The usual list of bad Los Angeles Lakers trades is a list of famous names. This one ranks trades by what they cost the franchise on the day they were made: the talent that left, the picks that went with it and the cap mess it took to climb out. A bailout from a separate, later deal doesn’t clean up the original one.
How We Ranked
- Talent lost vs. gained. What the outgoing players did next, against what the incoming players gave the Lakers.
- Picks burned. Which picks left, how the protections played out and who got drafted.
- Cap and roster fallout. Dead money and the follow-up moves needed to fix it.
- Process counts. A sound bet wrecked by injury ranks below a bad bet from day one.
- Free agency alone doesn’t count. A player who walks for nothing isn’t a trade, and neither are picks forfeited as free-agent compensation. But a rental who leaves right after the Lakers paid for him counts against that deal.
25 to 11
25. The Sasha Vujačić Salary Dump (Dec. 2010)
Lakers sent: Sasha Vujačić and a 2011 first-round pick. Lakers got: Joe Smith and two second-round picks.
The first became No. 27 in 2011. Smith played 12 games and scored 0.5 points per game. A late first to shed salary is cheap, but it’s still a first for nothing on the court.
24. Derek Fisher to Houston (March 2012)
Lakers sent: Derek Fisher and the Dallas first-rounder from the Lamar Odom trade. Lakers got: Jordan Hill.
The pick became No. 21 in 2014. Hill gave the Lakers 178 games, peaking at 12.0 points and 7.9 rebounds in 2014-15. Mild damage, but it turned the draft asset from the Odom trade into a backup big.
23. The Cedric Ceballos Trade (Sept. 1994)
Lakers sent: A protected 1995 first-round pick. Lakers got: Cedric Ceballos.
Ceballos scored 21.7 points a game and made the 1995 All-Star team. In March 1996 he left the team without permission for a trip to Lake Havasu and was suspended. The pick became Michael Finley at No. 21, a two-time All-Star. Ceballos gave the Lakers an All-Star season and a half before that, which keeps this one low.
22. Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell to Charlotte (March 1999)
Lakers sent: Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell. Lakers got: Glen Rice, J.R. Reid and B.J. Armstrong, who was waived the same day.
A year later Jones was an All-Star, made third-team All-NBA and All-Defensive, and led the league in steals. Rice scored 16.3 points a game over 107 games and helped win the 2000 title, which is the only reason this isn’t higher.
21. Rudy LaRusso for Mel Counts (Jan. 1967)
Lakers sent: Rudy LaRusso and a 1967 first-round pick, in a three-team deal. Lakers got: Mel Counts.
LaRusso refused to report to Detroit and retired, and his rights went to San Francisco. He made the All-Star team the next two seasons, scoring 21.8 and 20.7 points a game. Counts gave the Lakers 375 solid games, so the main loss is a first and a rival’s All-Star.
20. Sam Perkins to Seattle (Feb. 1993)
Lakers sent: Sam Perkins. Lakers got: Benoit Benjamin and Doug Christie.
Benjamin played 28 games, averaged 4.5 points and was traded that June. Christie lasted 88 games before being moved for second-rounders, then made four All-Defensive teams elsewhere. Perkins started a five-plus-year run in Seattle that included the 1996 Finals.
19. Clyde Lovellette to the Royals (April 1957)
Lakers sent: Clyde Lovellette and Jim Paxson. Lakers got: Four players and the No. 1 pick in 1957, Hot Rod Hundley.
Lovellette made two more All-Star teams, won two titles in Boston and reached the Hall of Fame. The No. 1 pick makes this defensible on paper. It didn’t play out that way.
18. Nick Van Exel to Denver (June 1998)
Lakers sent: Nick Van Exel, an All-Star that season. Lakers got: Tony Battie and the draft rights to Tyronn Lue.
Battie never played for the Lakers; he was traded seven months later. Lue played 61 games and averaged 4.1 points. Van Exel averaged between 16.1 and 17.7 points in each of his three full seasons in Denver.
17. A Second-Rounder for Stan Love (Aug. 1973)
Lakers sent: A 1974 second-round pick. Lakers got: Stan Love.
Love played 81 games, averaged 6.2 points and left for the ABA. The pick became Truck Robinson, who made two All-Star teams, a first-team All-NBA team and led the league in rebounding in 1977-78.
16. The Ramon Sessions Rental (March 2012)
Lakers sent: Luke Walton, Jason Kapono, a 2012 first-round pick and the right to swap 2013 firsts. Lakers got: Ramon Sessions, Christian Eyenga and a trade exception.
Cleveland used the swap in 2013 and took the Lakers’ No. 19 pick. Sessions played 23 regular-season games and 12 playoff games, then signed with Charlotte. A first and a pick swap for half a season.
15. Slater Martin to the Knicks (Oct. 1956)
Minneapolis sent: Slater Martin, Jerry Bird and Phil Jordon. Minneapolis got: Walter Dukes and Burdette Haldorson.
Martin, a four-time champion with the Lakers, was flipped to St. Louis and won the 1958 title there. He made seven All-Star teams in all and reached the Hall of Fame. Dukes lasted 71 games before being traded.
14. Lamar Odom to Dallas (Dec. 2011)
Lakers sent: Lamar Odom, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, and a 2012 second-round pick. Dallas also got a 2013 swap option it never used. Lakers got: A protected Dallas first-round pick and an $8.9 million trade exception.
The Lakers handed a conference rival its best bench player for an exception. Odom fell apart in Dallas, averaging 6.6 points in 50 games, which caps the damage. The exception later absorbed Steve Nash’s contract. More on that at No. 6.
13. Zelmo Beaty for Gus Williams (Sept. 1974)
Lakers sent: A 1975 second-round pick. Lakers got: Zelmo Beaty.
Beaty was 34 and played his final season for the Lakers: 69 games, 5.5 points. The pick became Gus Williams at No. 20, who made first-team All-NBA in 1982 and won the 1979 title in Seattle.
12. D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov to Brooklyn (June 2017)
Lakers sent: D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov. Lakers got: Brook Lopez and the No. 27 pick, Kyle Kuzma.
The Lakers used a former No. 2 overall pick to clear Mozgov’s contract. Kuzma was a good get, but Russell was an All-Star in Brooklyn two seasons later.
11. Dick Barnett for Bob Boozer (Oct. 1965)
Lakers sent: Dick Barnett. Lakers got: Bob Boozer.
Boozer played one season (12.2 points a game) before Chicago took him in the 1966 expansion draft. Barnett spent nine seasons with the Knicks, made the 1968 All-Star team, won two titles and reached the Hall of Fame. Both came against the Lakers in the Finals.
The Top 10
10. The Dwight Howard Trade (Aug. 2012)
Lakers sent: Andrew Bynum, Josh McRoberts, Christian Eyenga and a protected first-round pick. Lakers got: Dwight Howard, Earl Clark and Chris Duhon.
Howard gave the Lakers one 45-37 season, a first-round sweep by San Antonio and an exit to Houston. The damage stays at No. 10 because Bynum never played a game for Philadelphia, and the protected first ended up as second-round picks.
9. Kermit Washington and a First for Charlie Scott (Dec. 1977)
Lakers sent: Kermit Washington, Don Chaney and a 1978 first-round pick. Lakers got: Charlie Scott.
Washington was serving a 26-game suspension for punching Rudy Tomjanovich. Scott played 48 games for the Lakers and was gone by June. The pick landed at No. 8 in 1978, and Washington became an All-Star in Portland two years later. Moving a suspended player was understandable. Adding a top-10 pick for a half-season rental was not.
8. Gary Payton and Rick Fox to Boston (Aug. 2004)
Lakers sent: Gary Payton, Rick Fox and a 2006 first-round pick. Lakers got: Chucky Atkins, Chris Mihm and Jumaine Jones.
The Lakers went 34-48 the next season. The pick passed through Atlanta and Phoenix before Boston traded back for it on draft night and took Rajon Rondo at No. 21.
7. Danny Green and Jaden McDaniels for Dennis Schröder (Nov. 2020)
Lakers sent: Danny Green and the No. 28 pick. Lakers got: Dennis Schröder.
The pick ended up in Minnesota as Jaden McDaniels. Schröder averaged 15.4 points, the Lakers lost in the first round, and he reportedly turned down a four-year, $84 million extension. He signed with Boston for one year and $5.9 million.
6. The Steve Nash Sign-and-Trade (July 2012)
Lakers sent: 2013 and 2015 first-round picks, 2013 and 2014 second-round picks and $3 million. Lakers got: Steve Nash.
Nash played 65 games over three seasons on the roster. The 2015 first was protected and didn’t convey until 2018, when it landed at No. 10. Philadelphia, which had acquired it from Phoenix, took Mikal Bridges and flipped him to Phoenix. The bet on a 38-year-old point guard was risky. Injuries made it a disaster, which is why it ranks below the deals that were bad from the start.
5. Caron Butler for Kwame Brown (Aug. 2005)
Lakers sent: Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins. Lakers got: Kwame Brown and Laron Profit, who was waived that January.
Butler made two All-Star teams in Washington and averaged 19.0 points over 310 games. Brown lasted 136 games. His expiring contract later helped land Pau Gasol, but that’s luck, not credit.
4. Shaquille O’Neal to Miami (July 2004)
Lakers sent: Shaquille O’Neal. Lakers got: Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant, a 2006 first-round pick and a 2007 second-round pick.
The Lakers went 34-48. Shaq made first-team All-NBA in each of his first two Miami seasons and won the 2006 title. The return wasn’t empty: Odom became a key piece of the next title teams. But this is arguably the most talent the franchise has ever traded away in one deal.
3. Ivica Zubac to the Clippers (Feb. 2019)
Lakers sent: Ivica Zubac and Michael Beasley. Lakers got: Mike Muscala.
Muscala played 17 games for the Lakers. Zubac became the Clippers’ starting center and made All-Defensive second team in 2025, averaging 16.8 points and 12.6 rebounds. There’s no injury or bad luck to blame. It was a bad trade on the day it was made.
2. Adrian Dantley for Spencer Haywood (Sept. 1979)
Lakers sent: Adrian Dantley. Lakers got: Spencer Haywood.
Haywood played 76 games and was suspended in the middle of the 1980 Finals. Dantley averaged 29.6 points over 461 games in Utah, made six All-Star teams, won two scoring titles and reached the Hall of Fame. The Lakers won the 1980 title anyway, and that’s the only thing keeping this out of the top spot.
1. Russell Westbrook (Aug. 2021)
Lakers sent: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell and the No. 22 pick. Lakers got: Russell Westbrook and three second-round picks.
The trade broke up the depth of a team one year removed from a title, for a player who didn’t fit next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Westbrook played 130 games. Getting out of his contract in February 2023 cost a protected 2027 first-round pick. It hit every category in the methodology: talent, picks and two years of a cap sheet built around the wrong player.
On the Watchlist: Walker Kessler
In July 2026 the Lakers sent Utah unprotected 2031 and 2033 first-round picks and first-round swaps in 2028 and 2030 for Walker Kessler, who signed a four-year, $130 million deal. Kessler played five games in 2025-26 before a season-ending shoulder injury. It’s too early to rank, but it already explains why the Lakers cannot afford Kel’el Ware.
The One That Didn’t Happen
In February 2025 the Lakers agreed to send Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish, an unprotected 2031 first and a 2030 swap to Charlotte for Mark Williams. They rescinded it days later after Williams failed his physical. It never became official, so it isn’t ranked.
Expensive but Worth It
Giving up a lot isn’t the same as a bad trade. In 2008 the Lakers sent Memphis two first-round picks and the rights to Marc Gasol, a future Defensive Player of the Year, for Pau Gasol. Pau anchored two titles. In 2019 they sent Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and three firsts for Anthony Davis. They won the 2020 title.
Sources: Basketball-Reference Lakers transaction pages, draft pages and player pages; RealGM transaction history; Hoops Rumors; contemporary reporting from Sports Illustrated, the Boston Globe, CBS Sports and NBA.com.
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