Philadelphia 76ers President Billy King announced on Feb. 23 that the team has traded forward Lee Nailon and a 2006 second round pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for a conditional second round pick in the 2006 NBA Draft.
Signed by the Sixers as a free agent on Sept. 22, 2005, Nailon appeared in 22 games this season for Philadelphia averaging 4.2 points and 1.9 rebounds in 10.8 minutes per game. He shot 50.0 percent (40-80 FG) from the floor and 86.7 percent (13-15 FT) from the free-throw line. Nailon had his best performance this season on Nov. 13, 2005 vs. the LA Clippers, where he added 21 points and six rebounds in 25:25 minutes off the bench.

Currently in his sixth NBA season, Nailon has played for six different teams in his career: the Sixers (2005-06), Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets (2000-02, 2004-05), New York Knicks (2002-03), Atlanta Hawks (2003-04), Orlando Magic (2003-04) and the Cleveland Cavaliers (2003-04). For his career he is averaging 8.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 19.0 minutes per game. Nailon is a 47.4 percent shooter from the field and a 78.6 percent shooter from the free-throw line.

Nailon was originally selected by the Charlotte Hornets in the second round of the 1999 NBA Draft (43rd pick overall) after two years at Texas Christian University (1997-99). At TCU, Nailon averaged 23.9 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 63 career games.

The deal was made as the NBA's trade deadline passed, and while it will help the Sixers financially, it wasn't nearly the blockbuster deal that the Sixers have pulled off in years past.

"At this point in time, with talking to everybody, there wasn't a deal to be made that would take us to a point where we'd be a better team," said King about the deal. "So rather than just doing a deal we decided just to do something to help us tax wise."

The Sixers have made larger moves in the past at the deadline. Feb. 23 marked the one year anniversary of the deal that brought Chris Webber, Michael Bradley, and Matt Barnes to Philadelphia from the Sacramento Kings. Webber, a proven star in the NBA, has averaged 18.45 points and 9.29 rebounds in 72 games with the Sixers. Also, on Feb. 22, 2001, the Sixers traded to bring in Dikembe Mutombo. While there were teams that were looking to talk about a major deal this year, King felt that there was no offer that would give the Sixers a better chance to win.

"Last night during the game I had some conversations about some things that were intriguing, but I felt that we would be giving up an asset without getting anything in return and I didn't think we were in a situation where we needed to do that...You'd like to do something, for the fans you'd like to make the team better, but I'm very cautious in not just doing something, because if you do something you may later regret it."