New Jersey acquired Phil Ford from Kansas City on June 29, 1982 for Ray Williams. Williams became Kansas City's starting point guard in 1982-83, playing 72 regular-season games with 68 starts and averaging 15.4 points and 7.9 assists. Ford appeared in only seven games for the Nets, all starts, before New Jersey traded him to Milwaukee during the season. Although Ford later played meaningful NBA minutes elsewhere, the Nets realized only 163 minutes from him. Kansas City received nearly a full season of starting point-guard production, so the Kings won the direct exchange decisively.
The June 29, 1982 deal exchanged two established guards. New Jersey received Phil Ford, while Kansas City acquired Ray Williams after Williams had just led the Nets in scoring. The direct returns quickly diverged once the 1982-83 season began.
Williams played 72 regular-season games for Kansas City and started 68. He averaged 30.1 minutes, 15.4 points, 7.9 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.7 steals. His 569 assists were a major part of a Kings offense that finished among the league's higher-scoring teams. Kansas City went 45-37, a substantial improvement from the previous season's 30-52 record. Williams stayed only one season before moving to New York, but that one year produced starter-level value across almost the entire schedule.
Ford's Nets tenure was dramatically shorter. He appeared in seven regular-season games, started all seven and played 163 total minutes. He averaged 6.7 points and 5.4 assists in those appearances. New Jersey then traded Ford to Milwaukee, where he played 70 games and started 56 during the rest of the 1982-83 season. Those Milwaukee minutes cannot be credited to the Nets. For this trade, New Jersey received seven games and seven starts.
Both players were proven NBA guards, so this was not a case where one side took a flyer on an unknown asset. Kansas City simply extracted far more direct use from the player it acquired. Williams gave the Kings 72 games and 68 starts, while Ford gave New Jersey seven games before being rerouted. Even if the Nets later received something in the Ford-to-Milwaukee transaction, that downstream deal must be evaluated on its own rather than credited automatically here. The difference in franchise-specific production is too large to call the original exchange balanced.
Kings Win, A-/D-. Kansas City receives an A- for a full season of starting point-guard production from Williams. New Jersey receives a D- because Ford lasted only seven games before another trade, leaving the Nets with very little direct return from this exchange.