The Detroit Pistons got a lot better without giving a lot away, getting Rasheed Wallace from the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday in the most significant deal before the NBA trading deadline.
Pistons president Joe Dumars gave up a pair of first-round draft picks and four reserves -- Bob Sura, Zeljko Rebraca of Serbia-Montenegro, Lindsey Hunter and Chucky Atkins -- in a three-way trade also involving the Boston Celtics.
A total of four trades were made Thursday, two apiece by the Utah Jazz and Orlando Magic.
By far the biggest was the Wallace deal, which adds a talented offensive threat to a team that went to the conference finals last season and has the East's third-best record (34-22).
"Them getting Rasheed is a great thing. I'm happy for those guys," Knicks president Isiah Thomas said. "At least now there's a couple teams over here that can challenge Indiana and New Jersey."
The Pistons beat out the Knicks to obtain Wallace, putting together a package -- a No. 1 pick and a parcel of players with expiring contracts -- that was exactly what Atlanta wanted.
Detroit sent Rebraca and Sura to the Hawks, and Atkins and Hunter to the Celtics, and received Mike James from Boston. Atlanta gets Milwaukee's lottery-protected first-round pick, and Boston gets Detroit's No. 1 pick. The Hawks also received forward Chris Mills from the Celtics.
Wallace played only one game for the Hawks, who acquired him from Portland last week.
"He was a big fish on the market, and we did everything -- without tearing up the core of the team -- to try to get him," Thomas said. "If it was a talent-for-talent deal, we were in a pretty good position to play in that game. But that's not what they were looking for."
Thomas also was in negotiations with the Golden State Warriors for center Erick Dampier, but the teams could not agree on a deal.
Another team surprisingly idle was the Philadelphia 76ers, who turned down Orlando's offer of Gordan Giricek and Juwan Howard for Eric Snow.
Instead, Croatian guard Giricek was dealt from Orlando to Utah for guard DeShawn Stevenson and a future second-round pick.
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