National Basketball Association

Wallace calls trade 'slap in the face'

Published Mar. 10, 2011 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Calling it a ''stab in the back'' and ''slap in the face,'' Gerald Wallace says he was blindsided by the Charlotte Bobcats' decision to trade him last month.

Back in Charlotte Thursday for the first time since being sent to Portland, Wallace said he was told by coach Paul Silas hours before the trade deadline that he wouldn't be dealt and ''then I get home and bam, I'm traded.''

The last original member of the 7-year-old franchise and the team's only All-Star, Wallace says he envisioned retiring as a Bobcat. Now he's getting used to new teammates on a likely playoff-bound team in Portland.

Wallace says Friday's game against his former team will be ''emotional.''