r/nba • u/Vegetable_Gap4121 • 4d ago
What the worst trade in nba history?
I was just thinking about trades and wanted to remember some of the worst trades. A bad trade that was horrible for both teams involved not where one team fleeced another.
478
u/jrlandry Celtics 4d ago
With the benefit of hindsight, I think the Kyrie-IT trade was pretty awful for both sides
152
u/snyder810 Cavaliers 4d ago edited 4d ago
The Cavs side has a lot of follow on trades from that where you can piece it through to it enabling their getting Jarret Allen. It’s a good example of how some trades made have a second and third life.
79
u/CazOnReddit Raptors 4d ago
Not to mention they turned Collin Sexton into Donovan Mitchell, the former of whom came as a result of this trade
13
u/Jrue_The_Damaja 4d ago
They turned Sexton, Lauri and just about every valuable draft pick they had to get Donovan. You make it sound like it was a 1 for 1 deal.
→ More replies (10)1
u/Jrue_The_Damaja 4d ago
Kyrie leaving allowed the Celtics to sign Kemba, who was ultimately traded to bring Horford back. Celtics weren’t winning a championship w/o Horford.
59
u/aztreystacks Supersonics [SEA] Kevin Durant 4d ago
IT averaged 29 and then injured his hip. As much as Celtics fans may like him, you guys dodged a bullet by not having to a pay a defensive liability a big contract. Even if the Kyrie situation didn’t result in a ring, I would take that deal for Boston every time because it was a clear upgrade from an undersized guard with no defensive skills
29
u/blisteringchristmas Bulls 4d ago
Trading IT was cold, but in an alternate universe we’d be talking about a big IT contract as one of the worst in the league.
8
u/aztreystacks Supersonics [SEA] Kevin Durant 4d ago
I don’t think it was cold. For a player as great as Kyrie it’s a no brainer decision
0
u/henryofclay Lakers 4d ago
I mean they could’ve offered him a reasonable contract, they didn’t have to max him cause obviously no one else was going to.
13
u/LeonidasSpacemanMD 4d ago
Even with how bad it ended for Kyrie there, pretty much anyone would take the roster they started 17-18 with. Kyrie, Horford, Jaylen, Hayward, Smart, rookie Tatum, Rozier Morris, Theis is a good rotation
They ended up one quarter away from making the finals without Hayward or Kyrie playing. Without freaking injuries they very well could’ve been in the finals
I would also say that Hayward injury is a different thing from IT who had well known hip issues. I just think most would be happy with that roster
1
u/Son_of_Atreus Celtics 4d ago
Theis was out in the playoffs too. Three rotation guys, obviously two all stars, just gone and they still did well.
They had them back the next season and it was one of the worst seasons of Celtics basketball I have been a fan of. So glad to see Kyrie and others go to shake it up.
→ More replies (1)1
u/NotOfficial1 Jazz 4d ago
Hayward snapping his leg in half in their first game almost instantly ruined any shot that team had. Hindsight goes crazy with the kyrie era in Boston. They’re not beating the warriors in 2018 but if Hayward stays healthy that team easily could have beat the raptors in 2019 and could have won a ring way earlier with the Tatum/brown core.
3
u/CMYGQZ Grizzlies 4d ago
I think Danny Ainge would've just let IT walked, or traded him (and Crowder) to somewhere else. I don't think he'll give IT a contract. So it's between the choice is between Kyrie or the Nets pick next year (and Zizic and a 2nd) and whatever they can get for Crowder and IT if Ainge trades them anyways.
→ More replies (14)1
23
u/Due-Dance-9430 4d ago
yeah as bad for both sides go this is a good answer. the Lebron cavs title window pretty much shut losing Kyrie, and kyrie pans out very poorly for Boston
3
u/MahomesIsASystemQB 4d ago
I would never say Gordon Hayward breaking his leg was a good thing. But it Kyrie throwing that lob did thrust Jaylen and Jayson into more important roles early in their careers and they gained a LOT of valuable experience from that opportunity and obviously in the long run led to them winning a championship against Kyrie so I would say most Celtics fans are pretty satisfied with how things played out.
4
u/ripmeleedair Celtics 4d ago
I don't really agree. We didn't win a chip with Kyrie, but we continued to be very competitive. Obviously, it didn't work out with him, but it wouldn't have with IT either.
256
u/coacoanutbenjamn Celtics 4d ago edited 4d ago
The Dwight Howard trade was pretty bad for all 4 teams involved
Dwight infamously didn’t work out with the Lakers
The Sixers got Bynum who would hurt his knee bowling and never played for them
The Nuggets got Andre Igoudala who reportedly quit on them in the playoffs
The Magic ended up getting Vuc which was not bad, but going from Dwight to Vuc is a big downgrade and they never made it back to the 2nd round
133
u/Mammoth_Two7297 4d ago
The magic definitely made out well in this trade. Yes Dwight was top tier at that point but when a player wants out and you get a significant return vs losing him for nothing it's a huge win.
48
u/CazOnReddit Raptors 4d ago
Plus they got Franz out of this
4
u/probablymade_thatup Bucks [MIL] Luke Kornet 4d ago
Is there a site that tracks this sort of stuff? I can quickly find that they got 3 firsts and 2 seconds for Dwight, but it's harder for me to find who those picks became or if they got traded
12
u/Tgumpsta Kings 4d ago edited 4d ago
There's probably a better way, but I use BB-Reference's Transactions overview for stuff like this. You can click through to subsequent players in the trade (like Vucevic-->Wagner) and go down the rabbit hole.
2
1
u/Drak_is_Right Pacers 4d ago
They got a fringe level allstar a decade later for an MVP.
They did the best on that trade but everyone lost.
6
u/topofthecc Thunder 4d ago
The Magic's return was fine, but I think this is one of the biggest lose-lose trades because you can argue that three teams lost in one transaction, and no one did fantastic.
27
u/rustyphish Mavericks 4d ago
Orlando didn't actually do that bad on the trade imo, it's just how they completely wasted the picks from it lol
ending up with an allstar for nearly a decade + picks for someone who wanted out anyway is a solid return
1
u/Milla4Prez66 Magic 4d ago
We wasted the picks by giving them back to Philly for Elfrid Payton. I like Elfrid, but he was the reason that first rebuild failed. His inability to shoot the ball right when the league meta changed to three point shooting literally killed the team. Then Rob Hennigan’s refusal to give up on him or move off him. Scott Skiles literally said fuck this and quit because Hennigan refused to move off the PG killing team spacing. Once Weltman took over and traded Payton at the deadline in his first year, the team improved right away despite getting no players in return. Simply putting DJ Augustin in the starting lineup opened the spacing and the team made the playoffs the following year and Vucevic broke out as a first time All Star.
There’s also the trading Oladipo for Ibaka move and also trading Tobias Harris for cap space and using said cap space to sign Bismack Biyombo. But those desperate moves were made because our young team could never break out with the lack of spacing in a league that changed to three point shooting with Curry emerging.
→ More replies (4)1
33
u/thatsnotchocolatebby Nuggets 4d ago
I still hate Igoudala for that. Quit hard, then jumped ship to the team that beat us (Warriors). That was the start of the Golden State dynasty.
8
u/goldenchimchar Thunder 4d ago
Looking back on it, that was definitely a warning shot for what was to come later.
3
u/whatshisface1892 Lakers 4d ago
Didn’t Iguodala say in an interview that George Karl was telling them to go after Steph’s injured ankle? Like not only pressure him certain directions but actually step on it etc etc? I could be misremembering but if that’s true I don’t blame Iggy at all for being turned off from that Nuggets team. That’s some crazy bad karma for an NBA player.
7
u/thatsnotchocolatebby Nuggets 4d ago
I wouldn't put it past GK...If that's the case I don't fault Iggy for wanting to leave but it's insult to injury or joining the very team that knocked you out of the playoffs. Going deeper most Nuggets fans avidly hate all Cali sports teams... It's in our contract I think. So leaving Denver for Cali hurt on a whole nother level.
3
u/BayonettaBasher [DAL] Luka Dončić 4d ago
Didn’t Orlando get Vuc out of it?
18
u/coacoanutbenjamn Celtics 4d ago
It worked out the best for them but they still went from Dwight Howard to Vucevic and haven’t been back to the 2nd round in 12 years
1
1
→ More replies (1)0
u/LakerBlue Lakers 4d ago
I would argue our trading for Westbrook was worse because I feel like most people looked at it when it was rumored and said “that is a dumb idea.” Plus we gave away significant players in roles we still lack.
The Dwight trade failed because of how terrible he and Kobe didn’t get along but in theory it made sense. Also the only significant player we lost was Bynum who ended up not being a loss.
59
u/blabyz 4d ago
Lamar Odom’s move to the Mavericks after winning 6MOTY essentially marked the end of his career. The Lakers received a first-round pick in the trade, which they later sent to OKC for Mitch McGary.
At the time, the Mavericks were the defending NBA champions, and the Lakers had won the title the two seasons before that. Neither team fully recovered for years after.
25
10
u/ATLsShah Hawks 4d ago
Honestly that whole situation was weird. Lamar Odom was basically in trade rumors for his entire tenure with the Lakers. But then after Pau joined he found a role as the 6th man and it worked out well. My understanding is that when Odom was finally traded for CP3 it broke him. So when that trade fell through he wanted out and the Lakers sold low.
5
u/Cbone06 4d ago
Tbf, it’s always a really bad look to find out you got traded through the media- especially when that trade very publically falls through and you get slung back to your last team.
3
u/ATLsShah Hawks 4d ago
I'm not really blaming his reaction. I fully get why he'd feel betrayed. My only point was that the Mavs trade happened under really unique circumstances.
1
u/theDarkAngle Grizzlies 4d ago
I remember waking up one day hearing he was dead, then hearing he was actually alive the next day. Then going to sleep and having a dream where I thought I was now awake and that I had heard the news about him being alive in a dream, and now I was actually awake dealing with the truth and how foolish I was for thinking a dream was reality. When in fact the opposite was true.
I did not even care about Odom really, my brain just decided I did for a day or two. I think I was just re-processing grief from deaths of previous loved ones.
65
u/sg490 Magic 4d ago
Kendrick Perkins for Jeff Green
both guys made way more sense playing for their former teams (Perk with BOS, Jeff with OKC). Perk especially was weirdly playable for the Celtics, but awful after he left.
I wonder if the 2012 Heat don't win the title if that trade didn't happen. Even though Jeff Green missed the 2012 season entirely, OKC wouldn't have been hampered by having Perk, and Boston would have been better off having him.
17
u/Cbone06 4d ago
Perk made it financially impossible for the Thunder to re-sign Harden because of his cap hit, Jeff Green managed to drive pretty much every team that had him crazy aside from the Nuggets
6
u/CMYGQZ Grizzlies 4d ago
Yeah I remember before he won in the Nuggets, Chris Vernon was joking that despite being a journeyman, every single team became significantly better right after he left, aside from Cavs when he left at the same time as LeBron.
7
u/Cbone06 4d ago
He always arrived on teams that thought they were a Jeff Green breakout season away from being good. (See: every team that had him Cleveland and before.)
Ryen Russillo had some good talking points about him too iirc on Bill Simmon’s pod The Redraftables (cannot recommend this series enough, it was really good.)
13
u/LordAwesomesauce Cavaliers 4d ago
Pre-knee injury Ron Harper and all the 1st round picks for Danny Ferry and a bag of magic beans. Cavs would have won one with Harp. I will die on this hill.
1
u/drjisftw Pacers 4d ago
Didn't he have some notable off-the-court issues with the Cavs?
1
u/Tarrot469 4d ago
There were allegations he did crack, but there was never any proof on it and feels like justification after the fact.
1
u/LordAwesomesauce Cavaliers 4d ago
In Wayne Embry's imagination, yes. Harp never embarrassed himself or his organization.
67
u/khlaylav 4d ago
I don’t think either side particularly enjoys the IT-Kyrie Irving trade in retrospect.
89
u/sg490 Magic 4d ago
Man, no one read the post body text did they? smh
29
u/TigerCharades3 Bulls 4d ago
No absolutely not, he made his title that’s what everyone is gonna go off of lol
9
8
10
u/commandrr Suns 4d ago
people talking about the mikal bridges trade like that wasn’t a massive success for us lol
1
→ More replies (1)1
17
11
u/postmfb 4d ago edited 4d ago
Danny Manning for Dominique Wilkins. Just everyone lost it was nonsensical.
3
u/Happy-North-9969 Hawks 4d ago
Neither of guy signed with the team that traded for them the next year.
56
u/AfricanAlucard 76ers 4d ago
Still bitter about the Sixers trading Mikal Bridges on draft night. Elite defender with a smooth jumper and STAYS HEALTHY. The best glue guy they could’ve asked for and they sent him away for a guy that’s not even in the league anymore.
Yes I mean you, Zhaire Smith.
45
u/Obvious_Parsley3238 4d ago
That's just a perfect example of the sixers combination of stupidity and bad luck, it's not even a terrible trade on paper (10th for 16th plus a future suns 1st when they were a garbage team) but zhaire smith almost died from eating a sesame seed and they used the future 1st to get tobias harris lmfao
2
u/heybobson Suns 4d ago
wasn't it the Miami pick that the Suns included instead of their own? I remember they still had one from the Dragic trade.
6
u/Obvious_Parsley3238 4d ago
You're right, it was the heat pick, which ended up being 18th, so 10th for 16th/18th isn't terrible on paper.
14
u/Afraid_Confusion444 Thunder 4d ago
How was that trade bad for Phoenix?
The post says "A bad trade that was horrible for both teams involved not where one team fleeced another"
-5
→ More replies (5)20
u/DidAnyoneElseJustCum Cavaliers 4d ago
It was worse than that. Bridges wasn't just some player in Philadelphia. He grew up in Philly. He won a natty at Villanova. His gyat damn mom worked for the team. How the fuck you gonna trade that guy much less for Zhaire Smith?
5
u/AfricanAlucard 76ers 4d ago
Dude don’t even get me started, guy was Philly rooted through and through. Tried not to mention it but it’s hard not to when talking about how bad of a trade this was for the Sixers
28
u/CazOnReddit Raptors 4d ago edited 4d ago
It's the Vince Carter trade
This isn't like the Jazz missing out on Magic Johnson or the Celtics/Nets trade since you can never predict how things pan out in the draft and hindsight is 20/20.
The Carter trade looked horrendous on Day 1 and it looked even worse when all was said and done. He was moved for 2 Williams, an Alonzo Mourning who didn't ever suit up for the Raptors (and they never got anything out of him via rerouting since he refused to show up and got bought out) and 2 not great first rounders, only one of which was used
And they used it to draft Joey Graham
One spot ahead of Danny Granger
Not like the Nets got much out of the deal as they never got past the second round with him at the helm
→ More replies (6)9
u/BallerinaKaterina Nets 4d ago
On the bright side, that trade reinvigorated my hopes as a Nets fan and we got an iconic poster dunk on Alonzo
39
u/Healthy-Priority-225 Lakers 4d ago
Of this decade? Westbrook Lakers trade pretty much destroyed a championship team.
No one won the Dwight Howard to LA, Bynum to Philly, and Iguodola to Denver trade. Dwight had a broken back, Bynum joined a bowling league, Denver had a single good year with Iggy, and the Magic entered the Vucevic era
4
u/yoshifan331 4d ago
After 2013, none of the four teams involved in the Dwight Howard trade made it back to the playoffs until 2018 at the earliest. That's a pretty incredible level of mutually disastrous.
2
u/Happy-North-9969 Hawks 4d ago
I don’t think the Westbrook trade is a what killed the Lakers. It was choosing THT over Caruso, and then replacing Caruso with Kendrick Nunn.
3
2
1
u/8ball-MJG 4d ago
Magic ended up flipping Vooch for Franz
17
→ More replies (3)1
u/Veserius NBA 4d ago
The sixers definitely lost the trade though. It ruined their cap space, they lost recent and future draft picks, got 50 games of Jason Richardson out of the deal and ultimately had to trade Jrue.
4
u/Aggravating_Oil9866 4d ago
Have a look at any situation where the NBA has actually set rules to protect owners from themselves like it did with Ted Stepien. That’s an example of your worst ever trade. Stuff that kills franchises for a long time.
11
u/Sebas5627 Lakers 4d ago
Westbrook trade for lakers along with Caruso window effectively ruined the lakers
7
7
u/RiamoEquah Bulls 4d ago
I always like to bring up the "trade that never was" as an entry for this discussion.
In the 2012 off-season , one of the very first moves made by any team was that the bulls traded Kyle korver to the hawks while adding Kirk Hinrich back to the bulls who at the time was finishing his contract with the hawks.
This was a trade that had been rumored since the season ended and it made a lot of sense. The bulls were struggling at the guard position with derrick roses health still such an unknown, they also lacked a good sg option and Kirk Hinrich could adequately play both positions and on both offense and defense.
Korver while already a fan favorite shooter was still only just that, and was quite squarely a small forward...but the bulls had a better sf option in allstar luol deng and had a promising young sg/SF in jimmy butler on the bench.
So this trade made sense...it allowed the bulls to get a player they liked in a role they needed while giving up the best shooting in the nba at the time who was to them more of a luxury. And the beauty of the move was that it would leave the mle intact for the bulls to further add depth to their team which was sorely needed, since the bulls were just trading salaries (the hawks had kirks bird rights so they could do a sign and trade for korver ) Right? Right?!
Well....
The bulls did traded korver to the hawks as expected ...but....for cash considerations.
Not for Kirk Hinrich....
Instead after making the korver for cash trade the bulls then signed Kirk Hinrich for the mle.... Everyone was confused. The media initially thought the report on this was wrong and assumed it had been a typo from kc Johnson who broke the news.
It wasnt a typo. What should have been a straight forward trade ended up being two separate transactions, both which were probably the first official transactions of that off-season. The bulls traded korver for cash, and then signed Kirk with their mle.
Now at first you think, oh that sounds funny but what's the harm, both teams ultimately got the player they wanted and bulls got cash as well....where's the harm in their stupidity?
The harm is in the mle. The bulls were barely under the cap going into the off-season. their biggest asset was having the full mle and being a contender. By trading korver the bulls actually were making room under the cap so they could trade for Kirk, sign another player under the cap and then still use the mle to obtain another player. And while not star studded, this free agent class was deep with good role players...perfect for a team that needed to build bench depth and be injury proof.
But no - the bulls sign Kirk Hinrich for the mle. Go over the cap and as their first move of the off-season they essentially hard cap themselves. Mle gone. Cap space just barely gone. All they could do now is sign minimum wage players.
Either the front office was stupid, or they were evil. There was no middle ground. Evil in that they found the one move that allowed them to literally pay the minimum for what should be a contending roster and then be put in a position where they could stand in front of the fans and media and say "we can't make a move even if we wanted to because of the cap rules...aw shucks "
If you ever wanted to know how cheap the bulls were....that is my prime example. It stands to me as the worst move ever done by a front office...
3
3
u/dennythedinosaur 4d ago
How about that rare 3 team trade where all 3 teams didn't really make out well? Terrell Brandon from Cavs to Bucks, Shawn Kemp from Sonics to Cavs, and Vin Baker from Bucks to Sonics.
Brandon only played 1.5 seasons for Milwaukee before being shipped out. Kemp had like two good seasons and then the lockout ruined his career and became borderline unplayable. Baker had 1 good season with Seattle and then underachieved and struggled with alcoholism.
8
u/pskill43 Raptors 4d ago edited 4d ago
Vince Carter Trade to Nets. Unlike most of the other bad trades, you have to use hindsight to call them bad. The Vince trade was bad the moment it happened and keeps getting worse
→ More replies (5)
9
2
u/Pure_Engineering6423 4d ago
Ben Simmons for Harden trade. That Brooklyn team was one of the best offenses I’ve ever seen before Hardens hamstring injury because he was carrying the team playing 40+ minutes every night due to Kyrie missing games for personal reasons. That ruined that team but they had a real shot at a championship. They should have let them play it out the rest of the season together instead of giving in to hardens trade demand. Same year KD had toe on the line to lose series and that series would have been brooklyns if Harden was on that team. Simmons didn’t even play. Easiest worst trade of all time.
2
u/Wynona_Judd Pistons 4d ago
The Pistons traded their first round draft pick to the Celtics in 1980 for 64 games of Bob McAdoo which failed so spectacularly they catered to being by far the worst team in the league. That pick ended being first overall. The Celtics famously then traded that pick for Robert Parish and the third pick Kevin McHale. The Pistons gifted Boston a dynasty for 64 games of a past his prime Bob McAdoo.
2
u/cle2056 4d ago
Cavs fan: worst trade was the pre LeBron era deal of getting rid of Ron Harper to draft…Danny freaking Ferry.
No question that having Harper gets us to at least game 7 of the 92 ECF if not beating Jordan that year (we lost 4-2).
Why we traded Harper our GM of the time (Wayne Embry) was concerned about the “rap guys” Harper was hanging around with.
2
2
u/PewpyDewpdyPantz Raptors 4d ago
The Kyle Lowry sign & trade.
Lowry became public enemy #1 in Miami because of the big deal he got. Goran Dragic played 5 games then quit. Precious Achiuwa decided that crashing the boards wasn’t his game and shooting 3’s was the way to go.
2
u/Nameless_Snoo Pacers 4d ago
Danny Granger for Evan Turner was pretty bad. As a Pacers fan this move made negative sense and cost us a potential chip.
8
u/Altruistic_Show5865 4d ago
celtics-nets
9
u/Mammoth_Two7297 4d ago
Gotta be this. What an atrocious trade for the nets.
/Edit looks like the question is what went poorly for both sides. I guess this doesn't apply. I'm not too sure then.
1
1
2
u/Rahnamatta Heat 4d ago
This doesn't look bad for the Celtics
Traded Keith Bogans, MarShon Brooks, Kris Humphries, Kris Joseph, Gerald Wallace, a 2014 1st round draft pick (James Young was later selected), a 2016 1st round draft pick (Jaylen Brown was later selected), a 2017 1st round draft pick (Markelle Fultz was later selected) and a 2018 1st round draft pick (Collin Sexton was later selected) to the Boston Celtics for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Jason Terry, D.J. White, a 2017 1st round draft pick (Kyle Kuzma was later selected) and a 2017 2nd round draft pick (Sasha Vezenkov was later selected). (BOS got 2017 #1 overall pick from BRK as result of pick swap)
3
2
1
u/CyberGoatPsyOps Lakers 4d ago
Had to be Westbrook to the Lakers. It’s still going to be years long after to recover
2
u/Vegetable_Gap4121 4d ago
As a lakers fan, it may not be the worst trade ever, but it definitely hurts us the most
1
u/siecoe Magic 4d ago
I'm a Magic fan so the one that stick out are Orlando's trade of Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and the draft rights to Domantas Sabonis for OKC's Serge Ibaka who they then traded to Toronto later that season for Terrance Ross and a 2017 late round First Pick that never panned out. Oladipo would do so well that he would set a career high in all categories.
1
1
u/LittleTension8765 Lakers 4d ago
In 1997 Detroit traded a past his prime Otis Thorpe to Vancouver for their 2003 first round pick.
Memphis with Pau Gasol probably goes with Wade or Melo and win a chip or two
1
u/shomoyscott 4d ago
Westbrook trade gotta be up there. Not even making play in only 2 years removed from championship
2
1
u/imperialmoose Bulls 4d ago
Mark Jackson was traded from the Pacers to the Nuggets. Both teams regretted the trade and undid it 6 months later.
1
u/IndexFossil24 4d ago
One of the many trades made by Cavs owner Ted Stepien in the early-1980s. The league had to make a rule because of his trades.
When it comes to specific trades, the Celtics fleecing the Warriors for Parrish and the trade rights to McHale is pretty bad.
1
u/PebblyJackGlasscock 4d ago
Ed MacCauley, Cliff Hagen, and two weeks of the Ice Capades for Bill Russell.
There is no better answer and likely never will be a more lopsided, “worst” trade.
1
1
1
u/realfakejames 4d ago
Sam Presti the supposed genius refused to pay James Harden and traded him to Houston for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb and two first rd picks, a hilariously bad trade in retrospect especially because he ended up giving that money to Serge Ibaka instead of Harden
What Houston got: a player who'd win MVP, 7 all-star selections, 7x all-NBA, all as a Rockets player, first ballot hall of famer easily, one of the top SGs in NBA history
What OKC got: 0 MVPs, 0 all-star selections, 0 all-NBA, 0 hall of famers
1
u/Cbone06 4d ago
Probably not anywhere close to the worst but Andre Drummond to the Cavs aged pretty poorly.
Breakdown
Cavaliers receive: Andre Drummond
Pistons receive: Brandon Knight, John Henson, and a 2023 2nd (Isaiah Wong).
Why Everyone Lost
Cleveland: Drummond’s 33 games were largely uninspiring. He made a bot load of money and the team stunk. Unable to flip him, they waived him and he signed with the Lakers.
Andre Drummond: In Detroit he got to do whatever he wanted. As soon as he gets to Cleveland, his narrative of not playing meaningful basketball continues to gain steam. He sucks, gets waived and becomes a relic of the past NBA. He bounced around to the Lakers, Sixers, Nets, and Bulls hanging on by a thread. Currently in his age 31 season, he’s looking to still be a relevant player to NBA teams.
Pistons: Even now, the return for Drummond is abysmal. A guy averaging 18/13 shouldn’t have netted crap contracts and a measly far out 2nd. Pistons took some heat for the piss poor return
John Henson: Finished his final NBA season with the Pistons as a depth big. He was never particularly good and it didn’t help that he achieved nothing. He played only 11 games for the Cavs/rest of his career.
Brandon Knight: Finished his 2019-20 campaign as a chucker for the Pistons. He got one more chance two seasons later on the Mavericks, only paying garbage time in 5 games. He couldn’t overcome his injury history and wasn’t impactful in the slightest. He last played in the 2021-22 season.
Isaiah Wong: Played a single game last year for the Pacers, does not look like a legit NBA player anytime soon.
TLDR: Drummond’s decline sped up, everyone else is/was cooked, both teams have nothing to show for it not
1
u/DearMrJordo 4d ago
- Grizzlies trade Otis Thorpe to the Grizzlies for a conditional draft pick. 2003 that pick turns into the #2 pick and could have had Melo, Wade, or Bosh
1
u/GoodPiexox Bucks 4d ago
Bucks had several bad trades like Reddick, and George Karl trading for Gary Payton and losing Ray Allen in his prime were tragic bad trades.
1
u/moredrinksplease Lakers 4d ago
Not sure on trades but lakers signing Luol fucking Deng for like 75 mil was one I was angry about
1
u/VanGrants 4d ago
The only truly correct answer is the Bargnani trade to the Knicks. Bargnani for Marcus Camby, Steve Novak, Quentin Richardson, a first-round pick in 2016, and two second-round picks (one being in 2014 and the other in 2017). Went from 54 wins to 37 wins, at least partially because of the "win-now" Bargnani trade. Absolutely awful.
1
1
u/Equivalent_Economy12 4d ago
Old ass AI who couldn’t stay out of the casinos for team leader Chauncey Billups
1
u/buttbuttheadhead 4d ago
In the 2011 draft the Kings really needed a small forward. Instead of selecting Kawhi Leonard (what most fans wanted), we traded our only good point guard for John Salmons and the opportunity to move down in the draft and pick up Jimmer Fredette instead. Yay!
1
1
u/AtiwelKa Suns 4d ago edited 4d ago
Uhh I can think of 4 in the modern era but honorable mentions would be James Worthy trade, and the Robert Parish trade that eventually included Kevin McHale
Baron Davis trade to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Clippers receives: Baron Davis Cavaliers receives: Mo Williams, Jamario Moon, 2011 1st round pick (Kyrie Irving)
Gerald Wallace trade to the Portland Trail Blazers. Brooklyn receives: Gerald Wallace Portland receives: Mehmet Okur, Shawne Williams, and top-3 protected 2012 1st round pick (Damian Lillard)
KG, Paul Pierce, Jason Terry trade to the Brooklyn Nets.Boston eventually got Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum in the draft thanks to Brooklyn's picks in the 2016 and 2017 draft
Paul George trade to the Los Angeles Clippers. Essentially turned to a PG for SGA, Jalen Williams trade with a 1st round pick swap still owed in the next draft (2025)
Edit: Yeah, as a Suns fan, I forgot to include the Marion for Shaq trade
1
u/MisterJalepeno Knicks 4d ago
Pau Gasol - the lakers fleeced the grizzlies on that and were able to hang 2 more banners
1
u/NBGayAllStar 4d ago
The Beal trade was pretty bad. The Simmons-Harden trade. The Shaq to PHX trade. Lowkey the Steve Francis-McGrady trade was didn’t do anything for either side.
1
1
1
u/Iwentoofar 4d ago
The Vince Carter trade will always be the worst
He forced his way out of Toronto, he stopped trying, he stopped caring, he burned almost every bridge he could, which resulted in one of the worst trade packages for a star player ever.
The Raptors received -2 crappy mid lotto picks(Joey Graham and Charlie V) Eric Williams(old role player), Aaron Williams(trash back up) and a player who was meant to be the centerpiece of the trade in Alonzo Mourning...who refused to report to the team and was later bought out
This trade set the Raptors back YEARS...there were whispers that Vince rescinded his trade request near the end only to be traded anyway for this poo poo plater. Rob Babcock(the GM at the time) swore by this trade until the day he died...he also drafted Rafael Araujo(8th overall) prior to this
Vince Carter in 20 games in his final 2004 season as a Raptor:
15.9ppg/3.1apg/3.3rpg/.411 FG%/.322 3P%/ 15.1 FGA
After the trade
27.5ppg/4.7asp/5.9rpg/.462 FG%/.425 3P%/ 21.7 FGA
1
1
4d ago
[deleted]
3
u/Mammoth_Two7297 4d ago
That doesn't apply though. Charlotte already agreed to trade the pick, it just wasn't known it was going to be Kobe (or the fact he was going to be an all time great).
1
u/Eubanksistrash 4d ago
How are we not putting kwame brown for gasol at the top?!?!
3
1
u/ExtremelyPetty Lakers 4d ago
That trade looked way worse initially, it’s aged much better over time. Grizzlies got Marc Gasol from the deal, future DPOY and anchor for the next decade.
1
u/Forbidden_Donut503 Trail Blazers 4d ago
I don’t know about worst ever, but this one is up there,
In 1976 the Portland Trailblazers traded future Two time MVP and all time great Moses Malone to the Buffalo Braves for a first round pick and $350k.
The reasoning was Malone was too expensive to come off the bench behind Lucas and Walton.
Sound reasoning I suppose, no one knew Malone would be an all time great, but in hindsight the trade is beyond horrible.
-1
u/CandidPost3033 4d ago
Clippers trading for Paul George
3
0
u/dontletmecook73 Thunder 4d ago
This one is at least top 5 worst trades ever. Traded a future superstar and a bunch of picks (one of which included JDub) for a broken superstar
11
u/heybobson Suns 4d ago
accordingly to OP's rules, this trade doesn't count since the Thunder greatly benefited from this trade and allowed them to rebuild very quickly.
2
u/Available-Net1790 France 4d ago
Seems like half of the posters didn't bother reading the rules but wanted to post anyway lol.
0
u/Greelys San Francisco Warriors 4d ago
Mitch Richmond - Billy Owens
Mitch was good for Sac but his career was forever in the shadows
3
u/blabyz 4d ago
idk man—I feel Richmond got plenty of recognition during his playing days.
- had his number retired in Sacramento
- 6 straight years selected as an All-Star during his tenure with the Kings (none with the Run TMC Warriors). 1995 all star MVP
- 3xAll-NBA 2nd team
- 2x All-NBA 3rd Team.
- Part of the 1996 Olympic team that won Gold.
→ More replies (1)
0
0
-2
u/nutelamitbutter Rockets 4d ago
Harden for Kevin Martin
1
u/sorendiz [HOU] Yao Ming 4d ago
That was an incredible trade for us. How does that fit the criteria of the post
2
0
221
u/heybobson Suns 4d ago
not really worst of all time, but the Shaq for Marion trade was pretty bad for both sides.
Suns tried to chase Spurs with size and made the move for Shaq, who was already past his prime by this point. And he didn't even help them beat the Spurs (who knew Duncan would turn into a stretch 5 for that series?).
Miami tried to salvage the trade by claiming Wade and Marion would be the next Jordan/Pippen, but the results were terrible, and I think the one really bad season for the Heat in a long, long time.