New Orleans Pelicans came out ahead in the 2009-06-25 transaction with Miami, which received 2010 second-round pick (#41-Jarvis Varnado); 2012 second-round pick (#34-Jae Crowder) for rights to Marcus Thornton.
Miami drafted Marcus Thornton with the No. 43 pick in 2009 and traded his rights to New Orleans for two future second-round picks. Thornton paid off immediately for the Hornets. He appeared in 73 games as a rookie, averaged 14.5 points and finished 10th in Sixth Man of the Year voting. For a second-round acquisition, that was useful rotation value from the first season.
The Hornets did not keep Thornton long term, but his value did not simply disappear. In February 2011, New Orleans traded Thornton and cash to Sacramento for Carl Landry. Landry then played 23 regular-season games for the Hornets and appeared in their 2011 playoff series against the Lakers. That downstream conversion strengthens the New Orleans side because the original draft-rights asset produced both scoring and another veteran contributor.
The first incoming second-rounder became Jarvis Varnado at No. 41 in 2010. Varnado eventually appeared in eight regular-season games for Miami in 2012-13, so that branch produced only limited direct on-court value. The second pick eventually became No. 34 Jae Crowder, but Miami had already sent that pick to Cleveland in the 2010 LeBron James sign-and-trade. Crowder later reached Dallas through Cleveland, so his NBA career cannot be credited to the Heat as realized player value from this deal.
The 2012 second-round pick still had transactional value for Miami because it was one piece of the package sent to Cleveland in the LeBron James sign-and-trade. It would be misleading to assign the value of James to this one second-rounder, just as it would be misleading to assign Crowder’s career to Miami. New Orleans received the clearer direct basketball return, while Miami converted one branch into a small piece of a much larger franchise-changing transaction.
Slight Pelicans Edge — New Orleans C+, Miami C. The Hornets received Marcus Thornton, got strong rookie scoring from him and later used him with cash to acquire Carl Landry. Miami received two seconds: Jarvis Varnado supplied only eight Heat games, while the future No. 34 pick was moved to Cleveland in the LeBron James sign-and-trade before it became Jae Crowder. Miami extracted real transaction value, but New Orleans realized more directly from the original exchange.