The Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers have only been trade partners twice.
In an ongoing series here at Lake Show Life, we are breaking down the best trade that the Los Angeles Lakers have ever made with every other NBA franchise. Today, we break down the best trade that the Lakers have made with the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Lakers and Trail Blazers have only been trade partners twice and both trades came some time ago. The first trade between the two teams was in 1971, while the second was in 1980.
Frankly put, the Los Angeles Lakers’ trade history with Portland is not good, at all. Both trades were rather forgettable, but in the nature of this series, we have to pick one of the two that can be considered the “best”.
The Los Angeles Lakers’ best ever trade with the Portland Trail Blazers:
This is how bad the Lakers’ trade history with the Blazers is. The best player that the Los Angeles Lakers ever added from Portland played just 84 games in LA and averaged 4.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 21.3 minutes per game.
However, it is better than the other player that the Lakers acquired from Portland, Jim Brewer, who averaged less in his time with the Lakers (although he was in LA longer). This trade is also better than that deal as the Lakers gave up less in this trade.
RELATED: Greatest trade in team history with the Philadelphia 76ers
LeRoy Ellis actually started his NBA career with the Lakers and was really starting to come into his own in his fourth season before leaving the team for the Baltimore Bullets. He had a four-year stint there and was solid and then spent one season in Portland, which was the best season of his career.
Ellis was traded from the Lakers to the Philadelphia 76ers during the 1972-73 season and once he was traded he again started to post better numbers as a bigger part of the gameplan. However, playing behind Wilt Chamberlain, Ellis was not able to do much while he was a Laker.
However, he was an important role player off the bench for the team during the 1971-72 season, which was the only season in which Jerry West actually got over the hump and won the NBA Title. That is one of the most important championships in team history and Ellis can say that he was a part of it.
For that, and for being the best trade that the team has ever made with Portland, he will go down in Laker record books. It certainly won’t be for statistical reasons.