Indiana sent Billy Knight to Buffalo on September 1, 1977 for Adrian Dantley and Mike Bantom. Knight gave the Braves immediate star production, averaging 22.9 points and 7.2 rebounds in 53 games and making the 1978 All-Star team. Indiana still extracted the larger team-specific return. Dantley played only 23 Pacers games, but averaged 26.5 points and 9.4 rebounds before being moved with Dave Robisch to the Lakers for James Edwards, Earl Tatum and cash. Bantom became the durable core of the deal, playing 240 regular-season games for Indiana across three seasons while averaging 15.4 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists over that span. Buffalo later included Knight in the large August 1978 Boston trade with Tiny Archibald, Marvin Barnes and two second-round picks, so the full return from that deal cannot be credited to Knight alone. Buffalo got an excellent season; Indiana got three years of Bantom plus a valuable Dantley downstream branch.
Indiana, Buffalo and the league transaction ledgers all record the same September 1, 1977 deal: the Pacers sent Billy Knight to the Braves for Adrian Dantley and Mike Bantom. There is no draft-pick or cash ambiguity in the cited ledgers, so this review starts from a stable three-player transaction.
Knight was already one of Indiana's best scorers before the trade, and he remained highly productive in Buffalo. He played 53 regular-season games for the Braves in 1977-78, averaging 22.9 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 40.7 minutes. He also made the 1978 All-Star team. That is a strong direct return. Buffalo did not merely acquire a famous name; it received one of the league's most productive forwards for most of a season. Knight also retained transaction value when the franchise moved to San Diego. On August 4, 1978, the Clippers sent Knight, Tiny Archibald, Marvin Barnes and two second-round picks to Boston for Kevin Kunnert, Kermit Washington, Sidney Wicks and Freeman Williams. Because Knight was only one of five outgoing assets, this review does not assign that entire Boston package to him.
The most important Pacers asset was Bantom. He played all 82 games in 1977-78, starting 78 and averaging 15.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists. He followed with 81 games in 1978-79 at 17.0 points and 9.3 rebounds, then played 77 games in 1979-80 at 14.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists. Across those three Indiana seasons, Bantom appeared in 240 regular-season games. That kind of multi-year availability and production gives the Pacers a much longer realized return than Buffalo received from Knight before the franchise's next major reshuffle.
Dantley's Pacers stay was brief but spectacular. He played 23 games, started all 23 and averaged 26.5 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 41.2 minutes. On December 13, 1977, Indiana traded Dantley and Dave Robisch to the Lakers for James Edwards, Earl Tatum and cash. Edwards became a productive young center for Indiana and Tatum played a regular role that season. This review does not credit the entire return to Dantley because Robisch was also outgoing, but Dantley was clearly one of the central pieces used to create that second asset cycle.
Buffalo's side should not be downgraded simply because Knight stayed only one season. His 53 games were high-level, All-Star-caliber production. The problem is that Indiana received both a productive three-year starter in Bantom and a 23-game scoring burst from Dantley before recycling Dantley into another useful package.
Pacers Edge, A/B+. Indiana receives an A because Bantom produced 240 games over three seasons and Dantley added elite short-term production plus meaningful downstream trade value. Buffalo receives a B+ because Knight was excellent, made the All-Star team and remained part of a later blockbuster package, but his direct Braves tenure lasted only 53 games. The trade was productive for both teams; Indiana's advantage comes from depth and duration rather than Buffalo receiving a weak player. Confidence is high.