20 best NBA Draft trades ever
By John Buhler
16. Mark Price from Dallas Mavericks to Cleveland Cavaliers.
From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, the Cleveland Cavaliers were one of the better teams in the NBA’s Eastern Conference to not have won anything. The Cavaliers were a perennial playoff team thanks in large part to great play from its star point guard Mark Price.
Price was an undersized sharpshooter from Georgia Tech that eventually became an All-NBA caliber player for the Cavaliers in his 10 seasons in Cleveland. Price made four NBA All-Star teams and has his No. 25 retired by the Cavaliers organization.
However, he was almost a member of the Dallas Mavericks, as Dallas took him with the No. 25 overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft. Cleveland wisely acquired the first pick of the second round in Price and almost immediately ascended to one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference thanks to their star point guard.
Dallas would struggle for most of the next decade plus after the Price trade with Cleveland. Though Cleveland wouldn’t make it to an NBA Finals with Price as its point guard, the Cavaliers were a contender in the East during his entire team running the point for Cleveland from 1986 to 1995.
Next: 15. Charles Oakley from Cleveland Cavaliers to Chicago Bulls.