Lakers Trade History

In the Know Thy Enemy Series we take a close look at the recent trade history of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Magic Johnson is getting a lot of press lately for coming out and saying that the Los Angeles Lakers are not currently good enough to win and need to make a trade in order to win a championship.

Said Johnson: “I think we have to, we have to do something. The Lakers are not responding and two things showed me that — the Miami Heat Christmas game and then the Boston Celtics game. When you don’t get up for your two biggest games during the season and you have flat performances, then you have to start looking at trade possibilities to improve the team and bring some energy to the team and bring some new life to the team.”

The Lakers are clearly struggling and often rely heavily on Kobe Brynat to shoulder the entire offensive load when times get tough. Kobe is one of the top players of all time and can score in bunches, however, teams know this and can game plan to stop him. Without a supporting cast Kobe Bryant’s 40 points per game mean nothing when the rest of the team struggles to match his offensive output.

Without any NBA Gold (Expiring Contracts) the Lakers have very little to work with. The only real option is center Andrew Bynum. Bynum’s ability, when healthy, is invaluable and his short term contract makes him worth the risk for opposing GM’s. This is nice in theory, but the Lakers would need to give up on one of thier promising young stars. Outside of Bynum, there is Shannon Brown, Devin Ebanks and Derrirk Caracter as strong possibilities but will not bring as much in return.

With each passing week, the Lakers window of opportunity for another championship is closing and they need to determine whether or not to go all in or sit back and hope for the best.

When you look at their history, the Lakers are not a team that typically makes a high number of trades and rarely make a trade after the first of the year. Here is a breakdown of the 10 in-season trades the Lakers have made over the last 15 years:

December 15, 2010
In a three team deal, the Lakers send Sasha Vujacic and a 2011 first round draft pick to the Nets. The Rockets send a 2012 first round pick to the Nets. The Nets send Terrance Williams to the Rockets and send Joe Smith and 2 future second round draft picks to the Lakers.

February 7, 2009
Lakers send Vladimir Radmanovic to the Bobcats for Shannon Brown and Adam Morrison.

February 18, 2009
Lakers send Chris Mihm to the Grizzlies for a future second round pick.

November 20, 2007
Lakers send Brian Cook and Maurice Evans to the Magic for Trevor Ariza.

February 1, 2008
Lakers send Marc Gasol, Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, a 2008 first round draft pick (Donte Greene), a 2010 first round draft pick (Greivis Vasquez) to the Grizzlies for Pau Gasol and a 2010 second round draft pick (Devin Ebanks)

December 6, 2004
Lakers send Kareem Rush to the Bobcats for a 2005 second round draft pick (Ronny Turaif) and a 2009 second round draft pick (Patrick Beverly).

January 21, 1999
Lakers send Tony Battie to the Celtics for Travis Knight

March 10, 1999
Lakers send Elden Campbell and Eddie Jones to the Hornets for JR Reid, Glen Rice and BJ Armstrong.

January 10, 1997
Lakers send Cedric Ceballos and Rumeal Robinson to the Suns for Robert Horry and Joe Kleine.

February 20, 1997
Lakers send Joe Kleine and a first round pick (Anthony Parker to the Nets for George McCloud.