James Worthy recalled how he learned the Los Angeles Lakers were reportedly discussing a trade that would have sent him to the Dallas Mavericks, just one year after helping the team win the 1985 NBA championship.
Speaking on Byron Scott’s Fast Break, Worthy said he was watching the 1986 NBA Draft at home in North Carolina when he heard an announcement about a potential deal involving him, Dallas forward Mark Aguirre and Roy Tarpley.
“We had for the first time beaten the Celtics in the NBA Championship in ’85. Come back in ’86 and we lose to the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference Finals,” Worthy recalled. “And I’m back home in North Carolina watching the Draft like everybody else’s draft day and I’m feeling comfortable, you know, protected.”
That feeling quickly disappeared when the broadcast mentioned a possible trade between the Lakers and Mavericks.
“I hear the announcer say, ‘Up next, the Dallas Mavericks.’ And I’m just, you know, chilling on the couch and they said, ‘It appears that the Dallas Mavericks is offering a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers, James Worthy for Mark Aguirre and Roy Tarpley and draft pick.’”
Worthy said the news caught him completely off guard. He had just completed his fourth NBA season and was coming off a campaign in which he averaged 20.0 points per game, shooting 57.9% from the field in 75 appearances.
“I got mad. Reporter called me. I went off,” Worthy added.
The proposed deal was more than a rumor. Contemporary reporting by the Los Angeles Times confirmed that Dallas had explored trading Aguirre and Tarpley, the No. 7 pick in the 1986 draft, for Worthy. The deal ultimately fell through.
Worthy said he had not expected to be involved in trade discussions and was particularly upset by how he learned about them.
The Lakers kept Worthy, who went on to spend his entire 12-season NBA career in Los Angeles. He helped the franchise win championships in 1987 and 1988 after its 1985 title, earning NBA Finals MVP honors in 1988 after averaging 22.0 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists in the Finals against Detroit.
Worthy finished his career with averages of 17.6 points and 5.1 rebounds across 926 regular-season games, remaining one of the defining players of the Lakers’ Showtime era.
