Los Angeles Lakers: The 12 best trades in franchise history

Best Los Angeles Lakers trades of all time: 3. Landing Kobe Bryant

The still 17-year-old youngster made an indelible impression on the Los Angeles Lakers in his pre-draft workout. At the time, only a select few successfully made the jump straight from high school to the NBA.

But Lakers Executive Vice President Jerry West was certain that Bryant would become a superstar. So he made a deal with Carolina. If they drafted Kobe with the 13th pick, the Lakers would send them starting center Vlade Divac for the rights to Bryant.

We now know, of course, just how outstanding a player Kobe would become, a superstar and icon who played 20 seasons with LA and ranks among the best Lakers of all-time (many would rate him #1). He holds the Lakers record for most points scored and averaged 25 PPG while helping lead the team to five titles. He also provided as many thrills as any one player could.

But at the time, it appeared to be quite a risky move. In the previous season, the Lakers had won 53 games before losing in the first round to defending champion Houston. The team wasn’t ready to challenge for a title, but they weren’t in re-build mode either.

Divac was a solid NBA center. Still only age 28, he had averaged over 12 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists in his first eight seasons, all with the team that drafted him, the Lakers. The only other player on the roster who might fill his spot in the middle was free agent Elden Campbell, who was more of a part-time center and full-time power forward.

Of course, later that summer West went on to sign Shaquille O’Neal as a free agent, setting the stage for the three titles the team would win in 2000-02.

Divac went on to play eight more NBA seasons. He was especially effective as part of the Sacramento team that battled the Lakers in the early 2000’s. In six seasons with the Kings, Vlade’s averages were 11.4/7.8/3.7.

It could easily be argued that this was the best trade the Los Angeles Lakers ever made. After all, they traded away a decent center in exchange for a future superstar. The only reason it ranks slightly lower here is that they gave up even less in a couple of other trades.