Los Angeles Lakers: Best trade in team history with the Detroit Pistons

The Los Angeles Lakers and Detroit Pistons have been trade partners seven times.

In an ongoing series here at Lake Show Life, we are diving into the Los Angeles Lakers‘ best trade with every single other NBA franchise in their history. Today, we examine the Motor City and the best trade that the Lakers have made with the Detroit Pistons.

The Pistons and Lakers have conducted trade business seven times, with the most recent trade occurring last year when the Lakers traded Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk for Reggie Bullock. The first trade between the two teams was all the way back in May of 1957.

It is not the first, nor the most recent, trade between the two teams that is the best from the Los Angeles Lakers’ point of view.

The Los Angeles Lakers’ best ever trade with the Detroit Pistons:

The best trade that the Los Angeles Lakers have ever made with the Detroit Pistons came all the way back in November of 1969. In this deal, the Lakers landed an important player to their early franchise history that often gets overlooked.

Most younger, modern-day Laker fans, unless you are a basketball historian, probably do not know who Happy Hairston is.

Hairston was a forward who played on the Lakers for just under six seasons (five seasons after he was traded) and he was the fourth-best player on the only Jerry West-led Lakers team to actually win the NBA Championship, the 1971-72 Lakers.

It is easy to overlook someone such as Hairston when you have the likes of West, Wilt Chamberlain and Gail Goodrich on the roster but Hairston was still a huge asset nonetheless. In his 394 games played with the Lakers, Hairston averaged 15.2 points, 12.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.

Not only did the Lakers land a solid role player on one of the most important teams in franchise history, but they got him for practically nothing in the process.

Bill Hewitt had only played 90 games with the Lakers up until that point and was averaging only 6.4 points and 5.0 rebounds in 20.3 minutes per game. He was not much better in Detroit, spending three seasons in the Motor City while averaging 5.6 points and 5.9 rebounds in 21.3 minutes per game.

Throw in a 1970 third-round pick that did not even result in a player for the Pistons (Jim Hayes never played in the NBA) and it is quite clear that the Los Angeles Lakers won this trade.

It is not like the Detroit Pistons missed out on contending with Hairston on their roster, but they did give away an important player to a team that was struggling to get over that final hump.