Houston Gambled a Fifth-Round Choice on a Former Pacer Guard
On September 17, 1984, Houston acquired Kevin McKenna from Indiana for its 1985 fifth-round draft pick. Both franchises list the same one-player-for-one-pick exchange. McKenna had made 61 appearances for the Pacers in 1983-84, starting 13, and averaged 6.3 points. He was a plausible inexpensive guard candidate for Houston as the club prepared for its first season with Hakeem Olajuwon alongside Ralph Sampson. Indiana was instead collecting a remote draft option rather than holding a player it could use immediately. The clubs' records confirm a fifth-round choice, although a later Pacers media-guide description has been cited with a different draft year and round.
McKenna Was Waived Before Opening Night
The Rockets released McKenna on October 23, 1984, before the regular season began. He did not appear in an NBA game for Houston, even though his previous Indiana work established that he could play at the league level. McKenna later appeared in 29 games for New Jersey in 1984-85, averaging 5.7 points, but none of those Nets minutes can be credited as a Rockets return. Houston had bought a training-camp evaluation with a low draft selection and decided not to carry it into the season. That makes the actual return far more limited than a reader would infer by looking at his NBA career totals.
Indiana's Pick Became Ivan Daniels at No. 111
The compensation selection arrived in the 1985 draft's fifth round, No. 111 overall, and was associated with Ivan Daniels. Pro Sports Transactions traces the choice from Houston to Indiana, corroborating the direction shown in each club's transaction ledger. Daniels did not turn into a Pacers regular-season NBA contributor. The pick itself represented legitimate optional scouting value for Indiana, but there is no basis for assigning it points or minutes that Daniels never produced in the NBA. The late draft position also helps explain the modest practical stakes. The Pacers did not get a guaranteed future rotation player by moving McKenna.
Two Different Assets, the Same Lack of Realized NBA Return
Indiana exchanged a guard who had logged useful minutes the preceding year for the possibility of finding help deep in the 1985 draft. Houston surrendered that distant possibility to test McKenna as an immediately available veteran. Neither wager developed into playing time for the acquiring franchise: the Rockets waived the guard, and the Pacers' fifth-round outcome brought no recorded NBA games. That does not mean the transaction lacked rationale at the time. It means the inherited Pacers-win assessment exceeded the evidence about its actual result. Equal modest grades accurately describe an exchange in which both clubs received optional value but no sustained basketball contribution.
Final Verdict
Even Trade. Houston earns C- after waiving Kevin McKenna before he played any Rockets regular-season games. Indiana also receives C- because the acquired fifth-round pick became No. 111 Ivan Daniels, who never contributed NBA minutes for the Pacers. Neither outcome supports a strong historical winner.