Player Trades Quotes

I think it's hard to compare the NBA and the WNBA, but the thing about the NBA is they just have a ton of movement every year, but the WNBA doesn't. Free agency is not set up that way; the money is obviously not set up that way, so when one player moves, it could set the stage for, literally, like, six or seven years.

We decided to go the way of trading and getting younger players.

If you want to continue to be good and perform at a high level and be deep in all areas, you still have to hit on some undervalued players, too. You can't just go out and sign marquee free agents or trade for players when they're at the peak of their value. That's not a formula for long-term success.

Two of the most difficult parts of our business is trades and when a player leaves.

There have been few players that haven't been traded over the years in the NBA.

Being traded a couple times - and I've been traded after winning Rookie of the Year - is out of your control.

Come on, when does it come to the point where your name can't come up in trade talks? Willie Mays got traded. Pedro Martinez got traded. So what? That's part of the game.

General managers - I like to talk about the 'golden gut': general managers that not only can have a sense for the players that are going to perform beyond what people expect and get team chemistry right, but they also have to be able to make trades.

You know, my first nine years I only played for two teams, Chicago and New York. And the only reason I got traded from New York was the 2010 free agency period, when they had a chance to sign LeBron and D-Wade and that whole class, and I understood that. But from there it's kind of been a roller coaster.

I don't know why you would trade a stud pitcher.

We decided to either try trades or just go with older players. If you do that and let contracts expire you can be in the lottery for about four or five years and expect your fans to be patient.

The hardest thing to do in this league is to get a proven star. It's just very hard to do. It's hard to do in free agency; it's hard to do in trades. You get very few opportunities to do it.

One of the things about the NBA is anybody could be traded.

My job, when it comes to free agency, trades, is not to pick players, but support the personnel department and the coaching staff. We have to have the financial resources to make things happen and that's my job.