Double agent

August 28, 2009 4:30 PM

There was a player in the NBA who played in the same game for both teams, I think due to the final minutes needing to be replayed on a different date and a trade happening in the meantime. I can't think of the name of the player or teams, and my Google-fu doesn't seem up to the task. Can anybody help?
posted by chmmr to sports, hobbies, & recreation (9 answers total)

It was Shaquille O'neal, traded away from the Miami Heat. The Heat played against the Hawks, and due to a scorekeeper mistake, the final 51 seconds needed to be replayed. The scorekeeper ruled Shaq had fouled out, but he hadn't. They replayed the game on the 8th of March, I think, 2001. No one scored, and the game ended the same way, with a Hawks win.
Link.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:43 PM on August 28, 2009 [1 favorite]

A quick read of this article suggests that this happened to three players.

"Three players - Eric Money, Ralph Simpson and Harvey Catchings - are listed as playing and accumulating stats for both teams."

The article goes into great detail on the trades.
posted by alligatorman at 4:43 PM on August 28, 2009 [1 favorite]

Actually, that was 2004, and there weren't any players that had switched from the Heat to the Hawks, though both teams had made significant trades (the Heat got Shawn Marion, the Hawks got Mike Bibby), but again, the result didn't actually change. NBA.com has a story from before the game about the conditions set for the replay.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:46 PM on August 28, 2009

It was Shaquille O'neal, traded away from the Miami Heat. The Heat played against the Hawks....

Shaq has never played for the Hawks.
posted by mr_roboto at 4:47 PM on August 28, 2009

Ghidorah: Shaq's situation was similar, but he was traded to the Phoenix Suns before the second "game," not the Hawks. So he didn't play for both teams in the same game.
posted by alligatorman at 4:48 PM on August 28, 2009

I'll just go hang my head in shame. Good find, alligatorman.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:48 PM on August 28, 2009

And it was 2008.
posted by alligatorman at 4:49 PM on August 28, 2009

1978 - The Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jersey Nets play a game for which the final 17:50 of the contest must be replayed on March 23, 1979, due to a protest being upheld. Harvey Catchings and Ralph Simpson played for the 76ers and Eric Money and Al Skinner played for the Nets when the game began, but were traded to the opposing teams by the time the game was completed. It's the only time in the history of professional sports that any player played for both teams in the same game.

(found here)

Yeah, that's the story I was thinking of alligatorman, thanks. The article I found seems to suggest four players were involved, but most seem to suggest only three played on both sides. I'll have to read it in more detail. Fascinating story, and I say this as someone who doesn't really follow sport (and an Australian at that.) Thank you all for your help.
posted by chmmr at 4:53 PM on August 28, 2009

The article I found mentions that Skinner was traded as well:

"On Feb. 7, 1979, the Nets trade Money and Al Skinner to Philadelphia for Catchings, Simpson and Cash. Again, the league ruminates, then decides to let all the players participate in the suspended game, for their new teams. Skinner doesn't play, but the other three appear on both sides of The Box Score."

Fascinating story indeed, especially since four players were involved.
posted by alligatorman at 5:11 PM on August 28, 2009