Too Many Steps: Why It Sucks to be Luke Ridnour

In 2009, Quentin Richardson was famously traded four times in two months. Tossed around like a corn hole bean bag, Richardson’s summer of ‘09 was the benchmark for being traded a whole bunch. Q-Rich was to Being Traded as LeBron James is to Receding Hairlines. Laughably associated with.

Until now.

It had been pretty uneventful–or even bland–for the first 10 years of Luke Ridnour’s career.

He played for three teams in 10 years, which doesn’t equate to a lot of moving around for a (mostly) backup point guard.

Sure, the team that drafted him no longer exists, and he was once involved in a three-team trade that included someone named Szymon Szewczyk {Ed. note: This is a real and true person. Wes did not make him up, even though it sounds like a created player on NBA 2K.} and mounds of cash. But, really, Ridnour was enjoying a quiet career of coming off the bench, spot starts, 9.3 points and 4.5 assists per game.

Then, on draft night, his whole life changed. Oodles of times.

First, he was traded by the Orlando Magic to the Memphis Grizzlies for a Latvian forward who I could name but, really, it’s rather pointless. Minutes later, before he could even tell his family he was moving to the Music City, he was traded to the Charlotte Hornets for Matt Barnes. Then he was traded from the Hornets to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Jeremy Lamb.

That was it for the night. It seemed as if Ridnour was rejoining the organization that drafted him 14th overall in 2003. Then five days later…

WHAM!

Traded AGAIN, with cash, to the Toronto Raptors for a Croatian forward who I could name but, really, it’s rather pointless.

And then he was waived.

So why did all this happen to Luke?

Well, his $2.75 million, non-guaranteed deal was extremely tradable. Ridnour’s contract became fully guaranteed on July 10th. The Raptors waived him on July 9th. Unlike a lot of players with non-guaranteed contracts, Ridnour’s was for much more than the minimum. His biggish contract was a nice tool to facilitate trades, and teams weren’t afraid to acquire him–for however short a period–because they could cut him without consequence. Ridnour and his agent knew this could happen just for those reasons.

How much does this completely suck for Ridnour? Not much, really. At 34 years old, he hasn’t even decided if he’ll play next season. He could probably sign somewhere as a backup point guard–and position that craves veteran depth–if he decides he does. Plus, as he told Rolling Stone after being traded four times, his wife thinks it’s funny.

"I’m taking it lightheartedly. Friends are sending me pics and stuff, of me going all over the country. They told me I was trending. I’ve never been trending before."

For a moment, Ridnour’s career wasn’t so uneventful.