Indiana traded Dudley Bradley to Phoenix on June 8, 1981 for two second-round picks and, most importantly, Phoenix surrendering its option to swap 1983 first-round picks with the Pacers. Bradley played 64 Suns games before leaving as a veteran free agent. Indiana got no NBA games from No. 37 Al Leslie and 63 games from No. 43 Jose Slaughter, but the relinquished swap became enormous: Indiana's 1983 first landed No. 2 and became Steve Stipanovich, who played 403 Pacers games, while Phoenix's original first landed No. 21. Preserving that premium pick makes Indiana the clear hindsight winner.
Basketball-Reference records Phoenix acquiring Dudley Bradley from Indiana on June 8, 1981 for a 1981 second-round pick, a 1982 second-round pick and the Suns relinquishing their right to swap 1983 first-round picks with the Pacers. That last term is the decisive part of the hindsight evaluation. It looked like optional future protection in 1981, but the 1983 draft positions turned it into premium realized value.
Bradley played 64 games for Phoenix in 1981-82, starting three and averaging 5.1 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 14.6 minutes. He left after the season and signed with Chicago as a veteran free agent on October 2, 1982. Phoenix's transaction ledger says the Suns received compensation, but the public Basketball-Reference entry renders that return only as FROM_TRADE rather than identifying a specific asset. This review therefore does not invent or score an unknown compensation return.
Indiana used the 1981 second-round pick at No. 37 on Al Leslie. Basketball-Reference lists Leslie as a Pacers draft pick but records no NBA regular-season statistics. That branch produced no direct NBA playing value.
The 1982 second-round pick landed at No. 43 and became Jose Slaughter. Slaughter played 63 games for Indiana in 1982-83, starting once and averaging 3.6 points in 8.2 minutes. That was his only NBA season. On its own, the two-pick portion of Indiana's return would have been modest.
Phoenix also gave up its contractual right to swap first-round picks with Indiana in the 1983 draft. Indiana's own 1983 first ultimately landed at No. 2. The Pacers used it on Steve Stipanovich, who played all five of his NBA seasons for Indiana. Stipanovich appeared in 403 regular-season games, started 365 and averaged 13.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists for his Pacers career. Phoenix's original 1983 first ultimately landed at No. 21, the pick that became Greg Kite after later transactions. Because Phoenix had surrendered the swap option two years earlier, Indiana retained control of the No. 2 position instead of being exposed to a No. 2-for-No. 21 exchange. This review treats that protected draft position as realized value of the relinquishment clause, not as a speculative counterfactual player trade.
Phoenix received 64 games of useful reserve defense from Bradley, and there may have been later free-agent compensation that the public ledger does not identify clearly enough to score. Indiana received 63 Slaughter games and no NBA production from Leslie. More importantly, the Pacers eliminated a future swap obligation that would have attached to the No. 2 pick in 1983. The retained pick became Stipanovich and produced 403 games, 365 starts and five seasons of starting-center value. That branch overwhelms the one-season Bradley return.
Pacers Win, A+/C+. Indiana receives an A+ because surrender of the swap right preserved the No. 2 pick that became Steve Stipanovich, in addition to 63 Slaughter games. Phoenix receives a C+ for 64 Bradley games, with unidentified free-agent compensation left unscored.