30 NBA players who were traded before becoming stars

Finding a star is the hardest thing for an NBA team to do and it is more often done through the draft or in free agency. However, there are plenty of cases where teams had a star in the making but traded them before they had a chance to prove what they could really do. Actually, just about every NBA team has at least one example that they can point to. Next, we'll take a look at 30 NBA players that were traded before they became stars.

30. Antawn Jamisan

Forward Antawn Jamisan sort of flew under the radar for most of his NBA career, but he has a decent case to make the Hall of Fame. The 16-year-old vet spent his first six seasons in Golden State, where he put up stellar numbers, including averaging nearly 25 points per game in 2001, but failed to make an all-star team.

He was later traded to the Dallas Mavericks, where he won Sixth Man of the Year, before being traded again on draft night in 2004 to the Washington Wizards. There, he formed a big three with Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler and made two all-star teams in six seasons.

In the mid-to-late 2000s, stretch fours were especially valuable given their scarcity, and teams shot far fewer threes than they do now as a result. Moreover, Jamisan shot nearly 36% on 4.3 threes per game while also averaging a terrific 20.8 points and 8.9 rebounds during his time in Washington after switching from small forward to power forward.

After his successful stint in Washington, he was sent to the Cleveland Cavaliers to play with LeBron James but after he left, Jamisan ring chased in LA with both the Lakers and Clippers before calling it a career but not before amassing more than 20,000 points—something that only 51 NBA players have ever done.