The NBA’s 2020 offseason wasn’t quite as wild as the 2019 offseason when it came to player movement, but we still saw a number of players change teams this fall after having been with their previous clubs for a very long time.
John Wall, for instance, had been a member of the Wizards for over a decade, making him one of the NBA’s longest-tenured players by team until he was traded to Houston last week. Tristan Thompson, meanwhile, had spent his entire career since entering the league in 2011 with the Cavaliers before he changed teams in free agency last month.
The Wizards and Cavaliers are two of the eight teams that have a new longest-tenured player since we completed our last list during the 2019 offseason. In some cases, that new player isn’t a surprise — you likely won’t be shocked to learn that Bradley Beal is now the Wizards’ longest-tenured player. In other cases though, teams have undergone so much turnover that no player on the current roster has been with the club for more than a year or two.
Here are the NBA’s current longest-tenured players by team as of the 2020 preseason:
- Miami Heat: Udonis Haslem (free agent), August 2003
- Golden State Warriors: Stephen Curry (draft), June 2009
- San Antonio Spurs: Patty Mills (free agent), March 2012
Washington Wizards: Bradley Beal (draft), June 2012- Portland Trail Blazers: Damian Lillard (draft), June 2012
- Toronto Raptors: Kyle Lowry (trade), July 2012
- Orlando Magic: Nikola Vucevic (trade), August 2012
- Houston Rockets: James Harden (trade), October 2012
- Charlotte Hornets: Cody Zeller (draft), June 2013
- Milwaukee Bucks: Giannis Antetokounmpo (draft), June 2013
- Utah Jazz: Rudy Gobert (draft trade), June 2013
- Philadelphia 76ers: Joel Embiid (draft), June 2014
- Boston Celtics: Marcus Smart (draft), June 2014
- Denver Nuggets: Gary Harris (draft trade), Nikola Jokic (draft), June 2014
- Note: Harris is technically the slightly longer-tenured member of the Nuggets, having been drafted 19th overall, while Jokic was picked 41st overall.
- Cleveland Cavaliers: Kevin Love (trade), August 2014
- Dallas Mavericks: Dwight Powell (trade), December 2014
- Minnesota Timberwolves: Karl-Anthony Towns (draft), June 2015
- Indiana Pacers: Myles Turner (draft), June 2015
- Phoenix Suns: Devin Booker (draft), June 2015
- Chicago Bulls: Cristiano Felicio (free agent), July 2015
- Brooklyn Nets: Caris LeVert (draft trade), June 2016
- Sacramento Kings: Buddy Hield (trade), February 2017
- New York Knicks: Frank Ntilikina (draft), June 2017
- Atlanta Hawks: John Collins (draft), June 2017
- Los Angeles Lakers: Kyle Kuzma (draft trade), June 2017
- Memphis Grizzlies: Dillon Brooks (draft trade), June 2017
- Los Angeles Clippers: Patrick Beverley (trade), Lou Williams (trade), June 2017
- Note: Beverley and Williams were acquired in the same trade.
- Detroit Pistons: Blake Griffin (trade), January 2018
- Oklahoma City Thunder: Hamidou Diallo (trade), July 2018
- New Orleans Pelicans: Zion Williamson (draft), June 2019
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Zeller at 9 really says a lot about the constant changing of the league
How do you figure? 7 years and there are guys with 6 right behind. I would not call that constant…
Zion, who would have guessed?
I know right!? Its actually pretty funny.
I would have NEVER GUESSED THAT!! I probablynwoukd have thought E-twaun Moore was still somehow with them or something..lol
Curry and Thompson are the top 2 players still with the team that drafted them. Green was drafted same year as Beal so the warriors have 3 players longest players drafted by same team they play on.
Well you will always have that neat little stat huh….
Maybe we will have another Covid scare and Stevie can plead to call the season off again bc you guys arent in the spotlight
Seriously, Warriors fans remind me of the girl who developed faster than the other girls in Jr high- At first you got all the attention but once all the other girls caught up your left wondering why nobody cares about you anymore
Seriously you are obsessed with the warriors. Still angry your team has a bunch of prima donnas and needs to spend big money to win instead of drafting the correct player.
Mentally there is something wrong with you when you get jealous of another team that drafted their players. That is on the psycho side when your only highlight is living through a NBA player’s life.
I chuckled at Zion.
Giannis is not the longest-tenured Buck, Khris Middleton was drafted 39th overall in the 2012 draft, a year before Giannis was drafted.
Ignore this, I forgot that K-Midd started the first year of his career with Detroit.
my bad on giving felicio a hard time. with all that experience, he’ll be a valuable asset. never mind, he still needs to go.
Big Ups on the edit button Luke!!!!
We were just talking about this last week in here, solid edition
Cool article
Technically, it should read “(draft trade)” next to Caris LeVert’s name. The Nets traded Thaddeus Young to the Pacers for the #19 pick. Incidentally, I saw a rumor about the Nets possibly reacquiring Thad Young for Taurean Prince. That would be an interesting turn of events.
Kuzma was also acquired in a draft trade. Nets traded the #27 pick and Brook Lopez to the Lakers for D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov.
Good catch, thanks, that’s been fixed.