The Trade That Changed the NBA: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Lakers

Imagine having Kareem Aldul Jabbar on your team. You won a championship. He is the MVP of the league, arguably the best player of all time, and he's in his prime. The only problem is he's in a city where he can't worship and he can't enjoy his life, and it leads to him asking for a trade so he can feel comfortable. How do you say no to that? And that's exactly what the Milwaukee Bucks did when they traded him to the LA Lakers, a city he loves and knows. And we're going to dive into this historical trade that changed the NBA and these two franchises forever today on Daily Sports History. Let's go Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide because my idea of a perfect date is debating who should have won the nineteen eighty two MVP over a cup of coffee. So let's go back to how Kareem ended up in Milwaukee. While he started at UCLA dominating literally changing the game, the NCAAA said no more dunking because he is too good. He was the obvious number one pick when they drafted him in nineteen sixty nine and he jumped in right away. In his rookie year, he averaged over twenty eight points and fourteen rebounds. Those are MVP caliber numbers as a rookie, and the following year, the Milwaukee Bucks traded for Oscar Robinson, one of the greatest cards to ever play the game, and it gave them a dynamic backcourt and veteran leadership to go along with Kareem's dominance down low, and with head coach Larry Costello guiding the team, they were able to transform and become a championship team. In the nineteen seventy seventy one season, they posted the best record ever by a team with sixty six wins and Kareem averaged over thirty one points, and that year in the playoffs, they would go on to sweep the Baltimore Bullets in the finals, winning every game by at least ten points, and Kareem would be Finals MVP. The Milwaukee Bucks were a championship team in the future looked bright because Kareem was in his prime, but after nineteen seventy one, Kareem changed his name. He was Lueu Sinder at this time, but he changed it to Kareem outdoligible to embrace his faith and identity in the Muslim tradition, and this is where things started to change for him. He was a star in Milwaukee. Everyone knew who he was, partly because he was one of the few black men who was Muslim and was over seven feet tall. Willing to bet there wasn't many of those around anywhere, but especially in Milwaukee. And he dominated every single year. In the nineteen seventy two season, he would be the scoring champ of the league, averaging over thirty four points a game, and he named the MVP. And he would follow that up the next year and win the MVP again and lead them again to the finals, although they would lose this finals. But it was shortly after this, when the nineteen seventy four seventy five season was about to become Kareem met for dinner with the Milwaukee Bucks management. There was Sam Gilbert, who was his representative, and the Bucks president Bill Alverson and the general manager Wayne Emrie all there to talk about how he was feeling, and he said his lifestyle and the lifestyle of Milwaukee was not compatible. Then. About one percent of the population today in Milwaukee is Muslim. There's not very many mosque there, and so he wanted to be traded because he couldn't practice his religion in Milwaukee. Also, he was a huge jazz lover. He loved the jazz music scene, but there wasn't that in Milwaukee, so he couldn't enjoy jazz lounges. He couldn't enjoy the music he loved. He requested to be traded to either New York or LA, two cities that he was comfortable and he grew up in New York. He played college ball in LA. But this was a private conversation. This trade demand was not made public until months later, and that was mainly because, frankly, the Bucks didn't know what to do. He told them he would finish out his contract with them, he would play for them, but he would not re sign with them. He would like to be traded, but he would honor his contract. So do you get another year out of him to play his contract because he's under your contract, or do you trade him and get some value back? And something that we see in the NBA all the time to this day. Trade demands now very common. Back then very uncommon. You signed with somebody, you played there that's exactly how it normally went, but this was a unique situation. It's a reasonable thing if you don't fit in or where we do, and that's what he was trying to do. And of course when it did get leaked out to the media, everyone in Milwaukee was upset because it sounded like he didn't want to be there, but they didn't really know or understand, and the New York Knicks were aggressive. They were trying to figure out a way to acquire him. The problem was they just didn't have the right package, and the Lakers didn't have the right original package either. They tried to center their package around veteran guard Gail Goodrich, who was a Hall of Famer and a great player himself, but didn't move the needle for them. They went in young talent that could grow around. He was a veteran also the year before Oscar Robinson retired, so he didn't really have a good team around him. He was the only quality player and it only won thirty eight games, finishing seventh in the conference and did not make the playoffs with no other player on the team that really was a note, so they played out that season. He played good, averaging thirty points a game and fourteen rebounds. What more could you ask from your star player. But they finally struck a deal they felt gave them good enough return they at least had upside. The deal was they were gonna send Cream with backup center Walt Wesley to the LA Lakers for Elmner Smith, who was the league shot blocker the previous year and showed promise as a player and even to this day holds the record for the most block shots in a game. It was really centered around him as a possible replacement for Kareem. Then Brian Unters, Junior Bridgeman, and Dave Myers and also some cash thrown it and this made headlines everywhere. Everyone was stopping. It was breaking news, like we interrupt you to bring breaking news on the TV. This was that news that this was happening. It was huge and Jack Cook, the owner of the LA Lakers, said this was the most successful thing he ever did as owner of the team, hands down and honestly, hands down. It was because Kareem would go on to win MVP in nineteen seventy six, seventy seven, and eighty and then he would win five championships with the Lakers in eighty eighty two, two eight, five, eighty seven, eighty eight, being around the Showtime Lakers and Magic, creating one of the best duos to ever hit the court. He also, in nineteen eighty four broke the all time scoring record, help by Wilt Chamberlain, and he would hold that record till Lebron James would break his record. And this was all with the Lakers. On top of his accomplishments with the Bucks, he changed the Lakers into a contender. In nineteen eighty nine, he would retire, marking the end of the Showtime Laker era. The following year, his jersey would be retired, and in twenty twelve they would unveil a statue of his legendary skyhook in front of the Lakers Arena and he would become a Hall of Famer and one of those people that's just known by one name. In Koree As he found where he could practice his beliefs in his loves while in the city, and unfortunately the Bucks they got the shaft. Let's be honest, well, Elmner Smith, who was the highlight player they got, only played two seasons with the Bucks. He would average nine points and seven rebounds two blocks a game, a quality player, but not the game changer that Will was, and then he in nineteen seventy seven, would get traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he just play one more season before retiring due to injuries. Brian Winters would become the starting shooting guard and become a key contributor to the team for the next eighteen seasons, averaging sixteen points, three rebounds, and four assisted game. It would become a two time All start in nineteen seventy six and seventy eight and would be the best player that they would receive in this trade. Junior Bridgeman played ten seasons for the Bucks and became a reliable six man option. Would average over thirteen points, three rebounds, and two assisted game and was known for his versatility and would later become a businessman and one of the most successful former NBA players outside of the NBA if you go by total net worth. Dave Myers would go on to play four seasons with the Bucks, average over ten points and five rebounds before retiring due to back at tues. He showed some promise, but unfortunately was derailed due to injuries which seemed to be what would happen to a lot of these players in his trade. Unfortunately, but they didn't just get nothing for a creed. The problem was they had nothing else to go on. They struggled for the next few years. It was even made worse by Kareem doing so good, and they can only imagine what would have happened if they kept him. As they struggled in the nineteen eighties, they would begin to have more success. They would finish second in the conference in nineteen eighty and lose in the Western Conference semi finals, where Marquise Johnson and Sydney Creef became their cornerstones of their team and would lead them to have seven straight fifty win seasons during the nineteen eighties, and they would make the Eastern Conference Finals three times during the nineteen eighties, but unfortunately never make it to the finals, and that continued through the nineteen nineties as well, where they would have Ray Allen and Michael red and have some good teams around them, but unfortunately still not be able to get over that until they drafted this skinny kid out of Greece that no one really knew about, named Giannis Antetokumpo. And he would change the trajectory forever, becoming the greatest player in the NBA for a period of time, just like they had in Kareem, and would lead them to the Promised Land again in two thousand and twenty one. The question is was this the biggest trade in NBA history. I want to thank you for listening to Today's Daily Sports History. It means a lot to me. I put a lot of work and effort into each and one of these episodes, so if you could like and subscribe wherever you're listening, it means the world to me, and we'll see you on the next episode.