On This Day: Blazers Trade Top-5 Pick Wally Walker to Sonics

It’s not every day you trade a top-5 pick less than two years into their career, but that was this day 45 years ago for the Portland Trail Blazers.

On November 11, 1977, less than six months after winning the NBA championship, the Portland Trail Blazers traded second-year player Wally Walker to the Seattle SuperSonics for a pair of future picks. Walker won a championship in his rookie year with the Blazers.

Walker played five years in Seattle, winning his second NBA championship in 1979 for the other team in the pacific northwest.

Later down the line, Walker became an executive for the Sonics and helped build the mid-1990s Sonics with Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp, leading them to the NBA Finals in 1996.

Walker being traded so early in his career is not usually something you see anymore. While former No. 5 pick Thomas Robinson (who played for the Blazers from 2013-15) was dealt twice in his first year in the NBA, he certainly is an exception to the rule. In today’s day and age, this is the equivalent to the Orlando Magic trading away Jalen Suggs for a pair of picks.

Definitely a rarity in the NBA.