The Source Conflict
Pro Sports Transactions records a September 16, 1971 deal in which Pittsburgh acquired the rights to Mickey Davis and Denver received a player to be named within ten days, a 1972 second-round pick and cash. The same database records Davis signing a three-year, no-cut Pittsburgh contract that day. Basketball-Reference's Denver, Pittsburgh and ABA transaction logs omit that exchange entirely. Those sources instead record a September 30 trade in which Pittsburgh sent Chuck Williams to Denver for Mickey Davis. The twelve-day gap, the 'player to be named within ten days' language and the matching Davis rights strongly indicate that the September 30 entry may be the completion or revision of the earlier agreement rather than a wholly independent second sale of the same rights.
Why the record Stays Separate
The canonical archive currently contains both dates as separate legacy candidates. Deleting or merging the September 16 record without stronger documentary evidence would be premature because Pro Sports Transactions explicitly lists additional consideration that is absent from Basketball-Reference: a 1972 second-round pick and cash. At the same time, grading the September 16 record as though Denver definitely received all three assets would risk double-counting Chuck Williams if he was the unnamed player later delivered on September 30. It would also invent a draft outcome that the available ABA draft ledgers do not identify. The safest source-backed treatment is therefore to preserve the record, mark the unresolved pieces explicitly and defer a standalone value grade.
What the Later Trade Establishes
The September 30 transaction is well documented: Pittsburgh sent Chuck Williams to Denver for Mickey Davis. Williams then played all 84 Denver games in 1971-72, averaging 8.7 points and 1.9 assists in 18.8 minutes, while Davis played 23 Pittsburgh games and 126 total minutes before the Condors folded. Those outcomes will be evaluated on the September 30 canonical record, where the actual player-for-player exchange is clear. They are useful here only as evidence that the September 16 'player to be named' may have become Williams. Treating Williams as definitively part of this earlier record, however, would go beyond the source record because neither Basketball-Reference nor Pro Sports Transactions explicitly labels the September 30 trade as completion of the September 16 agreement.
Unresolved Assets
The 1972 second-round pick in the September 16 entry still lacks a verified player outcome, and the cash amount is unknown. Those are not minor editorial gaps: assigning either an invented player or an assumed dollar value would create false precision. Pittsburgh's later franchise collapse further complicates draft tracing because its remaining assets and players were dispersed after the season. The presence of Davis on the Condors roster confirms that Pittsburgh ultimately controlled the player, but it does not prove which of the September 16 consideration terms survived unchanged once Williams moved to Denver.
Final Verdict
Insufficient Evidence. The September 16 entry is preserved as a source-supported preliminary or linked transaction, but it remains intentionally ungraded. The September 30 Mickey Davis-for-Chuck Williams trade is the independently verified basketball exchange and should carry the realized-value judgment. Confidence is high that Pro Sports Transactions recorded the September 16 agreement and high that Basketball-Reference recognizes only the September 30 player swap; confidence is low that the unresolved pick, cash and unnamed-player terms can be reconciled into a separate completed trade. The verdict reflects only verified transaction terms and realized team value.