NBA trades are not always the answer

The NBA trade deadline is near (3 p.m. on Thursday), and unlike last season, the Cleveland Cavaliers may keep their current roster intact. Time will tell if this roster is good enough to win an NBA Championship.

Meanwhile, sometimes not making a deal can turn out well for a team. Sometimes a trade is the worst move a team can make. Here are the top five worst trades in NBA history:

5. The Los Angeles Lakers trade Caron Butler for Kwame Brown.

This trade didn't exactly work out for the Lakers, because Butler has become a prime-time player and one of the underrated stars in the league.

4. The Detroit Pistons trade Grant Hill to the Orlando Magic for Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins.

This looked the other way around at first, but whileHill would battle through numerous injuries with the Magic, Wallace enjoyed a championship season with the Pistons.

3. Dallas Mavericks trade Robert Traylor to the Milwaukee Bucks for Dirk Nowitzki.

On draft day in 1998, the Mavs drafted Traylor and traded him to the Bucks for Nowitzki. The rest is history. Traylor was a reserve for most of his career; and Nowitzki won an MVP award for the 2006-07 season.

2. . Charlotte Hornets trade Kobe Bryant to Los Angles for Vlade Divac.

This was another draft-day blunder. Call it highway robbery. Somehow, then-Lakers GM Jerry West convinced the Hornets to take Divac for some high-school kid named Bryant. No wonder the Hornets left town for New Orleans.

1. The Philadelphia 76ers trade Wilt Chamberlain to Los Angeles for Jerry Chambers, Archie Clark and Darrell Imhoff.