Lang Whitaker of SI.com compiled the five worst sports trades of all time.
1. Cowboys trade Herschel Walker and 4 draft picks to Vikings for 5 players and 8 draft picks — Seriously, this really happened, back in 1989. You can read about the particulars here.
2. Falcons trade Brett Favre to Packers for a first round pick — Of course, the Falcons had no need for Favre, what with Chris Miller dominating the NFL at the time. With the first round pick they received as compensation, Atlanta selected RB Tony Smith, who didn’t do much at all. Meanwhile, who’d have thought 15 years later that Favre would still arguably be worth a first-round draft pick in a trade?
3. Mavericks trade Robert “Tractor” Traylor to Milwaukee for Dirk Nowitzki — This was actually a swap of several draft picks, so the two teams selected for each other. But still, must be haunting for Bucks fans to know that for a few brief moments, they actually had the future MVP instead of a guy called “Tractor.”
Favre was doomed in Atlanta no matter what. Favre spent most of his free time partying and didn’t take the game seriously then. And even if he did, Jerry Glanville wasn’t going to allow Favre to see the field anyway because he never wanted to draft him the first place. (It was Falcons’ GM Ken Herock’s decision to take Favre.)
And both the Walker and Nowitzki trades were flat out brutal.
