The Verified September 18 Transaction
Basketball-Reference's Denver, Utah and ABA league transaction ledgers all agree that Denver sent Al Smith to the Utah Stars on September 18, 1974 for a draft choice. Carl Scheer's executive record independently matches the transaction. Pro Sports Transactions adds another detail: cash was also part of Denver's return. That secondary ledger, however, cannot resolve which exact 1975 ABA selection represented the draft-choice component. It flags either Utah's No. 26 pick, used on Tom Kropp, or the No. 46 pick, used on C.J. Kupec. The source-backed record therefore preserves the ambiguity instead of choosing one pick without sufficient evidence.
Smith Was a Proven ABA Point Guard
Al Smith was not an end-of-roster player when Utah acquired him. Basketball-Reference identifies him as Alan Richard Smith, a 6-foot-1 point guard from Bradley who had already played three ABA seasons for Denver. In 1973-74 he led the ABA with 8.1 assists per game, making him one of the league's most productive distributors. That context explains why Utah was willing to surrender future draft consideration and, according to the draft-trade ledger, cash. The acquisition was aimed at immediate backcourt stability rather than long-term speculation.
Utah Received a Full Season of Rotation Value
Smith played 80 regular-season games for the Stars in 1974-75 and averaged 25.5 minutes, 8.0 points, 4.7 assists and 1.8 rebounds. He was one of Utah's primary ball-handlers on a team that also featured Moses Malone, Ron Boone and Randy Denton. Those 80 games represent substantial realized value from the trade. Smith's scoring efficiency was modest, but availability and playmaking made him a regular part of the Stars' rotation rather than a short-term experiment.
Denver's Draft Return Is the Core Uncertainty
The difficult side is Denver's. The 1975 ABA draft ledger ties the Smith transaction to two possible Utah-origin selections. No. 26 became Tom Kropp, while No. 46 became C.J. Kupec. The same ledger notes that Kupec's fifth-round rights later reached St. Louis from Denver from Utah, which suggests a downstream Denver connection, but it still does not prove that Kupec rather than Kropp was the original Smith-trade consideration. Assigning one player to the trade would therefore create false precision in the player-history linkage.
Cash Does Not Solve the Valuation Problem
Pro Sports Transactions also lists cash, but no amount is preserved in the reviewed record. That means Denver may have received meaningful financial value in addition to the pick, yet the archive cannot translate that value into a basketball equivalent. A retrospective grade that assumes the cash was trivial would understate Denver's return, while assuming it was large would be equally unsupported. The missing amount compounds the pick-identity uncertainty and makes a precise comparison impossible.
Final Verdict
Insufficient Evidence. Utah clearly received one full season of meaningful point-guard production from Smith. Denver clearly received a draft choice and likely cash, but the exact pick identity remains unresolved between the 1975 No. 26 and No. 46 selections, and the cash amount is unknown. The transaction date, Smith identity and Utah outcome are high-confidence; only Denver's realized return is uncertain. No winner or grades are assigned until stronger evidence isolates the draft asset.