shaq following The Diesel’s trade to Miami; an unenviable task to say the least! Divac was suffering from back problems though, and played sparingly in just 15 games before retiring in July 2005. Although it didn’t pan out, Divac’s return stint playing with the future star he was once traded for makes for some fun roster trivia in NBA Live 2005 and ESPN NBA 2K5.

Do you remember these players becoming teammates after being traded for each other? Can you recall any other noteworthy examples of players who ended up playing together after they were swapped in the same trade? Let me know in the comments, and as always, feel free to take the discussion to the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week, so thanks for checking in, have a great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.

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