Los Angeles Lakers: Ranking the best trades with every other NBA team

Ranking the Los Angeles Lakers’ best trades with each team, numbers 12-9:

This is where we really start to see some great trades.

12. Miami Heat

This trade does hurt in some regard as it stripped the Los Angeles Lakers of Shaquille O’Neal, but that partnership with Kobe Bryant needed to end. While it sucked losing Shaq, the Lakers still got some solid assets in return, most notably, Lamar Odom.

Odom became a really important role player for the Lakers over the next several years and was an integral part of the team winning back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010.

11. San Antonio Spurs

Thompson played 335 games for the Lakers as a depth big man and was a part of the last two Showtime Lakers title wins. He only averaged 8.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game as a Laker, but as an experienced big man off the bench, Thompson was huge for the Showtime Lakers.

10. Los Angeles Clippers

In 1983, the Los Angeles Lakers flipped Norm Nixon and others to the Clippers for the team’s best-ever player to never be named an all-star — Byron Scott.

You cannot talk about the Showtime Lakers or the history of the franchise without mentioning Scott. He played 846 total games for the Lakers and averaged 15.1 points per game with one 20+ points per game season.

9. Brooklyn Nets

In 1981, the Los Angeles Lakers acquired a future Hall of Famer in Bob McAdoo from the Brooklyn Nets. While he was past his prime at this point, he was still a very solid player and was a huge part of two title-winning teams off the bench.

McAdoo was one of five Hall of Famers that played on the Showtime Lakers in the early-to-mid 80s.