The Top 5 Most Controversial Player Trades in Major Sports

Trades and transfers are a common occurrence in all team sports. Usually, during a window before the season starts and another window in mid-season, teams are allowed to buy and sell new players as long as they abide by the requirements of the league.

Throughout history, there have been numerous cases of great trades for either acquiring a necessary player or turning up a profit, which is generally the reason why they exist. But what happens when a player gets traded for an odd reason? Let’s break down the five most controversial trades of all time and the impacts they had.

5. Herschel Walker – Dallas Cowboys to Minnesota Vikings

To start things off, we have a questionable trade made by Jimmy Johnson of the Dallas Cowboys. Herschel Walker was an exceptional prospect and was traded to the Vikings along with four other players for five players and six draft picks. While the Vikings originally thought they got the upper hand on the deal, the Cowboys built an absolute dynasty to win three Super Bowls throughout the 1990s with the trade. The Vikings, on the other hand, failed to ever make a Super Bowl appearance with Herschel Walker.

4. Wayne Gretzky – Edmonton Oilers to LA Kings

The instance of Wayne Gretzky getting traded from the impeccable Edmonton Oilers in 1988 could well be cemented in people’s minds and for good reason. On August 9 of that year, Gretzky, along with teammates Marty McSorley and Mike Krushelnyski, were traded for LA Kings’s Jimmy Carson and Martin Gelinas, along with a first-round draft pick for three separate years along with $15 million in cash. Gretzky made an impact at the Kings off the rip, scoring 54 goals and 114 assists in his first season with them. It begs the question, would you consider trading the second-highest overall point scorer in the NHL for a couple of draft picks?

3. Neymar Jr – Santos FC to FC Barcelona

Another one of the most controversial player trades to occur in sports history is the transfer of Neymar from Santos FC in the Brazilian league to Barcelona in the Spanish La Liga. While the player transfer itself was a perfect fit for the team, the financial hole this would cause for Barcelona would be unrecoverable to this day. Essentially, Neymar was given an 88 million euro clause to join, to which he went on trial in Barcelona for corruption charges related to the transfer. Despite winning a treble of trophies from all competitions in 2015, Barcelona released Neymar to PSG in 2017 for a whopping 222 million euros, leading to future terrible investments made by the massive franchise club.

2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – Milwaukee Bucks to LA Lakers

Heading back to the summer of 1975, Milwaukee Bucks basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar decided he wanted to join a new team. So, a straightforward swap was made with the LA Lakers’ Elmore Smith, Junior Bridgeman, Brian Winters, and Dave Meyers for Abdul-Jabbar, all of which couldn’t muster the same firepower Kareem could offer. Abdul-Jabbar now went on to win five NBA rings with the Lakers, leaving the unfortunate Milwaukee Bucks championship-less for 40+ years.

1. Babe Ruth – Boston Red Sox to New York Yankees

Lastly, one of the oldest and most controversial player trades of all time in any sport was the trade for baseball’s greatest player of all time, Babe Ruth, from the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees back in January 1920. Any experienced baseball fan could tell the Yankees got a bargain of a deal, acquiring the legendary centerpiece to help them win 4 separate World Series titles all for a total of $100,000. Considering how surprising this trade was, details were eventually uncovered that Red Sox owner Harry Frazee paid Yankees co-owner Jacob Ruppert to take Babe Ruth and commit one of the most controversial player trades of all time.