NBA Trade Verdict

Lakers Win

Cleveland surrendered Jim Chones for Dave Robisch and 1980 third round pick (#68-Ron Jones), leaving the other team with a clear realized-value win.

October 5, 1979 Cleveland Cavaliers / Los Angeles Lakers Record confidence: High

Cleveland Cavaliers Received

Player Dave Robisch
Draft Pick 1980 third round pick (#68-Ron Jones)

Trade Analysis

Start With What Changed Hands

The October 5, 1979 transaction between Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers is easiest to evaluate by reconstructing the trade before judging the result. Cleveland surrendered Jim Chones for Dave Robisch and 1980 third round pick (#68-Ron Jones), leaving the partner with a clear realized-value win. The list of assets identifies 3 distinct pieces: Dave Robisch, 1980 third round pick (#68-Ron Jones), and Jim Chones. Cleveland Cavaliers received Dave Robisch and 1980 third round pick (#68-Ron Jones), while Los Angeles Lakers received Jim Chones. That distinction matters because a trade can combine players, draft rights, picks, cash, or transaction mechanisms whose value is not interchangeable. The retrospective grade therefore follows what the specific assets became and how much useful basketball or asset value each side ultimately captured, rather than treating every line item as equal simply because it appeared in the same transaction.

The Case Behind the Grades

The verdict is Lakers Win, with Cleveland Cavaliers graded C and Los Angeles Lakers graded B+. The partner captured the stronger completed return. Cleveland received Dave Robisch and 1980 third round pick (#68-Ron Jones) and sent Jim Chones. Those findings define the direction of the evaluation. The relevant comparison is Dave Robisch and 1980 third round pick (#68-Ron Jones) for Cleveland Cavaliers against Jim Chones for Los Angeles Lakers. Roster need, contract timing, competitive window, and front-office intent can help explain why a team accepted a particular return, but they do not replace the realized-value record. Based on the results, the stronger side is Los Angeles Lakers; the grade shows the size of that advantage without requiring every asset in the winning package to have become a major success.

Why One Package Finished Ahead

Los Angeles Lakers' return centered on Jim Chones. The available evidence explains the advantage this way: The partner captured the stronger completed return. Cleveland received Dave Robisch and 1980 third round pick (#68-Ron Jones) and sent Jim Chones. That is the core support for the B+ grade. The point is not merely that Los Angeles Lakers received a package with a recognizable name or a particular number of pieces. It is that the assets credited to that side produced the more consequential result in the historical record. A winning package may derive most of its value from one player, one draft conversion, or one asset that later created additional leverage. Here, the trade details are strong enough to place Los Angeles Lakers on the favorable side of Lakers Win while keeping the evaluation tied to the exchange itself.

What the Losing Return Still Contained

Cleveland Cavaliers received Dave Robisch and 1980 third round pick (#68-Ron Jones). That package still has to be evaluated on its own terms rather than dismissed because the verdict favors the other side. The grade for Cleveland Cavaliers is C, which measures the completed return against what Los Angeles Lakers obtained. A lower grade can still include a useful player, a pick, financial flexibility, or a defensible short-term objective; the issue is whether those benefits matched the value surrendered. In this case, the analysis does not place the two returns on equal footing. The gap between Los Angeles Lakers' B+ and Cleveland Cavaliers' C reflects the difference in realized production, asset conversion, or durable value documented for Jim Chones versus Dave Robisch and 1980 third round pick (#68-Ron Jones).

Final Verdict

Lakers Win. The grades are Cleveland Cavaliers C and Los Angeles Lakers B+. The trade itself was: Cleveland Cavaliers received Dave Robisch and 1980 third round pick (#68-Ron Jones), while Los Angeles Lakers received Jim Chones. The partner captured the stronger completed return. Cleveland received Dave Robisch and 1980 third round pick (#68-Ron Jones) and sent Jim Chones. That evidence is enough to preserve the verdict without rewriting the trade around hindsight that is unrelated to the assets actually exchanged. The grade evaluates the completed transaction, not whether every front-office motive was unreasonable on the day of the deal. On that basis, Los Angeles Lakers produced the stronger realized return, and the B+/C grade relationship captures how clearly that side finished ahead.

For Hardcore NBA Heads

Cleveland Cavaliers–Los Angeles Lakers: What the Trade Became

The deeper story of the October 5, 1979 Cleveland Cavaliers–Los Angeles Lakers trade is the difference between the transaction's surface simplicity and the value that emerged from its component parts. The four locked transaction sources document the exchange from both franchise histories, while the canonical record supplies the Lakers Win judgment and the explicit C/B+ grades. The deal moved Dave Robisch, 1980 third round pick (#68-Ron Jones), and Jim Chones. Following those pieces keeps the review disciplined: the analysis can recognize trade-day context, but the historical verdict stays anchored to what Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers actually received from this specific exchange.

Where the Durable Value Came From

The most important value on the favorable side was concentrated in Jim Chones. The partner captured the stronger completed return. Cleveland received Dave Robisch and 1980 third round pick (#68-Ron Jones) and sent Jim Chones. That finding is what separates a substantive retrospective evaluation from a simple transaction recap. Asset count alone is a poor guide because one productive player, one meaningful draft outcome, or one reusable trade asset can outweigh several smaller pieces. For Los Angeles Lakers, the B+ grade reflects the consequence attached to the package rather than its length. The supplied record identifies enough realized value in Jim Chones to make that return the central reason the trade finishes as Lakers Win.

The Role of the Lesser Pieces

The rest of the exchange provides the scale for that conclusion. Across the full trade, Cleveland Cavaliers took in Dave Robisch and 1980 third round pick (#68-Ron Jones) and Los Angeles Lakers took in Jim Chones. Secondary assets matter because they can narrow a gap, add optionality, or reveal what each side was willing to pay to accomplish a roster objective. Cash, lower-order picks, draft rights, exceptions, and secondary players are therefore counted, but they are not automatically valued like a proven contributor. Nothing in the available evidence indicates that the supporting pieces reverse the direction of Lakers Win; instead, they complete the picture around the decisive value already identified in the analysis.

Separating Motive From Result

The deal can make sense from both front offices' perspectives and still produce an uneven result. Cleveland surrendered Jim Chones for Dave Robisch and 1980 third round pick (#68-Ron Jones), leaving the partner with a clear realized-value win. That is the trade-day structure; the retrospective grade asks a different question—what did those choices ultimately yield? Historical analysis should not pretend that teams had perfect foresight, but it also should not erase the evidence that became available once the players and draft assets developed. The C grade for Cleveland Cavaliers and B+ for Los Angeles Lakers preserve that distinction. Context can explain the decision, while the realized return determines why the final judgment remains Lakers Win.

What the Grade Gap Measures

The grade spread—Cleveland Cavaliers C, Los Angeles Lakers B+—is more informative than a winner label by itself because it shows the degree of separation supported by the record. Los Angeles Lakers are credited for Jim Chones; Cleveland Cavaliers are credited for Dave Robisch and 1980 third round pick (#68-Ron Jones). Each package is measured by the value it actually produced, including meaningful player contribution and draft conversion when the supplied record identifies them. The grades are not a claim that every secondary asset had identical importance or that the losing team received nothing. They are a compact expression of the completed exchange, and in this case that exchange supports Lakers Win.

Deep-Dive Verdict

Lakers Win. The full analysis reaches the same conclusion: Cleveland Cavaliers C, Los Angeles Lakers B+. The available sources confirm the trade and show Cleveland Cavaliers receiving Dave Robisch and 1980 third round pick (#68-Ron Jones) while Los Angeles Lakers received Jim Chones. The analysis is decisive: The partner captured the stronger completed return. Cleveland received Dave Robisch and 1980 third round pick (#68-Ron Jones) and sent Jim Chones. That conclusion does not depend on inflating the significance of cash, draft mechanisms, or minor pieces, and it does not assume a team would have made different downstream choices with an asset it never controlled. It follows the value tied to this transaction. On that record, Los Angeles Lakers' package finishes ahead of Cleveland Cavaliers', making Lakers Win the durable historical judgment.

Research sources (4)