San Diego sold Stew Johnson to the Utah Stars for cash on November 9, 1974, and Utah immediately sent him to Memphis in a separate same-day transaction. The legacy import incorrectly dated this move November 19 and assigned Utah's role to Denver. Johnson had played nine games for San Diego that season, averaging 21.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per 36 minutes, before the sale. Utah received no on-court games from him, but his immediate transfer to Memphis generated a draft choice and cash on the second leg. Because neither the cash Utah paid San Diego nor the value of Utah's later draft-and-cash return is fully identified, this corrected transaction remains Insufficient Evidence rather than treating the intermediary move as a simple Utah win.
No separate canonical grade is recorded for LOS Angeles Stars, SAN Diego Sails.
The second Stew Johnson record contains the same core source error as the Memphis record. Basketball-Reference's San Diego, Utah and ABA league transaction pages all state that the San Diego Conquistadors traded Johnson to the Utah Stars for cash on November 9, 1974. Denver was not involved, and the date was not November 19. The superseded entry is retained for provenance but excluded from graded results.
Stew Johnson was a known ABA scorer rather than an expendable end-of-bench player. He had made the 1973 and 1974 ABA All-Star teams with San Diego and opened 1974-75 by playing nine games for the Conquistadors. Basketball-Reference credits him with 13.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game in those nine appearances, or 21.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per 36 minutes. San Diego therefore sold the rights to a productive veteran, but the amount of cash it received is not disclosed in the reviewed ledgers.
The Stars did not acquire Johnson for a playing stint. The same November 9 transaction ledger shows Utah sending him directly to Memphis for a draft choice and cash. Johnson does not appear on Utah's 1974-75 roster or statistical register. That zero-game outcome might look poor in isolation, but it would be misleading to call the acquisition a failed rental because Utah converted the player immediately into other consideration rather than losing him for nothing.
Utah's transaction can only be judged fairly by comparing the cash it sent San Diego with the draft choice and cash it received from Memphis. Neither side of that financial comparison is fully known. The San Diego sale price is undisclosed, the Memphis cash amount is undisclosed, and the future draft choice has not been traced to a specific selection with sufficient confidence. Without those values, the middle leg could have represented a gain, a loss or simply the execution of a broader set of obligations.
San Diego definitely received cash and gave up a player who went on to produce an All-Star season for Memphis. That establishes opportunity cost, but it does not establish that the sale was poor. ABA clubs frequently used cash transactions for financial and roster reasons, and an unknown payment cannot responsibly be scored as negligible. There is no later player or pick asset on San Diego's side to supply an independent basketball measure.
Insufficient Evidence. The source-backed record can confidently correct the date to November 9, replace Denver with the Utah Stars, and document that Johnson moved onward to Memphis the same day. It cannot confidently compare San Diego's unknown cash return with Utah's unknown purchase price and unresolved downstream draft-and-cash package. No winner or grades are assigned. Confidence is high on the transaction identity and Johnson's direct statistics, while the unresolved financial terms prevent a directional verdict.