Bucks: Marking 40 years since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar trade changed 2 franchises
By Phil Watson
Walt Wesley, shown on a 1972 Topps basketball card.
Walt Wesley
Never a star, Walt Wesley carved a 10-year NBA career out of being at the right place in history.
Drafted sixth overall by the Cincinnati Royals out of Kansas in 1966, Wesley played three years with the Royals and one with the Bulls before he was picked by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the May 1970 expansion draft.
That led to the only two seasons Wesley was a starter before he was dealt to the Phoenix Suns in November 1972.
Wesley was then traded to the Capital Bullets in October 1973 before he was waived in August 1974. He spent a couple of months with the Philadelphia 76ers before signing as the Bucks as a free agent in November 1974.
His Bucks career was brief—41 games and only a little more than five minutes a game.
He was included as a throw-in along with Abdul-Jabbar, traded to the Lakers, where he played in one game before he was released on Halloween in 1975.
Wesley later served as an assistant coach in the collegiate ranks at Kansas, Western Michigan and Army before returning to his hometown of Fort Myers, Fla., to serve as executive director of the Police Athletic League, according to his bio at hoopszone.net.
Here are Wesley’s per-game numbers with the Bucks before the trade and with the Lakers afterward.
| Season | Tm | G | MP | FG% | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | PF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974-75 | MIL | 41 | 5.2 | .440 | .609 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 2.1 |
| 1975-76 | LAL | 1 | 7.0 | .500 | .500 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 |
| Career | 590 | 17.5 | .434 | .630 | 5.5 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 2.5 | 8.5 | |
| 1 season | MIL | 41 | 5.2 | .440 | .609 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 2.1 |
| 1 season | LAL | 1 | 7.0 | .500 | .500 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/16/2015.
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