20 worst NBA Draft trades ever
By John Buhler
4. Bill Russell from St. Louis Hawks to Boston Celtics
Nobody won on the hardwood quite like the Boston Celtics’ Bill Russell. Russell won 11 NBA Championships during his 13 years as the superstar player for the Celtics in the 1950s and 1960s. To think that what could have been if the St. Louis Hawks just held on to the No. 2 overall pick in the 1956 NBA Draft.
Russell won a National Championship playing for the University of San Francisco. He was widely considered the best player available in the 1956 NBA Draft. The belief was that the team picking No. 1 overall in the Rochester Royals weren’t looking at a big man because they already had Maurice Stokes.
Celtics head coach/general manager Red Auerbach carefully crafted a deal that rival St. Louis couldn’t refuse to draft the best player of his era in Russell. Auerbach sent St. Louis native and six-time NBA All-Star Ed Macauley to the Hawks for Russell’s draft rights and the rest was history.
Boston and St. Louis would often meet in the NBA Finals, but only once did St. Louis have the upper hand in 1958. Had Russell just been a member of the Hawks, St. Louis and not Boston might be the most storied franchise in NBA history.
Next: 3. Ray Allen from Seattle SuperSonics to Boston Celtics.