Trades Made by 2009's Top Two Contenders | IXGAMES

The 2008-2009 NBA Season was an exciting one. Top contenders battling it out for the final two slots in the 2009 NBA Finals. After the gruelling race to The Finals, the two teams to make it were the Los Angeles Lakers from the West and the Orlando Magic from the East. Kobe Bryant lead the Lakers to a 4-1 Finals series victory over Dwight Howard and the Magic. In the off-season, these two powerhouse teams have made some major changes to their rosters. To learn more about some of the major trades and acquisitions made by these teams for the upcoming 2009-2010 season, read on. The Defending Champions: Los Angeles Lakers Taking a look at the moves made by the Defending Champions, the LA Lakers, you will see that the franchise held on to its main core, while getting some great acquisitions to help defend their NBA Championship Title. The main core that the Lakers held on to is comprised of Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, Derek Fisher, and Lamar Odom. Aside from these players, the Lakers also held on to players like Jordan Farmar, Shannon Brown, Sasha Vuljacic, and Luke Walton. The biggest change that the franchise made to their roster is the acquisition of Ron Artest. The team let go of Trevor Ariza, who went to the Houston Rockets in the trade for Ron Artest. Seeing as the veteran Ron Artest is one of the most talented and flexible defenders in the league, it’s easy to see that the Lakers still have a strong chance to repeat this coming season. The Orlando Magic Like the LA Lakers, the Orlando Magic also decided to stay with their main core of superstars. The three all-star players that Orlando held on to are Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, and Rashard Lewis. Nelson is now in better health, which should bode well for the Magic. Some of the other returning players from last season include Marcin Gortat, Adonal Foyle, Mickael Pietrus, and J.J. Reddick.  The Magic made a few big changes to their roster in hopes of getting better poised to win a championship this season. The first and biggest change that the Magic made was refusing to extend Hedo Turkoglu’s contract and instead picking up former-New Jersey Nets superstar Vince Carter. The Magic also was able to coax Jason Williams out of retirement and they got Matt Barnes on the team now as well. These are some great changes made by the Orlando Magic and there is no doubt that these changes will help to deepen their roster. One has to question, however, if the team will have good chemistry with all of the big changes that they made.