Luke Ridnour has been making the rounds in the first few days of this offseason, becoming the modern-day 2009 Quentin Richardson. He was traded from Orlando to Memphis yesterday for the rights to former second-round pick Janis Timma; then from Memphis to Charlotte this morning for Matt Barnes;and now, the Hornets have used him as a trade chip to acquire Thunder guard Jeremy Lamb, both teams announced Thursday afternoon in separate press releases.
From the Thunder:The Oklahoma City Thunder acquired guard Luke Ridnour and a conditional 2016 second round draft pick from the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for guard Jeremy Lamb, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti.
Ridnour (6-2, 175), a 12-year NBA veteran, has played in 830 career games (493 starts) with five teams, averaging 9.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.00 steals in 26.1 minutes. The University of Oregon product spent the 2014-15 season with the Orlando Magic, appearing in 47 games and averaging 4.0 points, 1.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 14.5 minutes. Ridnour was acquired by the Memphis Grizzlies on June 24, 2015 before being traded to Charlotte in a separate transaction earlier today.
Lamb appeared in 47 games (eight starts) for the Thunder in the 2014-15 season, averaging 6.3 points and 2.3 rebounds in 13.5 minutes. In three seasons with the Thunder, Lamb saw action in 148 games (eight starts) and averaged 7.0 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 15.7 minutes.From the Hornets:
Charlotte Hornets General Manager Rich Cho announced today that the team has acquired guard Jeremy Lamb from the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for guard Luke Ridnour and a conditional 2016 second-round draft pick. The Hornets acquired Ridnour earlier today from the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for forward Matt Barnes.
“Jeremy Lamb is a quality young wing player who we believe has the talent to help our team,” said Cho. “We look forward to adding him to our rotation next season.”The Thunder had been shopping Lamb, among other bench players in recent days, in order to get far enough under the luxury tax to be able to comfortably re-sign restricted free agents Enes Kanter and Kyle Singler. Trading Lamb sheds $3 million from their books for next season and nets them an additional second-round pick. For Charlotte, it’s a free look at a former lottery pick for a year. It comes on the heels of the Hornets’ trade for Nicolas Batum on Wednesday night. Lamb will come off the bench behind Batum and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.