Los Angeles Lakers: Best trade with the Washington Wizards

The Los Angeles Lakers and Washington Wizards have been trade partners eight times.

In an ongoing series here at Lake Show Life, we have been breaking down the best trade that the Los Angeles Lakers have ever made with every other NBA franchise. Today, we reach the end of the road as we look at the best trade that the Lakers have made with the Washington Wizards.

The Lakers and Wizards have been trade partners eight times, most recently in June of 2019 as the Wizards were involved in the Anthony Davis trade, albeit we are not naming it the best as any team could have taken on Moritz Wagner, Jemerrio Jones and Isaac Bonga.

The best trade that the Los Angeles Lakers have ever made with the Washington Wizards ironically includes someone who was later traded away in a different best trade with another team that was one of the five best overall trades of this series.

The Los Angeles Lakers’ best ever trade with the Washington Wizards:

In this three-team trade the Los Angeles Lakers traded Rudy LaRusso and a first-round pick in the 1967 NBA Draft to the Detroit Pistons, who traded Ray Scott to the then-Baltimore Bullets and the Bullets traded Mel Counts to the Lakers. This trade transpired in January of 1967.

Mel Counts went on to be a solid big man for the Los Angeles Lakers for several seasons. In his first three full seasons with the Lakers, he averaged 12.3 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. The three highest point averages of his career came in those three seasons.

Most importantly, Counts was used to get another all-time Lakers great prior to the 1970-71 NBA season. The Lakers traded Counts straight up to the Phoenix Suns for Gail Goodrich, who originally started his career with the Lakers.

The Lakers wound up winning the only championship of the Jerry West era two seasons after that trade and Goodrich was a huge reason why the team finally got over the hump.

Counts only played two seasons on the Suns and then half a season on the Philadelphia 76ers before being traded back to the Lakers. He spent another year and a half on the Lakers.

Not only was Counts a really solid player during his first tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers but he also opened the door for the team’s first championship since the Minneapolis dynasty with George Mikan.