John Q. Trapp

John Quincy Trapp (born October 2, 1945) is an American retired professional basketball player.

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.

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. 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. 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. 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.

Trapp finished out the 1972–73 season with the American Basketball Association's Denver Rockets, and never played a meaningful basketball game again.

Personal life

Trapp's younger brother, George, also played at Pasadena City College (PCC) and in the NBA before dying in 2002. Both of the Trapp brothers are in the PCC Athletics Hall of Fame with John honored in 2002.

According to ESPN, Trapp has not been heard from since at least 1995, when he was reported to be living in Detroit. A 2012 obituary for his aunt, Velonia Browning, mentioned Trapp as being deceased, but did not provide a date for when he died. Several other public data sets list him as being deceased, but likewise do not provide a date.

Career statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high
†	Won an NBA championship

NBA/ABA

Source

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	PPG
1968–69	San Diego	25		5.7	.363		.655	2.0	.2	3.1
1969–70	San Diego	70		14.6	.426		.692	4.4	.7	6.3
1970–71	San Diego	82		25.4	.420		.755	6.2	1.7	9.6
1971–72†	L.A. Lakers	58		13.1	.443		.669	3.1	.7	5.7
1972–73	L.A. Lakers	5		7.0	.250		.700	2.8	.4	2.6
1972–73	Philadelphia	39	11	21.9	.412		.741	4.8	1.2	10.7
Template:Abay	Denver (ABA)	24		14.3	.422	.000	.594	3.0	.8	5.3
Career (NBA)		279	11	17.5	.420		.725	4.5	1.0	7.4
Career (overall)		303	11	17.3	.420	.000	.717	4.4	1.0	7.2

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	PPG
1972†	L.A. Lakers	10	7.1	.242		.571	1.6	.5	2.0
1973	Denver (ABA)	5	10.2	.438	–	.667	1.4	.4	4.4
Career		15	8.1	.306	–	.632	1.5	.5	2.8