It's somewhat ironic that just a day after a team loses the greatest player in its history and one of the giants of the NBA, the anniversary of the same thing happening to the Sixers falls. On this day in 1968, Wilt Chamberlain was traded to the Lakers. Inhistoric sums it up well.
↵↵↵The Lakers only had to give up three players to satisfy the Sixers, who just wanted Wilt off their team. Although he was only 32 years old and had just won his third straight MVP award, Chamberlain was asking for a pay raise that they weren't willing to give him. The three inexpensive players the Sixers got in return were Jerry Chambers, Archie Clark, and Darrall Imhoff -- the very man who guarded Chamberlain when he scored those 100 points.
↵There was no contest who won the trade. Chamberlain played four seasons in Los Angeles, helping the Lakers to the Finals three times and winning a championship in 1972. None of the players Philadelphia received made any impact at all, and the team spiraled downward in the following years. The lowpoint came in 1973, when the Sixers went an abysmal 9-73, the worst record in NBA history.
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It will be interesting to see how far Cleveland falls now that they've lost Lebron. Many analysts think they won't make the playoffs, but they won't be 9 wins bad...
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