The Detroit Pistons traded Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson on this day in 2008 - and the franchise have never been the same since.
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In order to run a successful team, you have to sometimes take hard decisions. However, looking to “shock the system” can often backfire in the most spectacular of ways. Just look at the time the Detroit Pistons traded Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson.
The trade happened in 2008 and, in many ways, the Pistons have not yet recovered from the shock of the move. After all, the main reason for the trade was to get the Pistons back in the championship hunt.
Their last title had come all the way back in 2004 and fans were growing impatient. Ahead of the 2008 season, Pistons GM Joe Dumars promised big change, hinting that no one was safe.
And indeed, he was right. Because the player who was traded was someone who was comfortably the best player at the Pistons. He was the finals MVP when Detroit won the championship in 2004. And he still had miles left to give to the sport.
With exactly 13 years having passed since the trade, let us look back at the move – and what it meant for all parties involved.
The post-season in 2008 did not end kindly for the Detroit Pistons. They made the Eastern Conference play-offs but lost the series 4-2 to eventual champions Boston Celtics.
This clearly infuriated Joe Dumars, who warned his roster to expect big shake-ups, adding that there are “no sacred cows” in the team. He stayed true to his word, firing coach Flip Saunders for the untested Michael Curry.
The Pistons would also trade Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson, sending the former to the Denver Nuggets. Besides Billups, Dumars also sent Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb the other way.
But it was the trade of Billups that stung the most. He was synonymous with the Pistons, having won the finals MVP in 2004 when they went the distance. Yet here he was, getting traded when the best bet seemed to get rid of others.
It didn’t help matters that both Iverson and Billups were very different players. Billups was the clear star of the Pistons, but he fitted into a team-first style of play quite easily.
The same could not be said about Iverson, who was at his best when the team was built around him. Given the kind of numbers ‘Al’ was still putting up at the time, however, it didn’t seem like too big a gamble.
Of course, as history taught us, it would be a disaster which the Pistons never quite recovered from.
The narrative now is that the Pistons signed a finished Allen Iverson while unjustly sending Chauncey Billups the other way. The truth is, at the time of the trade, Iverson was still in prime form.
However, when the mighty fall they fall harder than most; and that was exactly what happened with Iverson. He started the season well enough, as he scored at least 24 points in his first five games.
He would consistently score 20 or more while notching up assists as the season wore on. However, it was clear to all that this wasn’t prime Iverson on the court.
A quick look at his numbers from the season make that clear. His only season with the Nuggets saw him average 26.4 points, 7.1 assists and 2.0 steals.
At Detroit, he averaged 17.4 points, 4.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game. This was not only a career low, but also the first time he averaged less than 20 points a season.
It didn’t help that, off the court, Iverson was… well, Iverson. He constantly found himself in trouble, whether with team management or the city casinoes.
There remains a line of thought that he was only brought in due to his contract length. His deal was for a year, meaning he would free up space the following summer.
This was further thought to be the case when Dumars was pushing for young point guard Rodney Stuckey to get more of a featured role. Of course, this did not sit too well with Iverson.
That the trade was a massive failure can be seen in the manner which it ended. It was announced in April that he would not play for the Pistons again. The reason given was a back injury.
However, Iverson had been playing more of a bench role till that point and had publicly stated he would rather retire than be a bench player. Unsurprisingly, he was not re-signed at the end of the season.
To make matters worse, the Pistons made some poor choices in the following season’s draft. As a result, they have not been a contender for the championship ever since.
And to think it all started with the decision to trade a franchise legend for an ageing but past it superstar.
