June 26, 2012
Charlotte Bobcats President of Basketball Operations Rod Higgins announced today that the team has acquired guard Ben Gordon and a future first-round draft pick from the Detroit Pistons in exchange for forward Corey Maggette.
“With this trade, we have acquired two things we covet in our plan to build this team,” said Higgins. “By acquiring a young and proven talent in Ben Gordon and a future first-round draft pick, we have both addressed our need for three-point shooting and acquired an additional asset to help continue to improve our team in the future.”
An eight-year NBA veteran, Gordon has played in 594 career NBA games for the Bulls and Pistons, with averages of 16.5 points, 2.8 assists and 2.7 rebounds in 29.9 minutes per game. He has shot.436 from the field (3455-7929), .406 from beyond the three-point line (1015-2503) and .859 from the free-throw line (1871-2179). His career three-point percentage currently ranks 12th among active players and 21st in NBA history, while his career free-throw percentage ranks 10th among active players and 31st all-time.
The 6-3 Gordon was initially selected by the Bulls with the third overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft and was named the 2004-05 NBA Sixth Man of the Year following his rookie season. He was also named First Team All-Rookie and earned Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month honors three times.
Last season, Gordon saw action in 52 games for Detroit, averaging 12.5 points, 2.4 assists and 2.3 rebounds in 26.9 minutes, while shooting .442 from the field (234-530), .429 from beyond the three-point line (63-147) and .860 from the free-throw line (117-136).
Maggette was acquired by the Bobcats on June 23, 2011, as part of a three-team trade in which the Bobcats received Maggette from Milwaukee and the draft rights to Bismack Biyombo from Sacramento, in exchange for sending Stephen Jackson, Shaun Livingston and the draft rights to Tobias Harris to Milwaukee. In his lone season with the Bobcats, he saw action in 32 games, averaging 15.0 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 27.5 minutes per game.