Former Oregon Duck basketball player Luke Ridnour has been in the NBA more than a decade, but this was easily one of the most interesting weeks he’s ever had as a pro, and since it’s summertime he didn’t even play a game.
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Rid got traded a whopping four times this week. Many players don’t get traded four times in a career.
Here’s a timeline of Ridnour’s summer so far.
June 24th: Traded from the Orlando Magic to the Memphis Grizzlies for forward Jarris Timma.
June 25th: Traded from Memphis to the Charlotte Hornets for forward Matt Barnes.
Later on June 25th: Traded from Charlotte, along with a 2016 draft pick, to the Oklahoma City Thunder for shooting guard/small forward Jeremy Lamb.
June 30th: Traded from Oklahoma City to Toronto for a $2.85 million cap exemption and the rights to 2012 draft pick Tomislav Zubcic (who has never played in the league).
Of course the question becomes why has Ridnour become so valuable in recent days? It’s not because teams are interested in the 34-year-old guard- who played for the Ducks from 2000-2003 and was a key part of the 2002 Elite Eight team- (man, that makes me feel old), but because of his current contract.
The NBA has a salary cap and Ridnour’s contract is nonguaranteed for this upcoming season until July 11th. So teams are trading him to gain more cap space. Then, if (when) the team that finally ends up with him releases him before July 11th, they get the extra cap space to use in free agency as well.
That means Ridnour’s travels may not be over yet, but there will be a break. Trades are not allowed from July 1st until the cap for next season is announced July 9th. Yes, just two days before Rid’s nonguaranteed contract becomes guaranteed for the 2015-2016 season.
In other words, he shouldn’t buy a house in Toronto. Unless he really likes Toronto. I hear it’s a decent place. Canada is nice.
For the record, Rid had already been traded three times in his career before this week, so he’s now one of the most-traded players in professional sports history. Chris Gatling, Billy Owens and Don MacClean share the NBA record by being traded eight times. Rid has one more to match them, while the all-time record is in the NHL, where Brent Ashton and Mike Sillinger were traded ten times each.
But none of them were ever traded four times in the same week. Rid’s got that one all to himself.