This list is for the five worst trades of all time in the NBA. This is for how bad the trades ended up, not how they were thought of when they were made.
5. Dallas Mavericks trade Robert Traylor to Bucks for Dirk Nowitzki in 1998
The Mavs wanted Dirk on draft day. They drafted Traylor sixth and then traded him for Dirk, who was selected ninth.
Traylor went on to have a terribly underachieving career as he averaged a mere 4.8 points per game, 3.7 rebounds, and 0.7 assists in 438 career games with the Bucks, Cavaliers, and Hornets.
On the other hand, Dirk has became arguably the greatest European NBA player of all time. He is the only European to have won an MVP award. His career averages are 22.4 points per game, 8.6 rebounds, and 2.7 assists. He has been selected to the All-Star game seven times so far, and he's been selected to the All-NBA team eight times—with three of the selections being on the first team.
4. Seattle Supersonics trade Scottie Pippen to Bulls for Olden Polynice in 1987
The Sonics drafted Pippen with the fifth pick in the 1987 draft, and they immediately traded him for Polynice. Polynice was an average big man who averaged 7.8 points per game and 6.7 rebounds. Pippen, on the other hand, became one of the greatest all-around offensive players and one of the very best perimeter defenders of all time.
Pippen was selected as one of the 50 greatest players in 1996 and helped lead the Chicago Bulls to six championships in the 1990s in two different sets of threepeats. For his career, he averaged 16.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.2 assists, two steals, and 0.8 blocks per game. He was selected to seven All-Star teams, seven All-NBA teams—three of them as first-team selections—and 10 All-NBA defensive teams, eight times as a first-team selection.
- B/R Ticket Guide
3. Charlotte Hornets trade Kobe Bryant to Lakers for Vlade Divac in 1996
The Hornets had just drafted Kobe, and immediately accepted a trade proposal from Jerry West's Lakers of Vlade Divac for Kobe Bryant. While Divac was a solid starting center, he still wasn't close to good enough to justify this trade. Divac's stats were 11.8 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.4 blocks, and 1.1 steals.
However, Kobe Bryant is already one of the ten greatest players of all time, and he is only 30. He is one of the greatest offensive and defensive players of all time. He has career averages of 25 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 1.5 steals. Along with 10 All-Star appearances, Bryant has been named to the All-NBA first-team multiple times as well as the All-NBA defensive-team.
2. Golden State trades McHale & Parrish to the Celtics for Joe Barry Carrol in 1980
The Warriors got Carrol, who was a bit of a bust as a number-one overall pick. He had good stats as he averaged 17.7 points, eight rebounds, and two assists in his career. However, he was usually on a losing team, which he couldn't lead deep into the playoffs.
On the other side, McHale and Parrish have both ended up making the Hall of Fame, and are two of the greatest big men of all time. McHale's career stats were 18 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game, along with a fantastic 55.4-percent average from the field.
Parrish averaged 14.5 points and 9.1 rebounds, along with 1.5 blocks per game. He also played the most games of all time, appearing in 1611 games.
These two players helped the Celtics win three championships in the 1980s.
1. Bucks trade Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the Lakers for Elmore Smith, Brian Winters, Dave Meyers, and Junior Bridgeman in 1975
While the Bucks did receive a couple of good players in Dave Meyers and Brian Winters, they still gave up the greatest big man of all time in his prime. Kareem helped lead the Lakers to five NBA titles in 14 seasons. His career averages are an amazing 24.6 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 2.6 blocks per game, along with 56-percent shooting from the field.
He was selected to an amazing 19 All-Star games, he won six Most Valuable Player awards—the most of all time—became the all-time leader in points scored, and was selected to 16 All-NBA teams, with 10 of those being first-team selections.
He was also a very good defensive center, as he was selected to ten All-NBA defensive teams, five of those being first-team selections.
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3 months ago
How about Philadelphia Sixers trading away the #1 pick (Brad Daugherty) for Roy Hinson and cash. Another dumb ass move by the Sixers was trading Charles Barkley for Jeff Hornack, Andrew Lang and Tim Perry.
from 3 months ago
Add to that Moses Malone for Jeff Ruland and Cliff Robinson.....The sixers in the 80's made some worthless trades
3 months ago
How about when the Bulls traded Scottie Pippen for Roy Rogers and future second round pick (Jake Voshkul)?
3 months ago
We're all forgetting the most recent larceny....Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, and Marc Gasol. I know the jury's still out on Crittenton and Gasol, but trust me they won't make it worth having to take on Kwame Brown (both his salary and his terrible game).
Also cut the Bucks some slack. Elmore Smith does hold the record for most blocked shots in a game (17 vs. Portland, Oct. 28, 1973).
3 months ago
Kobe one of the 10 best players of all time? Ha. One trade that might be on here that isn't was the deal that sent Ed McAuley to the Hawks for the rights to draft Bill Russell. I mean, the Hawks passed up the chance to draft a guy that had just won 60 college games in a row (2 NCAA titles) and an Olympic gold medal! Russell's totals w/Boston? 11 rings in 13 years, just 5 more than Kareem. I'd say that was a bad move by the Hawks.
from 3 months ago
One of the top 3 Greatest all time
3 months ago
love the article good job Marcel
3 months ago
Good job, great read.
3 months ago
Did you just call Kareem "the greatest big man of all time"? I think I just blacked out.
3 months ago
Hey Colin, We traded for Kwame b/c of his contract and the fact that it is already up and now we dont have to deal with the horrible contract that was Pau Gasol and was the thing holding this team down. We should have gotten more for Pau but for a small market team sometimes its best just to cut ties with an unwanted overpaid player (i.e.Baron Davis, Vince Carter) rather than worry about getting fair value which you will never find. Its not like teams where offering anything great for him.
Trading Pau opened up the chance for us to get OJ Mayo and Grizzlies fans couldnt be happier and never have to worry about Pau checking for blood ever again.
3 months ago
Great read. Nice way to refresh our memory on some of the NBA's worst trades. While the Pau Gasol trade was mind boggling, these are trades regarding future Hall-of-famers that must have the team that traded them kicking themselves.
3 months ago
Here's veracity (for me) which makes this thread invalid;
Every trade listed here, outside of the Kareem trade, assumed that folk can see into the future.
Thats not possible.
Not in basketball. Not in any sport.
.
.
.
Therefore in terms *of reality* and our incapability to see into the future, then...the other four trades don't qualify for this article.
And "Colon" made a great point, inadvertantly, showing how nothing whatsoever in today's NBA can be put on this list;
The Gasol trade: we have a newly-formed NBA, by which, this ridiculous thing called The Collective Bargaining Agreement has poisoned Owners/GM's into a mindset that is exclusively focused on *getting rid of contracts to free up monies for future* season's aspirations.
Which means its now about the sole, willful and intentional *matching of contracts ---for trades!--- and not matching talent* whatsoever.
3 months ago
I would add the trade which sent Charles Barkley from the Phoenix Suns to the Houston Rockets in 1996. The Rockets gave up Robert Horry, Sam Cassell along with Mark Bryant and Chucky Brown. The Rockets could have won another title or two if they had not given up their two best young players for an aging over-the-hill Charles Barkley. I think the deal was made by the NBA front office to give Chuck his last chance to win a title.
3 months ago
Warriors trade Mitch Richmond to the Kings for Billy Owens...ouch
3 months ago
Those were indeed bad trades but how can you top this one? The Rockets had 3 First round draft choices in 2001. They traded all three of those choices for the number 7 pick in the draft which they used to acquire a high school player named Eddie Griffin. One of those draft choices was used to draft Richard Jefferson. Players available to be picked with the other two choices included Zach Randolph, Gerald Wallace, Tony Parker, Gilbert Arenas, and Mehmut Okur.
3 months ago
I would put the Shaq from LA to Miami as one of the top 5 because the Heat won a Championship and it took LA a while to get back to the Finals, ultimately losing to Boston.
Specifically the deal included: Caron Butler, Lamar Odom, Brian Grant and a future first-round draft choice for Shaq. Ripped off seems appropriate.
3 months ago
I like Kobe.
He forced that trade to LA. He and his agent put word out to the teams saying the only team Kobe would play for would be the Lakers.
There's a news clip of Dave Cowens, the Charlotte Hornet's coach, where he's drinking a soda and in the press conference he tells the press that Kobe doesn't want play for the Hornets he wants to play for LA.
You can't fault any player for doing what's best for themselves but that isn't a trade the Hornets wanted to make.
That's when the Lakers were down...Nick Van Exel, Eddie Jones, Doug Christie, Cedric Ceballos...Vlade was the best player available on that team...and it freed up room to sign Shaq.
from 20 days ago
Really the Lakers were down before the signing of Shaq and the bringing in of Kobe the Lakers went 53-29. Lead by Nick Van Exel, Eddie Jones, Elden Campbell, Magic Johnson, Cedric Ceballos, and Vlade.
The 1994-1995 Lakers went 48-34, The 1993-1994 team was 33-49, 1992-1993 went 39-43. So, even before the trades the Lakers had only two losing seasons and that was during the time that Magic Johnson had retired because of the HIV. They rebuilt rather quickly and made it back to being a solid team even before the trade that brought in Kobe.
3 months ago
Golden State trades Chris Webber to Washington for Tom Gugliotta.
Golden State trades Billy Owens and Sasha Danilovic for Ronny Seikaly
Golden State trades Tim Hardaway and Chris Gatling to Miami for Kevin Willis and Bimbo Coles.
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