Breaking News Ben Gordon has been traded to Charlotte for Corey Maggette

@WojYahooNBA: Detroit has traded Ben Gordon and a protected future first-round pick to Charlotte for Corey Maggette, league sources tell Y! Sports.

WTF?

Confirmed

Bobcats Acquire Gordon Future First Round Pick For Maggette - RealGM Wiretap

it's also on nba.com
Pistons Acquire Forward Corey Maggette from Charlotte in Exchange for Guard Ben Gordon and a Future First-Round Draft Choice | THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE DETROIT PISTONS

could any of the cap experts explain this trade to me?

Get ALL THE SMALL FORWARDS!

The Bleacher report version

Detroit Pistons Reportedly Trade Ben Gordon to Charlotte Bobcats | Bleacher Report

Miracles DO happen..

This seems like a good time for me to delurk. Hello everybody.

The timing of this deal is interesting. I'm betting that one or both of these teams is getting ready to do another deal that involves at least one of their 2012 picks. Otherwise, why do this deal now?

Only thing I can figure is they save $15M in salary to use for 2013's pretty good free agent class

2013 NBA Free Agents | HOOPSWORLD | Basketball News & NBA Rumors

normally, I would agree; however, with JoeD in the last year's, that was always the talk whenever anything happened. And then, nothing happened. But who knows!

Does this make it more likely that Charlie gets amnestied?

Hold up everyone.

Lets not get ahead of ourselves. We just traded an overpaid SG with a really good stroke, for an overpaid small forward without one.
-Maggette is 32 and needs knee surgery
-He was once explosive, this is no longer the case
-He racks up a foul every 8 minutes and is a terrible defender
-He doesn't know how to pass the basketball

On the plus side, we have shaved 15 million off the salary cap for next year and a $2 million this year. I take it that Joe expects us to be contenders soon, so the pick is really unimportant in my eyes.

There are two ways that this becomes a serious move.
1- He amnesties Charlie Villenueva. This gives us $10m this year (-draft picks+others) to play around with in FA. Or somewhere between 15-20 next year.
2- Another trade occurs for a different player. I'm thinking Prince might be on the block. I consider his production relatively cheap at 8 and other teams might like him.

I mean, I suppose I am glad that there even was a trade.

I would argue that this is unlikely to be the case. This years draft gives us a really important piece of a contender team. There is no way we give up that pick. Other members have suggested that a fringe lottery pick is not worth it - that we should trade down - but I am not completely sold on that point.

This, at face value, is a cap space move more than anything else. I personally think that Villenueva now has his head on the chopping block. No team trades for him, and he is not worth his contract. If I were a betting man, I would be suggesting that the Amnesty clause is broken out very soon on him. Pack his spot with Macklin at a tenth of the cost.

That was the first thing I thought when I saw this trade.

Thank you Joe Dumars. But this is the first step, you have to continue to make improvements on our team. I hope you have some good cards under your sleeves.

I kind of feel sorry for Ben Gordon who is going to the worst team in the NBA.. but who knows? maybe he getthe playing time that he needs.

Amnisty Charlie V and start over!! That was the first thing I thought when I read about this trade in twitter.

It doesn't look like a buy-out, at this point:

“We welcome Corey Maggette to our organization in a transaction that provides us with a veteran scorer and defender in addition to increased roster flexibility moving forward,” Dumars said in a release. “We thank Ben Gordon for his commitment to our organization over the last three years and wish him the best in the future.”

In the big scheme of things...it's a small move. But at least a move was made which helps the team in some way.

I was ready to show up at the Palace so I could hold a mirror up to JDs nostrils............to see if he was breathing...............

Welcome to our rock solid organization, Maggette.

I have no input at this time, besides this thread which came to mind upon reading this breaking news.