The Art of the Deal – That Time Luke Ridnour was Traded Five Times in One Week

Do you remember how when you were a kid, you always saw the other boys trading basketball cards with one another? It was pretty popular back in the day, even though you don’t see too much of it now. Would you believe that the National Basketball League does the exact same thing, but with players? That’s right, your favorite players could be being traded right now, and it may even cause your loyalties to change from season to season. While these trades are almost always cut and dry, there was one particular trade a few years back, in 2015, when Luke Ridnour was traded a ridiculous four times in just under 30 hours.

A Weirdest Week of Ridnour’s Life

Luke Ridnour has played on a variety of different teams throughout his career, but in 2015, he was traded from Orlando to Memphis, then to Charlotte, then to Oklahoma City, and then to Toronto. The reasons behind the trades were the non-guaranteed contract he held, of course, but it was slightly amusing that those three trades took place in the first twenty-five hours. He in fact never did actually visit any of the new teams. Instead, he spent the time at home with his children while fielding calls from family members who were incredibly worried about him. Unfortunately, we’d like to imagine that during this time, he was actually being shuttled back and forth across the country, but no, he would simply be at home reading texts from his agent.

Amusing Fallout

The most amusing thing about this is how funny Ridnour himself found the entire situation. At this point, he was a 12-year veteran and was pretty laid back about the entire thing. He does acknowledge however that if it had happened earlier in his career, he might have been a bit more worried about it.

The fallout came in the form of worried texts from family members, as we mentioned before, but also several joke texts from friends, one of which was a picture of Ridnour wearing an NBA jacket with every single team logo on it. It was hoped, that despite all of this, he would continue his career and play at least one more season. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case.

The Retirement Ridnour

Following his incredible four-trade season, he announced his retirement from pro basketball. He has decided to sit out the 2015-2016 season and evaluate his future in the National Basketball Association. His decision might not have been the wrong one. At 35 years old, his position in the game would not have necessarily been strong, and with that being the case, it might have been for the best that he explore other ventures in his life.

Despite his chosen retirement at the end, you have to admit, this was one of the funnier stories to come out of professional basketball in years.

TAGS: BASKETBALL, LUKE RIDNOUR, LUKE RIDNOUR TRADE, NBA