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Professional athletes know there’s always a chance they’ll have to deal with the headaches that come with getting traded to another team, but there aren’t many people who’ve endured what former NBA player Luke Ridnour was subjected to before he decided to bring his career to an end.
I’m going to assume most people reading this aren’t intimately familiar with Ridnour, who made a name for himself at the University of Oregon before taking his talents to the NBA after being selected by the Seattle SuperSonics with the 14th pick in the draft in 2003.
The 6’2″ guard never really came close to taking the league by storm, but he still did pretty well for himself by racking up more than $44 million in contract earnings over the course of a career that spanned 12 seasons.
When everything was said and done, Ridnour played a grand total of 830 games for five different teams while averaging 9.3 points, 4.5 assists, and one steal per contest. His last game came as a member of the Magic toward the end of the season in 2015, although he’s probably best remembered for what unfolded when the offseason rolled around that summer.
Luke Ridnour decided to retire after getting traded four times in six days
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There’s usually a fair amount of movement on the trade market when the NBA Draft rolls around each year, and Ridnour found himself caught up in that transactional frenzy a day ahead of the event that kicked off on June 25, 2015.
On June 24th, the Magic decided to trade Ridnour to the Grizzlies to secure the draft rights to Latvian forward Jānis Timma (Memphis had selected him with the final pick in 2013, and he ultimately decided to remain in Europe instead of signing with an NBA team).
The following day, the Grizzlies set their sights on Matt Barnes, and they were able to obtain him by sending Ridnour to the Hornets. His time with Charlotte was very short-lived, as it came to an end when he (along with a second-round pick the following year) was traded to the Thunder in exchange for Jeremy Lamb on the same day.
But wait! There’s more!
On June 30th, Oklahoma City sent Ridnour and some cash to the Raptors for the draft rights to Croatian big man Tomislav Zubčić (Toronto had drafted him in 2012, and he would briefly play for the Thunders’ G League team before heading back to Europe).
That was the fourth (and final) trade Ridnour was subjected to in less than a week, but he eventually found himself without a home when the Raptors waived him nine days later. After examining his options, he decided to take a one-year hiatus that became a permanent one when he officially retired in the summer of 2016.