NBA Trade Deadline: Top 10 deadline trades of all time

By Daniel Tran | Feb 17, 2015

Oct 10, 2013; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Detroit Pistons player development coach Rasheed Wallace (middle) shakes hands with Miami Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade (left) after the game at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Heat beat the Pistons 112-107. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports /

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January 20, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors head coach Mark Jackson instructs during the fourth quarter against the Indiana Pacers at Oracle Arena. The Pacers defeated the Warriors 102-94. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /

7. The Indiana Pacers apologize quickly to Mark Jackson

Before he was getting in fights with front offices and making cheesy catch phrases in the broadcasting booth, Mark Jackson was an NBA point guard whose leadership ability was highly valued around the NBA. The Indiana Pacers quickly found out how valuable he was in 1996-97.

Before the 1996-97 season, Jackson was traded to the Denver Nuggets for Jalen Rose. The trade was a disaster for the Pacers as they fell to 10^th in the Eastern Conference after making the NBA Playoffs the season before. Meanwhile, the Nuggets were still a bad team even with Jackson averaging 10.4 points, and 12.3 assists.

Feeling the ire of the fans grow with the state of the team without Jackson, the Pacers front office reacquired Jackson at the NBA trade deadline months after the team traded him for next to nothing in terms of assets (guard/forward Vincent Askew, forward Eddie Johnson and second-round draft picks in 1997 and 1998). With Jackson and Rose now sharing playmaking abilities in Indiana, the Pacers improved, but missed the Playoffs in 1997.

However, in the following seasons, Jackson became the poised presence that brought Indiana to the Eastern Conference Finals in the next two years and to the NBA Finals a year after that.

Next: Tim Hardaway's great escape

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