10. Trading Lamar Odom to Mavericks for a Protected First-Round Pick and a Trade Exception
After the Lakers got swept by the Mavericks in the 2011 Western Conference Semifinals they knew they had to shake up the roster. That next season they attempted to make a massive deal that would have landed the Lakers Chris Paul and sent Pau Gasol to Houston and Lamar Odom to New Orleans.
By now everyone knows how that story ended, with Chris Paul never going to the Lakers because the NBA did not like the deal for the Hornets and vetoed the trade. Blocking that transaction, sent the Lakers scrambling because now they had to deal with their two disgruntled stars who just saw themselves get traded away.
The main Laker that was particularly upset by the deal was Lamar Odom, and he even requested another trade from the Lakers because of it.
He was then traded to the Mavericks, the team that caused the Lakers to want to improve their roster in the first place. He was traded for a first-round pick and an $8.9 million trade exception and never really played well for Dallas or any other franchise after that.
After retirement, Odom even admitted to the Vertical in an interview,
"“That trade from the Lakers basically ended my career and purpose, I was never really myself ever again.”"
This is easily one of the worst trades in Lakers’ history, at the time it upset the face of the franchise Kobe Bryant because Odom was one of his favorite teammates and a friend off the court. It also ruined Odom’s future in the NBA after he had helped the Lakers win two championships in the post-Shaquille O’Neal era and was fresh off a sixth man of the year award.