The Los Angeles Lakers were the best team of the 1980s, and it’s because of the star players they had on the roster. LA had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, who led the team to two NBA championships.
In the 1981-82 season, the Lakers won 57 games, which was the most in the Western Conference. In the playoffs, the Lakers stormed back to the NBA Finals, where they played the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Lakers took care of the 76ers, defeating them 4-2 to win the title. So, the question that has to be asked next is this: how did the Lakers land the number one pick in the 1982 NBA Draft?
The Champion Lakers Draft James Worthy
The Los Angeles Lakers caught the biggest break a team could have. After winning the 1982 NBA championship, LA managed to get the first pick in the following NBA Draft. This is something that usually doesn’t happen, but the Lakers managed to get the pick.
The Lakers achieved this by originally making a trade in 1979 with the Cleveland Cavaliers. LA traded power forward Don Ford in 1979 to Cleveland for point guard Butch Lee and the Cavs’ 1982 first-round pick.
In the 1981-82 season, the Cavaliers were the worst team in the league, finishing with a 15-67 record. Back in the early 1980s, the first pick in the NBA Draft wasn’t determined by a ping-pong ball. Instead, a coin flip between the two teams who finished last in each conference determined who’d be picking first.
This was the Cavaliers and the San Diego Clippers. Since the Cavaliers’ pick belonged to the Lakers, thanks to the 1979 trade, the Lakers took on the Clippers in the coin toss. Of course, the Lakers won the toss, giving them the first pick.
There was no question about who the Lakers wanted to pick. James Worthy was the best prospect in the NBA Draft in 1982. Worthy was an NCAA champion, playing on the same North Carolina Tar Heels team with Michael Jordan that beat the Georgetown Hoyas.
In the championship game, everyone remembers Jordan’s game-winner, but they don’t remember Worthy’s steal at the end of the game to secure the victory or his game-high 28 points on 13-17 shooting. This performance earned Worthy the Most Outstanding Player award for the tournament.
The Lakers drafted Worthy, and his impact was felt right away as he averaged 13.4 points per game on .579% shooting, which is a Laker rookie record. Worthy was named to the 1983 All-Rookie First Team.
The Los Angeles Lakers would win three NBA titles with Worthy, and his best performance came in the 1988 NBA Finals when Worthy won Finals MVP. He averaged 22.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game.
It’s safe to say the Lakers made the right choice trading away Don Ford in 1979. If LA never drafted James Worthy, would they have won the same five titles they won in the 1980s?
There’s no doubt the three championships the Lakers won with Worthy could have easily been losses. Big Game James was his nickname for a reason, and he’ll always be remembered as one of the greatest players in Los Angeles Lakers history.
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