Richard Jefferson will now by shooting for the Golden State Warriors. Photo by Russ Isabella-US PRESSWIRE

A trio of former Arizona Wildcats will be wearing new uniforms after a flurry of trades at the NBA trade deadline.

The Los Angeles Lakers lost an ex-Cat when they traded forward Luke Walton to the Cleveland Cavaliers in order to address their need at point guard. The Cavs sent Ramon Sessions and wing Christian Eyenga to L.A. The key piece going back to Cleveland was a first-round 2012 draft pick.

Walton, 31 and bothered by injuries through much of his nine-year career, has played in only nine games this season. He has career averages of 4.9 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists.

The Lakers then sent veteran point guard Derek Fisher and a conditional draft pick to Houston for ex-UA forward Jordan Hill, who is in his third season in the NBA, averaging 5.0 points and 4.8 rebounds this season.

And former UA forward Richard Jefferson is on the move from San Antonio to Golden State, which is a drop of about 10 games in the Western Conference standings.

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Luke Walton fires a pass to Isaiah Fox in the 2002 Pac-10 tournament title game.
Photo by Francisco Medina, Tucson Citizen

The Arizona Wildcats have won four Pac-10 tournament championships, but none since 2002.

Rewinding the clock nine years …

The Wildcats beat USC for that 2002 conference tournament title, with junior forward Luke Walton earning Most Outstanding Player honors.

Walton had 23 points and eight assists in the title game, playing all 40 minutes in the 81-71 victory over USC.

“It just shows what type of player he is,” Arizona point guard Jason Gardner was quoted as saying by the Tucson Citizen’s Steve Rivera. “He’s finding players with the ball and leading the team. He did a great job for us.”

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Luke Walton has fond memories of the late Maurice Lucas. Photo by Christopher Hanewinckel-US PRESSWIRE

Former Arizona Wildcat forward Luke Walton spoke with ESPN Los Angeles about his namesake, former NBA player Maurice Lucas, who died at the age of 58 because of bladder cancer.

Lucas was a great friend and Portland Trail Blazers teammate of Bill Walton.

(Unlike many men of Luke Walton’s age, he was not named after Luke Skywalker of the Star Wars saga. His first name is in honor of Lucas.)

Luke was asked how his dad described Lucas to him:

“He always told us the greatest two teammates he ever had were Larry Bird and Maurice Lucas. He had nothing but great things to say about him, on and off the court. His character. The person he was. It’s obviously tough, knowing my dad just lost one of his best friends. He always spoke very highly of him and every time we saw him, he was always great to us. A lot of fun to talk to. To hang out with. A big, loving, caring type of man.”

Read more of the Q&A at ESPN.com.

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