Michael Cooper spent his whole career with the Los Angeles Lakers . But while he was a Laker for life, the five-time champion admitted that his biggest insecurity was the fear of getting traded. Coop said he never feared for his Laker life as much as he did after they won the NBA title in 1987. That year, the 6'7" guard was also named the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year.
Two days after the team's championship parade, Cooper received a call telling him that Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss wanted to meet him in his office. Because all player trades back then had to go through Dr. Buss first, Coop thought it was the day he always dreaded. So when he got there, he wanted to get to the bottom of things right away.
"I said, 'Doc, what team am I going to?' He goes, 'What are you talking about?' I go, 'Doc, what team am I going to? Am I being traded?' He says, 'We're not trading you; what are you talking about?' So we start chitchatting and talking about other things, and finally, he says, 'Coop, you know what, I got some other meetings I have to have, but I just want to let you know there's something for you at the tunnel,'" said Cooper.
Coop didn't know what Buss had for him
California native didn't understand what Dr. Buss was saying. The team owner had just told him that he wasn't going to be traded, but now he tells him to give an envelope to someone who will meet him on his way out. He wonders who is there.
Perhaps it was Jerry West or some other team official on the other end, waiting to tell him some big news. But Buss was full of surprises and had a good one for one of the most underappreciated stars on his champion team.
"So I go down there and give it to them, and there are six cars lined up there," recalled Cooper. "Dr. Buss calls down there, and he says, 'Coop, did you get your thing.' I said, 'What are you talking about?' Dr. Buss had given me a brand new Mercedes with six miles on it for me winning Defensive Player of the Year."
Related: Isiah Thomas suggested Joe Dumars was Michael Jordan's snitch: "Jordan got to get inside our inner workings"
Buss was close to trading James Worthy, though
But while Cooper was never traded by the Lakers, Dr. Buss never hesitated to make a deal, even with his best players involved if he deemed it necessary. Such was the case with Shaq in 2004, and it was almost what happened to Mike's Showtime Lakers teammate James Worthy two years after Buss gave Coop the Benz. In a story by Brian Windhorst, Buss was ready to ship Big Game James to the Dallas Mavericks.
"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, hehad 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 .
Fortunately, that transaction did not go through, and like Cooper, Worthy finished his NBA career as a Laker. But that scenario shows Buss that he was a businessman first and always looked for a way to win.
Once you're on his side, though, as Cooper learned, he was a generous boss who never failed to make his best-performing employees feel special. Coop revealed that the car Buss gave him was a Mercedes Benz 420 painted teal, a color nobody had.
Related: "When you play with guys like Kareem, Worthy, and Magic, you're the beneficiary of a lot of things" – Byron Scott pointed out what made him a good offensive player with the Lakers in 1987
Local News
