Wilt Chamberlain led the NBA in assists and rebounds in 1968, earning an MVP, but was completely fed up with 76ers management. He demanded a trade to a Lakers team with Jerry West and Elgin Baylor that had made the Finals in five of seven seasons and ended up taking them to five more Finals in six seasons. The trade helped set up some of the most legendary Finals in NBA history.
Earl Monroe couldn't win it all with the Bullets, so
he demanded a deal and refused to play, ending up on a Knicks team that had won the championship a year earlier. Teamed up with Clyde Frazier, Willis Reed and four other Hall of Famers, they won another title in 1973. The trade changed Monroe's legacy to that a player whose career is remembered as having plenty of substance, not just flash.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar eventually got tired of living in Milwaukee,
so he demanded a trade to either New York or Los Angeles. With the Lakers, he eventually was joined by Magic Johnson and James Worthy and won five championships. We remember Abdul-Jabbar as a member of that Lakers dynasty, not so much as the young Buck who played next to Oscar Robertson under the name Lew Alcindor.
Bill Walton fought the Trail Blazers, demanding a trade and sitting out an entire season when they refused to honor it. When his contract with the Clippers was up, he
limited his choices to the dominant Lakers and the dominant Celtics, eventually having a late career resurgence with the Celtics. We think of his contributions to those Celtics as a symbol of his perseverance, not a sign of his weakness for refusing to stick it out in Portland or San Diego.
Moses Malone won the MVP with the Rockets in 1982, then signed with a 76ers team that had made the NBA Finals the year before. The Rockets had the right to match the offer and did, but eventually traded Malone to the Sixers, where would win the MVP and the NBA championship. We remember Malone not for pushing his way out of Houston, but for the utter dominance he displayed with both teams.
