The 2006-06-28 trade leans slightly toward Portland Trail Blazers, though Indiana received useful value led by rights to James White.
Indiana traded the rights to No. 45 pick Alexander Johnson plus second-round picks in 2007 and 2008 for the rights to No. 31 pick James White. The Pacers signed White in July but waived him before the regular season, so he never played an NBA game for Indiana. That left Portland holding all of the meaningful realized asset value from a deal the Pacers had made to move up fourteen spots in the second round.
Portland did not keep Johnson. On the same draft night, the Trail Blazers sent his rights to Memphis for a 2008 second-round pick that became No. 33 Joey Dorsey. Dorsey’s rights later became one component of the 2008 three-team transaction that brought Nicolas Batum to Portland. Batum’s entire career cannot be assigned to this single branch because Portland also sent Darrell Arthur in that deal, but the Johnson return remained part of an asset chain that reached a major long-term player.
The 2007 second became No. 42 Derrick Byars, whose rights Portland sent with cash to Philadelphia for the rights to Petteri Koponen. The 2008 second became No. 55 Mike Taylor, and Portland traded Taylor’s rights to the Clippers for a 2009 second-round pick that became Dante Cunningham. Neither branch alone was franchise-changing, but both remained usable assets after Indiana’s James White branch had already ended.
Blazers Win — Portland A, Indiana C. White never played a regular-season game for the Pacers, while Portland converted all three incoming pieces into additional assets. The Johnson branch helped feed the 2008 trade that brought Nicolas Batum to Portland, Byars became Petteri Koponen’s rights, and Mike Taylor became the future second used on Dante Cunningham. Portland’s win comes from those actual conversions, not from crediting the franchise with careers of players it had already traded away.