20 worst NBA Draft trades ever
By John Buhler
19. Brandon Roy from Minnesota Timberwolves to Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers are notorious for their injury-riddled history with regards to top-tier players. From Bill Walton to Sam Bowie to Greg Oden, one player in recent memory sticks out: point guard Brandon Roy.
Roy was an elite NBA point guard in his brief NBA career, making three straight All-Star Games coming out of the deep Western Conference. He helped usher in a new era of Trail Blazers basketball after the painstaking corps known as the Jail Blazers made Portland one of the most hated teams of their era.
Roy was originally the No. 6 overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves, but was promptly swapped for No. 7 overall pick in Randy Foye. While Foye continues to have a rotational role as a backup point guard in the NBA years after injuries forced Roy into early retirement, the Timberwolves are still chasing an illusive Western Conference Playoff berth.
Minnesota hasn’t made the NBA Playoffs since Kevin Garnett carried the Timberwolves to the 2004 Western Conference Finals to only lose to the Shaq and Kobe Lakers. Had the Timberwolves have held on to Roy at No. 6, perhaps the Timberwolves would have made the playoffs in the last few years of Garnett’s first tenure with the team. Roy could have in theory been the point guard that would have kept Garnett is the Twin Cities for good.
Next: 18. Steve Nash from Phoenix Suns to Dallas Mavericks.