Tip of the hat to Jack Chen for inspiring me to write this piece.
In the NBA, there are certain moments that have you scratching your head. One subject that captures this very well is trades. The media and fans love when trades happen, it strikes up around-the-cooler conversations, some of which can get heated. Particularly in the case of a lopsided swap. Some trades seem extremely one-sided upon first glance, others turn to be out later down the line as a player(s) develops into a star. So, without further ado, here are my top 5 most one-sided dealings in the past 15 years:
Steve Nash rose to prominence in the Big D.
5a. Phoenix Suns trade Steve Nash to the Dallas Mavericks for Martin Muursepp, Bubba Wells, draft rights to Pat Garrity, and 1st round pick(who turned out to be Shawn Marion). - I didn't want to omit this, so I made an excuse to throw this in here. In a sense, this trade isn't so bad due to the fact Marion turned out to be an All-Star forward. But Nash rose to stardom in Dallas, has two MVP's under his belt, and is a future HOFer widely regarded as one of the best point guards ever. Nash teamed up with Dirk Nowitzki to give the Mavs a lethal 1-2 punch. The team took off with Nash as a permanent starter in 2000-01, which is impressive considering they had 10 consecutive losing seasons prior.
Cassell showing the Suns what he's got.
5. Minnesota Timberwolves trade Sam Cassell and a protected 1st round pick for Marko Jaric(sign and trade) and Lionel Chalmers - At the time of the trade, Jaric was seen as an up and coming young point guard. Sam Cassell had apparently worn out his welcome in Minny. Little did anyone know what was about to happen. Cassell ended up guiding the Clippers to a 47-35 record, a trip to the Western Conference Semifinals(where they lost in 7), and perhaps the most successful season in franchise history. That alone won the deal for the Clippers. However, the icing on the cake is the 1st rounder. It has been protected all this time and becomes unprotected in 2012. And given the Wolves' current situation, it is highly possible it will be a high lottery pick. Jaric went on to have a pedestrian few years in Minny and last played in the NBA in 2009...on the bright side, he does have Adriana Lima.
Floppy Divac givin' dap to tough guy Anthony Mason.
4. Charlotte Hornets trade draft rights to Kobe Bryant to the Los Angeles Lakers for Vlade Divac - Some may argue this was the worst trade ever, but Divac was actually a very productive player for many years and is a pioneer for Yugoslavian/Serbian basketball. He had some nice years in LA, Charlotte, and then Sacramento where he was a vital part of those high octane Kings squads. He is also one of the best passing big men of all time, therefore I have a hard time ranking this trade any higher. Kobe, on the other hand, shot to superstardom in LA and has since become one of the greatest players of all-time. I think his story has been well-documented.
Shaq-Fu brought a chip(not the Pringles variety) to South Beach.
3. Los Angeles Lakers trade Shaquille O'neal to the Miami Heat for Caron Butler, Lamar Odom, Brian Grant, and a 1st round pick. - The self-proclaimed "MDE" had his talents taken to South Beach and Miami can't thank the Lakers enough. He and Dwyane Wade teamed up to win a championship in 2006. At the time of the trade, Shaq was still in his prime, if not close to it, and had an effective first two seasons in Miami. Many thought the Lakers could've fetched more in return for a player of his caliber. Butler was probably the best of the bunch, but was eventually traded for Kwame Brown.
Pretty sure the putter slipped out of Kwame's hands in the ensuing seconds.
2. Memphis Grizzlies trade Pau Gasol to the Los Angeles Lakers for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, draft rights to Marc Gasol, and 2008 and 2010 1st round picks. - Widely considered the heist of the century in the basketball circle(or a gift from former Lakers GM Jerry West), the Lakers took it and ran with it. And all it got them was two NBA titles. Pau Gasol is considered one of, if not the most skilled big men in the game today. In hindsight, Memphis didn't do too bad, as Marc Gasol has developed into a pretty good player, but Kwame Brown and Javaris Crittenton didn't do anything in their time there.
Tractor Traylor says "last night's dinner was this big."
1. Milwaukee Bucks trade drafts right to Dirk Nowitzki and Pat Garrity to the Dallas Mavericks for draft rights to Robert "Tractor" Traylor. - Easily takes the cake(pun intended) as most lopsided trade in recent memory. Tractor averaged a remedial 4.8ppg and 3.7rpg in his short career, having played his last NBA game at age 27. Dirk Nowitzki is still playing, has one MVP on his resume, mutiple All-Star appearances among other accolades, and is widely viewed as the best shooting big man in NBA history. This trade is the definition of highway robbery.
What do you think were the most lopsided trades ever?
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In 1999, the Wizards traded **Ben Wallace***, Terry Davis, Jeff McInnis and Tim Legler to Detroit for Ike Austin……
Be
Nope.
Ben Wallace was traded to Orlando FIRST for Ike Austin… and then he was traded to Detroit with Chucky Atkins for Grant Hill.
The trade for Ike Austin at the time wasn’t exactly fair but Ben Wallace wasn’t really a somebody yet. And it turned out that the trade to Detroit only turned out to be unfair because Grant Hill got hurt.
Oops, yep you’re right. The Wizards/Bullets have been involved in a lot of crappy trades that probably won’t make this list but should be mentioned.
Chris Webber for Mitch Richmond and Otis Thorpe
Rasheed Wallace for Rod Strickland
Rip Hamilton for Jerry Stackhouse
3 cases of trading away players that became great before or during their primes.
*Dave Debusschere from the Pistons to the Knicks for Walt Bellamy and Howard Komives.
Funny thing was, it seemed like a good idea for the Pistons at the time. It only took the Pistons 20 years or so to recover from this one.
*Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess from the Pistons to the Nuggets for Allen Iverson.
Funny thing was, it seemed like a good idea for the Pistons at the time. It will only take the Pistons… well, we’ll see.
Mitch Richmond was past his prime, yes. The Sheed for Strickland trade wasn’t bad. Strickland was still ballin’ and, eventually, helped the Wizards to the Playoffs. There was the Webber/Howard frontline so there was no room for Sheed. Too bad, it only lasted a good three years.
Stackhouse produced but was clearly at the twilight of his career as well.
First off, I’d have to research this trade and, second, we were only talking about trades that happened in the past 15 years.
And the Billups/Iverson trade might go down as one of the worst as well. Might have something there.
Vince Carter from Toronto for… Zo pretending to retire and a bag of balls…
Beasley for that 2nd rounder this summer is already looking like a brutal trade too.
Sorry, but you can’t really count the Nowitzki-Traylor trade and, if you do anyway, it STILL shouldn’t be the top one. You see, Traylor was never meant to play for the Mavs and didn’t. The two teams made an agreement before the draft so that each could get the player they wanted. Milwaukee wanted to draft Traylor and Dallas wanted to draft Nowitzki. So in other words this is an example of terrible DRAFTING, not terrible TRADING. And even if you do count draft-day trades, it’s still not as bad as Officer Olden Polynice for Scotty Pippen. And if that’s too old to count, then what about Randy Foye for Brandon Roy as an equally bad draft-day trade?
Technically, it’s still a trade. And Milwaukee with the 6th pick could’ve taken Nowitzki or even Paul Pierce.
And yes, the B. Roy/Foye swap was bad, but considering where Roy’s career be headed at the young age of 26, who knows? As you may have figured, there were so many worst deal candidates that some would be left out.
Another worthy candidate that would’ve made my top 10
If that’s the case, then Kobe and Divac wouldn’t have counted, either… because that one was also set up for Kobe to sign with the Lakers.
Still, it’s the team’s decision to make moves. They could’ve been total jerks and suddenly not agree to the terms. And, yes, these are technically “trades.”
Iverson was an unexpected disappointment in Detroit, Dumars had a plan at the time, signed Charlie V. and Ben Gordon and unfortunately it hasn’t worked out. But I personally wouldn’t put it in the top 5.
All players involved were good players, no actual stiffs. Therefore I can’t rank them that high in the pantheon of bad trades. It would be great to expand this list to the top 50 lopsided trades of all-time. Would be a lot of deals I haven’t even thought about.
What about Shareef Abdur Rahim for Pau Gasol? I still cringe at that one.
ben wallace sign and trade for grant hill to Magic
SAR still was a near 20/10 guy and in his prime.
I wouldn’t put it in my Top 5 even if it was bad.
Even still, Grant Hill made the All-Star team in 2005.
The Red Auerbach steals:
- Parish and the rights to McHale for the rights to Joe Barry Carroll
- Dennis Johnson for Rick Robey
- Bailey Howell for Mel Counts
- Rights to Bill Russell for Clyde Lovelette
- Picking up Willie Naulls, Emmett Bryant, and Bill Walton for peanuts
Yes, but how far did that get the Hawks?
There is no trade in history more lopsided than Dominique for Danny Manning. There just isn’t.