Golden State Turned One Star Guard Into Two Long-Term Rotation Pieces
The February 6, 1983 transaction sent Micheal Ray Richardson from Golden State to New Jersey for Sleepy Floyd and Mickey Johnson. Basketball-Reference records the package under the players' familiar basketball names: Sleepy Floyd, whose given name is Eric Floyd, and Mickey Johnson, whose full name is Wallace Edgar Johnson.
A second legacy Nets-origin record describes the same transaction using the legal-name forms Eric Floyd and Wallace Johnson. This review keeps the Golden State record as the active canonical version because its player identities align with the established NBA records, while this review will retain the opposite-source record only as superseded provenance.
Sleepy Floyd Became the Main Prize
Floyd played 33 games for Golden State after the trade in 1982-83 and then became a full-time starter. He appeared in 77 games in 1983-84, 82 in 1984-85, 82 in 1985-86 and 82 again in 1986-87 before adding 18 more games in 1987-88 prior to the Houston trade.
Across that Warriors tenure, Floyd played 374 regular-season games and started 348. He averaged 16.8 points in 1983-84, 19.5 in 1984-85, 17.2 in 1985-86 and 18.8 in his 1987 All-Star season.
His 1986-87 season also helped Golden State reach the Western Conference semifinals. This review does not treat team playoff advancement as solely Floyd's work, but a multi-year starting point guard who became an All-Star clearly represents premium realized value.
Mickey Johnson Added Three Useful Seasons
Johnson joined the Warriors at age 30 but still provided substantial frontcourt production. He played 30 games after the trade in 1982-83, then 78 in 1983-84 and 66 in 1984-85.
That gives Golden State 174 regular-season games and 43 starts from Johnson. He averaged 15.5 points and 8.2 rebounds in his first Warriors stint after the trade, then remained a double-figure scorer in both following seasons.
Johnson later returned to New Jersey, but those later Nets games are not part of Golden State's return.
Richardson Was Productive for New Jersey
New Jersey did not receive an empty return. Richardson played 31 games for the Nets after the trade in 1982-83, then 48 in 1983-84, all 82 in 1984-85 and 47 in 1985-86.
Across those four partial or full seasons, he played 208 regular-season games and started 172. His best Nets season came in 1984-85, when he averaged 20.1 points, 8.2 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 3.0 steals and made the All-Star team.
Richardson's NBA career ended after the league suspended him for substance-abuse violations in 1986. The abrupt ending reduced New Jersey's long-term return, but it should not erase the high-level production he delivered before the suspension.
Why Golden State Wins
The Warriors received both the longer runway of direct games and the deeper two-player package. Floyd became an All-Star starter and Johnson added three seasons of useful frontcourt production.
Combined, Floyd and Johnson produced 548 Golden State regular-season games and 391 starts. Richardson gave New Jersey 208 games and 172 starts, including an All-Star season. That is meaningful value, but the Warriors still finished well ahead in duration, depth and total realized production.
Final Verdict
Warriors Win, A+/B. Golden State receives an A+ because Floyd became a long-term All-Star starter and Johnson added 174 useful games. New Jersey receives a B because Richardson produced multiple strong seasons and an All-Star campaign before his suspension, making the Nets' side much better than a failure even though the Warriors clearly won the deal.