Milwaukee and Minneapolis Swapped Hitch and Watson
Milwaukee traded Lew Hitch to Minneapolis for Bobby Watson on December 21, 1953. Basketball-Reference lists the same transaction on the Hawks, Lakers and league-wide 1953-54 transaction pages, and the Ben Kerner and Max Winter executive ledgers preserve the exchange as well. The transaction itself is therefore well supported. The difficult part is the roster chronology that follows. Hitch's 1953-54 line is entirely credited to Milwaukee, and Watson did not appear in an NBA game until the following season.
Hitch Ultimately Gave the Lakers More Service
Hitch became the more valuable NBA player. Basketball-Reference credits him with 57 Milwaukee games and 17 Minneapolis games in 1954-55, then 69 more Minneapolis games in 1955-56. Across those two Lakers stints after the recorded trade, he supplied regular frontcourt minutes, rebounding and interior depth. His 1954-55 Minneapolis segment produced 17 games, 323 minutes, 98 points and 93 rebounds, and the next season he appeared in 69 games.
Watson Produced Only 13 Milwaukee Games
Watson's NBA career was brief. He debuted in 1954-55 and played 63 total games that season, 50 with Minneapolis and 13 with Milwaukee. His Milwaukee segment averaged 12.0 minutes, 2.2 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists. He did not play another NBA season. That is a real contribution, but it is a small one, and the same season split that places Watson in both Minneapolis and Milwaukee underscores why the 1953 transaction ledger cannot be read as a complete movement timeline.
The Chronology Is Messy but Minneapolis Still Leads
The player-value comparison favors Minneapolis because Hitch had the longer and more productive NBA career after this period, including 86 regular-season games for the Lakers across 1954-55 and 1955-56. Watson's only NBA season produced 13 Milwaukee games. The uncertainty lies in transaction timing, not in which player generated more eventual NBA value. That warrants a Lakers edge, but the grade gap stays moderate because the public records do not fully reconcile when each player's rights and roster status changed hands.
Final Verdict
Lakers Win — Milwaukee C+, Minneapolis B. Milwaukee traded Lew Hitch to the Minneapolis Lakers for Bobby Watson on December 21, 1953. Basketball-Reference's Milwaukee, Minneapolis and league transaction logs agree on the exchange, but the surviving season tables create a chronology problem: Hitch is credited with all 72 of his 1953-54 games for Milwaukee, while Watson did not make his NBA debut until 1954-55. That next season, Hitch played 57 Milwaukee games and 17 for Minneapolis, while Watson played 50 Minneapolis games and 13 for Milwaukee.