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The NBA Draft is the best way to acquire the talent to help your team get to the next level in the NBA. Of course, this most commonly happens with the picks themselves. These days, there are two rounds and 60 picks, meaning there are 60 chances for the next NBA star to enter the NBA.
However, actual draft choices aren't the only way a team can add talent on draft day. The NBA trade deadline is most known as the most active day in the trade market, but there are always tons of massive trades made during the NBA Draft. Teams will trade up and down the draft to target the players they want or to add more draft capital to their arsenal. Occasionally, veteran players will be included in these trades.
A draft-day trade can make or break a franchise. If you trade up for the wrong player, not only are you drafting the wrong player, but you had to give up additional assets to do so. Conversely, a team trading down/trading away a pick will never be forgiven if the player they give up turns out to be a star. Sometimes, the reward is worth the risk, though. Check out the gallery to see which seven trades we ranked as the biggest NBA Draft day trades of all time.
7. The Bulls move up for Scottie Pippen
Michael Jordan is the greatest NBA player ever, largely because he went 6-0 in the NBA Finals. The G.O.A.T didn't find that championship success until he was paired with Scottie Pippen, though. In 1987, the Bulls landed Jordan's co-star in a draft day trade with the Seattle Supersonics.
The trade that landed Pippen (the fifth pick) in Chicago was for the eighth pick (Olden Polynice) and a future draft pick. It is fair to say that the Bulls won the trade and the league was forever changed. Pippen was one of the best defenders in the league and popularized the point forward role.
Pippen is often talked about in the shadow of Michael Jordan, but his success alone is the reason his NBA Draft day trade is one of the biggest in league history.
6. Number one pick Chris Webber is traded
The expectation for number one overall picks is that said player will be a megastar who has a Hall of Fame caliber career. Because of this, teams are eager to select at the top of the draft, and this is why tanking has become more common in recent years. Furthermore, it means that teams rarely trade away the first overall pick when they do have it. That has only happened seven times before, but one such time was in 1993.
A year after selecting Shaquille O'Neal first overall, the Orlando Magic once again held the number one draft pick. Chris Webber was the consensus top prospect, but Orlando already had their big man of the future. This allowed the Golden State Warriors to swoop in and trade for the sophomore from Michigan.
The Warriors had to give up the third overall pick (Penny Hardaway) and three future first-rounders to do so. That was quite the price to pay to move up two slots, but Webber was a worthy number-one draft choice. Webber went on to have a stellar NBA career in which he went to five All-Star Games and included an impressive rookie campaign in Golden State. Unfortunately for the Warriors, though, Webber and head coach Don Nelson didn't get along.
This led to Webber exercising an escape clause in his contract that forced the Warriors to trade him just one year after they gave up the massive haul to get him. The Magic did pretty well for themselves in this trade. Hardaway's career was shorter than ideal, but he was a huge deal and a star player during his prime. His pairing with O'Neal turned the expansion franchise into a relevant organization. Orlando did end up trading away two of the three picks they added, but the pick they kept turned into Mike Miller, a player who had a short but solid career with the Magic that included the 2001 Rookie of the Year honors.
There were plenty more reasons this trade was iconic, too. First, the Magic only had one ping pong ball in the lottery before they leapfrogged to the number one pick, which defied all odds. Additionally, David Stern's announcement of this trade was dramatic and drawn-out, which led to a forever memorable draft moment.
5. The Celtics create their big three with Ray Allen
With the Celtics winning the 2024 NBA Finals, the franchise now has a league-record 18 titles. The organization has been a threat to win it all for most of its existence, but Boston did have somewhat of a long championship drought from 1986-2007. That changed in 2008 when a championship run was led by Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen.
The latter of those two players were not homegrown talent. Instead, the team traded for them, and in turn created one of the first true supersteams. Allen, in specific, was a draft day trade acquisition in a deal with the Seattle Supersonics.
A lot of the draft day trades on this list saw a rookie become the best player included in the trade, but Allen was already a star by the time he was traded to Boston. The shooting guard was already one of the best shooters ever by the time the Celtics acquired him, and his spacing ushered in yet another legendary era of basketball for the team.
In addition to Allen, the Celtics also landed Glen ‘Big Baby' Davis, a player who became an iconic role player for the team. The Supersonics received Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, and fifth overall pick Jeff Green as a part of the deal. Each of those players had solid careers, but none of them had the impact that Allen did.
4. The Celtics dynasty is born with Bill Russell
The Celtics won 11 championships over a 13 year period from the late '50s-late '60s. That dynasty started and ended with Bill Russell, as his rookie season occurred during Boston's first championship and then he retired after securing that 11th championship.
Boston acquired rookie Russell on draft night in 1956. After completing one of the best collegiate careers ever, Russell was drafted second overall by the St. Louis Hawks. St. Louis wanted a veteran, though, so they traded Russell for Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan. The former was already a six-time All-Star, and he had one more All-Star appearance left in him in St. Louis, too, while the latter actually went to five All-Star Games with St. Louis.
At first glance, that seems like a pretty good trade for the Hawks, but Macauley and Hagan didn't come close to accomplishing what Russell did in his career. Russell immediately became the best defensive player in the NBA, and he was the biggest star of the '60s. In 2024, Boston just won their league-record 18th title, and Russell is a big reason that the Celtics became one of the most prestigious teams in the NBA.
3. Celtics add Kevin McHale and Robert Parish
Clearly the Celtics know how to make draft day trades. The third straight trade on this list was not only a trade that Boston made during the NBA Draft, but a trade that they won that would shape the team for years to come. This trade occurred in 1980 with the Golden State Warriors.
Boston had the number one and 13th overall picks in the draft. They used that leverage to trade back to pick number three, where they secured Kevin McHale. Robert Parish was included as a throw-in in the deal. Meanwhile, Golden State used the first pick to draft Joe Barry Carroll.
Both McHale and Parish won three championships with Boston. McHale started his career as an elite sixth man before solidifying his place as one of the best power forwards in league history, thanks largely to his elite footwork and soft touch. Parish took his game to new heights in Boston and played in a Celtics uniform until he was 40 years old. The center ended up playing 21 total seasons and 1,611 total games. Those marks rank second and first all-time, respectively.
Barry Carroll, on the other hand, had an underwhelming career. He had elite skills and raw talent, but his lack of effort prevented him from ever reaching his potential. The big man even had a one-year hiatus where he played in Italy during the middle of his Warriors tenure.
For Boston, the additions of McHale and Parish came only one year after the team added Larry Bird to the roster. The trio dominated the Eastern Conference in the '80s, and their rivalry with the Los Angeles Lakers during that era helped bring newfound popularity to the sport.
2. Mavericks and Hawks swap Luka Doncic and Trae Young
Luka Doncic and Trae Young will forever be linked, as the two were traded for each other during the 2018 NBA Draft. The Atlanta Hawks drafted Doncic with the third pick and immediately sent him to the Dallas Mavericks for pick five (Young) and a future first-rounder that was eventually used on Cam Reddish.
Young has been a great player since the Hawks acquired him. He has averaged 25.5 points and 9.5 assists per game for his career in addition to being a three-time All-Star. Unfortunately for Atlanta, Doncic has somehow been better. The Mavericks' guard has established himself as a top three player in the NBA. He was an MVP finalist this year and led his team to the NBA Finals.
Amazingly, Doncic already has more All-NBA First Team nods (five) than Stephen Curry does (four). He is on the trajectory to be an all-time great, whereas questions are arising about Young's future in Atlanta. His defensive struggles have limited his ceiling and made some fans question if he will ever be able to contribute to championship-winning basketball.
This trade is massive, because both teams ended up with a megastar. It becomes more and more evident each season that it was the Mavericks that won the transaction, though.
1. Hornets miss out on Kobe Bryant
The biggest NBA Draft day trade ever is also arguably the best trade in NBA history, or worst, depending on which side of history you are looking at. Kobe Bryant established himself as one of the best NBA players ever during a 20-year NBA career, the entirety of which was spent with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bryant wasn't drafted by the Lakers, though. Instead, he was taken 13th overall in 1996 by the Charlotte Hornets before immediately being traded to Los Angeles. No one knew the high school prospect would turn out the way he did, but the decision to trade him will certainly haunt the Hornets' franchise forever.
Bryant went on to become a five-time champion, 18-time All-Star, and MVP en route to becoming arguably the greatest Laker ever. Meanwhile, the Hornets traded that incredible career for Vlade Divac, a center who only played two seasons of average basketball with the Charlotte organization. The NBA wouldn't be the same if Bryant didn't wear the purple and gold, which makes this trade's impact on the rest of the league monumental.
In addition to the Bryant trade being the biggest draft day trade ever, Bryant selection near the end of the lottery is one of the biggest draft day steals ever. Also, the 1996 draft that he was taken in is one of the best draft classes in league history. All in all, there was a lot going on in the 1996 NBA Draft, and a lot of it revolved around the high schooler from Lower Merion.
