The Exchange
ProSportsTransactions records a January 22, 1971 exchange in which New York received Virginia's 1971 ABA second-round pick, No. 17, later used on Bob Kissane, while the Squires were owed a player to be named later identified as Bill Bunting. Its draft-trade ledger ties that No. 17 pick directly to the Nets-Squires exchange and names Bunting as the later consideration. Basketball-Reference presents the same basic player-for-pick relationship differently: its New York, Virginia and league transaction logs date Bunting's move to March 15 and describe it as Bunting for a draft choice. Because those reliable sources disagree on the completion date and mechanics, the canonical January 22 identity is preserved while the conflict is stated rather than silently resolved.
Nets Return
The pick became Bob Kissane at No. 17 in the 1971 ABA draft. Kissane was also selected by Phoenix at No. 84 in the 1971 NBA draft, but Basketball-Reference shows no ABA or NBA season for him. That makes New York's realized professional return from the draft asset effectively zero. The pick itself had real optionality at the time, so the grade should not treat it as valueless on transaction day, but hindsight grading has to account for the fact that the selection never turned into on-court production.
Virginia Return
Bunting supplied modest but real rotation value. Basketball-Reference credits him with 33 Virginia games in 1970-71 and 16 more in 1971-72, for 49 games and 551 minutes across two seasons. He scored 162 points and grabbed 106 rebounds for the Squires in that span. His first Virginia season was the useful portion: 33 games, 436 minutes, 142 points, 91 rebounds and a .521 field-goal percentage. That is not star-level value, but it is considerably more realized professional production than the draft outcome New York received.
Hindsight Comparison
The source-date conflict does not change the realized-value comparison. Whether the Bunting completion is treated as January 24 under the ProSportsTransactions chain or March 15 under Basketball-Reference's transaction ledger, Virginia ultimately turned the exchanged draft choice into a player who appeared in 49 Squires games. New York used the No. 17 ABA selection on Kissane and received no ABA or NBA regular-season production from him. The transaction was low-stakes, so the grading gap should remain restrained, but the evidence no longer supports the old Nets edge.
Final Verdict
Squires Win, C+/D+. Virginia receives a C+ for converting a second-round draft asset into two seasons of reserve minutes from Bunting. New York receives a D+ because the acquired pick was legitimate second-round capital but its eventual selection produced no ABA or NBA season. Confidence is medium-high rather than high because the sources disagree on whether the transaction should be dated January 22 with a later PTBNL completion or March 15 as a direct Bunting-for-pick trade. The asset relationship and realized outcomes are well supported. The verdict reflects only verified transaction terms and realized team value.