The ABA New York Nets acquired the rights to Jim McMillian from the Los Angeles Stars on March 24, 1970 for a future draft pick. Los Angeles had selected McMillian 15th overall in the 1970 ABA draft, but he instead joined the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers after they selected him 13th overall. McMillian therefore produced no ABA games for the Nets, despite becoming a productive nine-year NBA forward. The surviving transaction record does not identify the year, round or eventual player attached to New York's future pick. That uncertainty keeps the verdict narrow, with a slight Los Angeles edge for converting unused rights into draft capital.
On March 24, 1970, the ABA New York Nets acquired the contractual rights to Jim McMillian from the Los Angeles Stars. New York sent Los Angeles a future draft pick. Pro Sports Transactions records the player-rights-for-pick structure but leaves the future pick's year and round unidentified. Its ABA draft ledger also shows that the Stars had selected McMillian in the second round, 15th overall, of the 1970 ABA draft.
McMillian was a valuable basketball player, but that is different from the value of the ABA rights New York acquired. He did not play for the Nets. The NBA's Los Angeles Lakers selected him 13th overall in the 1970 NBA draft, and he began his NBA career that fall. Basketball-Reference lists his NBA debut as October 16, 1970 and credits him with 631 regular-season games over nine seasons. His NBA production underscores what the Nets hoped to acquire. McMillian played 81 games as a Lakers rookie in 1970-71, averaging 8.4 points and 4.1 rebounds. A year later he played 80 games and averaged 18.8 points and 6.5 rebounds for the 1971-72 Lakers. He became an important scorer on a championship team and later continued his career with Buffalo, New York and Portland. For this ABA transaction, however, none of that production became a Nets return. New York held rights to a good player who chose the NBA path. TradeVerdicts therefore separates McMillian's career value from the realized value of the rights asset: the player succeeded, but the Nets did not receive his games.
Los Angeles received a future draft pick. The surviving transaction entry does not specify the draft year, round, selection number or player outcome. That gap matters. It would be misleading to assign the Stars a particular player or to credit them with later production that cannot be traced to this pick. Even with the outcome unresolved, the Stars did convert an ABA rights asset they did not ultimately use into another piece of draft capital. That is a more tangible transaction result than New York's rights, which never became an ABA appearance. The value cannot be graded aggressively because the pick may have produced little or nothing; the historical record simply does not establish the final result.
The transaction is unusual because the best player involved had a productive career outside the league in which the trade occurred. McMillian's Lakers career shows that Los Angeles had drafted a legitimate prospect, but the Nets' acquired rights never converted into on-court ABA value. The Stars at least received a future pick, although the unidentified outcome prevents a complete realized-value comparison.
Slight Stars Edge, C+/C. Los Angeles receives a C+ for converting McMillian's unused ABA rights into future draft capital. New York receives a C because the rights did not produce a Nets appearance, even though the player himself became a strong NBA contributor. Confidence is medium on the verdict: the March 24 transaction and McMillian's career path are well supported, but the future pick's year, round and eventual outcome remain unresolved in the reviewed records. The verdict reflects only verified transaction terms and realized team value.