It hasn't always been sunshine and rainbows for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Even if the Lakers right now appears poised to win the title, the road was paved after several mistakes from the front office throughout the years. While it's easy to appreciate the organization now upon seeing how the recent trade for Anthony Davis has paid off, there's still no erasing the part of history where the Lakers have overpaid role players, cut ties with budding stars, took unfavorable gambles on unproven players, and mindlessly traded superstars.
As the popular saying goes, you win some, you lose some. Here, we delve into the three biggest mistakes by Lakers general managers ever and rank them accordingly.
Surprisingly, the list isn't too heavy on Magic Johnson's mishaps.
Honorable mention: Signing Timofey Mozgov
This deal was simply a disaster. Mozgov only averaged 17.4 minutes per game before being signed by the Lakers, the Cleveland Cavaliers were literally better without him on the floor, and he was injury prone too. Does that sound like something worth $64 million for over four years? Absolutely not.
Mozgov clearly under-performed and he was overpaid, which was the perfect recipe for disaster. That kind of money could have been utilized elsewhere for tons of other better deals that were still available in the market. What was Mitch Kupchak thinking back then? Yikes.
3. Letting D'Angelo Russell and Julius Randle walk
For a certain period of time, the Lakers were ridiculed for letting potential star players walk only to see them blossom in a different team.
This was exactly the case when Magic Johnson traded D'Lo and Randle when the two were smack in the middle of forming a budding core for the years to come. Eventually, D'Lo became an All-Star on the Brooklyn Nets, while Randle made strides in his game enough to become a double-double threat on any given night with an average of 21.4 points and 8.7 rebounds per game for the New Orleans Pelicans.
While an argument can be made that hindsight is 20/20, it still makes you wonder what the Lakers could have been if only Johnson prioritized these two players instead. That one hurts.
2. Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins for Kwame Brown
Remember this? What a head-scratcher.
In 2005, the Lakers traded an up-and-coming Caron Butler along with Chucky Atkins to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Kwame Brown. However, Butler was literally coming off his best season wherein he averaged 15.5 points per game. On the other hand, if you're wondering if Brown produced numbers at least relatively near to Butler, the answer is no. The trade didn't even look balanced in any angle whatsoever as Brown averaged a measly 4.9 rebounds and 7 points per game in the previous year playing as a power forward. Mitch Kupchak screwed the pooch here yet again as he took an unfavorable gamble on Brown as the odds were literally stacked against him.
Yet again, you win some, you lose some. Unfortunately, the Lakers lost out big time in this case. What a shame.
1. Trading Shaquille O’Neal in 2004
This will always be the biggest “what if” in Lakers history.
After the Lakers lost the NBA Championship back in 2004, Shaq and Kobe's beef hit fever pitch based on multiple reports. However, management always seems to favor packaging a player away to address the problem instead of actually mending the relationship. Shaq and Kobe are the perfect examples as Mitch Kupchak (again) decided to trade one of them and of course, Shaq had to be the scapegoat since he was the older player between the two.
While there was a valid argument to be made wherein the assets that the Lakers received were not too shabby in Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant and a couple of draft picks, we all know a bunch of good players and some draft picks never really amounts to a once in a generation talent. It's clear that whoever lands the star, wins the trade. As Shaq and Kobe were both still in their primes at the time, it's an absolute disappointment that we didn't get to see the two play to their full potential as they could have possibly won even more rings if only they had more time together.
Now, all we can do is speculate on what could have been.
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