John_Trapp_(basketball)
John Q. Trapp
American basketball player
John Quincy Trapp (born October 2, 1945) is an American retired professional basketball player.[1]
A 6'7" forward from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Trapp played five seasons (1968–1973) in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the San Diego Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, and Philadelphia 76ers. He averaged 7.4 points per game in his NBA career and won a league championship with the Lakers in 1972.[1]
When Trapp arrived in Philadelphia via a trade with the Lakers, it made a modicum of sense on paper. Despite his limited minutes with the world champion Lakers, Trapp was known as a strong defender and rebounder. He had his moments with a team that would finish 9-73, the worst record in NBA history for a team that completed a full 82-game schedule. For instance, during a game against the Boston Celtics, he covered John Havlicek so well that Celtics coach Tom Heinsohn made it a point to praise him after the game. However, he was not well liked in the Sixers locker room. According to one of his teammates, Fred Carter, "Trapp played with a chip on his shoulder, but it was too big." It showed during his first game after coming to Philadelphia, when he was subbed out after only two minutes (out of five total) against the Kansas City-Omaha Kings; he cursed loudly enough to be heard in the cheap seats of The Spectrum. Later, after being suspended for skipping practice, Trapp was seen drinking Coke spiked with bourbon whiskey on the bench.[2] In a December game against Detroit, Trapp told head coach Roy Rubin to look at one of his friends sitting behind the bench at Cobo Arena when Rubin tried to sub him out. The friend opened his jacket to show a gun; Trapp stayed in the game.[3] It proved to be one of his last games in a Sixers uniform, though the timing of his departure depends on the source. According to an ESPN post-mortem on the 1972-73 Sixers, Kevin Loughery waived Trapp soon after taking over as player-coach in January 1973.[2] However, according to a 2013 article in the Philadelphia Daily News, the Sixers unloaded Trapp earlier in January, before Rubin was fired in favor of Loughery.[3]
Trapp finished out the 1972-73 season with the American Basketball Association's Denver Rockets, and never played a meaningful basketball game again.[3] [4]
