Back to the Los Angeles Lakers Newsfeed

Los Angeles Lakers: The 12 best trades in franchise history

Aside from selecting players in the draft and signing free agents, the most common method of adding a player to the NBA roster is via trade with another team.

In the long, cherished history of the Los Angeles Lakers franchise, management has made a number of fabulous trades as well as a few clunkers.

We bring you a ranking of the 12 greatest trades the Los Angeles Lakers have ever made.

The main criteria used is fairly simple:

  • How much the acquired player helped the team win ballgames, especially an NBA championship
  • How little the Lakers gave up in return, ie, how well the traded players performed once they were traded away

One trade that is not, and really cannot, be included on this list is the one the Lakers made last summer to obtain Anthony Davis.