10 Trades That Changed The NBA Forever

Technically New York's 1987 first round pick, Pippen was eventually drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics 5th overall. The Chicago Bulls would send Olden Polynice, a 2nd round pick, and swap '89 first rounders with Seattle for the rights to Scottie Pippen.

Polynice was the 8th overall pick in the '87 draft, and since the Sonics had a need at center, Olden made sense as a target. He only lasted 3 seasons before being traded to the Clippers. Polynice would actually return at the age of 34 and start 47 games for them in '99. The Sonics traded away the 2nd round pick for basically nothing. And if the trade didn't seem lopsided in the Bulls favor already, they gave the 1st rounder back to Chicago in exchange for Brad Sellers (who played less than a season for the Sonics).

Having already established himself as a premier scorer in the NBA, Michael Jordan had started his career with three trips to the playoffs and was bounced out of the first round every year. Jordan needed help. Together, Pippen and Jordan would win 6 championships and were part of the 1992 Olympic "Dream Team". Pippen would win another gold medal at the '96 Olympics.

Oh, and that 1st round pick they got back from Seattle? They used it to draft point guard BJ Anderson out of Iowa. He'd end up their starting PG on the '93 championship team.