Antonio Daniels struggled as a rookie with the Vancouver Grizzlies and on draft night in June 1998, the Grizzlies gave up on him, trading him to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Carl Herrera and the draft rights to No. 24 overall pick Felipe Lopez.
Daniels wound up being a reserve guard on the Spurs’ first championship team in 1999, playing in four of the five games of their victory over the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals and averaging 2.5 points in 6.0 minutes per game, while shooting 4-for-5/2-for-2/—.
His role continue to grow with San Antonio, eventually becoming an occasional starter at both the point and shooting guard spots.
In August 2002, the Spurs traded Daniels along with Charles Smith and Amal McCaskill to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Steve Kerr, Erick Barkley and a 2003 second-round pick.
In four seasons in San Antonio, Daniels averaged 7.7 points and 3.0 assists in 21.9 minutes per game, shooting .457/.342/.752. He does not appear on any of the franchise’s all-time leaderboards.
He put together a huge year as a senior at Bowling Green, averaging 24.0 points and 6.8 assists per game, and was taken fourth overall by the Grizzlies in the 1997 NBA Draft.
After a single season in Portland, Daniels signed with the Seattle SuperSonics as a free agent in July 2003.
Two seasons later, he was on the move again, signing a free-agent deal with the Washington Wizards in August 2005.
Daniels was dealt to the New Orleans Hornets in December 2008 as part of a three-team trade that included the Memphis Grizzlies.
He was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in September 2009, but was waived the following month at the end of the preseason.
After sitting out a season, Daniels went to the D-League in November 2010 and eventually landed a 10-day contract with the Philadelphia 76ers in April 2011.
He returned to the D-League for the 2011-12 season before retiring.
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