Earlier tonight, Al Iannazzone of the Bergen Record reported that the New Jersey Nets were working on a three-team trade with the Denver Nuggets and Detroit Pistons. Here is a breakdown of what the basics of the deal might have entailed (other players would need to be involved for it to happen; more on that in a second):
- Pistons would receive Troy Murphy (and his expiring contract) from Nets
- Nets would receive Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups from Nuggets and Richard Hamilton from Pistons
- Nuggets would receive Derrick Favors, Devin Harris and "at least" two first-round draft picks from Nets
ESPN's Marc Stein confirmed that this "complicated" three-team deal was being discussed, but both Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit Free Press and ESPN's Chris Broussard reported that the Pistons weren't interested because they would have had to take on Johan Petro and give up a first-round pick. As you can imagine, Detroit didn't have much interest in having to get rid of a first-rounder and taking on Murphy and Petro just to get rid of Hamilton.
If the Nets were to come up with a deal that works for Detroit and Denver and acquire Hamilton, Anthony and Billups, it would be a reunion for Rip and Chauncey. They played together with the Pistons from 2002-08. It also would be a look at what could have been with the Pistons, as they drafted Darko Milicic instead of Anthony in the 2003 NBA Draft.