Wilt Chamberlain's five years in Los Angeles yielded only one NBA Championship (in 1972), the former-Philadelphia switching coasts in the summer of 1968 for three players in return. Empirically, the trade could be looked upon as a financial failure, the Lakers granting Chamberlain an unprecedented $250,000 contract. Despite the Big Dipper not providing the immense levels of success the Lakers probably expected, he arguably transformed them into the franchise we know today. Chamberlain was one of the first true mega-stars of the NBA, and had a cultural impact far beyond his understated Boston Celtics rival Bill Russell. Without Wilt's legacy, it's uncertain whether the Lakers would have gone on to become one of the most successful teams in league history.
