James Worthy was one of the key players on the "Showtime" Los Angeles Lakers . Regarded as one of the best small forwards ever, "Big Game James" was always at his best when the lights were brightest.
But despite Worthy being a vital piece of the legendary Lakers squad, he was not immune to trade rumors. In fact, the organization had a deal to send Worthy to the Dallas Mavericks during the 1988-89 season. According to ESPN's Brian Windhorst , that trade would have been one-of-a-kind because it involved a soccer player.
"The story that I heard from people involved was that at that time, Jerry Buss owned an indoor soccer club, and Mavericks owner Donald Carter owned an indoor soccer club in Dallas. And there was some star in the soccer league, he had like one name, and he was part of the trade to the Lakers. It was going to be Sam Perkins and this soccer player for James Worthy, and they agreed on the deal," Windhorst said .
Buss owned an indoor soccer team
In 1982, Dr. Jerry Buss teamed up with California businessman Ron Weinstein to form the Los Angeles Lazers, an indoor soccer team that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). The team made only three playoff appearances in its seven-year existence and never got past the quarterfinals.
Needing a star, Buss reached out to Carter, the owner of the Dallas Sidekicks team from the same indoor soccer league. Looking at the Sidekicks' 1988-89 roster, it featured Brazilian forward Tatu, who led the team that season with 35 goals, and fellow Brazilian midfielder Beto, who scored 17 . One of them was supposed to go to the Lazers for Worthy.
"And the story that I heard was that Jerry West threatened to resign, which Jerry West used to like to threaten to resign," Brian continued. "All these people are dead now; who's gonna deny the story? Jerry Buss called Donald Carter and said, 'I'll do the deal because we agreed on it, but I'm just gonna let you know it's going to cost me Jerry West.' Donald Carter let Jerry West out of the deal, and Sam Perkins went to the Lakers as a free agent the next year anyway."
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Worthy also almost got traded years earlier
Interestingly, that wasn't the only time Jerry West threatened to resign over Worthy . After the Lakers were dethroned by the Houston Rockets in 1986, Magic Johnson wanted the team to trade "Big Game James" for his friend Mark Aguirre. West stopped the deal by giving the owner an ultimatum.
"West called Buss and told him the trade was an enormous blunder and that Aguirre - while talented - was a me-first player who would destroy the Lakers' chemistry," Jeff Pearlman wrote in his book "Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s." "Worthy, he explained, could do 20 different things to help a team win. If Aguirre wasn't receiving the ball and scoring, he was useless."
Ultimately, Worthy retired as a Laker lifer, playing all his 12 seasons for the purple and gold. But regardless of his greatness, James was far from an untouchable on Dr. Buss' team. Luckily for him, he always had "The Logo" on his side.
Related: "He's a weapon we're going to miss" - James Worthy on what the Lakers needed to do after Magic’s retirement announcement
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