What if Magic played in a Jazz uniform?

The Utah Jazz took a major step toward an elusive NBA championship on Thursday with their blockbuster trade to acquire forward Alan Henderson. It's the kind of rare deal that may change the face of the NBA for years to come.

OK, maybe not.

Jazz fans hoping the team would pull the trigger on a deal to make their surprisingly good team even better were sorely disappointed. Then again, the same can be said of fans of all NBA teams hoping for big names to be swapped.

The trade deadline came and went with nothing of significance happening.

Henderson may or may not ever don a Jazz uniform. Even if he does, he probably won't make much of a difference.

It's hard to make a deal in the NBA these days since salaries have to be in the same ballpark and there are always salary cap issues at stake. In fact, most deals that are consummated are simply because one team wants to unload some salary and another has some wiggle room and is willing to accept an expiring contract for draft picks or other consideration.

The Jazz have never really been major wheelers and dealers. The trade that helped the team the most was when they stole Jeff Hornacek from the 76ers for Jeff Malone 13 years ago. Hornacek quickly became what the Jazz needed to turn the Stockton-to-Malone tandem into a real NBA title contender.

But it was perhaps the worst transaction in Jazz history that helped make the NBA what it is today.

Back in 1976, when the team was still in New Orleans, the Jazz signed free agent Lakers guard Gail Goodrich. As per the NBA rules at the time, however, the Lakers were owed something in return from the Jazz. As part of the compensation for stealing Goodrich from them, the Lakers got the rights to the Jazz's first-round pick in the 1979 draft.

Goodrich played three years for New Orleans and was never the star he'd been for the Lakers. He averaged 14.2 points in 182 games, retiring at the end of the 1978-79 season — before the Lakers had even been able to use the draft pick they had gotten as compensation.

The Jazz certainly could have used that draft pick. It was No. 1 overall selection in June of 1979 right after the team had moved to Salt Lake City. It could have been the pick that would have gotten the new Utah Jazz off on the right foot.

Instead the Lakers owned the rights. Los Angeles — with Utah's pick — selected a guy who was the obvious choice, Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

The NBA of the 1970s was a drug-infested league playing to half-filled arenas in many cities that had its championship series tape delayed on TV because it wasn't ready for prime time.