Magic Johnson trades Lou Williams to the Houston Rockets
Remember this trade? Most people don’t attach this to the Magic Johnson resume because it happened literally hours after he was brought in with Rob Pelinka to replace Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak.
At that point and time, the Lakers could have brought three dogs and a pony to run the Lakers considering how happy fans were to be rid of what they had to deal with the previous five seasons.
In that trade, the Lakers received Corey Brewer and a first-round pick from the Rockets. The move was obviously used to tank the season for a high draft pick (Sound familiar?) that turned into Lonzo Ball. Corey Brewer finished the season with the Lakers and was released. He got a 10-day contract with the 76ers this year and is finishing out the season with the Sacramento Kings.
The only problem for the Lakers was that Lou Williams was having the best season of his career at the time, with highs in points (18.6 per game) and 3-point field goal percentage (.385). Also, he was leading the league in scoring off the bench at that point with 1,605 points.
Bottom line, Lou Williams was scoring so well at the time, that the Lakers had to get rid of him because he was winning games by himself at the time, messing with a possible high draft pick.
As soon as the season ends, Jerry West comes a calling and signs Lou Williams to a three-year contract. Less than six months later, Lou Williams is back in the Staples Center dropping 20 a night.
As of this writing, he is still easily one of the best bench players in the NBA and is the go-to guy for the Clippers in crunch time. He is well on his way to winning yet another Sixth Man Award at the end of the year.
Quietly, Lou Williams is the worst mistake the Lakers front office made in the Magic Johnson era, which reportedly, was three hours old.
Here’s why.