In the NBA, as with all major sports leagues, teams will base their trade decisions based on what they see as calculated risk. It could be building for the future, ensuring financial sustainability, or aiming to make a Playoff run. Of course, calculated risks carry an inherent possibility of backfiring on one team or several involved in the trade. We have seen numerous examples across NBA history of both buyers’ and sellers’ remorse.
A case in point is the realization of the talent of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander this season. The man they call SGA came roaring out of the blocks in October, leading the NBA MVP betting odds for most of the season before finally being crowned in May. SGA led the way, although there was some support for Nikola Jokic in the voting.
SGA has taken the NBA by storm this season
SGA’s success this season has, once again, highlighted what many consider to be one of the worst trades in NBA history. In 2019, the Clippers wanted to contend for the Championship, so they sent SGA to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Paul George. Even if that were just the deal, it would be considered harmful for the Clippers. Yet, they also sent Danilo Gallinari and five (five!) first-round draft picks plus two swaps.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing in sports, yet the deal has now become a stick with which to beat the Clippers, although the franchise did not have a terrible season. Nonetheless, the Clippers aren’t alone in having had disastrous trades.
One of the most stirring examples was the deal between the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets in 2013. The Nets would receive three elite players from Boston – Kevin Garnett, Jason Terry, and Paul Pierce – and the Celtics would receive three unprotected first-round draft picks in return.
Celtics’ foresight delivered an NBA Championship over a decade later.
The Nets-Celtic trade is a classic example of a team (the Nets) looking to make a push into the elite by signing experienced players for a Playoff run, whereas the Celtics were thinking years ahead. The Nets never did make that push, limping out of the Playoffs without making much of a splash. The Celtics, meanwhile, parlayed those draft picks, eventually leading to the arrival of Jaylen Brunson and Jason Tatum. In short, back in 2013, the Celtics had enough foresight to make the moves that would eventually deliver the 2024 NBA Championship.
Sometimes, the trades are “what if” moments where you feel sorry for the team that got the wrong end of the bargain. A case in point was the 1996 Draft. The Charlotte Hornets picked a young kid named Kobie Bryant straight out of high school. Mere minutes later, the Hornets sent the kid to the LA Lakers in exchange for the talented but aging center Vlade Divac. The rest, as they say, is history.
The Bryant trade is well-known, but plenty of bad trades go a little under the radar. One that should get more attention is the draft deal between the Bucks and Mavericks that sent Dirk Nowitzki to Dallas and Robert Traylor to Milwaukee. Nowitzki was the 9th pick, Traylor the 6th, so it seemed like the Bucks got a fair deal, yet Nowitzki went on to have an MVP-level career and a championship-winning one. He’s arguably the best European player in history, although Nikola Jokic may contest that claim. Traylor’s career, sadly, never got going.
Those are just some cases that the SGA deal is compared to, and there are many more. While fans, and we can point to the Mavs fans today who are upset about losing Luka Doncic to the Lakers in 2025, may rail against their team’s apparent stupidity, it’s worth remembering that every team across the NBA has been in the wrong end of a trade at least once in their history. And when they get it right, all is usually forgiven.