Christian Laettner - Pistons Highlights vs. Nets (20 pts, 10 reb, 6 ast)

The Christian Laettner-as-a-Detroit Piston timeline is a bumpy one. Let's take a look:

1. September 1998: Still a member of the Atlanta Hawks and one season removed from his first all-star appearance, Laettner ruptured his right Achilles tendon in a pick-up game at Duke.

2. Jan. 22, 1999: Still injured, Laettner signed a 3-year, $18 million deal with the Hawks, who then dealt him to Detroit for Scot Pollard and a first round pick (which turned into Jumaine Jones).

3. Made his Pistons debut in March and played like a guy coming off a ruptured Achilles tendon injury (7.6 points on 35.8 percent shooting in 16 regular season appearances).

4. Played all 82 games in 2000, averaging 12.2 points per game for a team whose offense was dominated by Grant Hill & Jerry Stackhouse. The performance above is his first 20-point showing as a Piston, coming nine games into the 1999-2000 season (Nov. 17, 1999).

5. During the 2000 NBA playoffs, Laettner & Stackhouse engaged in a fist fight on a team flight over $2,000 card game.

6. Laettner narrowly avoided being a part of the largest trade in NBA history. Multiple teams had agreed to a deal before the Pistons ultimately backed out. Said deal would have looked something like this:

Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Christian Laettner, Chris Dudley

Seattle Receives: Patrick Ewing

New York Receives: Vin Baker, Glen Rice, Travis Knight

Detroit Receives: Knicks First Round Pick, Lakers First Round Pick, and assortment of players that included David Wingate, Vernon Maxwell, Vladimir Stapania, Lazaro Borrell, Greg Foster, Tyronn Lue and John Celestand.

7. Less than a week after the mega trade above fell through, Laettner was dealt to the Dallas Mavericks alongside Terry Mills in exchange for Cedric Ceballos, John Wallace, and Eric Murdock, ending his time in Detroit having played in just 98 games for the Pistons over two seasons.

Box Score for Laettner's 20, 10, and 6 performance: https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199911170DET.html

Sidenote: I did not include his assists in the clip above because they were mostly unspectacular. Half were Laettner just floating the ball from the top of the key to Jerry Stackhouse under the bucket. One was a swing and another was a fumbled pass that turned into a jump shot.

This entire Pistons-Nets showdown can be found courtesy of natshuck44, an authority on 2000 Pistons basketball uploads: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fAuW7GW9Kk&ab_channel=natshuck44

Play-by-Play: Fred McLeod & Greg Kelser

Achilles tendon injury: https://apnews.com/article/9606819beb915792a42bc06f72c6276c

Traded to Pistons: https://apnews.com/article/189747d0d885963206bea68f2f00b4c1

Stackhouse fight: https://apnews.com/article/3952dd170f84142df82df4629d37d40e

Proposed trade: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2000-08-22-0008220241-story.html

Mavericks trade: https://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/30/sports/pro-basketball-mavericks-acquire-laettner-in-a-deal-with-the-pistons.html#:~:text=Christian%20Laettner%2C%20who%20almost%20went,Pistons%20to%20the%20Dallas%20Mavericks.

Видео Christian Laettner - Pistons Highlights vs. Nets (20 pts, 10 reb, 6 ast) канала Ryan Van Dusen