Enjoy Basketball: The greatest offseason moves that never happened

Welcome back to another Friday edition of the Enjoy Basketball newsletter!

The Summer League action has been incredible so far, but we wanted to use this newsletter to take a bit of a break and give everyone a bit of fun NBA history knowledge. Today we'll be breaking down some of the greatest trades in NBA history that never happened.

But before that let's run a quick poll. Let us know who you think is going to win the Summer League title now that we're four games in.

DeAndre Ayton accepting the Pacers max offer sheet put to rest any rumors about Kevin Durant making his way to the Arizona desert via trade this summer. It’s another reminder that for every blockbuster trade or signing that happens in the NBA, there's another that falls through, leaving fans to wonder what could have been.

Today we’d like to take you on a journey through some of the biggest league-altering moves that never ended up coming to fruition.

Chris Paul to LA

It’s impossible to talk about trades that never happened without talking about the most controversial of them all. That’s because, at least for a few hours in 2011, this trade actually DID happen, before it was vetoed by the league office.

After Chris Paul told the New Orleans Hornets he did not intend to re-sign in the summer of 2012, they quickly got to work on shopping him around the league. The highest bidders ended up being Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers, who concocted a three-team trade along with the Houston Rockets that would have sent Paul to LA, Pau Gasol to Houston, and a package centered around Lamar Odom, Luis Scola and Kevin Martin to New Orleans.

For a few short hours after the news broke, it seemed assured that the trade was going to go through, all the salaries worked out, none of the teams seemed opposed. But then, at the last minute, the league office vetoed the trade for “basketball reasons.”

To this day we don’t know the actual reason for the veto. Some think it has to do with the league technically owning the Hornets at the time and not wanting the teams value to drop by trading Paul, others believe it had to do with maintaining the leagues small market support after the 2011 lockout. But ask any Lakers fan, and they’ll tell you it’s because the rest of the league was just too scared of a Kobe/CP3 combo.

Kobe to Detroit/Chicago

Speaking of Kobe, if it wasn’t for a no-trade clause in his contract four years earlier, he wouldn’t have even been in LA to meet CP3 back in 2011.

It’s the summer of 2007 and the Los Angeles Lakers are coming off of three straight underwhelming seasons following Shaq’s trade to Miami in 2004. With no playoff series wins since Shaq's departure, Kobe apparently demanded a trade, with the Chicago Bulls as his preferred destination.

Long story short, the trade with the Bulls never worked out. LA’s asking price of Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, Ben Gordon, and Joakim Noah proved to be too steep for Chicago and for Kobe as well, who wanted Deng to stay in Chicago so the two could play together.

What makes this interesting is that a Kobe trade WAS apparently accepted during the summer of 2007, but not to Chicago. The Detroit Pistons, who were in the middle of a run of seven straight Eastern Conference Finals appearances, decided to go all-in for Kobe in hopes of making a push for one last ring with their aging core. On a 2015 episode of Grantland Basketball Hour, Kobe recalled that the Lakers and Pistons had agreed on a trade to send Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, and picks to LA in exchange for him.

But, it wasn’t to be. Kobe was the only player in the NBA at the time with a no-trade clause, and ended up nixing the trade after being convinced to stay by Lakers owner Jerry Buss. Obviously the decision worked out for Bryant and the Lakers, who would go on to win two of the next three NBA championships.

Tim Duncan to Orlando

In the summer of 2000, the Orlando Magic almost pulled off a master plan that would have flipped the 2000’s NBA landscape on its head.

A trio of young stars, Tim Duncan, Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady, are all hitting free-agency at the same time, and the Magic decide to try and sign not one, not two, but all three of them. They pulled out all the stops, the finest dinners, lavish hotels, and banners of all three wearing Orlando Magic uniforms during a tour of the practice facility.

And at first, it worked! Tracy McGrady, who was from the Orlando area, was the first to sign and he was quickly followed by Grant Hill. All they needed to complete the superstar trio was for Duncan to sign on the dotted line.

Different people will give you different reasons for what happened next, but after a last minute meeting with the Spurs, Duncan decided to re-sign in San Antonio. Some will say that Doc Rivers team policy that didn’t allow family members on team flights rubbed Duncan the wrong way, others will point to a lunch where they gave him the wrong food, but the real answer is probably just that Poppovich and David Robinson didn’t have to do a lot of convincing to get Duncan to return to a team he had just won the NBA title with.

We don’t need to tell you how that worked out for both teams. The Spurs won four more rings with Duncan, while the Magic would be picking first overall in the NBA draft just four years later.

Michael Jordan to New York

Everything about the idea of Michael Jordan in an orange and blue Knicks uniform feels weird, but it was just a day away from happening during the 1996 offseason.

Jordan was a free agent and, as the best player in the league, looking to get a massive one year payday similar to the 1 year $18 million dollar contract Knicks star center Patrick Ewing had signed the summer before.

Speaking of Ewing, Jordan and him were on good terms ever since a recruiting visit Ewing took to the University of North Carolina as a rising freshman. With the Knicks vying to compete for an NBA championship, and knowing Ewings strong relationship with Jordan, they decided to try and do the impossible, sign the G.O.A.T. away from Chicago.

The Knicks offered Jordan a $12 million dollar salary and a massive $15 million dollar sponsorship deal from ITT/Sheraton Hotels, who were part owners of the Knicks. After that, the story goes that Jordan's agent David Falk met with Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf and told him he had the rest of the day to beat New York's offer.

And as we all know, the Bulls did exactly that, giving Jordan a 1 year $30 million dollar contract. Knicks fans, just try and not think about it.

Phoenix decide to match Pacers offer for DeAndre Ayton

After weeks of the Phoenix Suns being hesitant to commit to former first-overall pick DeAndre Ayton long-term, the matter was finally decided for them. The Pacers offered Ayton a massive four-year, $133 million max contract to come to Indiana which Phoenix decided to match mere hours later.

It seemed for days that the two teams were ironing out a sign-and-trade that many predicted would see Pacers center Myles Turner go the other way in exchange for Ayton. But with talks apparently stalled, Indiana decided to force Phoenix’s hand and offer the former Arizona Wildcat as much money as they could throw at him.

As a neutral fan, it would have been really fun to see Ayton in Indiana, especially the pick-and-roll with Tyrese Haliburton, and you have to respect the Pacers for once again being aggressive at acquiring undervalued young talent.

For Phoenix, this signing basically knocks them out of the KD sweepstakes in the short term since Ayton now cannot be traded until January. But there's far worse ways to spend money than bringing back a home-grown borderline star center. And hey, if they decide to trade him a bit down the line, maybe KD will still be available.

Donovan Mitchell to New York rumors picking up steam

Speaking of a guy whose future with his current team is up in the air, it looks like Donovan Mitchell is on the move after all.

Following the Rudy Gobert trade, the Jazz front office were adamant about retooling around Mitchell rather than transition into a full rebuild. But after taking an honest look at their roster, it appears they’ve changed their minds and decided to move on from Mitchell and start fresh.

Although there has been some small talk of Mitchell moving to the Miami Heat, all the noise is coming from the Big Apple, to the point where it almost seems like a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’.

It just makes too much sense for both sides. The Knicks have been sneakily accruing a warchest of draft picks, including eight in the next four drafts, and have plenty of young players to offer to inquiring teams. Best part is, the Jazz don’t seem to be interested in R.J. Barrett, who is due for an extension next offseason and might not fit their long rebuilding timeline.

So congrats Knicks fans who posted Donovan Mitchell photoshops in every twitter thread for the past year, you were probably right.

Second to last pick Jabari Walker signs full-time contract with Portland

In a little bit of heartwarming news, Jabari Walker, the second to last pick in the NBA draft, signed a full-time multi-year rookie deal with the Portland Trailblazers, a rare feat for a player drafted so low. To put it into perspective, the last player who received a full-time NBA contract after being the penultimate pick was Manu Ginobili, and he only did that after spending multiple years in Italy seasoning his game.

Walker definitely earned his deal, the Colorado product averaged over 24 points and a whopping 15 rebounds per 36 minutes in his first three games while shooting over 68% from the field.

Shabazz Muhammad’s winding path back to an NBA chance: ‘I’ve been humbled’ - Dana O’Neil (The Athletic)

John Amaechi, the First NBA Player to Come Out, Is a Psychologist Today. He Has a Lot to Talk Us Through. - Chris Ballard (Sports Illustrated)

What would a Champions League-style NBA tournament look like? - James Dator (SBNation)

‘I’m just getting started’: Sparks’ Lexie Brown proves importance of WNBA role player - Thuc Nhi Nguyen (Los Angeles Times)

Thanks to everybody for tuning in this week, we really appreciate the support through the long offseason. And let us know if you liked the NBA history content and we'll be sure to make some more for you in the future.

That's all for now, see you next Monday.

- Spencer Poole

Last Trivia Answer: The player who has been traded the most times in NBA history is Trevor Ariza! The veteran wing defender has played nearly two decades of NBA basketball and been traded nine times in the process

Todays Trivia Question: The Summer League is usually a place for first and second year players to grow and develop, but some players just keep going back for more. At 32 games apiece, these two players are tied for the most games played in Summer League history.