Throwback Thursday – Tractor Traylor for Dirk Nowitzki

“Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped” – Elbert Hubbard

This week’s throwback takes us back to the 1998 NBA Draft to refresh your memories on one of the worse trades in NBA history.

The referenced trade involved the Milwaukee Bucks sending a then unknown Dirk Nowitzki and Pat Garrity to the Dallas Mavericks for Robert “Tractor” Traylor.

Unbelievable. This easily trumps the Vlade Divac for Kobe Bryant draft day trade in 1996. To Divac’s credit, he was more than an adequate NBA center and performed at a high level.

Traylor went on to play 7 seasons in the league putting up less than 5 points and 4 rebounds per game during his career. Totaling 2,085 career points.

In comparison, Nowitzki has scored more than Traylor’s career point total in two separate seasons (2,151 in 2006 and 2,094 in 2009). Do I need to even mention the NBA MVP Award in 2007 or the eight All-Star appearances?

If the Bucks didn’t trade away Nowitzki, he would’ve been paired with a nucleus that already featured Sam Cassell, Ray Allen and Glen Robinson. Of course, I can’t forget to mention that crew also consisted of a young Tim Thomas … must give props to the hometown. The Bucks could’ve been contenders of a long time.

Hindsight is indeed 20/20.

Lang
Lang.Greene-at-gmail.com
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