8. Marc Jackson to Philadelphia and Terrell Brandon to Atlanta for Latrell Sprewell.
Yes, Latrell Sprewell was at the end of his career. And yes, he was a cancer in the locker room. But his on court talent cannot be denied.
Minnesota rid themselves of Marc Jackson and Terrell Brandon in order to acquire the four-time All-Star.
Jackson, the better player of the two, was sent to the Philadelphia 76ers. After three down years in the NBA, he played the best basketball of his career there by averaging 11.4 points and 5.2 rebounds in two seasons. Those numbers are well above his career averages of 8.4 points and 4.3 boards.
Brandon was a two-time All-Star himself. However, his best playing days were well behind him. He suffered a career-ending knee injury in Minnesota and would never play again after the trade. That’s a shame because the 5-foot-11 point guard was an entertaining player to watch. He was equal parts facilitator and scorer for his teams.
In Minnesota, Sprewell was able to play a little more of his natural position at shooting guard, however, he still spent an inordinate amount of time at small forward.
Even though he wasn’t the same version of his peak years in Golden State or even what the Knicks saw, he still gave the Wolves a valued scoring punch. This helped lighten the load on Kevin Garnett and was a main reason they won a franchise record 58 games in 2003-04. They also came within a couple games of making it to the NBA Finals.
His play slipped the following year and so did his teams. Minnesota missed the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons and the embattled guard was out of the NBA after that.