A blockbuster trade just rocked the NBA world as the Dallas Mavericks sent superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis and other pieces. The deal caught everyone off guard – even the most plugged-in NBA insiders didn’t see it coming.
It’s already being called one of the most shocking trades ever. But is it really? Let’s look at three trades that changed sports forever.
The most infamous trade in baseball history happened over 100 years ago, and fans still talk about it today. In 1920, the Boston Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $100,000 – paid in four installments.
Why would they trade the game’s biggest star? It came down to money (doesn’t it always?). Ruth wanted a raise from $7,000 to $15,000 to match Ty Cobb’s salary. The Red Sox, struggling with attendance, decided to cash in instead.
That decision haunted Boston for 86 years.
Ruth became baseball’s greatest slugger in New York, winning four more World Series titles. Meanwhile, the Red Sox didn’t win another championship until 2004, a drought fans called “The Curse of the Bambino.”
Then there’s the trade that changed basketball on the West Coast. In 1975, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar asked the Milwaukee Bucks to trade him to either New York or Los Angeles. The Bucks sent him to the Lakers.
It was one of the first times a small-market team gave in to a star player’s trade demand. Now it happens all the time.
Kareem dominated in LA, winning five more championships and three MVP awards. He held the NBA scoring record for nearly 40 years until LeBron James broke it earlier this year.
But perhaps the most culture-changing trade ever happened in hockey. The Edmonton Oilers trading Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988 seemed unthinkable. Imagine trading Michael Jordan in his prime – that’s how shocking it was.
Gretzky learned about the trade just two hours after winning his fourth Stanley Cup with Edmonton. While he never won another championship, his move to LA helped hockey explode in popularity across the western United States.
The Kings didn’t win a Stanley Cup with Gretzky, but they did something maybe even more important – they proved hockey could thrive in warm-weather cities. Today’s NHL has successful teams in places like Vegas, Tampa Bay, and Nashville because Gretzky showed the way.
