Dating back to the first Most Valuable Player award in 1955-56 when St. Louis power forward Bob Pettit was named MVP, 24 men have won the award in its 48-year history. Not including the recently shipped to South Beach Shaquille O'Neal, only seven* were traded in the course of their careers.

Now that he's in Miami, Shaq will be seeing more of Ben Wallace. Nathaniel S. Butler NBAE/Getty Images

And with the exception of Charles Barkley, who was named MVP the season after he was traded from Philly to Phoenix (and Shaq), every MVP who has been sent packing eventually won an NBA title after being traded. Four of them -- Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Moses Malone -- won titles with the teams to which they were traded, while Bill Walton and Bob McAdoo helped win titles as important role players later in their careers.

Let's look at the four MVPs, in chronological order, who went on to win titles with the teams they were traded to. One notable aspect of all these trades is that these MVPs and Hall of Famers were never traded for another MVP or Hall of Famer.

When they left for Golden State after the 1962 season, the Philadelphia Warriors, one of the NBA's original franchises, not only left the City of Brotherly Love without an NBA team for a year, but they also took Wilt with them. The NBA returned to Philly when the Syracuse Nationals moved south before the 1963-64 season. On Jan. 15, 1965, Wilt returned to Philly thanks to a trade with the Warriors.

The Warriors would only win 17 games in the first full season after trading Wilt. The trade had an immediate affect on the Sixers as they would make the Eastern Conference Finals the same season before losing to the Celtics.

The next three full seasons in Philly, Wilt won three consecutive MVP awards, led the Sixers to 185 regular-season wins, including a then-record 68 during the 1966-67 season. They would also go on to win the Sixers' first NBA title that year defeating, yes, the San Francisco Warriors.

YOUR CALL

After winning three NBA MVP awards with the Sixers, Wilt headed west once again, this time to the Lakers, who went to The Finals in Chamberlain's first two seasons in purple and gold. In his fourth season in L.A., Wilt and the Lakers would go on to win a record 33 games in a row en route to a then-record 69 regular-season games and defeat the New York Knicks 4-1 in The Finals, the Lakers' first title in L.A.

Wilt would lead the Lakers to one more Finals appearance in 1973 before retiring. That same season, the Philadelphia 76ers would win an NBA-record low nine games.

Both Chamberlain and Abdul-Jabbar were traded in their Hall of Fame careers. Walter Iooss Jr. NBAE/Getty Images

While he was six years removed from winning the MVP award, Robertson still had plenty left in the tank, averaging 25.3 points, 8.1 assists and 6.1 rebounds in his final Cincinnati season.

But the Big O had a falling out with Royals coach Bob Cousy, who came out of retirement to play seven games for the Royals in the 1969-70 season. Robertson also wanted to win an NBA title, which he did when he teamed up with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the Bucks, one season after arriving in Milwaukee. Robertson and the Bucks would be one of the NBA's best teams in his four seasons in Milwaukee, which made another Finals appearance in 1974.

After trading Robertson, the Royals would play two more seasons in Cincinnati before becoming the Kansas City/Omaha Kings in the 1972-73 season.

That date -- June 16, 1975 -- is a date that will live in infamy for Milwaukee Bucks fans. It was on that date the Bucks traded their (still) all-time leading scorer and three-time NBA MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the Lakers for four players.

With Kareem, the Bucks won an NBA title in 1971 and went to another Finals in 1974. And while the Bucks have retired Winters' No. 32 and Bridgeman's No. 2, the Bucks haven't been back to The Finals since trading Kareem. Red Sox fans have their "Curse of the Bambino," Bucks fans suffer from the "Curse of Kareem."

With the Lakers, Kareem would win three more NBA MVP awards (1976, 1977, 1980), become the league's all-time leading scorer and win five NBA titles when paired with another Hall of Fame point guard, Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

Not even Magic and Kareem could stop Moses during the 1982-83 season. Jim Cummins NBAE/Getty Images

Malone, with Abdul-Jabbar, was the premier center in the NBA and he was exactly what the Sixers felt they needed to topple Larry Bird's Celtics in the East and Jabbar's Lakers in The Finals.

After winning his second NBA MVP award in 1982, Malone became a free agent. The Sixers signed him to an offer sheet. Houston had the right to match and did, but traded him to Philadelphia anyway.

The Sixers would roll to a 65-17 record in the 1982-83 season and an NBA title. Malone would win his third and final MVP award.

The Rockets finished at 14-68 and won the coin toss to pick first in the 1983 NBA Draft.

Only time will tell.