A Look Back at the Historic Luke Ridnour Trade

Luke Ridnour is not the name many think of when they think of the NBA.

Regardless, Ridnour is still a part of a historical string of trades, where he was traded four different times in the span of a week during the 2015 NBA offseason.

Ridnour grew up in Blaine, Washington, and played high school hoops under his father, Rob Ridnour, who coached the team.

Throughout his high school career, Ridnour saw a tremendous amount of success. All four years, his team, the Blaine Borderites, made it to the state tournament. The Borderites went on to win two state titles during that stretch.

Team success wasn’t the only thing Ridnour saw, however. During his senior year, Ridnour earned All-American honors, participating in both the McDonald’s and Parade All-American games. Ridnour was also named Washington’s Mr. Basketball his senior year.

These accomplishments culminated in Ridnour committing to Oregon University. Ridnour played for three years for the Ducks from 2001-2003.

Ridnour led the Ducks to two March Madness appearances in those three years. The Ducks reached the Elite Eight in 2002, the first time since 1960. However, the Utah Swoops eliminated them in the tournament’s first game in 2003.

Despite Ridnour’s early exit from the tournament in 2003, he still earned Pac-10 Player of the Year, averaging 19.7 points, 6.6 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.9 steals on 47% shooting and 38% from deep.

After his junior year at Oregon, Ridnour committed to the 2003 NBA draft, where he was selected 14th overall by the Seattle SuperSonics.

Ridnour would go on to have a 12-year career in the NBA, playing for multiple teams in that tenure. After a five-year stint on the SuperSonics, Ridnour played for the Milwaukee Bucks, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Charlotte Hornets and the Orlando Magic.

Now let’s dive into the string of trades Ridnour was a part of during the 2015 NBA off-season. First, Ridnour was traded from the Orlando Magic to the Memphis Grizzlies on June 24. The Magic received the draft rights to Jānis Timma, a Latvian forward who never saw minutes in the NBA.

Next, the following day, Ridnour was dealt from the Grizzlies to the Charlotte Hornets. The Grizzlies acquired Matt Barnes in the deal, a player the team had drafted 13 years ago. Barnes had a one-season stint for the Grizzlies before signing with the Sacramento Kings in the following off-season.

The same day, the Hornets swapped Ridnour and a future second-round pick for Jeremy Lamb, a wing from the Oklahoma City Thunder. This meant that Ridnour was a part of the same organization that drafted him, as the Seattle SuperSonics reallocated to Oklahoma City in 2008.

Lamb, who was only 23 at the time, went on to play four seasons for the Charlotte Hornets. Lamb had his best season for the team in the 2018-19 season, averaging 15.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. Lamb last played for the Sacramento Kings in 2022.

But it didn’t stop there. Ridnour was traded to the Toronto Raptors just four days after reuniting with his old squad.

The Thunder received cash and the draft rights to Tomislav Zubčić. Zubčić, a Croatian center, saw some play for the Thunder’s D-League affiliate team, the Oklahoma City Blue. Still, the big man never saw play in the NBA.

Ridnour found the whole debacle ‘‘funny’’ and enjoyed the entire show from his home in Seattle with his family.

A week and a half later, Ridnour was waived by the Raptors and would sit out the 2015-16 NBA season.

During the off-season of 2016, Ridnour announced his retirement from the league. Throughout Ridnour’s career, he started 507 games out of the 830 total games he played. All while averaging 9.3 points, 4.5 assists, 2.3 rebounds, and one steal.