6. Trading away Nick Van Exel to the Nuggets for Tony Battie and Tyronn Lue
Another Los Angeles Lakers fan favorite that helped bridge the gap in the nineties between Showtime and Shaq and Kobe was, Nick “The Quick” Van Exel. Fans fell in love with his highlight-reel plays and his speed that allowed him to get to the basket and into passing lanes on defense.
The pinnacle of his Lakers career was when he was named an All-Star in 1998 along with Kobe, Shaq, and Jones. Yet his best statistical season in the league did not happen until he was traded to the Nuggets.
In the 2001-02 season, he averaged career highs in points per game with 17.7 and assists per game with 8.4.
His improved level of play in the next few seasons after the trade is part of the reason why this trade makes the list. The biggest reason why it is ranked ahead of some of the other trades already mentioned is that the best part of the trade for the Lakers was the draft rights to Tyronn Lue, and Lue never came close to the offensive point guard Van Excel was.
At the time Tony Battie was thought of as the better part of this move, yet he never played a game for the Lakers. He was traded for Travis Knight who never averaged 2.9 points in two seasons for the Lakeshow.
This trade also makes the list because of the reason why it happened. Reportedly this trade was sparked by Van Exel shouting, “1-2-3….Cancun” as the Lakers broke the huddle in practice while they were on their way to being swept by the San Antonio Spurs.
Kobe and Shaq both took offense to his attitude towards losing, and it really showed that Van Exel was not on the same page as the two faces of the franchise. The Lakers might have been petty for shipping him off for something he said because Kobe never really played with another point guard who could score and dish as well as Nick.