Trading for Andrew Bynum
This list wouldn’t be a legit one if it didn’t include the infamous Andrew Bynum trade. Back in the early 2010’s the Philadelphia 76ers seemed stuck with their roster at the time led by Andre Iguodala and Elton Brand. It felt like the team had reached its ceiling as a borderline playoff team. Making a trade for a big name made sense, but it ended up backfiring in a big way.
In the offseason of 2012, the Sixers executed a four-team trade with both the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic. The 76ers received Bynum and Jason Richardson in the deal. The Lakers got Dwight Howard, Earl Clark, and Chris Duhon. Denver was able to land Iguodala in this deal.
The Magic got a major haul in this trade. They received Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Josh McRoberts, Maurice Harkless, Nikola Vucevic, 2013 second round pick, 2014 first round pick, 2017 second round pick, 2018 first round pick.
This trade was a bust on several levels. Bynum never played a game for Philly do to injury issues. This started a tailspin of the organization that led the team to enter a rebuild deemed “The Process”. It also didn’t help that Vucevic eventually developed into an All-Star level big man either.
The Sixers gave away Iguodala, who was the unquestioned leader for the franchise since Philly traded away Allen Iverson and a promising young big for a player that never played and an older Richardson. Looking back, the deal is easily one of the worst in franchise history.