Ranking the Los Angeles Lakers’ best trades with each team, numbers 20-17:
20. Oklahoma City Thunder
In October of 1991, the Los Angeles Lakers traded three second-round picks to the then-Seattle Supersonics in exchange for Sedale Threatt. Threatt might not be remembered that much in Lakers’ history as he was the guy to follow up Magic Johnson but he was a solid point guard in the 90s that the team acquired for virtually nothing.
If one of those second-round picks ended up being a great player then this trade would rank lower on this list. However, not a single one of the players ever appeared in a game for the Supersonics.
19. New York Knicks
The Los Angeles Lakers were involved in a massive four-team trade in September of 2000 that included a total of 17 players after draft picks were accounted for. As far as the Lakers were concerned, they flipped Glen Rice, who was solid but never stuck with the team and received, among others, Horace Grant.
Grant was a huge veteran presence for the title-winning Lakers and started all 77 games that he played for the Lakers the following year. Grant might be worse than other players on this list already named, but he was a big veteran presence on a title-winning team.
18. Indiana Pacers
The Lakers acquired future NBA Hall of Famer Adrian Dantley from the Indiana Pacers before he turned into the great scorer that led to him being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame. Dantley only played 116 games with the Lakers, averaging 18.3 points per game.
17. Orlando Magic
The Lakers also acquired Trevor Ariza before his prime and the version of Ariza that played on the Lakers was not as talented as the version of Dantley who played on the Lakers. However, Ariza emerged into a very important role player during the Lakers’ last title run and for that, this trade ranks 17th.
If Ariza would have played longer on the Lakers then this undoubtedly would have been as high as 14.