2. July 18, 2001: Nets acquire Jason Kidd, Chris Dudley for Stephon Marbury, Johnny Newman and Soumaila Samake
Easily the most memorable Nets trade for fans between the ages of 20-50; On July 18, 2001 the New Jersey Nets and Phoenix Suns swapped their star point guards. Despite Kidd leading the Suns to the playoffs all five years in Arizona and making three All-Star teams, Suns management rolled the dice on the swap for the talented but hard-to-coach Marbury.
The troubled Marbury spent three seasons with the Suns, earning his second career All-Star appearance and leading the Suns to the playoffs with a young Amar’e Stoudemire in 2003. But the Nets ended up with the better end of the deal: Kidd flourished in New Jersey, putting together the best seasons of his career and leading the franchise to back-to back NBA Finals appearances in 2002-03. Kidd made the All-Star team five times in 6½ years, finishing second in the MVP voting in 2002.
The Suns would ship Marbury to the James Dolan-owned New York Knicks after the 2004 season, clearing the way for Steve Nash.
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