Last week, I mentioned that the trade of John Wall for Russell Westbrook was reported to be the first time an NBA MVP had been traded for an overall #1 NBA Draft Pick. I had read that somewhere and said that I was not going to expend the effort to verify it. About 24 hours later, I received an email from “the reader in Houston” who is a repository for sports history and stats. He only considered the “MVP traded” to be a player who had earned MVP honors with the team that traded him; he did not consider trades where a player went to a new team and subsequently earned an MVP Award. Here is the meat of his email communiqué:
- Wilt (1960 MVP) was traded from the SF Warriors to the 76ers in 1965 and in 1968 from the 76ers (1966, 1967, 1968 MVP) to the Lakers.
- Kareem (1971, 1972, 1974 MVP) was traded from the Bucks to the Lakers.
- Iverson (2001 MVP) was traded from the 76ers to the Nuggets in 2007.
- Shaq (2000 MVP) was traded from the Lakers to the Heat in 2004 and in 2008 from the Heat to the Suns.
- Mo Malone (1979, 1982 MVP) was traded from the Rockets to the 76ers in 1982 and in 1986 from the 76ers (1983 MVP) to the Bullets.
- Bob McAdoo (1975 MVP) was traded from the Buffalo Braves in 1977 to the Knicks.
- Dave Cowens (1973 MVP) was traded from the Celts to the Bucks in 1982.
- The Big “O” (1964 MVP) was traded from the Cincy Royals to the Bucks in 1970.
- Kevin Garnett (2004 MVP) was traded from the Bucks to the Celtics in 2007.
- Hakeem (1994 MVP) was traded by the Rockets to the Raptors in 2001.
- Derrick Rose (2011 MVP) was traded by the Bulls to the Knicks in 20i6.
- Though some of these players were traded for players drafted in the first round or for future first-round picks, you are correct in that none of these was the overall #1 pick.
- Of the 34 players who have won NBA Most Valuable Player awards, 11 have been traded by the team they were playing for when they won it. Wilt, Moses, and Shaq were in this situation twice each. Although there are some exceptions (like Cowens for Quinn Buckner), it is clear that some of the most unbalanced trades in NBA history included MVPs (Chamberlain, Abdul-Jabbar, Malone, Shaq). Trading your MVP is usually a bad idea, such as 28-year-old Wilt for Paul Neuman (not the actor), Connie Dierking, and Lee Shaffer or 25-year-old Bob McAdoo for John Gianelli, to name just two of those unbalanced trades.
- Also, please note that Bill Walton is not included here because he was traded by the Clippers to the Celtics, but he won the 1978 MVP playing for the Blazers. Also, Charles Barkley, Steve Nash, and James Harden were dealt from their original teams before their MVP seasons and are not included in this list.
Many thanks to the Houston reader for a trip down memory lane that revisits a lot of unbalanced trades – Bob McAdoo for John Gianelli being a prime example. Thinking about how and why many of those trades happened, it is easy to come to the conclusion that there have been some meatheaded coaches and GMs in NBA history and/or that some of these outstanding basketball players were also pains in ass to deal with.
The mention of “pain in the ass” juxtaposed with “NBA player” leads directly to my next topic today:
- Kyrie Irving
Last week, Irving released a statement that said in part:
“My goal this season is to let my work on and off the court speak for itself.”
This was in and among other verbiage explaining why he was not attending a media day and why he would not be a go-to source for the media this season and that his media isolation is part of a change in his life’s outlook partially brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. My first reaction when I read about this was that this is probably a blessing. Kyrie Irving has been known in the past to be a font of – how to say this? – irrelevant information. For the record, the Earth is not flat and, indeed, there used to be creatures that we now call dinosaurs.
- Memo for Kyrie Irving: Since the impact of COVID-19 convinced you to change your outlook and your behavior, why not also adopt one of the key lessons many of us have learned from the pandemic: “Follow the science.”
I have said here many times that I am not a mind-reader; what follows is my interpretation of the background to Irving’s NBA career; if someone disagrees with it and labels it “speculation”, then I plead guilty.
- In Cleveland, it seems to me that Irving thought that LeBron James got too much of the credit for the Cavaliers success and NBA Championship there. Basically, he whined his way out of town in a trade to Boston.
- In Boston, he was the “main man”; but he seemed to bristle under the media scrutiny that comes with being the “main man” – particularly in a media market like Boston.
- Now, in Brooklyn he is a part of another dynamic duo with Kevin Durant and – taking his statement at face value – he will cede the spotlight to Durant and be more of a “silent partner”.
- The NBA season is scheduled to begin on 22 December. What is the OVER/UNDER on the first media interaction for Kyrie Irving? How about January 8, 2021? That is the date for the Nets’ 10th game of the season…
Finally, Bob Molinaro of the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot noted this situation pertaining to the NBA and COVID-19:
“Futurewatch: New 76ers coach Doc Rivers expressed a concern that should be shared by all NBA officials and players. With no bubble for the 2020-21 season and predictions of even more explosive COVID-19 outbreaks, it’s naïve to think the season won’t be knocked off course.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………