7 Team Trade Including Kevin Durant Sets NBA Record
On July 6, Kevin Durant, along with 12 other players, changed teams as part of a 7 way trade. This NBA trade was made possible by the extra cashed allowed by NBA trade rule quirks, and set the record for total number of teams.
Trades like this don’t happen overnight. “Most executives don’t wake up in the morning and say, ‘Hey, I have this great idea for a seven-team deal!’” says John Hollinger, a former Memphis Grizzly vice executive. What often happens is a several small deals combine. Let’s say you have player A, and you trade that player for player B. Now, another team wants player B, so you get player C from them in exchange. Repeat that a few more times, and you get your big deal.
Another incentive for this is that, in big deals with 3+ teams, teams can ask for more money while trading players due to the NBA trade rules. This is also because of other complicated elements, including salary caps and Free Agency deals. An additional reason is that teams cannot make an even deal that both sides agree on with just two teams. However, if there are more teams involved, there are more items that can be traded. This makes it easier for teams to agree on a trade. First, there is a higher chance that a team will want something and join the deal. Second, it is easier to balance such a deal by swapping minor players around. There’s a bunch of other regulations and practices to make deals even work, but this is the basics.
Let’s take a look at this year’s deal. There are 7 teams, which leads to an extremely cluttered deal. Most players are minor, except Kevin Durant, the 2014 NBA MVP. He went from the Phoenix Suns to the Houston Rockets, saying, “My time in Phoenix has come to an end. … Much love to Arizona. Houston, Can’t Wait!” The Rockets coach says, “…he’s the type of competitor who fits with what we’ve been building here in Houston.” In return, the Suns receive 7 players from various teams.
The completed deal involves the Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets, Brooklyn Nets, Atlanta Hawks, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, and Minnesota Timberwolves, with the Memphis Grizzlies participating but not contributing to the deal. A 6-team deal similar to this happened last year, with Klay Thompson involved, and a 5-team deal happened in 2021. Mr. Hollinger expects deals like this to happen more often in the future, due to the practicality of such a deal.