Worst Trades in History?

[Big Red Fury]

Couple in the NBA:

Dirk Nowitzki for Robert 'Tractor' Traylor.

And of course, Scottie Pippen for Olden Polynice.

[ACCBiggz]

I'll just add two horrible trades the Philadelphia 76ers franchise made:

Wilt Chamberlain dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers for Archie Clark, Darrall Imhoff and Jerry Chambers

Charles Barkley traded to the Phoenix Suns for Jeff Hornacek, Tim Perry and Andrew Lang

[David Hassellhoff]

I'll just add two horrible trades the Philadelphia 76ers franchise made:

Wilt Chamberlain dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers for Archie Clark, Darrall Imhoff and Jerry Chambers

Charles Barkley traded to the Phoenix Suns for Jeff Hornacek, Tim Perry and Andrew Lang

Once again you have to look at context. Wilt and Charles both wanted out of Philly and the trades had to be made. I think to qualify for worst trades the organizations had to think this move was for a better player and whatnot. Not a player forcing his way out of the team.

[ACCBiggz]

When a player forces his way out, the power goes to the other teams. Because now they know they can rob him. That's why I wouldn't count it as a horrible trade.

[The Sultan of Swank]

Pittsburgh trade Markus Näslund to Vancouver for Alek Stojanov.

Worst. Trade. Ever.

Or best trade ever!

The Bertuzzi trades strike me now as really, really awful. First, Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe, and a first round draft pick were traded to the Canucks for Trevor Linden. Linden goes on to have injury problems with every team he plays for before eventually coming back to Vancouver. McCabe and the pick are both used to help secure the draft picks that net the Sedin twins. Meanwhile, Bertuzzi goes on to become a hundred point scorer, and the Sedins go on to kick all kinds of ass.

When Bertuzzi starts to break down, he gets traded, along with Bryan Allen and Alex Auld, for Lukas Krajicek and Roberto Luongo. Luongo immediately becomes the best goalie the Canucks have ever had and is probably enough to get them to the playoffs again. Krajicek for Allen is wash, both are 3/4 defensemen right now, and both are young. Alex Auld was last seen brawling with Ed Belfour, who is outplaying him at the age of 65. And Todd Bertuzzi? Will retire after next season due to lingering back problems. Canucks are the winners.

Canucks are always the winners. Incidentally, I ran into a Canadian Canuck fan yesterday, who admitted he wants both them and the Leafs to finish eighth so we both get playoff spots. Why can't you be more like that?

[Farmer Reil]

This thread makes me realise I'd never be able to follow American sports.

The notion of just "trading" players, sometimes even signing them in the first place just to use them in trades, is a bit weird ¬_¬

I guess it's not really any different to putting a price on a player's head in soccer. I guess I'm just used to that happening

I'd be unbelievably pissed if I'd been traded for a draft pick though ¬_¬ That would be the most humiliating thing ever. "Sorry, you're worth less to us than the possibility of signing someone who may or may not be good in the future".

[David Hassellhoff]

When a player forces his way out, the power goes to the other teams. Because now they know they can rob him. That's why I wouldn't count it as a horrible trade.

[The Sultan of Swank]

Can someone explain the practice of a transfer in soccer?

[The Third Dukes]

Can someone explain the practice of a transfer in soccer?

[Guest muddatrucker]

Basically all the teams are owned by different people (not a franchise) and the teams have varying levels of finance, basically the teams with the most money can buy players from other teams (assuming the player agrees too), obviously poorer teams can sign people too, but again they have a limit to what they can do. Does a player have any say in being traded? I mean if they don't want to go then surely theres nothing making them.

Edited January 6, 2007 by muddatrucker

[thuganomic]

Basically all the teams are owned by different people (not a franchise) and the teams have varying levels of finance, basically the teams with the most money can buy players from other teams (assuming the player agrees too), obviously poorer teams can sign people too, but again they have a limit to what they can do. Does a player have any say in being traded? I mean if they don't want to go then surely theres nothing making them.

[NobBe Nobbs]

Basically all the teams are owned by different people (not a franchise) and the teams have varying levels of finance, basically the teams with the most money can buy players from other teams (assuming the player agrees too), obviously poorer teams can sign people too, but again they have a limit to what they can do. Does a player have any say in being traded? I mean if they don't want to go then surely theres nothing making them.

Edited January 6, 2007 by Be

[SeanDMan]

Mostly, when a player is traded from one team to another, and he doesn't want to play, he'll do it anyway. A guy who gets traded and then holds out will be almost impossible to move, since the team who traded for him will want something worth the assets they traded in order to get him, whereas the team trying to pick him up will be wary of making a deal, lest he go ahead and hold out on them too. Generally, if a player is unhappy with where he is playing, or where he was traded to, he'll ask for a trade, and then keep playing. If he plays well despite being unhappy, he'll raise his value and make a trade more likely. If he plays poorly, he'll lower his value to his current team and make them more likely to give up and trade him. But generally, players who get traded from a bad team to a good team have nothing to complain about, and a player who gets traded from a good team to a bad team will get more playing time, which will probably give him better stats, which will raise his value when his contract is up or when the trading deadline comes around.

Holding out does happen, but mostly it's more about money then teams. But it does happen with teams too (Eric Lindros and Steve Francis are two good examples).

[NobBe Nobbs]

Ah, see, I was running off the player under discussion being an arrogant little shit like Kaigorodov. What was the deal with Lindros and Francis?

[JStarr]

I'd be unbelievably pissed if I'd been traded for a draft pick though ¬_¬ That would be the most humiliating thing ever. "Sorry, you're worth less to us than the possibility of signing someone who may or may not be good in the future".

No worse than some of the soccer transfer stories I've heard, about guys being traded for bags of balls or sides of beef and what have you. Now THAT's a slap in the face.

As for Lindros and Francis, they simply refused to play in Canada, Lindros for the Nordiques and Francis for the Grizzlies. If there was anything more to those situations, I've never heard of it. Not sure if Lindros might have played for the Leafs or Habs, but he damn sure didn't want to be a Nordique.

[NobBe Nobbs]

I'd be unbelievably pissed if I'd been traded for a draft pick though ¬_¬ That would be the most humiliating thing ever. "Sorry, you're worth less to us than the possibility of signing someone who may or may not be good in the future".

No worse than some of the soccer transfer stories I've heard, about guys being traded for bags of balls or sides of beef and what have you. Now THAT's a slap in the face.

As for Lindros and Francis, they simply refused to play in Canada, Lindros for the Nordiques and Francis for the Grizzlies. If there was anything more to those situations, I've never heard of it. Not sure if Lindros might have played for the Leafs or Habs, but he damn sure didn't want to be a Nordique.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Lindros' parents refused to let him play for a small market team (any Canadian team other than the Leafs qualified under their definition). Before Quebec drafted him, Aubut (their GM) was told there wasn't a chance Lindros would ever play a game for the Nords.

[Only In Dreams]

And here is another tip for all of our future pro sport athlete's in EWB: Don't let your parent's be your agent, because most of the time.. wait no make that all of the time the teams around the league will hate you.

Take Lindros for example, he is an example of a player teams dread when it comes to contract negotiations due to the fact that papa Lindros is behind him whispering things that do seem a bit out of the ordinary.

EDIT: Now I wonder if Lindros' dad was not his agent, would he have played with the Nords?

Edited January 6, 2007 by Planet Earthquake

[The Sultan of Swank]

Well, the fact that he didn't play for them helped set up the framework for a Stanley Cup for that franchise.

[oldskool]

Lindros didn't want to learn French (and it would've been practically required, had he needed to live/play in Quebec).

Fun bad trade that almost happened:

The trade that would have sent Eric Lindros to the Rangers was Lindros for Doug Weight, Tony Amonte, Alexei Kovalev, John Vanbiesbrouck, three first round draft picks (1993, 1994 & 1995) and $12 million. The deal was ruled invalid by an arbitrator who awarded Lindros to Philadelphia.

Edited January 6, 2007 by oldskool