Best trade the Miami Heat made with the Boston Celtics: Alonzo Mourning
While the Miami Heat gave up a great player in Glen Rice in order to get this deal done, it ended up paying dividends for them. Alonzo Mourning is a Miami Heat legend and played great for them.
He made five All-Star games while playing for the Heat and they even ended up retiring his number. If that doesn’t count as a win, then nothing really does.
After the trade, Mourning went on to play nearly 600 games in a Miami Heat uniform. He left to join the Nets at one point but then was traded right back to South Beach.
After that deal, he helped the Miami Heat win a championship in 2006. He would never have been there if it weren’t for the initial trade that landed him in Miami.
It’s a rarity in the NBA that two All-Star caliber players get traded for each other. Rice and Mourning both certainly fit that bill, as each made multiple All-Star teams.
The Heat traded their established star and took a chance on a young, up-and-coming All-Star in Mourning. It could not have worked out any better for them.
Neither team really lost this deal, but it can be argued that the Miami Heat won it. This is the best trade they have ever made with the Charlotte Hornets, and it landed them a Hall-of-Famer.