What a fun series of questions. Let’s start at the top.

Initially, my thought on a Wilt Chamberlain vs. LeBron James debate was clearly LeBron. But what makes this a very appropriate debate is that LeBron has played only 10 more regular season games than Wilt, so it’s easy to compare.

Statistically, LeBron is better basically across the board. Wilt averaged more rebounds and has an effective field goal percentage about three percentage points higher. In terms of achievements, both have one title and one Finals MVP while LeBron has made more All-NBA Teams and Wilt made more All-Defense teams.

So, in that sense, everything is basically even.

What about the non-statistical stuff, then? Well, in the title LeBron won, he was unquestionably The Guy. When Wilt won, he was third on the team in scoring, though he did grab a ton of rebounds in the Finals in 1972.

I think Wilt’s time in Los Angeles goes a little under the radar because he was second or third fiddle to Elgin Baylor or Jerry West for most of it. But at the same time, the Lakers have had way more failures with LeBron on the roster. How much of that falls at his feet?

I think right now, I’d lean toward Wilt because of the general success, even in a much weaker NBA in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.

Now, a Lakers all-time starting five, to me, is easy to pick.

PG – Magic Johnson (no brainer)
SG – Kobe Bryant (no brainer)
SF – Elgin Baylor
PF – Pau Gasol

If you want a true power forward, no one is close to Pau Gasol in team history, unless you really liked those dozen games Dennis Rodman played.

The center position is chock full of guys. And Shaq on the Lakers was as dominant as any player was in league history. But Kareem is Kareem, man.

Lastly, revisiting the Shaq trade, and boy was that not great considering what Shaq was at the time.

While the situation had deteriorated with Shaq and the Lakers, he was still 31 years old and averaging and had averaged 21.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks on 58.4% field goal shooting while fighting Kobe for the ball.

It was a different time then, though. Modern day, that guy is getting you a king’s ransom. Back then, the Lakers got Caron Butler, Brian Grant, Lamar Odom, a 2006 1st round draft pick (Jordan Farmar) and a 2007 2nd round draft pick (Renaldas Seibutis).

Butler was great in his season before being inexplicably traded for Kwame Brown, a truly underrated awful trade in franchise history. Grant did very little as a Laker but was mainly salary ballast in this trade.

The gem ended up being Odom, who was huge for the title-winning teams. Farmar also had a solid Lakers career as a bench guard. Ultimately, if you want to play the transitive game, Butler eventually led to the Lakers getting Pau, so it was big. But in a vacuum, it wasn’t a great trade by modern standards.

If you’re looking for a fun what-if, perhaps you ask for another first round pick in, say, 2008. That year, the Heat bottomed out and ended up with the No. 2 pick where they took Michael Beasley. But with O.J. Mayo, Kevin Love and….Russell Westbrook all available, boy could that have played out in a way more interesting way.