The Best And Worst Trades In Lakers History

Anthony Edwards hilarious reaction to Luka Doncic trade to Lakers 😂

The Basketball Gods love the Lakers.

George Mikan was the first NBA great and superstar in the 40s and 50s.

Then they gave the Lakers Elgin Baylor and Jerry West in 1960.

At the end of the decade, they said let's make one of them the logo and give him the most dominant player ever, Wilt Chamberlain, as a teammate.

When Wilt retired in the mid-70s, they said let's replace him with arguably a better center.

If getting Kareem wasn't enough, they ended the decade by ensuring the franchise won a coin flip that turned into the greatest point guard ever.

The Gods enjoyed the duo of Magic and Kareem so much that they rewarded them with a few more future Hall of Famers, and the 80s Showtime Lakers was born.

The Gods must have taken a break in the early '90s because the decade's first half was hell: Finals loss in 1990, Magic retirement in 1991, and missed the Playoffs in 1993. Heaven returned in 1996 in the form of Shaquille O'Neal and a draft-day trade for Kobe Bryant.

When the Kobe reign ended in 2016, they said let's bring another candidate for the GOAT title. Two years later, LeBron is celebrating the franchise's 17th title.

Realizing 40-year-old Bron probably only has a couple of years left, they put Rob Pelinka and Nico Harrison in a room together. They told them to figure out how to send Luka Doncic to LA regardless of how crazy, shocking, or stupid the trade may be.

Here we are! Looking back at the history of trades and trying to figure out why the Basketball Gods keep rewarding the Lakers. The following are a few of my picks for the best, worst, and most shocking trades in Lakers' history.

RUSSELL WESTBROOK (WORST)

Was Westbrook the worst trade in Lakers history? Stephen A. has his say | First Take

DATE: JULY 29, 2021
LAKERS TRADED: Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell and No. 22
HOW IT ENDED: Traded to the Utah Jazz in 2023 for D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, and Jarred Vanderbilt.

A "BIG 3" of LeBron, AD, and the league leader in assists had a lot of potential on paper. In reality, it fit worse than the glove on OJ's hand in court. Russ had some of the worst games of his career, and clips of his worst missed shots, turnovers, and performances went viral more often than the highlights we were used to seeing from the 2017 MVP.

• 2 Points on 0/11 shooting
• 8 points on 1/13 shooting & 6 turnovers
• 5 points on 1/10 shooting

Magic Johnson even said, "If we don't make the Play-In, this trade could go down as the worst trade in Lakers history."

To quote another famous person from Los Angeles, Johnnie Cochran famously said, "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit." After using him as a 6th Man for the first half of his second season with the team, the Lakers sent him packing and brought DLo back.

In DeMar DeRozan's autobiography, he revealed he went to LeBron's home in the Summer of 2021 to talk about joining the Lakers. He left "thrilled for the next chapter." Soon after, he heard the news of the Westbrook trade. His response: "F***, how am I going to go there now?"

ADRIAN DANTLEY (WORST)

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DATE: September 13, 1979
LAKERS TRADED: Dantley for Spencer Haywood
HOW IT ENDED: Haywood was cut from the team during the 1980 NBA Finals

If you know about Adrian Dantley, you know the 6 x All-Star is one of the greatest scorers in NBA history, and he took his time doing it. He would massage the ball for seconds at the free throw line and give defenders four to eight pump fakes in slow motion before scoring a bucket. "The Teacher" scored so many buckets he averaged 30+ for four straight seasons and led the league in scoring twice. All those accomplishments happened after the Lakers traded the 23-year-old future star for 30-year-old Spencer Haywood.

Although many facts were exaggerated and dramatized for television, I highly recommend the HBO show WINNING TIME, which spent much time on Haywood's rocky relationship with Kareem and his single season with the Lakers. A season that ended with a cocaine-using Haywood reportedly meeting with a friend to come up with a plan to have coach Paul Westhead killed (by sabotaging the brakes on his car) and then getting voted off the team before Game 3 of the 1980 NBA Finals.

The Lakers went on to win a championship without him and initially didn't give him a Championship ring. Eight years later, he finally received one for that season, and Kareem gave it to him.

Kareem Adbul-Jabbar Tells Spencer Hayword His Fate | Winning Time | HBO

Surprisingly, Haywood was happy to see a version of his story appear in the show:

"I was sick. I was crying. I couldn’t control my emotions,” Haywood said. “But it turned out to be a blessing. People were like, ‘I know you were crazy on that Lakers show, but let me look at your true story.'”

As mentioned, Dantley had the best years of his Hall of Fame career after his time with the Lakers. Unfortunately, his resume is missing a championship that I'm sure he would have eventually won in LA. The same could be said about his time in Detroit, but that's another wild story.

DWIGHT HOWARD & STEVE NASH (WORST)

Dwight Howard GETS REAL On Playing With Kobe Bryant

DATE: JULY 11, 2012 | August 10, 2012
LAKERS TRADED: 4 future draft picks for Nash and Andrew Bynum for Howard
HOW IT ENDED: Nash retired and Howard left in free agency

Steve Nash was coming off an All-Star season with the Suns. Dwight Howard won three Defensive Player of the Year awards and made four All-NBA 1st teams in his final four seasons with the Orlando Magic. Adding them to a team with All-NBA 1st team Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Metta World Peace sounded like a guaranteed trip back to the NBA Finals. Sports Illustrated even put the two new additions on the cover with the headline: NOW THIS IS GOING TO BE FUN!

It wasn't.

Including preseason, the Lakers only won a single game in their first 12. They fired Coach Mike Brown, replaced him with Mike D'Antoni, and had their worst start since 1994 when the starting lineup looked like this:

• Nick Van Exel
• Tony Smith
• Trevor Wilson
• Antonio Harvey
• Vlade Divac.

Howard still led the league in rebounds and made an All-NBA and All-Star team, but it was evident that Kobe wasn't too fond of him. Actually, he couldn't stand him. He might have hated him.

After getting swept in the first round of the playoffs, Howard left in free agency. A broken-down Nash hung around for another year but only managed to play 15 games in what turned out to be his final season in the NBA. The BIG3 experiment was over over and the best thing to come from it was this hilarious video from comic genius ItsReal85.

DWIGHT HOWARD CALLS ANDREW BYNUM!!!

In a recent interview with Gilbert Arenas, Howard revealed he didn't even want to play with the Lakers.

“It was difficult playing with Kobe. Because one, it’s the expectation of winning and then two, it’s like everybody expected me and Kobe to be like the new Kobe and Shaq. And I’m just coming off an injury, I’m still dealing with all the mental s**t from Orlando and now I got to go to L.A. and I’m playing with Kobe. I watched him play, they beat us in the Finals. One, I was already pissed because I had to go to L.A. and nobody ever knew I didn’t want to go to L.A. I didn’t want to go to the Lakers because I wanted to beat the Lakers, they just beat us in the Finals. So in my mind, I was like why would I go to the team that just beat us? I wanted to go to Brooklyn and just start my whole career over. But I got sent to L.A. and I was like we’re gonna come back and try to win in L.A. It didn’t work out and I made an emotional decision to leave."

In 2020, he returned to the them and won his only NBA championship. For the past year, he's been trolling the team with social media posts and letting them know he's still available and capable of catching lobs from LeBron and Luka.

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL (WORST)

Kobe Bryant (Age 25) Publicly Apologizes To Shaq With Stephen A. Smith (2004)

DATE: July 14, 2004
LAKERS TRADED: Shaq for Caron Butler, Lamar Odom, Briant Grant, 2006 1st Round pick, 2007 2nd Round pick
HOW IT ENDED: Shaq won a championship two years later. Kobe won the first of back-to-back championships five years later.

I don't care that Kobe and Shaq each won a championship without the other or what they proved on their own. I know how much I cared about the unstoppable duo while they pulled off a three-peat in the early 2000s and appeared in four finals in five years. And if it weren't for the biggest divorce in franchise history, they probably would have gone on to win a few more championships. How many more? This is what Shaq said during an interview on ALL THE SMOKE:

"Seven. Because the reason why I got traded, it wasn't me and Kobe beef, it was they wanted me to take less money... I just should have been like "Alright, I've raised you enough. It's your team now. I know what I'm gonna do, I'm still gonna do my 28 and 10"... The ego still got me what I wanted, I still went to Miami, Pat took care of me, and I still won one. But I would have liked to stay there for the rest of my career."

As for Kobe's thoughts, he had a much higher number in mind while talking about how great Shaq would have been if he had worked harder.

“He’d be the greatest of all-time He’d be the first to tell you that. For sure. This guy was a force like I have never seen. It was crazy, a guy at that size. Generally, guys at that size are a little timid and don’t want to be tall. They don’t want to be big. This dude did not care. He was mean. He was nasty. He was competitive. He was vindictive. I wish he was in the gym. I would’ve had f***** 12 rings.”

Having one more ring than Bill Russell is a stretch, but the fact that these two legends believed they could have brought the franchise double to triple the number of championships if they had stayed together makes the trading of Shaq one of the worst ever.

In case you were wondering how Shaq felt about Kobe saying they would have had 12 if Shaq worked harder. The M.D.E. posted this on his IG:

“U woulda had twelve if u passed the ball more especially in the Finals against the Pistons facts. You don’t get statues by not working hard.”

Magic Johnson gave a great quote during an appearance on THE BEST DAMN SPORTS SHOW days after the Lakers traded Shaq.

"The team was worth $500-600 million with Shaq and Kobe. Now that Shaq is gone, the team is still worth 500-600 million. That does not change. The brand is bigger than anybody. We had superstars here before. And we will have superstars here long after Shaq and Kobe."

That's the perfect segway to some of the trades that landed these superstars.

MAGIC JOHNSON (BEST)

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DATE: 1976
LAKERS: Allowed the New Orleans Jazz to sign Gail Goodrich for three future picks, including the pick that became Magic
HOW IT ENDED: Magic became the greatest point guard in NBA history

Can you imagine a world where Magic Johnson wasn't a Laker and Michael Jordan was a Bull? In 1979, the first pick of the NBA draft was decided by a coin flip. Chicago had the call and decided to let their tiny fan base make the call via a fan-voting contest. The fans voted heads, the flip turned out to be tails, and the Lakers now had the pick that would be Magic Johnson.

"I'm happy it turned out the way it did," Magic Johnson said on The Jennifer Hudson Show. "You know why, Jennifer? Then it would be no Michael in Chicago and no Magic in LA. So it worked out."

He's right. If Magic had gone to the Bulls, it's doubtful that they would have been as bad as they were and ended up with the third pick in the 1984 NBA Draft to take the shooting guard that the Portland Trailblazers passed on.

Where's the trade in this story?

The Lakers were only in this coin-flipping contest for the first pick because the New Orleans Jazz traded it to them a few years earlier. In 1976, the Lakers allowed the Jazz to sign 33-year-old All-Star Gail Goodrich (3 years, $1.4M) in return for their first-round picks in 1977, 1978, and 1979. Since the Jazz had the worst record in 1979 (the final year of Goodrich's career and the franchise's final year in New Orleans), the Lakers found themselves in the Magic Johnson sweepstakes.

If that wasn't bad enough for the Jazz, for them to send the 1977 pick to the Lakers, they had to release their rights to Moses Malone, who was selected by the Jazz in a pre-merger Draft for ABA players. The late great Moses only became a 3 x MVP and arguably the most unappreciated player in the history of the NBA. He also won Finals MVP after sweeping Magic and the Lakers in the 1983 NBA Finals.

KOBE BRYANT (BEST)

What if the Hornets never traded Kobe Bryant to the Lakers?

DATE: June 26, 1996
LAKERS TRADED: Vlade Divac
HOW IT ENDED: Kobe retired as "the greatest Laker ever"

On May 14th, 1996, Magic Johnson announced his second retirement and Lakers fans were once again feeling uncertain about the franchise's future. One month later, they traded center Vlade Divac (highest paid player on the roster) to the Charlotte Hornets for their 13th pick in the Draft. That pick was Kobe Bryant, who the Nets wanted to draft at No. 8 but were told by Sonny Vaccaro that Kobe would play in Italy if they picked him. Nets GM Bobby Marks said Kobe's workout "to this day, the greatest draft workout I've ever seen in my life."

Lakers GM Jerry West felt the same way about Bryant when he stopped a pre-draft workout after just five minutes.

According to Bryant, Hornets coach Dave Cowens wasn't as thrilled as Marks and West.

"Charlotte never wanted me," Bryant said. "Cowens told me he didn't want me. It wasn't a question of me even playing here. They had a couple of guards already, a couple small forwards already. So it wasn't like I would be off the bench much. He told me, 'We don't really need you here.' Then I was like, “Oh, all right.’ I quickly transitioned from smiley kid to killer instinct.”

Cowens denied Bryant's story.

“I’d never say anything like that to a player,” Cowens said. “I didn’t know him and he didn’t know me. It wasn’t about him not being able to play for us. It was just it was already worked out."

Regardless of what was actually said on the call, the fact is that Kobe Bryant became one of the greatest players ever and, according to Magic Johnson, "the greatest Laker ever." As for the Hornets, they have still yet to reach the Eastern Conference Finals, and Divac left after two seasons to sign with the Sacramento Kings.

If it weren't for this trade, Divac wouldn't have ended up with the Kings, who eventually made him the GM. As a GM, he drafted Marvin Bagley III over Luka Doncic. If Vlade had drafted Luka, there's no chance he would have traded him to the Lakers. So this makes the Kobe trade even better.

WILT & KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR (BEST)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain’s beef was the result of two GOATS vying for one pedestal

DATE: July 9, 1968 | June 16, 1975
LAKERS TRADED: Not enough
HOW IT ENDED: Championships and franchise records

I won't spend much time on how the Basketball Gods allowed the Lakers to get these two legends. All I'll say is that only the Lakers could end up with a player like Wilt, watch him get outplayed by a younger, better center, and say, "Let's make sure the Lakers get him, too."

The Lakers can also be thankful that both players wanted to leave their current teams. Wilt was having contract disputes with the Sixers, and Kareem wanted out of Milwaukee because "his lifestyle and the lifestyle in Milwaukee were not compatible."

The Lakers had to give up this for the guy who scored 100 points in a game and an unofficial quintuple-double in another: Darrall Imhoff, All-Star Archie Clark, and Jerry Chambers, who was serving in the military.

The Lakers had to give up this for the guy who ended Wilt and the Laker's 33-game win streak: Elmore Smith, Brian Winters, Dave Meyers, Junior Bridgeman, and Cash. That haul might not sound like that great of a deal for arguably the best center ever, but Winters and Bridgeman were good enough to have their jerseys retired in Milwaukee. So, it could have been much worse.

ANTHONY DAVIS (BEST)

Anthony Davis Was a MONSTER In The 2020 Playoffs | Full Highlights | 1st 'CHiP 💍

DATE: July 6, 2019
LAKERS TRADED: Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, No. 4 pick (De'Andre Hunter), 2 future 1st-round picks
HOW IT ENDED: Luka!!!

Many people thought the Lakers gave up too much for AD in 2019. They gave up Lonzo Ball, who LaVar Ball said was better than Steph Curry. He wasn't. They gave up Brandon Ingram, who was supposed to be the next KD. Nope. De'Andre Hunter was the fourth pick in the Draft. Who cares? The Lakers had a chance to get a perennial All-NBA first-teamer and DPOY candidate for a bunch of young guys with potential and some future picks.

LeBron James felt the way I did. After AD dropped 46 points on his former team, LeBron posted a photo of AD's stats on IG and said: "We still gave too much for him. Huh??!!!??? Monster! Bro you different."

Lonzo Ball, himself, even agreed it was a good trade for the Lakers:

"That’s the first time that I realized that this is definitely a business, you know? But, at the same time, it was like it’s Anthony Davis. A part of me was like, I mean, to be fair, I would have traded myself for Anthony Davis.”

As a result of the trade, they won a championship (I know, I know, "Bubble Championship") in 2020 and then were able to flip him for Luka Doncic in 2025. The franchise now has another superstar for the next decade.

Like I said, the Basketball Gods love the Lakers.

HONORABLE MENTIONS (Good)

• (1980) Don Ford & a 1st round pick for the Cavs first-round pick in 1982. That pick turned out to be James Worthy
• (1981) 1983 2nd-round pick for Bob McAdoo
• (1983) Norm Nixon for the draft rights to Byron Scott
• (1987) Frank Brickowski and Peter Gudmundsson for Mychal Thompson
• (2007) Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, Marc Gasol, 2 Draft picks for Pau Gasol
• (1997) Cedric Ceballos for Robert Horry

(Bad)

• (2019) Ivica Zubac and Michael Beasley for Mike Muscala

(Bad/Good/?)

Here are some trades that don't look like good deals but were probably best for the franchise. Norman Powell's quote about the Clippers losing Paul George applies here: "Addition by subtraction."

• (1998) Nick Van Exel for Tony Battie and Tyronn Lue
• (1999) Eddie Jones for Glen Rice, JR Reid and BJ Armstrong
• (2005) Caron Butler for Kwame Brown

ESPN Stephen A. Smith on Kwame Brown for Pau Gasol Trade