St. Louis Reacquired Gambee’s Player Rights
The canonical archive records St. Louis reacquiring Dave Gambee’s rights from Cincinnati in mid-April 1960 for cash. Public transaction histories corroborate the return of Gambee’s rights, although they differ by one day and do not consistently preserve the consideration: RealGM dates the acquisition to April 14, while Ben Kerner’s Basketball-Reference ledger lists April 15. The cash term therefore rests on the legacy team ledger and should be treated conservatively.
The Hawks Never Received Another Regular-Season Game
Gambee had already played 19 Cincinnati games after the January trade, but he did not appear in another regular-season game for St. Louis after his rights came back. In September the Hawks sold those rights to Syracuse. The reacquisition thus functioned as an offseason asset transaction rather than a roster move that directly helped the Hawks on the court.
The Rights Still Retained Transfer Value
St. Louis did preserve a marketable asset. Five months later Syracuse bought Gambee’s rights, and he immediately became a substantial Nationals contributor. The public record does not reveal either cash amount, so it is impossible to prove a financial profit on the two sales. Still, recovering control of a player whose rights could be moved again gave the Hawks more than a dead roster claim.
A Slight Hawks Edge Is the Appropriate Ceiling
Cincinnati received cash of unknown size; St. Louis received rights that later generated another cash sale but no intervening Hawks games. That supports only a slight St. Louis edge. The uncertain payment and one-day date discrepancy rule out a stronger grade, while the later Syracuse transaction supplies the clearest evidence that Gambee’s rights retained real value.
Final Verdict
Slight Hawks Edge — St. Louis C+, Cincinnati C. Atlanta acquired rights to Dave Gambee from Royals in exchange for cash.