Milwaukee sold Kevin Restani's player rights to San Antonio on August 31, 1979 for cash. The cash amount is not documented in the reviewed transaction records, making the Bucks' side impossible to quantify beyond the sale itself. San Antonio received immediate rotation value. Restani played all 82 games in 1979-80, averaging 10.7 points and 4.7 rebounds in 24.0 minutes, then appeared in 64 games the next season and 13 more in 1981-82. His Spurs tenure totaled 159 regular-season games before he finished that final NBA season in Cleveland. A three-season rotation return clearly outweighs an undocumented cash payment in hindsight.
Basketball-Reference lists the August 31, 1979 transaction as Milwaukee selling Kevin Restani's player rights to San Antonio. The Spurs' transaction page records the corresponding rights acquisition. The reviewed sources do not disclose the cash amount. That means Milwaukee's return can be recognized as a completed sale, but it cannot be assigned a meaningful basketball value or compared to a known player or draft asset.
San Antonio got a substantial first season from Restani. He played all 82 games in 1979-80 and logged 1,966 minutes, averaging 10.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 24.0 minutes per game. The Spurs used him as a real rotation forward rather than end-of-bench depth. Basketball-Reference's depth chart shows him behind Mark Olberding at small forward but with nearly 2,000 minutes and 3.5 win shares.
Restani returned for 64 games in 1980-81 and another 13 for San Antonio in 1981-82. Across the three seasons, he appeared in 159 Spurs regular-season games before finishing 1981-82 with Cleveland. His role declined after the first year, but San Antonio still converted a cash purchase into multiple seasons of usable NBA minutes. That is much more concrete than the typical rights sale in which the acquired player never reaches the rotation.
Milwaukee may have had a sensible roster or financial reason to monetize Restani's rights, and the Bucks had already received 81 games from him in 1978-79. This review does not evaluate that prior Milwaukee season because it occurred before the trade. After the transaction, San Antonio received 159 games, including a full 82-game season with double-digit scoring. Milwaukee received cash with no documented amount or downstream basketball asset tied to it.
Spurs Win, A-/C. San Antonio receives an A- for three seasons and 159 regular-season games from Restani, including a 10.7-point first year. Milwaukee receives a C because the team received a real cash return, but the amount is unknown and no later basketball asset can be traced to the sale.