St. Louis Swapped Park and Stephens for Si Green
St. Louis sent Med Park and Jack Stephens to Cincinnati for Si Green in January 1959. Basketball-Reference's Hawks, Royals, league and executive transaction ledgers all place the deal on January 14 and list only those three players. RealGM uses January 10, which explains the legacy TradeVerdicts date, but the stronger four-ledger agreement supports moving the canonical date to January 14 while retaining the disagreement in audit metadata. The source-backed review also removes an unsupported cash asset and corrects the legacy 'Ned Park' spelling to Med Park, whose full name was Medford R. Park.
Green Gave the Hawks 186 Games
Green gave the Hawks the larger body of post-trade value. He played 26 St. Louis games to finish 1958-59, then 70 in 1959-60, 76 in 1960-61 and 14 more in 1961-62 before being traded to Chicago. Across those segments he appeared in 186 regular-season games for St. Louis and developed from a reserve into a substantial backcourt contributor. His 1960-61 season was the strongest full Hawks year of the run: 25.9 minutes, 9.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.
Park Was Productive for Cincinnati
Park was a useful return rather than a throw-in. He played 33 Cincinnati games after the trade in 1958-59, averaging 27.2 minutes, 9.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists, then appeared in 74 games in 1959-60 at 25.0 minutes, 8.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists. That produced 107 Royals games over two seasons. Stephens, however, did not add any post-trade NBA value. Basketball-Reference lists his entire NBA career as the 72 games he played for St. Louis in 1955-56, so Cincinnati's realized package is essentially Park's two seasons.
The Extra Longevity Tilts It to St. Louis
Both teams received useful NBA production, but St. Louis got more longevity and a player who remained relevant to later roster construction. Green supplied 186 Hawks games over parts of four seasons, compared with Park's 107 Cincinnati games over two seasons and no post-trade NBA appearances from Stephens. Cincinnati's return was respectable enough to avoid a wide grade gap, especially because Park immediately handled substantial minutes. The verified outcome supports a moderate Hawks edge rather than the legacy Royals-favored verdict.
Final Verdict
Hawks Edge — St. Louis B+, Cincinnati B-. St. Louis traded Med Park and Jack Stephens to the Cincinnati Royals for Si Green in January 1959. Basketball-Reference's St. Louis, Cincinnati, league and executive transaction ledgers all date the exchange to January 14, while RealGM uses January 10; the canonical record follows the four matching Basketball-Reference ledgers and preserves the date conflict in audit notes. The same verified sources show no cash component, and they correct the legacy 'Ned Park' transcription to Med Park. Green then played 186 regular-season games for St. Louis through November 1961, while Park gave Cincinnati 107 games across two seasons and Stephens never returned to the NBA.