1) 12/20/1956: Celtics sign Bill Russell to rookie deal

Owner Red Auerbach knew he had pulled off a coup when he traded up in the 1956 NBA Draft to take Bill Russell, but there was a snag in getting him suited up for the Celtics. The San Francisco All-American was determined to cap his amateur career with an appearance in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, which kicked off on November 22nd, a full month after the ’56-’57 NBA season opener (summer in Australia is the same time as winter in the U.S.). This left the Celtics with Russell’s draft rights but no contract for their new center so that he could retain amateur status. After dominating in the Olympics, leading the U.S. to gold, participating in the Closing Ceremonies, then rushing home to Oakland to marry his college sweetheart, Rose, Russell finally arrived in Boston on December 20th and signed his rookie contract. He netted 16 rebounds in his pro debut two days later, and his rookie season ended with his first of 11 titles in Boston.

2) 12/20/1989: Bill Russell fired as Kings Vice President

Exactly 33 years after his career in pro basketball started, Russell’s time as an employee within the NBA came to an unceremonious end. He retired as a player as a champion in 1969, then struggled in four seasons coaching the Sonics. After 10 years away from the game, Russell was lured back as the coach and vice president of the Sacramento Kings. Attempting to forge a new winning culture after their recent move from Kansas City, the Kings were hoping that Russell’s championship pedigree would rub off on the young roster. But the results were similar to Seattle, with Russell struggling to connect with the latest generation of players and stepping down as coach after 58 games, 41 of which were losses. He was replaced as coach by his assistant Jerry Reynolds in March of 1988 and less than two years later, Reynolds also took over as vice president. Russell was fired from his Sacramento executive role in December of 1989 and never returned to the NBA in any official capacity since, spending his twilight years instead as an ambassador of the game.

3) 12/30/1975: Moses Malone selected by Jazz in ABA Supplementary Draft

With an ABA merger imminent after years of negotiations, the NBA scheduled a supplementary draft in December of 1975 for ABA players not yet technically eligible for the NBA Draft (players still had to be four years removed from high school at that point). If a team made a selection, they would own the negotiating rights to that player post-merger, as if they were a draftee. Malone was the crown jewel, just 20 years old and already an ABA All-Star, and the New Orleans Jazz used the #1 pick on him and subsequently forfeited their first round pick in the 1977 NBA Draft. But the Jazz soon changed course, wanting that draft pick back so they could trade it to the Lakers for an aging Gail Goodrich. The NBA obliged, taking back Malone’s rights in exchange for a restoration of the first round pick. Malone was re-commissioned for the 1976 post-merger dispersal draft and selected by the Trail Blazers, who soon traded him to the Braves, who in turn dealt him almost immediately to the Rockets.

4) 12/21/1953: Hawks trade Max Zaslofsky to Pistons for Chuck Share

One of the early stars of the BAA and NBA, Zaslofsky was 1st-Team All-league for four straight seasons, but by ’53-’54 his body was starting to deteriorate thanks to repeated arm and hand injuries. He was traded three times over the course of four months in 1953: from the Knicks to the Bullets in late August, from the Bullets to the Hawks in November, and from the Hawks to the Pistons on December 21. That final transaction turned out to beneficial for both sides, as Zaslofsky was a key veteran presence and the fourth-leading scorer on the ’54-’55 Pistons, who reached the NBA Finals. Meanwhile, Share became a crucial backup big man on the Hawks teams that reached back-to-back NBA Finals in 1957 and 1958, winning in the latter. It was one of the first real blockbuster trades in league history, helping to set the precedent for decades to come.

5) 12/18/1992: Jerry Tarkanian fired as Spurs head coach

Few college coaches are as intrinsically linked with their school as Tark the Shark with UNLV. Not only did he build the basketball program from the ground up, he even christened the team as the Runnin’ Rebels. Tarkanian spurned a coaching offer from the Lakers in 1977 but after 15 more years and three Final Four trips (including a national championship in 1990), he finally accepted an NBA position with the Spurs. Tarkanian inherited a solid young roster, headlined by David Robinson and Sean Elliot and coming off three straight playoff appearances under Larry Brown, but lacking a proven point guard after Rod Strickland fled for Portland in the offseason. Tarkanian feuded with team executives immediately, especially over the point guard situation, and after a 9-11 start he was fired by owner Red McCombs. Though vowing at that point never to coach again, Tarkanian would quickly renege on that promise and return to his alma mater, Fresno State, in 1995. The first real big name coach to attempt the transition from NCAA to NBA, he was a precursor to the late ’90s failures of Rick Pitino and John Calipari, and possibly a helpful omen for coaches like Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams, who never made the attempted leap.

6) 12/26/1996: Mavericks trade Jason Kidd to Suns

A second overall pick in 1994 and co-Rookie of the Year, Kidd was expected to be a star for many years in Dallas, billed as the leader of the “Three J’s” with Jamal Mashburn and Jim Jackson. But behind the scenes he was feuding with Jackson over the spotlight and with new coach Jim Cleamons over the offensive schemes. After the Mavs got off to a 9-16 start in the ’96-’97 season, Kidd was traded to Phoenix in a blockbuster deal the day after Christmas. Dallas received Michael Finley, Sam Cassell, and A.C. Green in return, and the Suns got their point guard of the future, ready to take over for the aging Kevin Johnson. Kidd was named to three All-Star Games in his five years in Phoenix before he was the centerpiece of another blockbuster trade, this time to the Nets in June of 2001. Cassell and Green didn’t last long in Dallas but Finley eventually became the franchise’s fifth all-time leading scorer.

7) 12/22/1961: Dick Barnett released by Syracuse Nationals

Four years removed from their lone NBA title, and with aging superstar Dolph Schayes on the decline, the Nationals were swinging for the fences when they took Barnett in the 1959 NBA Draft. An untested, raw talent from the NAIA school Tennessee A&I, Barnett was nonetheless solid right away for Syracuse but unhappy with playing small forward instead of his more natural shooting guard position (that spot was already sewn up by Hal Greer). In August of 1960, he signed a contract with George Steinbrenner’s new franchise, the Cleveland Pipers of the fledgling American Basketball League (ABL). Right before tip-off of his first game with the team that October, a process server walked onto the court and handed Barnett an injunction from Syracuse, claiming that he was violating a non-compete clause in his contract. The battle went to court for two months where Barnett eventually lost, but at that point the Nationals, wanting to move on, granted him his full release anyway that December. He officially “signed” again with the Pipers and played out the rest of the season in the ABL. They won the first and only ABL title before the league folded due to financial instability. Barnett was sold to the Lakers and played 12 more NBA seasons, including five NBA Finals appearances and two titles with the Knicks.

8) 12/17/2004: Raptors trade Vince Carter to Nets

Carter was a national hero in Canada and an instant fan favorite across the league in his first few seasons. This veneer of geniality eroded quickly starting around 2002, when injuries started to creep up and accusations of laziness and disinterest began to mount. When Carter started to openly dissent with coaches and the front office by 2004, the public turned on him en masse, no more so than the hometown Raptors fans who still almost universally scorn him to this day. After coach Sam Mitchell began systematically benching Carter for insubordination and lackadaisical play early in the ’04-’05 season, management knew they needed to make a move fast. On December 17, they traded him to New Jersey for Alonzo Mourning, Eric Williams, Aaron Williams, and two first round picks. The move turned out to be essentially a bust for both teams, especially when the Raptors wasted one pick on Joey Graham and traded the other one to the Knicks for Antonio Davis. As has been case throughout his post-Toronto career, the Nets took an immediate swoon with Carter on the roster, slipping from a consistent title contender to an easy playoff out. He’s been included in two major trades since, one of which we’ll get to later in this list. The Raptors struggled for many years after trading away Carter, finally breaking through as a consistent playoff team again in ’13-’14, when they rebuilt around Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan.

9) 12/19/2006: 76ers trade Allen Iverson to Nuggets

Speaking of disgruntled stars and impatient fan bases, there’s Iverson right on cue, being dealt from the Sixers early in the ’06-’07 season. Though still producing a high rate of scoring, he was a far cry from his salad days with the Sixers and their fans, a relationship disintegrating with each “practice” rant, or open disagreement with his coach, or ditching of fan appreciation night. At the 2006 trade deadline and later on that summer Iverson was the subject of myriad trade rumors and gave the tepid reaction that he wanted to remain a Sixer but “will move on if they don’t want me anymore.” After a sluggish start to the ’06-’07 season for Philly (despite Iverson being second in the league in scoring), they reacted to another Iverson trade demand by benching him until a suitor could be found. Philly finally discovered one in Denver, and dealt their peevish star for Andre Miller, Joe Smith, and two first round picks. Iverson and Carmelo Anthony were the league’s two leading scorers when they teamed up starting on December 23. For the Nuggets, it was a low-risk experiment that didn’t work out as well as they had hoped, and a year later they dealt Iverson to Detroit. For the Sixers it was the end of an era that allowed them to start over and rebuild.

10) 12/27/2012: Avery Johnson fired as coach of the Nets

Coaching seemed to come naturally to Johnson, the former floor general who won a championship as a player with the Spurs in 1999, then immediately took an assistant coaching job under Don Nelson in Dallas after retiring in 2004. Nelson had hand-picked Johnson to groom as his replacement, a transition that came quicker than expected when Nelson stepped down in March of 2005. In his first full season at the helm, Johnson won Coach of the Year honors while leading Dallas to its first ever NBA Finals appearance in ’05-’06. But two years later, after back-to-back first round playoff exits, Johnson was stunningly fired. He took another crack at it in 2010, this time with the Nets. It was a completely different situation from his gig in Dallas, where he immediately inherited a title contender. The Nets had lost 70 games in ’09-’10 and improved only incrementally in the next two years under Johnson. They got off to a hot start in ’12-’13, with Johnson being named Coach of the Month for November for guiding them to an 11-4 record, but December was a much crueler month. The Nets dropped nine out of 12 games and on December 27, Johnson was relieved of his duties and replaced on an interim basis by P.J. Carlisemo. The truth was that new owner Mikhail Prokhorov wanted to make a splash with a flashier head coach in the new Brooklyn locale and he eventually found one in Jason Kidd.

11) 12/15/2011: Trail Blazers use amnesty clause on Brandon Roy

Included in the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Amnesty Clause allowed teams to waive one player and completely clear their salary from the cap total and luxury tax. Roy was an obvious early candidate, as the three-time All-Star had announced his retirement during the 2011 lockout due to his degenerative knee issues but was still costing the Trail Blazers $15 million in guaranteed money for the ’11-’12 season. On December 15, less than a week after the lockout had been lifted, Roy was waived by Portland, becoming the seventh and final amnesty clause casualty of the year. 21 franchises would eventually use the clause between 2011 and 2015, including on several other former All-Stars like Gilbert Arenas, Chauncey Billups, and Metta World Peace. Roy made a surprising comeback a year later thanks to a plasma infusion procedure for his knee but lasted just five games with the Timberwolves before retiring again.

“It’s no rarity in the modern NBA for teams to employ overpaid, washed-up players in need of a change of scenery. It is notable though to see four such players traded all in one day, in two separate deals both involving the same team.”

12) 12/19/1968: Pistons trade Dave DeBusschere to Knicks for Walt Bellamy

Born and raised in Detroit, DeBusschere also attended college in the city at Detroit Mercy and was a territorial draft pick of the Pistons in 1962. Playing pro ball in the Motor City probably seemed like destiny for his entire lifetime but things changed in a hurry for DeBusschere in ’68-’69. Though he was a three-time All-Star for the Pistons, the team was regularly missing the postseason and looking to rebuild around their new young star, Dave Bing. Meanwhile, the Knicks were in desperate need of a forward who could rebound, defend, and stretch opposing defenders. DeBusschere fit the bill perfectly, and trading away Bellamy also allowed New York to shift Willis Reed to his more natural position at center. Though the ’68-’69 season ended with postseason disappointment, the trade eventually paid off with championships in 1970 and 1973. While DeBusschere was cementing himself as a New York legend, the past-his-prime Bellamy struggled in one season with Detroit before reviving his career after a trade to the Hawks.

13) 12/22/2003: Isiah Thomas hired as president of Knicks

If Dave DeBusschere was the ideal early Christmas present for Knicks fans, then Thomas was the ultimate lump of coal 35 years later. Despite his disastrous tenures as vice president of the Raptors, owner of the Continental Basketball Association, and coach of the Pacers, Thomas somehow failed upwards again into a role as Knicks president. Not that the Knicks were an epitome of success when Thomas took over during the ’03-’04 season but two-plus years into his reign they got even worse, somehow simultaneously sporting the league’s highest payroll and second worst record. He still lasted in his executive role until 2008, and even got a promotion in 2006 when owner James Dolan allowed him to additionally coach the team. Even after the Knicks mercifully fired him as president and coach, Thomas still hung around as a consultant for several months before taking a new coaching job at Florida International.

14) 12/18/2014: Celtics trade Rajon Rondo to the Mavericks

It was the end of an era for the Celtics and the beginning of the rebuilding of a new one. Following Ray Allen’s free agency departure in 2012, then the trading away of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett in 2014, it wasn’t a matter of if the Celtics would trade Rondo but when, and to whom. The four-time All-Star point guard had a contract set to expire at the end of the year, and was obviously not in the long-term plans of a franchise looking to give more back court minutes to young talent like Isaiah Thomas and Marcus Smart. Meanwhile, the Mavericks were three years removed from their 2011 title and struggling to remain relevant in Dirk Nowitzki’s twilight years. After three straight seasons without reaching the second round of the playoffs, Dallas made some bold moves heading into ’14-’15, including bringing back their 2011 NBA Finals hero Tyson Chandler via trade with the Knicks, and signing Chandler Parsons to a huge deal. They needed a solid point guard to complete the roster, and really swung for the fences by trading for Rondo. The Celtics received Jae Crowder, Brandan Wright, Jameer Nelson, and a first round pick in return. Dallas supposedly beat out lesser trade offers from the Rockets, Lakers, and Knicks, amongst others. They all likely breathed a sigh of relief when they watched Rondo clash with coach Rick Carlisle, and effectively throttle the previously high-powered Mavs offense. Dallas management held out hope that Rondo would put it together as usual for the postseason, but instead he struggled in the first two games of their first round match-up against Houston, and was benched for the rest of the series as the Mavericks meekly bowed out in five games.

15) 12/24/1981: Nets trade Bob McAdoo to Lakers

Though he was Rookie of the Year in ’72-’73, MVP in ’74-’75, an All-Star five times, and won three scoring titles, McAdoo never played on a legitimate contender in the ’70s. He had made just one second round playoffs appearance, in 1976 with the Buffalo Braves, and by the end of the decade fans were starting to wonder if he was just too selfish a player to make his teammates any better. After brief, disastrous stints with the Knicks, (pre-Larry Bird) Celtics, and Pistons (who unceremoniously waived him in March of 1981), McAdoo finally joined a contender on Christmas Eve of 1981, when he was traded from the Nets to the Lakers. Sensing the opportunity to rewrite his career narrative, McAdoo wisely remade himself as one of the league’s premier sixth men in Los Angeles, providing easy offense and rebounding off the bench behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kurt Rambis. He played in four consecutive NBA Finals with the Lakers, winning titles in 1982 and 1984, before closing out his career with the 76ers. The Nets got only a second round draft pick in return.

16) 12/22/2014: Pistons waive Josh Smith
17) 12/26/2014: Rockets sign Josh Smith

He was a star player for many years with the Hawks, a dynamic, do-it-all combo forward who in ’09-’10 became the first player in NBA history to average 15+ points, seven-plus rebounds, three-plus assists, two-plus blocks, and one-plus steals per game. But the four-year, $54 million contract that Smith signed with the Pistons in 2013 aged poorly, quickly. The Pistons were suffering through one of the worst four-year stretches in franchise history at that point, and desperate for the star power that Smith could provide. He was the team’s leading scorer in ’13-’14, with 16.4 points per game, but Detroit finished a disappointing 29-53 and hired Stan Van Gundy as a new coach to turn things around. The Pistons supposedly had several trade offers that summer for Smith, despite his sizable contract, but turned them down. It was apparent early in the season that Van Gundy and Smith didn’t see eye-to-eye, with the player wanting to feature more at power forward, but the coach wanting to give more time to the younger Greg Monroe. After 28 disappointing games, Smith was waived on December 22nd, and the Pistons were forced to continue to pay him for two-and-a-half more years even as he played for other teams. Smith signed with the Rockets four days later, and while splitting time starting at power forward with Terrence Jones, made his first Conference Finals appearance that spring.

18) 12/20/1970: Spencer Haywood signs with the SuperSonics

The NBA had a serious problem in the late ’60s with the ABA poaching some of its top talent. There were guys like Connie Hawkins who was an acceptable loss, since he wasn’t getting a fair shake from the NBA anyway, but defections of established stars like Rick Barry and potential future stars like Haywood was becoming an issue. Haywood was just 20 years old when he embarked on his rookie season in the ABA which ended with the Rookie of the Year and MVP awards. The rule back then was that a player couldn’t be drafted in the NBA until his college class had graduated, leaving Haywood ineligible until 1971. But teams were still lined up around the block for a chance to sign the young star, no matter the potential legal repercussions. Upset with his current contract with the ABA’s Denver Rockets, with much of the salary locked up in an annuity for decades to come, Haywood was happily entertaining NBA offers, especially with the title contending Lakers and Bucks. Sonics owner Sam Schulman was so desperate to swoop in and snag Haywood that he even tried to broker a merger between the ABA and NBA to circumvent the legalities. After his requests were denied by the league office he decided to snub his nose at regulations and on December 20th of 1970 signed Haywood to a six-year contract while promising to cover all upcoming legal fees. The case went to federal court and the NBA lost, its four-year eligibility rule deemed illegal, forcing the league to institute a “hardship” clause allowing exceptions such as Haywood’s. He took the court for Seattle for the first time in January of 1971, almost universally shunned by opposing players, coaches, owners and fans. He still managed to average 20.6 points and 12.0 rebounds in 33 games that season, and spent five years with the Sonics, leaving as one of the most popular players in Seattle’s history. After losing Moses Malone to the ABA in 1974, the NBA dropped the hardship rule and opened the door for players to join the league straight from high school or early from college.

19) 12/18/2010: Rashard Lewis and Vince Carter traded by Magic on same day in separate deals for Gilbert Arenas, Hedo Turkoglu and others

It’s no rarity in the modern NBA for teams to employ overpaid, washed-up players in need of a change of scenery. It is notable though to see four such players traded all in one day, in two separate deals both involving the same team. Lewis and Turkoglu were the second and third best players on the Magic in ’08-’09 when they made their surprise appearance in the NBA Finals. Turkoglu immediately bolted that summer for a huge deal with the Raptors and Lewis slumped the next season alongside new small forward Vince Carter. After another Conference Finals appearance in ’09-’10, the Magic were struggling early in the ’10-’11 season and star center Dwight Howard was publicly mulling the possibility of playing with other superstars in different locales. Meanwhile, Turkoglu has a disastrous ’09-’10 with the Raptors, who traded him to the Suns. Arenas was busy being paid an ungodly amount of money by the Wizards to occasionally score a lot, occasionally get into trouble for gun-related violations, and often sit on the bench injured. The first trade came early in the morning of December 18th, with the Magic announcing they had dealt Carter, Marcin Gortat, Mickael Pietrus, and cash to the Suns in exchange for Turkoglu and Jason Richardson. Later that day, the Magic announced another deal, sending Lewis to the Wizards for Arenas. After that, well, not much really happened. Turkoglu and Richardson had so-so seasons, Arenas struggled, the Magic lost in the first round to Atlanta and a year later Howard bolted for Los Angeles. Lewis essentially became an overpaid pariah in Washington and his career sharply declined. Carter unceremoniously played out the season with Phoenix, and a year later was waived after the lockout was lifted.

20) 12/27/2011: Knicks claim Jeremy Lin off waivers

An un-drafted Harvard grad, who caught on in summer league play with the Mavericks and turned it into a contract with the Warriors, Lin probably would have drifted off into China or Europe for the rest of his career if the 2011 lockout had been extended any longer. Once the lockout was lifted, he was waived by the Warriors, signed by the Rockets, and waived by the Rockets on Christmas Eve, the last day of the offseason. Fate intervened on Christmas Day, the opening day of the ’11-’12 season, when the Knicks defeated the Celtics but lost rookie point guard Iman Shumpert for 10 days with an MCL sprain. Already thin at point guard, with Baron Davis also sidelined by a herniated disk, the Knicks took a flier on Lin, thinking he could log some minor time as a third point guard behind Toney Douglas and Mike Bibby. After spending a month oscillating between the Knicks bench and on assignment with the D-League Maine Red Claws, sleeping on a teammate’s couch, and hoping not to get cut one more time, Lin finally got his big chance to start in early February and took the league by storm, setting off the winter of “Lin-sanity.”