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The Oklahoma City Thunder will be getting Tyson Chandler from the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for Chris Wilcox, Joe Smith and DeVon Hardin.

Tyson Chandler has been out the past 12 games with an ankle injury but hasn’t played well this year after averaging a double double, with 11.8 points and rebounds, last season. This trade also frees up some of the log jam in OKC as they were able to make a two for 1 big man trade.

Chris Wilcox and Joe Smith will be serviceable big men for the Hornets but they would be lacking the defensive presence and shot blocking ability of Chandler. They also got the rights to DeVon Hardin, who was drafted in the second round of the 2008 draft, but didn’t sign with the Thunder.

This trade looks to be more related to the Hornets’ salary cap as they would want to get the expiring contract of Smith in order to be able to offer Chris Paul more money the following year.

As for the trade’s fantasy impact, it looks like the main big men that will be playing in Oklahoma City will be Tyson Chandler, Nick Collison and Nenad Krstic. It looks like Tyson Chandler will be moving in the starting lineup with Collison going to the bench. Another would be bringing Kyle Weaver off the bench and putting both Collison and Chandler in the starting lineup. I doubt they would be doing this unless matchup problems force them to since they’ve been playing well lately with Weaver on the court.

As for the Hornets, Wilcox will get lots of minutes and you should get him if you need help in rebounds and fg%. Just don’t count on him giving you blocks on a nightly basis.

The Rocky Mountain News reports that Nuggets traded point guard Chucky Atkins to the Oklahoma City Thunder for center Johan Petro. The Nuggets also sent the Thunder a 2009 first-round draft pick for Oklahoma City’s 2009 second-round pick.

“The thing that kind of hurts was that I never got an opportunity. Injuries can happen to anybody, and Anthony Carter stepped in and did what he was supposed to do to keep this team afloat. No hard feelings. That’s just the name of the game.”

“The way I look at it is that I get paid to play basketball,’’ Atkins said about going from a division leader to the team with the NBA’s worst record. “I got traded from Detroit (during the 2003-04 season) and the won the championship. I’m going to do the best that I can.’’

Johan Petro, the 7-foot French man, is averaging 4.6 points and 4.3 rebounds this year. He will give Denver an additional big man off the bench.

Fantasy Impact

Denver Nuggets: The most important thing here is that Nene will get extra minutes of rest now that they have two serviceable big men coming of the bench in Chris Andersen and Johan Petro. (more…)