Former OSU Standout Evan Turner Traded From Blazers To Hawks

By June 24, 2019 (4:58 pm)June 27th, 2019Basketball

Another former Ohio State basketball standout saw himself get traded when Portland traded Evan Turner to Atlanta for Kent Bazemore Monday afternoon, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

This news came just five days after former Buckeye star Mike Conley was traded from Memphis to Utah.

Turner averaged 2.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists on 32.6 percent shooting across 15.3 minutes per game in 16 playoff games for the Trailblazers in 2018-19. The emergence of Mo Harkless on the wing limited Turner’s role down the stretch.

During the regular season, Turner averaged 6.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists on 46 percent shooting across 22.0 minutes per game. The former Buckeye made NBA history, becoming the first player in league history to record consecutive triple doubles off the bench.

Turner came to Columbus with high expectations out of Westchester (Ill.) St. Joseph, and exceeded all of them. He helped lead the Buckeyes to the 2008 National Invitation Tournament championship as a true freshman.

The following year, he was the Big Ten Conference scoring champion and was a first-team 2009 All-Big Ten selection, while also earning honorable mention All-American accolades. The versatile wing became one of five Big Ten players to have been among the top ten in the conference in average points, rebounds, and assists in the same season.

As a junior, Turner was the Naismith College Player Of The Year and nearly swept all the major player of the year awards. He won the Wooden, Naismith, Robertson, Fox Sports, NABC, TSN, and AP Player of the Year awards, while Kentucky’s John Wall won the Adolph Rupp Trophy and Yahoo! Sports player of the year.

Turner also repeated as the Big Ten scoring champion in 2009-10, and although he lost the rebounding championship to Illinois’ Mike Davis (9.167 to 9.161), he led the conference in defensive rebounds.

Besting his impressive sophomore campaign, Turner became the first player to finish in the top two in points (1st, 20.4), rebounds (2nd, 9.2) and assists (2nd, 6.0) per game. The Chicago native become the first men’s basketball player to accomplish the feat, as well as the first to finish in the top five in all three categories.

Wojnarowski noted the trade is a “cap neutral deal” for Portland and Atlanta and gives the Blazers “an insurance policy” on Rodney Hood, whose “market value exceeds Portland’s ability to keep him using the taxpayer MLE.”

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