This September 24, 1972 Lenny Wilkens-to-Portland record is not a valid completed transaction. Wilkens had just been acquired by Cleveland on August 23, 1972 and then played 75 games for the Cavaliers in 1972-73 and 74 more in 1973-74. Cleveland did not sell his playing rights to Portland until October 7, 1974, a separate canonical transaction already preserved in the archive. Basketball-Reference's 1972-73 Cleveland and Portland ledgers contain no September 24 Wilkens deal. This legacy archive entry is therefore superseded by the verified 1974 transaction and removed from the NBA index-candidate ledger.
No separate canonical grade is recorded for Cleveland Cavaliers, Portland Trail Blazers.
The legacy row claims Cleveland sent Lenny Wilkens to Portland on September 24, 1972 for cash and a draft pick. Cleveland, Portland and league transaction ledgers do not show that move. The player record is also incompatible with it because Cleveland had acquired Wilkens from Seattle one month earlier and he then remained an active Cavalier for the next two seasons.
Wilkens played 75 games for Cleveland in 1972-73 and 74 more in 1973-74. Those seasons make a September 1972 transfer to Portland impossible. The reviewed transaction logs align with the game record: Cleveland’s 1972-73 ledger shows the August acquisition and other team moves but no September 24 sale, while Portland’s ledger likewise contains no Wilkens acquisition on that date.
The verified Cleveland-to-Portland transaction happened on October 7, 1974, when Cleveland sold Wilkens’ playing rights to Portland. That distinct move already has its own canonical archive record. Treating the false 1972 row as a completed deal would duplicate Wilkens’ transfer and create unsupported cash and draft-pick value two years before the real transaction.
This row is retained as source-history provenance only. It should carry no winner and no grades because the dated transaction did not occur. The verified October 1974 transaction remains the canonical Portland move, while this 1972 import stays private and outside index, ad and hindsight-grade treatment.
Record Superseded — no winner and no team grades. The evidence contradicts a September 24, 1972 Cleveland-to-Portland trade involving Lenny Wilkens. His verified move to Portland occurred on October 7, 1974 and is stored separately, so this legacy row remains private provenance only.