Chicago Bought Enormous Draft Leverage
Chicago sent Eddy Curry and Antonio Davis to New York on October 4, 2005 for Tim Thomas, Mike Sweetney, Jermaine Jackson, a conditional 2006 first-round pick, the right to swap 2007 firsts and two future second-round picks. Curry was the best established scorer in the deal, but the Bulls had moved on after concerns over his heart condition. The critical part of Chicago’s return was not the veteran filler; it was control of New York draft value during two seasons in which the Knicks remained near the bottom of the standings.
The No. 2 Pick Did Not Become LaMarcus Aldridge Value for Chicago
The 2006 first landed at No. 2. Chicago selected LaMarcus Aldridge, then immediately traded his draft rights and another second-round asset to Portland for the rights to No. 4 pick Tyrus Thomas and Viktor Khryapa. Aldridge’s later All-Star career therefore belongs to Portland, not to the Bulls’ grade here. Chicago still realized substantial value from the No. 2 slot because it had enough leverage to choose its preferred prospect and add Khryapa, even though Thomas never became the star the Bulls hoped for.
The 2007 Swap Produced Joakim Noah
The most valuable Chicago outcome arrived one year later. The Bulls exercised the 2007 swap and moved from their own No. 23 position to New York’s No. 9 slot, where they selected Joakim Noah. Noah became a two-time All-Star, the 2013-14 Defensive Player of the Year and an All-NBA first-team center during his Bulls career. New York did get real value from Curry, including an 81-game, 19.5-point-per-game 2006-07 season, and later converted Antonio Davis into Jalen Rose plus a first-round pick. Those returns still do not approach the long-term impact Chicago extracted from the premium first and swap.
Final Verdict
Bulls Win — Chicago A+, New York F. Curry gave the Knicks one genuinely productive scoring season, and the Davis branch produced Jalen Rose plus another first, so New York did not receive literally nothing. The price was still devastating: Chicago obtained the No. 2 pick in 2006 and, more importantly, the 2007 swap that became Joakim Noah. The Bulls should not be credited with LaMarcus Aldridge’s career after trading his rights, but Noah alone supplies franchise-level realized value that the Knicks side never matched.