Cleveland Traded a Distant Second for a Portland Reserve
Cleveland acquired young wing Linton Townes from Portland on September 6, 1983, surrendering its 1987 second-round selection. The league's 1983-84 transaction register and the historical ledgers for both teams identify the same direct player-for-pick exchange. Townes had appeared in 55 games for the Trail Blazers the previous season, so there was a modest reason for the Cavaliers to consider him an inexpensive developmental option. The compensation was a future choice four drafts away, meaning Portland was accepting deferred value rather than an immediately usable roster replacement. There was no reported cash or additional player in this transaction.
Townes Did Not Play a Regular-Season Game for Cleveland
The acquired wing never produced a regular-season NBA appearance for the Cavaliers. His 1983-84 NBA record consists of two games with Milwaukee and two with the San Diego Clippers, not Cleveland. Those four appearances together generated eight points over 19 minutes, but all occurred with other employers. His 55 earlier games in Portland also belong to the team trading him away and cannot be retroactively added to Cleveland's received value. The distinction changes the historical assessment: the Cavaliers acquired Townes's rights and an opportunity to evaluate a young player, yet that opportunity did not convert into NBA minutes for their own team.
Portland Used the Pick on Lester Fonville in 1987
The second-rounder became the No. 29 overall selection in the 1987 NBA draft. Both the league's official draft-history database and Portland's historical draft record show the Trail Blazers selected center Lester Fonville from Jackson State at that position. Pro Sports Transactions independently traces the pick to Cleveland's September 1983 transfer. Fonville never appeared in an NBA regular-season game, so the pick's documented draft conversion produced no direct playing return for Portland. The choice was still a genuine asset available to Portland on draft night, but it cannot be assigned points, rebounds or seasons of NBA roster use that Fonville did not supply.
Two Real Assets, but Neither Became an NBA Contributor
Portland received a deferred draft opportunity and Cleveland received a young player who had previously reached the league. In retrospect, neither club obtained a contributing NBA player from the exchange. The Cavaliers got no Townes appearances; the Trail Blazers got a draft selection that produced no NBA games from Fonville. An inherited Cavaliers-win grade was therefore difficult to justify using actual receiving-team outcomes. The results are much closer to a low-value draw, though the chronology of the pick still deserves preservation as a genuine transaction rather than an empty record. Modest matching grades recognize the limited returns without inventing a hidden cash figure or a hypothetical alternative draft choice.
Final Verdict
Even Trade. Cleveland earns C- because Linton Townes never played an NBA regular-season game for the Cavaliers. Portland also receives C- because its 1987 No. 29 selection, Lester Fonville, never played in the NBA. Both franchises acquired legitimate assets but neither converted the specific return into recorded NBA playing time.