Merl Ball it was Donald Sterling's lousy running of the Clippers. Why did they trade for Wilkins knowing he was gonna leave after the season. Might have as well traded for a rookie.
While I was heartbroken when the Hawks traded Nique, with hindsight, when you look at the team - Mark Jackson in his prime, Ron Harper who was key for three of the Bulls' titles as of the following year; Loy Vaught who settled and produced 18pts and 10rpg. They all left. If Nique had the patience to stick around they were a couple of trades off something potentially special. If the Clips had brought in say Kevin Willis who went to the Heat after Nique left the Hawks and a half decent centre, who knows. Rather than bounce around the league, Nique could have run things and they built something on him for the next 5 years.
Dominque Wilkins left because the Clippers wouldn't commit to a significant length in the deal. Forget about the next five years, they offered him three years. And even then the deal was significantly less then the Celtics in money. He's agent even offered the Clippers to counter the offer, when Wilkins was about to sign with the Celtics. And even then they didn't even bother to return his call.
This version of nique was like mj circa 97. Not as explosive but a more polished j and smoother overall game. Beautiful to watch. What a gift to the league he was.
In the 1993-1994 season with Nique still in the roster the Hawks slammed on the ground with ease some of the NBA title contenders like Houston, Orlando and New York; also Nique played great games against those teams because, as a team leader, he knew he was necessary to sent a message to the others title contenders. He was also playing for the team like he never did before during that season. So, to thank him, the Hawks traded their legend... But Nique was in a great shape and he avereged 29.9 points with the LAC jersey. Now think about what Atlanta playoffs could have been with Nique being still an Hawk and being in that kind of athletic shape. I mean, if you watch some other highlight videos of Nique with the LAC jersey you'll realize he was better than ever. Note: Lenny Wilkens, N°1 guilty for the trade, is in the 50 Greastest NBA players of all time list and Dominique Wilkins is not. Do we all think Lenny Wilkens was a better player than Dominique Wilkins right? Well, what did you could expect from 50 or 60 guys voting themselves with Nique not invited at the party? Pretty ridicolous. If you don't belive me you'll belive wiki...
That was a dumb trade on the Hawks part. They barely won against the Heat, an eighth seed because they didn't have Dominique's scoring. It cost them in the playoffs against the Pacers .
It's so funny everyone is so sorry for Dominique playing on the Clippers while every time I see highlights of him in LA I wish he played with Mark Jackson longer
jmarcguy, I remember when that trade happened I felt like I got punched in the gut, I felt so bad for Wilkins. The Hawks were having a great season that year.
Manning didn't even stay. Hawks had a legit shot that year. Lenny Wilkins didn't like his game & felt he didn't play D. He wanted to spread the ball around rather than have Dominique be the focus. Team still had a great record & they make that trade!
And after having a great season, with a great record, they got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, right?. I am sure Nique would have taken the Hawks further than that. They had a good oportunity that year.