Fansided

20 best NBA Draft trades ever

By John Buhler

11 May 2001: Kobe Bryant
11 May 2001: Kobe Bryant /
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SALT LAKE CITY, UNITED STATES: Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls answer questions 10 June at a press conference before afternoon workouts in preparation for game five of the 1997 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz to be held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah 11 June. The series is tied at 2-2. (ELECTRONIC IMAGE) AFP PHOTO/JEFF HAYNES (Photo credit should read JEFF HAYNES/AFP/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, UNITED STATES: Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls answer questions 10 June at a press conference before afternoon workouts in preparation for game five of the 1997 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz to be held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah 11 June. The series is tied at 2-2. (ELECTRONIC IMAGE) AFP PHOTO/JEFF HAYNES (Photo credit should read JEFF HAYNES/AFP/Getty Images) /

4. Scottie Pippen from Seattle SuperSonics to Chicago Bulls.

Scottie Pippen went from being offered no athletic scholarships coming out of high school to being one of the NBA’s greatest 50 players and the best sidekick of all-time to Michael Jordan with the Chicago Bulls. To think he could have been a member of the Seattle SuperSonics?

In the 1987 NBA Draft, Pippen went No. 5 to the SuperSonics before being shipped to the Bulls for Olden Polynice and options for future draft picks. Pippen would win six NBA Championships with the Bulls, make seven All-Star games, and be first team All-Defense eight times.

It was when Pippen arrived as a superstar in 1991 that the Bulls became one of the NBA’s greatest dynasties of all-time, winning going 6-0 in NBA Finals over the course of eight NBA seasons.

Pippen would be in his prime with the Bulls from 1990 to 1998 before bouncing around in the NBA until 2004 with the Houston Rockets, the Portland Trail Blazers, and a final stint with the Bulls in 2003-04. A potential Seattle defense with Pippen and Gary Payton would have certainly brought an NBA Championship to the Pacific Northwest during the George Karl era in Seattle.

Next: 3. Robert Parish/Kevin McHale from Golden State Warriors to Boston Celtics.

Home/Boston Celtics