Monta Ellis Trade: Warriors Send Ellis to Bucks in Exchange for Andrew Bogut, Stephen Jackson

The NBA’s Golden State Warriors have agreed to a deal that would send guard Monta Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks for center Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson, according to Yahoo! Sports.

Per the report, Golden State also threw in Kwame Brown, whose contract expires at season’s end, and promising forward Ekpe Udoh.

ESPN writes that the trade was announced about 1 1/2 hours before the Warriors’ Wednesday night game at Sacramento, sending the remaining players on Golden State spinning into clusters of confusion.

Ellis, a 7th-year player who has career averages of 19.6 points and 4.4 assists, was reminded that he recently said he wanted to stay with the Warriors long term.

“It is what it is, man,” Ellis said before the game. “I had some great years here, and I had some bad ones. Thankfully, I had the opportunity to do what I did for seven years here. I started my career here, but they’re going in another direction.”

Many of the Warriors mentioned the move demonstrates that the NBA is a business. Yet it was hardly business as usual in the locker room prior to the game. Coach Mark Jackson said the team laughed, cried and mourned the loss of three teammates for a short time before turning their attention to the game.

“It was emotionally draining for us,” Jackson said. “These were three guys we were attached to. It’s a business and we talked about it. It’s hard to see guys in this business go other places. This hurts.”

Point guard Stephen Curry said: “It was a little bit of an emotional roller coaster. It’s a tough situation. I am shocked. … Two of your main guys. It’s tough to deal with.”

Despite the shock and hurt that the Ellis trade caused among the team, Warriors management felt it was worth it for Bogut, whom they had been after quietly since last summer but couldn’t get Milwaukee to budge until recently. Adding Bogut potentially quenches the franchise’s thirst for a center.

Bogut, the No. 1 overall pick in 2005, is regarded as one of the better centers in the NBA — especially on the defensive end. He was named All-NBA third team last season. The previous two seasons, he finished in the top four in the NBA in defensive rating. In both the 2009-10 and the 2010-11 seasons, Bogut ranked among the top two in blocks per game and top 10 in rebound percentage.

For his career, Andrew Bogut averages 12.7 points, and his 52.2 percent shooting ranks ninth among active players.

“We’re extremely excited to acquire a player the caliber of Andrew Bogut, who we think is certainly one of the top centers in the NBA,” general manager Larry Riley said. “He will add an element of toughness to our team and will provide us with scoring, rebounding and a defensive presence in the middle. We’ve lacked those elements in recent years and think that Andrew’s addition will be a key factor in the growth of our team.”

ESPN’s Tim Legler talks more about about the Monta Ellis trade in the video below:

via ESPN