This Date in Sonic History: Feb. 21, 2008: Throwing in the Towel

When I first heard about the Houston/Sacramento trade involving Thomas Robinson, I couldn't help but think of another trade involving a team expected to be relocating in the near future.

Yes, it was the Sonics, and yes, it involved Wally Szczerbiak, the rich man's Jim Farmer. (Face it, Paul, in a sexy-off between Wally World and Jim Farmer, the match would be over before the massage oils got fully warmed.)

It was February 21, 2008, and the Sonics were throwing valuables out the window at a cops-are-coming pace. The reader must remember that in mid-February 2008, the only decent offensive option for Seattle other than Kevin Durant was Szczerbiak, and by trading him the team was essentially saying that even though Szczerbiak's expiring contract was valuable, they were more interested in paring salary than anything else.

It was, of course, a logical choice to make, and one that only a team utterly disinterested in fielding a competitive team could make.

And so it was that the Sonics surrendered Szcerbiak and Delonte West and received in return, Ira Newble (!), Donyell Marshall (!!), and Adrian Griffin (!!!), who would, of course, go on to score a combined 24 points in the remainder of their collective careers.

The money quote came from Sam Presti (via USA Today), when he was asked whether the Sonics' owner's financial considerations were involved in the transaction:

"Absolutely not," Presti said. "Clay has been tremendously supportive of our decision making on the basketball side."