The Most Destructive Trades In NBA History

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Something nearly every NBA player comes to learn is that the NBA is in fact a business. At the end of the day, an organization is going to do what they think will benefit them the most. That includes trading out players who least expect it. We've seen some of those trades ruin NBA careers. But Dwight Howard being the best player the Magic had since Shaq, his trade in LA began a slow downfall of one of the best centers of the modern era has seen. After being selected first overall in the first round of the 2004 draft by the Orlando Magic, the 6'10, 265 pound big man by the name of Dwight Howard was bound to be the next Shaquille O'Neal. Dwight joined a bad NBA team that just the season before had only won 21 games. And after losing All-Star Tracy McGrady, Dwight would need to deliver some much needed assistance to the failing Magic. And luckily for the Magic, Dwight was an overnight success. As a rookie, he averaged a double-double of 12 points, two blocks and 10 rebounds a game. Being the youngest rookie to average a double-double in the process. The Magic had even had coach Brian Hill help Dwight gain an extra 20 pounds of muscle over the summer so that he could transfer from the power four position to a full-fledged center, a plan he had since the draft. And ESPN writer even said this when he was explaining Dwight. Obviously, Dwight Howard is the number one pick of the draft. The Magic's first pick has been very impressive. He's a great young athlete. He's got a great body to build on. It seems like he has a good feel for the game. Obviously, if he has the maturity and the work ethic, he has a bright future in front of him. By Dwight's third season in the league, he qualified to be an All-Star, averaging 18 points, two blocks, and 12 rebounds per game. Dwight have finally led the Magic to the 2007 NBA playoffs. Even though they were swept by the Pistons in the first round, the message that Dwight was a dominating presence in the paint was quickly starting to spread around the league. By the time the Magic found themselves in the next season's playoff during the 2008-2009 season, Magic were coming in with a much more matured Dwight that was now considered to be approaching the peak of his career. The Magic plowed through the 76ers in the first round with a 4-2 series win. Dismantled a then-Jack Celtics roster in seven games, finally beat a LeBron James-led Cavaliers team, making their way to the first NBA Finals game against Kobe Bryant Slakers. Even though they lost in five games, enough eyes were on Dwight to where he realized he'd be a lot more valuable on another team. But despite rumors, it wouldn't be until the 2011-2012 season that his request to be traded became public. Originally, he wanted to be traded to the Nets, stated if he wasn't traded there, become a free agent. But in a move that surprised most people, Dwight was traded to the Lakers in a mass trade that included the 76ers and the Nuggets. Even Kobe seemed to be excited about Dwight joining the team. When the trade first became finalized, he said in an interview, We obviously made some improvements to the team this summer, to say the least, but it's been a blockbuster summer for us. It's just unbelievable, really. When you talk about what the Lakers have been able to pull off after regrouping after the whole Chris Paul debacle, here we are, reloaded again. Now, Dwight was coming off a six-month break from the game from an operation on his back, and that meant he'd only have four weeks to get comfy with his new star-driven Lakers team in the off-season. As it turned out, those off-season weeks proved to be more important for chemistry building than it was for getting back into shape. Dwight almost immediately collided into issues with Kobe, stating that he wasn't getting enough ball time because of the star, and injuries again started to arise, except now they were with his shoulder. That, double with the fact that Paul Gasol had been out for a while due to an injured foot, but the Lakers' hype was starting to fade. With the playoffs all around, Dwight's scoring average had been the lowest since his second year in the league. And even though he was still putting up great numbers of rebounds, the lack of scoring alone was enough to tank the team into being swept by the Spurs in the first round of the playoffs. It was clear that the Lakers' attempt to give Kobe another dominant big man like Shaq failed. Dwight couldn't physically perform due to injury and lack of chemistry at the team's stars didn't help either. By the following season, Dwight was traded to the Rockets, and his career had never been the same since he left the Magic almost 10 years ago. In late 2019, Howard once again rejoined the Lakers' team in pursuit of a ring that he's been chasing his whole career. And although Howard isn't the high-flying Superman that he used to be, he still looks like a perfect fit alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis. With Demarcus Cousins being one of the most hyped big men coming into the NBA, multiple injuries spanned across multiple years have stopped Cousins from being the best big man on his team. Cousins was only a freshman in college when he dropped out to declare for the 2010 NBA draft. He was picked fifth in the first round by the Sacramento Kings. As a 6'10, 270-pound rookie, Cousins was by no means a bad player. He was a great rebounder who could score just as well. However, it was his relationship with then-coach Paul Westfall that suffered early on. By Cousins' second year at the Kings, he was sent back home after a game against the Pelicans, stating that Cousins was unwilling slash unable to embrace traveling in the same direction as his team. Cannot be ignored indefinitely. There's no doubt that Cousins has some growing up to do. However, the tension between the sophomore star center and the team's authority figure was bad for winning games, and the Kings had to make a decision. Ultimately, they decided with Cousins, when coach Paul Westfall was fired just four days after the incident. By his third season with the Kings, it'd be the organization themselves that would suspend Cousins for what the Kings stated as unprofessional behavior and conduct detrimental to the team. Of course, the suspension that was declared indefinite was lifted after two days when they realized they needed his production. It was clear the Kings were in a constant battle with Cousins when they had to weigh in his terrible team conduct against his great performances. That same season, he was recording career highs for games in free throw shooting, field goal percentage, but also in technical fouls. Luckily for the Kings, his behavioral issues would mostly get clear with the organization during the 2014-2015 season when he averaged 24 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 assists per game. He recorded his second triple double in a ridiculous game against the Rockets where he scored 24 points and had 21 rebounds, 10 assists, 6 blocks, and 3 steals. He became the fourth NBA player in history to record numbers like those, the last being Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. His performance was so great that season that he was selected to represent the Kings in the All-Star game, and Cousins' averages would only go up from there. Now in his final season with the Kings, Cousins achieved his sixth career triple double, and he'd established a season high for points in a game with 55 points against the Trail Blazers. When he just started with the Kings, he was averaging 14 points with 9 rebounds. Seven seasons later, he was averaging 27 points with 11 rebounds per game. Despite all this success, he was suddenly traded to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for Buddy Heald, Tyreek Evans, Langston Galloway, and his 2017 first round pick and second round pick to Sacramento. The trade was a devastating blow for Cousins, who would later admit, I wanted to finish my career in Sacramento. But at the same time, the way it went down, at the end of the day, we all know this is a business. As much as I put into that city, I just thought I deserved a little more. It seemed that fans got the news almost as quickly as Cousins did, who claimed he was left out of the conversation. His performance on the Pelicans remained unchanged from his performance on the Kings until he was injured with the Tornequiles. That injury had him out for the rest of the season. After January 31, 2017, and after the season ended, he was now an unrestricted free agent looking for work. Not one team approached him with any offers, which he regarded as being very insulting to not receive an offer. Cousins decided to have his agent approach the nearly salary-capped Warriors to pick him up in exchange for a player that cut his salary down to $5.3 million a year. While in New Orleans, Cousins was making $18 million a year. In other words, there was no brainer for the Warriors to scoop him up, so they did. After training camp with the G League team, he debuted with the Warriors during the 2018-2019 season on January 18th. Now on a team stack with superstars, Cousins' stats took a significant dive, averaging 16 points and 8 rebounds per game. However, his biggest problem would be his health. During the first quarter of the first round playoffs against the Clippers, Cousins tore his quadriceps, and while he did return from off the bench during the finals against the Raptors, he was clearly held back from his injury. Most recently, he was picked up by the Lakers in 2019 However, he suffered another injury when he tore his ACL, an injury that, as of February 22nd, 2020, led him to be waved by the Lakers. With Lamar Odom being a promising young power forward, trades and personal issues with his life led to his career falling apart. While Lamar Odom was drafted in 1999 by the LA Clippers, he was a literal instant success in the league. During his NBA debut against the 76ers, Odom posted a double-double with 30 points, 12 rebounds, and 2 blocks. By the time he was traded to the Lakers in 2004, he proved himself to be a gifted power forward who could guard and play in both forward positions. During his first season with the Lakers, he averaged 15 points and a career-high 10 rebounds per game. By the 2005-2006 season, Odom put up consecutive triple-double performances against both the Warriors and the Trail Blazers. And he'd go on to battle many injuries throughout this time with the Lakers, but he was able to return and continue producing again with little issues. One exception to this was during the 2008-2009 preseason. When he arrived at training camp out of shape, Laker coach Phil Jackson decided to have Odom play a reserve role for the first time in his career, and Odom's stats didn't go down. But as the sixth man, his numbers were solid, averaging 11 points, 8 rebounds, 1 steal, and 2 blocks per game. And Lamar had won his first championship with the Lakers in 2009 when they defeated the Magic. And during the following 2010-2011 season, he pushed his career highs in 3 point percentage at 38%, and field goal percentage at 53%.