DALLAS -- The Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons Wednesday exchanged All-Star players with reputations for creating both points and problems -- Mark Aguirre and Adrian Dantley.
Dallas gave up Aguirre, its all-time leading scorer, for Dantley, the 10th leading scorer in NBA history, and the Pistons' No. 1 draft choice in 1991. The deal culminated more than two weeks of negotiations and ended an almost frantic attempt by the Mavericks to rid themselves of Aguirre.
'The trade of Mark Aguirre from the Dallas Mavericks became inevitable,' said Mavericks General Manager Norm Sonju.
The relationship between Aguirre, his teammates and Coach John MacLeod had deteriorated beyond repair. Aguirre's mood swings are well known around the NBA and in recent weeks he has produced a series of erratic performances -- hustling one night, playing aimlessly the next.
Late last month Aguirre missed a game with an injury that many teammates felt was imaginary. Two weeks earlier he made an obscene gesture toward reporters as he walked off the court. That gesture, in full view of the fans, brought irate letters and telephone calls from ticket buyers but did not result in any fines from management.
Dantley, meanwhile, will be playing for his sixth team, having had his own share of personality conflicts with coaches and players around the league. Aguirre has appeared in three All-Star Games, Dantley in six.
Dantley, in his 13th season, will turn 33 on the last day of this month and among active players only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Moses Malone have scored more than Dantley's 21,830 points. Aguirre, in his eight seasons with Dallas, scored 13,930 points.
During the Dallas-Detroit negotiations, the Pistons attempted to obtain more than Aguirre for Dantley and the No. 1 pick. But with the trading deadline eight days away, the Pistons decided the scoring punch Aguirre can still provide was worth the risk in their bid to become NBA champions.
Detroit played the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA finals last year, losing in seven games.
'What we have here is a case where we're trading for youth,' Pistons General Manager Jack McCloskey said. 'I am trying to build this team to be respectable for years to come, and making this move for a younger player perpetuates that.'
If they are able to complete their travel arrangements in time, Aguirre will appear in a Pistons uniform Thursday night in Sacramento while Dantley will be in Dallas as the Mavericks take on the Miami Heat.
Dantley has played for Buffalo, Indiana, the Los Angeles Lakers, Utah and Detroit, averaging 25.1 points a game during his career and 18.4 points a game this season -- second on the Pistons to Isiah Thomas. Aguirre is averaging 21.7 points this season and scored 29 in his final Mavericks performance Tuesday night.
'This is the second time I've hooked up with Adrian,' Sonju said. 'He was the rookie of the year when he and I were with Buffalo. He's one of the truly incredible scorers in NBA history. We have some wonderful memories of Mark's offense clicking and we're looking foward to adding many more memories of Adrian Dantley fitting into a pretty experienced and fine team.'
'Dantley is the first player on our team who has been in the NBA finals,' said Rick Sund, the Mavericks vice president. 'We got a scorer and a first-round pick. We now have six first-round picks in the next three years. If we fall short for some reason we have some leverage to help us improve the team.'
