The young right-hander was prone to wildness and couldn't crack the rotation of the pitching-rich New York Mets, who were seeking a steady third baseman after trying 45 players at the hot corner in 10 seasons. The Angels, though wary of the pitcher's control problems, liked his arm and were willing to trade their six-time All-Star shortstop to get him.

And so on Dec. 10, 1971, the Angels made perhaps the best trade in their history by acquiring Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi.

"As for Ryan, I really can't say I quit on him," Bob Scheffing, then the Mets' general manager, told the New York Times. "But we've had him three full years and, although he's a hell of a prospect, he hasn't done it for us. How long can you wait? I can't rate him in the same category with Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman or Gary Gentry."

Fregosi broke his thumb at spring training in 1972 and batted .232 before he was traded to Texas. Ryan pitched four no-hitters in an Angels uniform, racking up 2,416 strikeouts in 2,1811/3 innings and recording 156 complete games over eight seasons.

The Angels let him leave as a free agent in 1979 after a dispute over incentive clauses and an insurance policy. General Manager Buzzie Bavasi, asked how he'd replace Ryan after a 16-14 season, uttered the immortal line, "You mean, where can I find two 8-7 pitchers?"

Ryan pitched for 14 more seasons and finished with a major league-record 5,714 strikeouts and seven no-hitters, earning a first-ballot ticket into the Hall of Fame.

Some of the greatest players in baseball, basketball and hockey have passed through Los Angeles via the trade route. Wayne Gretzky arrived in 1988 in a multiplayer deal with the Edmonton Oilers. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar came from Milwaukee in a six-player deal in 1975. Kobe Bryant became a Laker after the Charlotte Hornets chose him 13th in the 1996 draft and traded him to Los Angeles for Vlade Divac. The Times' Mark Heisler, previewing that draft, envisioned Bryant would be chosen 19th by the New York Knicks. Heisler's assessment: "Smaller than Kevin Garnett but has ability."

Uh, yes.

Here is a look at the best and worst deals pulled off by the local baseball, NBA and NHL teams. For the Dodgers and Lakers, only deals made since they arrived in Los Angeles were considered.

Lakers

There have been several pivotal trades for the franchise, but some were prompted by player trade demands, as with Wilt Chamberlain and Abdul-Jabbar. However, the acquisition of Bryant was not only brilliant, but also opened many championship doors.

BEST, July 11, 1996: After technicalities were cleared up and Divac accepted a trade the Lakers had engineered with Charlotte before the draft, 17-year-old Bryant officially became a Laker. "We think this young man is really one of the most exciting young prospects we've seen in a long time," said Jerry West, the Lakers' executive vice president.

Five championships, 13 all-NBA team selections, four All-Star game most-valuable-player honors, two scoring titles, one regular-season MVP honor and 25 games in which Bryant has scored at least 50 points bear that out. Plus, the trade helped clear cap space for the Lakers to sign Shaquille O'Neal away from Orlando.

Other franchise changers:

July 9, 1968: Acquired MVP Chamberlain from Philadelphia for Jerry Chambers, Archie Clark and Darrall Imhoff. Chamberlain led the league in rebounding four times and was the MVP in the 1972 title run.

June 16, 1975: Acquired Abdul-Jabbar and reserve center Walt Wesley from Milwaukee for Elmore Smith, Brian Winters and rookies Dave Meyers and Junior Bridgeman. Abdul-Jabbar won five NBA titles and three MVP awards with the Lakers and held nine league records when he retired in 1989. He's still the NBA's all-time scoring leader.

Feb. 1, 2008: Acquired Pau Gasol and a second-round pick in 2010 for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, the draft rights to Marc Gasol, two first-round picks and cash. Gasol helped the Lakers to two championships.

WORST: There aren't that many, which is why the Lakers have won 11 titles in Los Angeles. But on the theory that no acquisition of Benoit Benjamin can be considered a good one, we nominate sending Sam Perkins to Seattle on Feb. 22, 1993, for Benjamin and the rights to Doug Christie. Dikembe Mutombo, then with Denver, agreed.

"Sending Sam Perkins away hurt their cause," he told The Times. "How do you send away someone who can play 40 minutes for someone who plays four minutes? I'm not trying to criticize, but for me I think it was one of the ugliest trades ever in this league."

Joe Bryant is going to drag his spry 6-foot-9 frame out of a one-bedroom apartment he shares with his wife near downtown Los Angeles, head down the stairs to the full-length basketball court on the second floor and start shooting.

He has to make 120 shots, 60 on each end: 20 from the left side, 20 from the right, 20 down the middle.

This few-times-a-week workout keeps the jovial Bryant fresh. It proves to him that he can still play this game at 56.

But after 120 made he's gone, because he doesn't want you to spot him, notice he's tall, ask if he played ball, then find out who he really is.

Kobe Bryant's father.

If he's recognized at a market, movie theater or restaurant, he could be bumped to the front of the line, or promptly seated at a corner table.

He doesn't want special service. "I want people to know me for me," he says.

Sometimes his conversations with strangers are brief. They'll say they know him from somewhere and, in turn, he'll wish them well and walk away.

If he did anything outside of basketball it wouldn't matter.

But he has been in the game almost 40 years. First, as a player — eight seasons in the NBA with the 76ers, Clippers and Rockets — then as a coach, with the WNBA's Sparks and in Japan. Now, Bryant is back with the Sparks as an assistant.

For all his travels, Bryant has never escaped his son's shadow. Is he OK with that?

"Yeah, because he's my son," he says.

Bryant was estranged from Kobe after his son's marriage to Vanessa, but Joe says they are now on pretty good terms.

One day, Bryant would like an NBA job, not as a coach, but perhaps in a player development role where he could work with young players.

But to get there, he might have to deal with a double-edged sword: his lineage. That alone can give him instant credibility.

"Absolutely, hell yeah it should, because the first thing I wanted to know was, what drills did you do with Kobe?" says former Sparks center Lisa Leslie, who was the 2005-06 WNBA most valuable player when Bryant was her head coach.

But it may lead some to question his credibility.

"They're probably thinking, 'Just because your son is good doesn't make you a great coach,'" Sparks General Manager Penny Toler says.

Bryant hopes his abilities and experience speak for themselves. .

So, what exactly is a locked-out draft pick, one without the protective cushion of past six-figure paychecks, supposed to do in this summer climate of NBA uncertainty?

Craigslist, you say? Have hoop, will travel.

Well, one problem. Local listings in June featured one job teaching basketball to children at apartment communities for $15 an hour and another casting for a short comedy commercial "spoofing LeBron James."

(Oddly, basketball skills were not required for that half-day shoot, paying $75.)

At least those gigs, unlike many listings, actually paid.

Kidding aside, the serious issue in the early days of the NBA lockout is that the recently selected draft picks are the most immediate and visible victims.

If this were a normal summer, Lakers rookies Darius Morris and Andrew Goudelock and Clippers rookies Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie would be working hard this week in practice sessions to get ready for the Summer League in Las Vegas, which had been scheduled to open on Friday.

That's where they would have received a platform of valuable exposure through NBA TV, and in front of a convention of NBA executives. And, likewise, teams could resume the evaluation process, say, the Clippers getting early information on how Leslie rates compared with Willie Warren, who is coming off his rookie season.

Instead, some of the draftees are considering going back to college to work on finishing their degrees, holding basketball camps or putting themselves in areas where there are a lot of NBA players on hand.

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Derrick Williams, who was the No. 2 overall pick from the University of Arizona, might very well end up doing all of the above.

Williams was contemplating going back to summer school at Arizona to work on his bachelor's degree, possibly in business, fulfilling a promise to his mother.

He said he might ask for an advance from the trading card company, Panini America, that signed him to an exclusive deal, as well as maybe host camps in Tucson and in La Mirada, where he grew up.

"If I do that, I ought to be good," Williams said. "If I need more, I can take out a line of credit or whatever, but it's not like I'm going to need much."

The players with major agencies obviously have more options at their disposal. Williams is represented by Landmark Sports Agency's Rob Pelinka, who also handles Kobe Bryant and the Clippers' Eric Gordon and Chris Kaman, and Thompkins has signed with the influential Arn Tellem of Wasserman Media Group.

"I plan on going back home and working out at home for a few weeks and then coming back to Santa Monica and working out," said Thompkins, who played with Leslie at Georgia. "I'll be on my own with the [WMG] trainers in Santa Monica that I was training with getting ready for the [draft] combine in Chicago."

Potential overseas tours could be another source of income. Pelinka is in the early stages of putting together a tour of China, maybe featuring Bryant and enough players to fill two or three teams. Similarly, Wasserman Media Group is weighing China as an option, considering a multi-week tournament, the SportsBusiness Journal reported.

"Hopefully, I would be able to do that, because I've never been out of the country and I think that would be the best thing for me," Williams told The Times last week.

Others are likely to stay closer to home. Leslie is planning on living with his family in the Atlanta area during the lockout, and Morris, of the Lakers, has an apartment in Los Angeles with his older brother.

"There are a lot of NBA players here," said Morris, who went in the second round, at No. 41. "So I'll definitely work on my game with them from time to time. But I'll also get by myself and get a lot of shots up, doing the things that I feel like I need to do to prepare myself to capitalize on this opportunity."

Of course, it often comes down to pleasing a certain influential family member. And the lockout is going to give Goudelock some time to do so.

He plans on finishing his degree in sociology at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, in addition to playing in some pro-am leagues.

"I'm about 12 credit hours short," Goudelock said. "That was always something my mother and I talked about, getting my degree."

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

twitter.com/reallisa

Times staff writers Baxter Holmes and Broderick Turner contributed to this report.

Oh, no, am I here all alone?

Actually, the world didn't end when the NBA locked its players out.

The NBA didn't even end, even if it felt as if was about to as darkness moved across the land.

I have nothing against doomsday scenarios ... but if that's all that's out there, something had better be coming to an end, or it's just the media chasing its tail again.

With months of this idiocy left, let's see how close we can come to some actual perspective:

Who's pushing this, owners or players?

The owners, seeking a monster giveback. Before this they would fight for six months over 5%. The owners started this seeking 14%.

How about the players breaking faith with the fans?

Not.

For all the flak players inevitably get, because they're the ones living out fans' dreams, they're not asking for a single thing and have accepted the fact they'll take a cut ... just not the one the owners have in mind.

So the owners are wrong?

Not wrong, just overboard.

Half the NBA has always had to operate too close to the blade.

Of course, it's not just the players' responsibility, with the owners sharing a token $45 million, to baseball's $450 million.

Have the owners abandoned the NBA's tradition of labor peace?

Not by themselves, they haven't.

This isn't the mine owners cracking down on the United Mine Workers.

In the 1998 lockout, a.k.a. "The Agents Strike Back," it was the union, dominated by David Falk with Billy Hunter new on the job, that was bonkers.

Eight stars — most Falk clients — then took home 15% of the players' share, with Michael Jordan at $30 million in salary when the cap was $30 million ... the equivalent of $58 million today, with a $58-million cap.

Kobe Bryant may take his talents to China during the NBA's lockout.

There are preliminary talks about a basketball tour to China this summer — and perhaps beyond — in which the Lakers superstar, who has called China a "home away from home" and has an enormous following there, would be the headliner with several other NBA stars forming two or three barnstorming teams.

Bryant and his agent Rob Pelinka are trying to put together the tour, said Minnesota Timberwolves rookie forward Derrick Williams, who also is represented by Pelinka.

Williams said several clients of Pelinka's agency, the Landmark Sports Agency, could be involved in the tour.

"Hopefully I would be able to do that because I've never been out of the country and I think that would be the best thing for me," said Williams, the former La Mirada High and University of Arizona star who was drafted second overall in June's NBA draft.

Pelinka's agency lists 18 NBA players as clients, including Clippers Chris Kaman and Eric Gordon, along with former USC star and Memphis Grizzlies guard O.J. Mayo, and Chicago Bulls forward Carlos Boozer.

If the barnstorming tour happens, the games are likely to take place at the state-of-the-art Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai. Bryant signed a three-year deal with Mercedes-Benz in February to become the brand ambassador for Smart micro cars in China and he has already been featured in a TV commercial for the car.

Pelinka declined to comment.

One interesting name on the potential list of NBA players on the tour is Lakers guard Derek Fisher, who is a Pelinka client.

Fisher is also the president of the NBA players union, which has battled the owners in a lengthy labor dispute that culminated with the owners imposing a lockout of players at 9:01 p.m. PDT Thursday, when the previous labor agreement expired.

It's unclear how long the lockout will last.

If Fisher took part in an overseas tour, it could be seen as a slap in the face to the NBA.

"I can't tell you he wouldn't be interested in [the tour], but as of right now that's not something that's being brought to our attention at all," said Jamie Wior, Fisher's publicist.

baxter.holmes@latimes.com

twitter.com/baxterholmes

As the NBA lockout took hold Friday, legal experts said the NFL's four-month-long labor dispute and ongoing antitrust case would play a key role in determining the next steps in pro basketball's labor stoppage.

The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis is expected to rule soon on whether NFL owners have the right to impose an indefinite lockout of players, who have decertified from a union to a trade association.

Experts in sports law say NBA players could await that NFL court ruling, or proceed to decertify themselves and file their own antitrust suit against the NBA in a more favorable federal court setting.

"The law applies to both leagues the same way — they're both subject to antitrust claims – but you could end up with two different federal courts having differing views," said Dan Lazaroff, a law professor at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.

"It could go to the Supreme Court to be reconciled."

In the NFL case, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Richard Nelson ruled in April to end the NFL lockout after a day-long hearing in Minnesota. Nelson expressed concern that an extended owners lockout could force players into agreeing to a one-sided deal.

However, the NFL appealed and a three-judge panel in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis delayed Nelson's order while it decides how to rule. Meanwhile, the NFL and its players are continuing to negotiate through a court-ordered mediation.

If Nelson's order is upheld, NFL players will proceed with their antitrust lawsuit against the league's owners, and a favorable legal precedent for NBA players will be established.

National Basketball Players Assn. Executive Director Billy Hunter decided not to immediately decertify the union after the NBA collective bargaining agreement expired Thursday night and the league locked out the players.

But Hunter and his legal advisors are closely watching for the 8th Circuit ruling in the NFL case, and both the NFL and NBA players groups have New York attorney Jeffrey Kessler as a counsel.

Michael Harper, a Boston University law professor and expert in labor and employment law, said that if the NBA players file an antitrust case it's likely to be in a more employee-friendly section of the country, such as Northern California or New York City.

Another unknown is whether NFL owners and players will agree to a new labor deal before the 8th Circuit needs to rule in the antitrust case. If that happens, Lazaroff says, NBA players "might choose to decertify."

Yet another wild card is the National Labor Relations Board.

Last month the NBA players union filed an unfair labor practices complaint against the league with the NLRB, alleging "harsh, inflexible and grossly regressive 'takeaway' demands" by NBA owners. The NBA has said there's no merit to the complaint.

NBA players are currently evaluating "many options," said an official close to the group unauthorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Clippers forward Brian Cook, who's played eight seasons in the NBA, said: "We as players and as a union will stick together until this thing is resolved."

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

twitter.com/latimespugmire

Times staff writer Lisa Dillman contributed to this report.

NBA fans looking to settle bar bets or simply reminisce about their favorite team's playoff run this spring will now have to search a bit harder.

When the NBA's collective bargaining agreement expired, not only the players were locked out. A wrinkle within that agreement meant that NBA teams' websites and nba.com had to remove most images, videos and other likenesses of current players. Fans now see pages advertising a team, but no stories about the players on that team. Cheerleaders and auditions for cheerleaders are featured on some websites, but no stars.

"It comes from the fact that the players allow the players' association to license their images because it is such a huge source of money," said Ed Edmonds, a sports law professor at Notre Dame. "The licensing is under the control of the union. They can say that is no longer available."

Before the change, every NBA team website featured at least one All-Star or at least one 2011 draft pick. The teams used these images to help fans get to know the new players, market ticket sales and glamorize the sites in general. Now, those spaces are occupied by mascots, logos and cheerleaders.

The links to a player's biography or results from last season now direct readers to a dressed-down nba.com. The site's homepage initially featured no links and was split into two columns. One addressed the lockout and the other discussed the WNBA. It has been updated since, but still without any images or stories of current players.

The player biographies on the league's website still stand, but without pictures of the players. Team logos now reside in place of the faces of Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin and all of the league's other players.

"It comes as a surprise to me, and I'm not sure that it has to be that drastic," said Gabe Feldman, an associate professor at Tulane Law School. "Maybe they are being over-careful here, but I think just as other websites and news outlets will continue to use the NBA player images, the NBA websites will likely have some right to use them."

As long as the lockout lasts, though, it appears that in place of dunk reels and NBA Finals montages, fans will find images of charity events headlined by coaches and general managers and extensive biographical information about team mascots and cheerleaders.

"It's one of the things that doesn't have a huge consequence," said Larry Coon, an Irvine-based expert on NBA collective-bargaining and salary-cap issues. "But it is certainly something people will take notice of."

The NFL locked out its players in March, but its website is still filled with videos of touchdown celebrations and news updates. Why? The NFL negotiated its licensing deal separately from its CBA, thus sidestepping this issue.

douglas.farmer@latimes.com

Twitter.com/d_farmer