Milwaukee Sent Joe Smith to Denver for Ruben Patterson
On August 10, 2006, the Milwaukee Bucks acquired swingman Ruben Patterson from the Denver Nuggets in exchange for veteran power forward Joe Smith. The two players had different roster functions: Patterson was a physical defender and productive wing scorer, while Smith supplied size and professional rebounding around the basket. Contemporary Washington Post reporting and the team transaction ledgers confirm the direct exchange with no draft pick or cash. Patterson had arrived in Denver in a larger February 2006 multi-team agreement, so the August deal was a separate step after a fairly short Nuggets tenure. Both teams believed they were filling a specific rotation need, but the players’ following-season workload ultimately differed by a wide margin.
Patterson Played Eighty-One Games for Milwaukee
Patterson appeared in 81 Bucks games during 2006-07, started 53 and averaged 14.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists while making 54.8 percent of his field-goal attempts. Those are major supporting-player totals, especially given that Milwaukee had been seeking an experienced wing to supplement Michael Redd’s scoring. Patterson supplied a full year of starting and reserve minutes rather than a few games at the end of the bench. He did not become a multi-year Milwaukee star, but that first-season contribution supports the Bucks B+ inherited grade. The fact that he spent only one Bucks season should temper any statement that he became a permanent roster solution. Still, the output was immediately visible, and it surpassed what Smith directly provided Denver.
Smith Was Quickly Included in the Allen Iverson Transaction
Smith played 11 Nuggets games with no starts in 2006-07, producing 56 points and 40 rebounds in 148 total minutes. In December 2006, Denver sent him to Philadelphia alongside Andre Miller and two first-round picks in the separate trade that brought Allen Iverson to Colorado. Thus Smith’s value to Denver eventually included his availability in a high-profile package, but he was not Denver’s new full-season starting power forward. The Nuggets B inherited grade should be understood as capturing veteran depth and later trade flexibility, not the same immediate playing return as Milwaukee’s 81 games from Patterson. Although the canonical verdict is Even Trade, the first-year NBA minutes leaned toward Milwaukee. Iverson’s entire downstream career cannot be assigned to Smith alone, because several other assets were part of that follow-on deal.
Final Verdict
Even Trade under the inherited evaluation, with Denver B and Milwaukee B+. Milwaukee received 81 games and 14.7 points per game from Ruben Patterson; Denver got 11 reserve appearances from Joe Smith before moving him as one of several assets in the later Allen Iverson trade. First-season playing value favored Milwaukee.