Milwaukee Bought Lew Hitch from Minneapolis
Minneapolis sold Lew Hitch's player rights to Milwaukee on October 27, 1953. Basketball-Reference records the same sale on the Lakers, Hawks and league-wide 1953-54 transaction pages. The legacy TradeVerdicts record classified Hitch as 1953 draft rights, but that is not historically possible: the Lakers drafted him in 1951, and he had already played 131 regular-season games across two Minneapolis seasons before this transaction. The canonical asset is therefore repaired to a veteran player-rights/direct-player sale.
Hitch Played All 72 Games for the Hawks
Whatever the later rights bookkeeping, Milwaukee received substantial immediate basketball value. Basketball-Reference credits Hitch with all 72 Hawks games in 1953-54, including 2,452 minutes. He averaged 34.1 minutes, 8.0 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists, giving a 21-win Milwaukee team one of its heaviest workloads. Hitch's 3.3 win shares were also the strongest single-season total of his career to that point.
The Lakers Received Undisclosed Cash
Minneapolis received cash, but the reviewed public transaction pages do not preserve the amount. The Lakers had already captured two championship seasons from Hitch before selling his rights, so this was not a case of giving away an untested player. The cash return has real but unquantifiable value. The record also becomes complicated because Basketball-Reference separately lists Milwaukee trading Hitch back to Minneapolis for Bobby Watson on December 21 even though its player statistics credit Hitch's entire 1953-54 season to Milwaukee.
A Full High-Minute Season Gives Milwaukee the Edge
The October transaction itself favors Milwaukee because the Hawks obtained a full 72-game season and a large frontcourt workload from Hitch, while the Lakers' cash return cannot be measured. The later December transaction entry is preserved as a separate source-backed record and should not be used to erase the value Milwaukee clearly received during 1953-54. The uncertainty is enough to keep the grade gap moderate rather than extreme.
Final Verdict
Hawks Win — Milwaukee B, Minneapolis C. Minneapolis sold Lew Hitch's player rights to the Milwaukee Hawks on October 27, 1953. Basketball-Reference's Minneapolis, Milwaukee and league transaction logs agree on the sale and show that the legacy TradeVerdicts draft-rights classification was wrong: Hitch was a veteran who had already played two NBA seasons and won two championships with the Lakers. Basketball-Reference credits Hitch with all 72 Milwaukee games in 1953-54, when he averaged 34.1 minutes, 8.0 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists.