Atlanta acquired Phil Rollins from Royals in exchange for cash.
Cincinnati sold Phil Rollins to St. Louis for cash on November 28, 1960. The league and team transaction ledgers preserve the player movement as a sale, and the canonical record contains no player or draft asset going back to the Royals. The payment amount is not public, so Cincinnati’s return has to be described as guaranteed but unquantified financial consideration.
Rollins’s St. Louis tenure was brief. He appeared in seven games, averaged 10.1 minutes, 2.6 points and 1.6 assists, and then moved to New York during the same season. Those minutes gave the Hawks a real reserve guard, but not the sustained production implied by a decisive win grade. His 40 later Knicks games belong to New York, not to the value St. Louis directly received.
Rollins had played 72 games for Cincinnati in 1959-60 but only 14 for the Royals in 1960-61 before the sale, with his minutes falling to 6.1 per game. Selling him therefore converted a reduced rotation role into cash. Because the amount is unknown, the Royals cannot be credited with a measurable basketball asset, yet the timing was sensible and the outgoing player’s Hawks impact was small.
St. Louis received seven games from Rollins; Cincinnati received undisclosed cash. The Hawks can take a slight edge because they bought a player who immediately appeared for them, but the limited stint does not support a wide grade separation. The verdict remains Hawks-favorable to match the canonical record, while the evidence calls for a restrained assessment of what either side actually gained.
Hawks Win — St. Louis C+, Cincinnati D+. Atlanta acquired Phil Rollins from Royals in exchange for cash. The cash amount is not documented in the cited transaction history, so the grade reflects the recorded roster exchange rather than an invented financial outcome.