Buffalo sent the 1978 second-round pick that became No. 38 Lew Massey to the Lakers on June 7, 1978 for Tom Abernethy. The Lakers used the pick on Massey, but Basketball-Reference records no NBA regular-season career for him. Abernethy also never played a regular-season game for the Buffalo/San Diego franchise after the trade. His value came one month later, when Golden State signed him as a veteran free agent and San Diego received a 1979 second-round compensation pick. The Clippers then combined that pick, which became No. 30 Gary Garland, with another 1979 second-rounder as compensation for signing Brian Taylor. Garland ultimately played 78 games for Denver, not San Diego, so that production is not credited to the Clippers. The Abernethy-derived pick still helped San Diego acquire Taylor, giving the franchise a modest downstream benefit that the Lakers did not match. The Clippers get the edge in an otherwise low-impact deal.
Buffalo, Los Angeles and the league transaction ledgers all record the June 7, 1978 deal the same way. The Braves sent a 1978 second-round pick to the Lakers for Tom Abernethy. Los Angeles used the pick at No. 38 on Lew Massey. There is no additional player, cash term or conditional language in the cited ledgers. The basic transaction is therefore one player for one second-round pick.
The Lakers selected Massey with the No. 38 pick in the 1978 draft. Basketball-Reference's draft ledger lists him at that slot but shows no NBA games, minutes, points, rebounds or assists. That means the Lakers received no realized NBA playing value from the pick. This review does not substitute college production or later non-NBA activity for an NBA return that never materialized.
The other side is more unusual. Buffalo acquired Abernethy just before the franchise relocated, but he never appeared in a regular-season game for the Braves or the new San Diego Clippers. His player page shows 1977-78 with the Lakers, then 1978-79 with Golden State. On July 15, 1978, the Warriors signed Abernethy as a veteran free agent. San Diego's transaction ledger records that the Clippers received a 1979 second-round pick as compensation. That compensation pick is the real downstream return from Buffalo's acquisition.
The Abernethy compensation pick later became the No. 30 selection in the 1979 draft, where Gary Garland was selected. San Diego did not use the pick itself. On February 15, 1979, the Clippers signed Brian Taylor as a veteran free agent and sent two 1979 second-round picks to Denver as compensation. One became No. 33 Lawrence Butler. The other was the Abernethy-derived pick that became No. 30 Garland. Garland later played 78 regular-season games for Denver. That production belongs to the Nuggets, not the Clippers. This review therefore does not credit San Diego with Garland's NBA games. The pick still had meaningful transaction value. It was one of two second-round assets the Clippers used to complete the Taylor signing. Because another second-rounder was also outgoing, this review does not assign the full value of Taylor's San Diego tenure to the Abernethy-derived pick alone.
Neither original asset became a direct contributor for the team that acquired it. Massey never played in the NBA, while Abernethy never played for Buffalo or San Diego after the trade. The difference is that Abernethy produced a compensation asset before leaving the franchise. That second-round pick was then used as part of another personnel move. The Lakers' Massey branch ended at the draft.
Clippers Edge, C-/F. The Buffalo/San Diego franchise receives a C- because Abernethy produced no direct games but generated a 1979 second-round compensation pick that became useful transaction currency in the Brian Taylor signing. The Lakers receive an F because No. 38 Massey never appeared in an NBA regular-season game and no later Lakers asset branch is tied to the selection. This was a low-impact trade overall, so the verdict reflects a modest downstream advantage rather than a major franchise win. Confidence is high.