The Top 15 NBA Championship-Causing Trades of All Time

After the 2003-04 season, the Lakers decided to rebuild around Kobe Bryant and traded Shaquille O'Neal to the Miami Heat for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, and Brian Grant.

Upon arriving to Miami, O"Neal promised Heat fans that he would bring them a title. And staying true to his word, O'Neal paired with Dwyane Wade and led the Heat to a championship in 2006 against the Dallas Mavericks.

At the trade deadline during the 2003-04 season, the Pistons knew that they needed to add the final piece of the puzzle to capture their first title since 1990.

In response, GM Joe Dumars made a brilliant three-team trade with the Atlanta Hawks and the Boston Celtics, acquiring All-Star Rasheed Wallace, who had played just one game for the Hawks.

Detroit went on to win the title that season over the heavily favored Lakers who were led by Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone, and Gary Payton.

Earl Monroe was traded from the Baltimore Bullets to the New York Knicks in 1971 and hooked up with Walt Frazier to form one of the greatest backcourts ever.

And with Monroe in the lineup, the Knicks won the 1973 NBA championship with a team that featured Willis Reed, Bill Bradley, and Dave DeBusschere.

On July 31, 2007, Minnesota Timberwolves general manager and former Boston Celtics star Kevin McHale traded Kevin Garnett to the Celts for Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Sebastian Telfair, Gerald Green, Theo Ratliff and a future first round pick.

Garnett led the Celtics to the title in 2008, which was the first championship that the team had won since 1986 when McHale wore the green and white.

The Portland Trail Blazers sent Clyde Drexler and Tracy Murray to the Houston Rockets for Otis Thorpe.

"Clyde the Glide" teamed with Hakeem Olajuwon, who he had played with for the University of Houston and led the Rockets to their second consecutive title as they swept Orlando in the 1995 NBA Finals.

The Cincinnati Royals shipped Oscar Robertson to the Milwaukee Bucks for Flynn Robinson and Charlie Paulk following the 1970-71 campaign.

Robertson paired with young superstar Lew Alcindor, now known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, to lead the Bucks to the 1971 title.

In the middle of the 1988-89 season, the Detroit Pistons traded Adrian Dantley to the Dallas Mavericks for Mark Aguirre.

The move helped Detroit finally capture a championship in 1989 after losing in the conference finals in 1987 and the finals in 1988.

And with the addition of Aguirre, the Pistons also won the title in 1990 over Clyde Drexler's Portland Trail Blazers.

The loss of Horace Grant to Orlando via free agency, created a hole in the power forward slot for the Chicago Bulls.

To fill the void, the Bulls acquired rebounding machine Dennis Rodman from the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for backup center Will Perdue.

In addition, Rodman played a huge role in helping the Bulls win three consecutive titles.

In 1982, the Houston Rockets signed and traded Moses Malone to the Philadelphia 76ers for Caldwell Jones and a 1983 first round pick.

Malone wound up winning his second consecutive Most Valuable Player Award and teamed up with Julius Erving to lead the Sixers to the 1983 championship.

Jerry West shocked Laker fans in the summer of 1996 when he dealt starting center Vlade Divac to the Charlotte Hornets for the draft rights to high school star Kobe Bryant who was the 13th pick in the draft.

Trading Divac helped clear up cap space to sign free agent Shaquille O'Neal. O'Neal and Bryant formed a dynamic one-two punch that led the Lakers to three straight titles from 2000-2002.

At the 1980 draft, the Celtics traded the No. 1 and No. 13 picks to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for the No.3 overall pick and Robert Parish.

The Warriors took Joe Barry Carroll and Rickey Brown and the Celtics chose Kevin McHale.

McHale and Parish ended up teaming with Larry Bird to form arguably the league's greatest frontline. The "Big Three" lead Boston to championships in 1981, 1984, and 1986.

In 1975, Milwaukee Bucks All-Star center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar requested a trade to either the New York Knicks or Los Angeles Lakers.

Kareem got his wish as the Bucks shipped him to the Lakers for Elmore Smith, Brian Winters, Dave Meyers, and Junior Bridgeman in one of the most lopsided trades in sports history.

And Abdul- Jabbar didn't let the Lakers down as he teamed with Magic Johnson to lead the Lakers to five championships in the 1980s.

In 1976, longtime Laker Gail Goodrich signed with the New Orleans Jazz and in order to compensate, the Jazz traded away two future first round picks and a second round pick.

The Lakers ended up winning the top pick in the 1979 draft and selected Michigan State's Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

And with Magic running the point in L.A., the Lakers won five titles in the 1980s including his rookie season in which he was named the MVP of the finals after recording 42 points and 15 rebounds.

In the 1987 NBA Draft, the Chicago Bulls selected Olden Polynice with the 8th pick and immediately traded him to Seattle for the No. 5 pick, Scottie Pippen.

Pippen teamed with Michael Jordan to form one of the greatest duos in league history and led the Bulls to six titles in eight years.

In the 1956 draft, the St. Louis Hawks drafted Bill Russell with the second pick and traded him to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Cliff Hagan and Ed Macauley.

Russell developed into one of the NBA's greatest players of all time and led the Celtics to an unheard-of 11 championships.