Philadelphia 76ers: Best trade in team history with Los Angeles Lakers
The Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Lakers don’t have a good trade history.
It’s been a while since I wrote about the Philadelphia 76ers‘ best trades with other franchises. The reason being is because the NBA continued its season, but the Sixers year ended in playoff disappointment. Now it seems like the right time to pick up this series by covering the best trade between the 76ers and Los Angeles Lakers.
The trade history between these two historic franchises isn’t super long and especially not in Philly’s favor. There are four trades between the two clubs, the first being in 1968 when the Sixers traded Wilt Chamberlain to the Lakers and the most recent being a swap of second round picks.
The most infamous of trades between Los Angeles and Philly when the 76ers acquired Andrew Bynum from the Lakers in a four-team trade. That means the best trade between the two clubs occurred in 1972.
The best trade ever between Philly and LAL was…
If the names don’t look familiar to you I can’t say I blame you. Before writing this article, had never come across these players before. To be clear, this wasn’t a winning trade for either team, but neither team lost it.
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The Lakers got Bill Bridges and Mel Counts from the Sixers. Bridges was a 3-time former All-Star before being traded to the Lakers. Bridges was past his prime and only played for two more seasons before retiring.
Counts played for the Boston Celtics in the 1960s and won two NBA titles, but he was mostly just a journeyman center for his career. Like Bridges, he was at the tail end of his career before being traded to the Lakers. He played for three more seasons before retiring.
The 76ers acquired Leroy Ellis and John Trapp in the deal with Los Angeles. Both players won a title with the Lakers the season before this trade occurred. Ellis finished his career with the Sixers playing three and a half more seasons in Philly. Trapp didn’t play another season of professional basketball after the trade playing for Philly and the Denver Rockets (ABA).
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None of these players made a big impact in terms of production for either of their new teams so for that reason, this is the best trade the Philadelphia 76ers made with the Lakers.