Summary
The longest moving part to either the Marquese Chriss or Brandon Knight trade trees was in the Chriss tree with Rodney Rogers who had been acquired as a free agent in 1999. It is crazy to think about, but his own tree of transactions which began with his move to the Boston Celtics in 2002, lives on through both Ryan Anderson and De’Anthony Melton, now nearly 20 years later and will continue on so long as either Anderson or Melton are traded again at some point.
It was interesting to see how interconnected both the trade of Steve Nash to the Los Angeles Lakers was to the acquisitions of both Chriss and Knight, as well as the signing of Luis Scola.
For instance, the trade of Steve Nash acquired Nemanja Nedovic, Alex Oriakhi, and the 2018 first round pick that was eventually used for Mikal Bridges. That move then eventually netted Phoenix Malcolm Lee who was used on Tyler Ennis, who was part of the Knight trade. Oriakhi was part of the sign-and-trade for Isaiah Thomas who was subsequently traded for the 2016 28th overall pick that was part of the package for Marquese Chriss.
Scola’s amnesty auction acquisition was integral because his trade to Indiana brought Phoenix the 2014 first round pick that was used to draft Bogdanovic, who ended up being the heart of the trade for Marquese Chriss. Scola’s trade also brought in Mile Plumlee who was then used to acquire Brandon Knight.
We’ll probably know soon enough how far this trade tree will continue to extend should either Ryan Anderson or De’Anthony Melton eventually be traded.