Charlie Villanueva learned the business of the NBA early in his career, getting traded almost immediately after hearing from former Toronto Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell that he would be fine despite being mentioned in trade rumors (Villanueva was dealt to the Milwaukee Bucks for TJ Ford on June 30th, 2006 following his rookie season).
(via Run Your Race):
“Sam Mitchell goes to me and goes, ‘If Michael Jordan comes out of retirement, that’s the only way we trading you.’ I was like, ‘Alright, I’ll trade my a** too for Michael Jordan, for MJ.’ I was like, ‘Alright, cool.’ So that to me lets me know I’m good. Boy… 24 hours later, I was gone. Not even 24, maybe 18 hours. They didn’t even give me a full day. Gone, bro. Got rid of my a**, man.”
